First Home Server (NAS, Media) Questions

[thonk]

I am considering building a NAS for my family after being inspired by the LTT videos on NASs and Plex.

 

My current plan is to run TrueNAS Core for storing photos and other media and Jellyfin to access those files remotely from outside the network. I also want to write videos from a security camera directly to the NAS with the ability to overwrite older videos. In the future, I may also want to host a simple game server or Pi-Hole.

 

My question is how do I set this up software wise? Since TrueNAS is an OS, is it correct that I cannot install Jellyfin or run other software on it? Would I have to run Linux and then have TrueNAS, Jellyfin, and other things running in VMs or on Docker? (I have limited experience with either, what would be good resources to learn these?) Or, is this not feasible with a single server and I would need more than one computer?

 

Another question I have is about RAID. Since I am on a budget, I may want to add more disks in the future. I was reading forum posts elsewhere that it seems like if I run RAID Z1/2, I wouldn't be able to add more disks in the future without making a new RAID and then restoring from a backup. Is this true? If I just have two drives for now running in RAID 1, would I be able to add another drive and move to RAID Z1/2 without having to make a new RAID and restore from a backup?

[BiotechBen]

So what I'm gonna tell you is that Plex can handle video, pictures, and other media and allow access outside the network. You can then run either windows or Linux as the core OS. As for raid: you can continue to add drives to the raid array, as long as it's not a combined raid, you should be good. 

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht509076-how-to-add-hard-drives-to-an-existing-raid-array

[thonk]

49 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

So what I'm gonna tell you is that Plex can handle video, pictures, and other media and allow access outside the network. You can then run either windows or Linux as the core OS.

I would prefer to run Jellyfin since it's open source as well as not needing to pay a license for important features

 

49 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

As for raid: you can continue to add drives to the raid array, as long as it's not a combined raid, you should be good. 

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht509076-how-to-add-hard-drives-to-an-existing-raid-array

Unless I'm mistaken, this requires Lenovo's proprietary software?

In a different forum, someone explained to me that in ZFS, I can expand a Pool by adding a new Vdev which would be good enough for me in the future.

 

 

 

I also read up more on TrueNAS Core and Scale and it seems like using Scale for containers as well as Truecharts apps would be the best option for me

[BiotechBen]

7 minutes ago, thonk said:

I would prefer to run Jellyfin since it's open source as well as not needing to pay a license for important features

 

Unless I'm mistaken, this requires Lenovo's proprietary software?

In a different forum, someone explained to me that in ZFS, I can expand a Pool by adding a new Vdev which would be good enough for me in the future.

 

 

 

I also read up more on TrueNAS Core and Scale and it seems like using Scale for containers as well as Truecharts apps would be the best option for me

I have yet to NEED the "premium" features, nearly all are able to be used with free version unless you need to make child restrictions or restrict access to certain users.

(did do the $5 for the full app access rather than the web interface, simplicity was worth $5 on one device for me)

Plex Home Theater is Open Source btw

As for using Plex, I was simply stating that Plex can fulfill the "access remotely" part and be a good interface for accessing the NAS stuff for less experienced users (older family members, less tech literate ones, ex. sharing family photos) 

 

trueNAS is a great option for expansion, would highly recommend.

[Blue4130]

2 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

I have yet to NEED the "premium" features, nearly all are able to be used with free version unless you need to make child restrictions or restrict access to certain users.

(did do the $5 for the full app access rather than the web interface, simplicity was worth $5 on one device for me)

Plex Home Theater is Open Source btw

As for using Plex, I was simply stating that Plex can fulfill the "access remotely" part and be a good interface for accessing the NAS stuff for less experienced users (older family members, less tech literate ones, ex. sharing family photos) 

 

trueNAS is a great option for expansion, would highly recommend.

To access plex remotely, you need to have the plex pass which is paid.

 

2 hours ago, thonk said:

I would prefer to run Jellyfin since it's open source as well as not needing to pay a license for important features

 

Unless I'm mistaken, this requires Lenovo's proprietary software?

In a different forum, someone explained to me that in ZFS, I can expand a Pool by adding a new Vdev which would be good enough for me in the future.

 

 

 

I also read up more on TrueNAS Core and Scale and it seems like using Scale for containers as well as Truecharts apps would be the best option for me

This is correct. If you want to add drives, you need to use unraid (OS) or snapraid (runs under windows). Then using either of these, run the other software as a virtual machine.

[BiotechBen]

3 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

To access plex remotely, you need to have the plex pass which is paid.

Since when? I've done it for free for almost 3 years now.

If you want to use the mobile app it's a OTP of $5 to help support keeping the free platform free.

[thonk]

6 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

As for using Plex, I was simply stating that Plex can fulfill the "access remotely" part and be a good interface for accessing the NAS stuff for less experienced users (older family members, less tech literate ones, ex. sharing family photos) 

I think Jellyfin should work just as well hopefully. If not, I learned about NextCloud which may also work. It also allows for people to upload files which will be useful

 

 

[Blue4130]

2 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

Since when? I've done it for free for almost 3 years now.

If you want to use the mobile app it's a OTP of $5 to help support keeping the free platform free.

For at least 2 years. You get a one minute preview and then get prompted to upgrade. 

 

Edit... I just checked, that's the android app apparently. Can't say for certain other remote platforms. 

[BiotechBen]

1 hour ago, Blue4130 said:

For at least 2 years. You get a one minute preview and then get prompted to upgrade. 

 

Edit... I just checked, that's the android app apparently. Can't say for certain other remote platforms. 

Anything using the web interface is free. 

[vmdyap2022]

You can use probably use truenas scale and run jellyfin on a docker..

[Needfuldoer]

1 hour ago, vmdyap2022 said:

You can use probably use truenas scale and run jellyfin on a docker..

It's also available as a prepackaged container through TrueCharts.

 

https://truecharts.org/