homelab 1 vs. 2 Computers? Beginner Homelab Questions

[pikchu87]

Hello! For a pretty decently long amount of time I have wanted to start up my own little homelab, and I have a couple questions I hope someone here can help me answer.

 

1. If I'm on a budget of roughly $800 or less(INCLUDING DRIVES AND ACCESSORIES), should I just build one computer capable of everything I want to do? Or, should I perhaps build one computer entirely dedicated to being a NAS, and have all of my other operations(Jellyfin, Game Servers, Etc.) running on a separate computer that has access to the NAS? From the few people I know in real life that have their own homelabs, many have suggested to me that I should have my NAS running on bare metal, for a few different reasons. However, I thought I'd ask!

2. Assuming I have found my answer to the first question, what *kind* of hardware should I be looking for? I hear a a lot of people saying that a cheap way to start out is to buy a used office PC and chuck some drives in there, which for something such as a NAS I know would be fine. Others say that used server hardware is a good option, however I am still living with my parents and I don't want to drive up their power bill that much, and from what I've heard older server hardware is wayyy lesss efficient than the newer stuff. Maybe off the shelf new components? A prebuilt NAS? I have no idea!

Requirements: File server with good amount of storage and at least a little redundancy, being able to host a Plex/Jellyfin server, and being able to spin up game servers.

 

I'm still pretty new to all this homelab stuff, so ANY advice/questions is 100% welcome.

Thanks!

[Timotheus2]

How much storage do you need? ~4 16TB HDDs (48TB usable with RaidZ1) would already max your budged. Smaller drives are worse TB/$ and smaller pools make imho no sense with parity. 2 mirrored drives would work, if you don't need much.

 

I personally have my NAS and application server separate. Makes it much easier to tinker with one without also disrupting the other. Also gives you more software options and makes it easier to change software. My NAS was running OMV and I recently migrated to TrueNAS, while most of my applications (everything that didn't need the NAS) could keep running on the other server. Combining the NAS and server would be cheaper though. You can always change it later.

 

IPMI is very convenient. If you go with a used server platform, you should get it. Something like the Supermicro X10 series is pretty cheap on ebay and has more than enough performance for a pure NAS. It should also handle most applications, if you combine the servers. The idle power consumption (the only important metric for most home servers!) for these older chips isn't that much higher than current chips, but the IPMI adds some 10w. Some modern chips (Ryzen) have much higher idle power consumption (because chiplets). I wouldn't go older than that. Only get a barebones kit though (MB, CPU, RAM), you don't want server fans in your house.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 computer is probably better, but depends on your exact goals.

 

Lot of options, probably used office pc or other low power system is the way to go unless you want a rack server for some reason.

 

How much usable storage do you need? Basic plex and jellyfin will run on almost any semi moden system so really depends on yoru exact needs.

[LIGISTX]

1 Machine, and virtualize whatever you need.

 

You can run truenas scale and run VM's under that, or if you need easier upgrade paths for adding more drives later, use unraid. For a budget build, unraid is typically the better option since you can more easily change drives in and out and add storage later, truenas and ZFS are not nearly as "easy on the wallet" to do this.

 

Spin up VM's or docker containers for whatever you may need in terms of jellyfin, plex, etc etc.

[pikchu87]

On 4/26/2024 at 7:01 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

1 computer is probably better, but depends on your exact goals.

 

Lot of options, probably used office pc or other low power system is the way to go unless you want a rack server for some reason.

 

How much usable storage do you need? Basic plex and jellyfin will run on almost any semi moden system so really depends on yoru exact needs.

Sorry for the late reply, but I don't need a whole lot of storage, at least to start out. Just enough to store all my footage I record, (which currently only is about 3ish TB), enough to have a pretty good Jellyfin library(so like a few TB, as eventually I'd like to have a good amount of shows on there, and a few movies), enough to house saves for games I intend to run on the server(which I doubt will be a significant factor), and enough to store some old ass family videos/photos my dad has been hoarding on random USB drives for YEARS(so maybe like a few TB at most). So maybe in total like 24TB is what I need useable, at least to start. I know there are some os's, like Unraid, that will allow me to just chuck what I can get my hands on in the NAS, at least from my understanding of it, so I can always upgrade. So yeah maybe around 24-30ish TB should be plenty, for now.

Thanks!

[pikchu87]

On 4/26/2024 at 7:21 PM, LIGISTX said:

1 Machine, and virtualize whatever you need.

 

You can run truenas scale and run VM's under that, or if you need easier upgrade paths for adding more drives later, use unraid. For a budget build, unraid is typically the better option since you can more easily change drives in and out and add storage later, truenas and ZFS are not nearly as "easy on the wallet" to do this.

 

Spin up VM's or docker containers for whatever you may need in terms of jellyfin, plex, etc etc.

Yeah I think I'll start out with one machine, and if in the future I find it necessary, I can always build another!

[pikchu87]

On 4/26/2024 at 7:00 PM, Timotheus2 said:

How much storage do you need? ~4 16TB HDDs (48TB usable with RaidZ1) would already max your budged. Smaller drives are worse TB/$ and smaller pools make imho no sense with parity. 2 mirrored drives would work, if you don't need much.

 

I personally have my NAS and application server separate. Makes it much easier to tinker with one without also disrupting the other. Also gives you more software options and makes it easier to change software. My NAS was running OMV and I recently migrated to TrueNAS, while most of my applications (everything that didn't need the NAS) could keep running on the other server. Combining the NAS and server would be cheaper though. You can always change it later.

 

IPMI is very convenient. If you go with a used server platform, you should get it. Something like the Supermicro X10 series is pretty cheap on ebay and has more than enough performance for a pure NAS. It should also handle most applications, if you combine the servers. The idle power consumption (the only important metric for most home servers!) for these older chips isn't that much higher than current chips, but the IPMI adds some 10w. Some modern chips (Ryzen) have much higher idle power consumption (because chiplets). I wouldn't go older than that. Only get a barebones kit though (MB, CPU, RAM), you don't want server fans in your house.

Thanks! I'll look into some of your suggestions!

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, pikchu87 said:

Sorry for the late reply, but I don't need a whole lot of storage, at least to start out. Just enough to store all my footage I record, (which currently only is about 3ish TB), enough to have a pretty good Jellyfin library(so like a few TB, as eventually I'd like to have a good amount of shows on there, and a few movies), enough to house saves for games I intend to run on the server(which I doubt will be a significant factor), and enough to store some old ass family videos/photos my dad has been hoarding on random USB drives for YEARS(so maybe like a few TB at most). So maybe in total like 24TB is what I need useable, at least to start. I know there are some os's, like Unraid, that will allow me to just chuck what I can get my hands on in the NAS, at least from my understanding of it, so I can always upgrade. So yeah maybe around 24-30ish TB should be plenty, for now.

Thanks!

800usd is gonna limit your self a good amount for a system + drives, but should be dooable. The cheapest per tb resonble drives seem to be about 14TB in the 200-250 dollar range. You can get cheaper with used/refurb drives, but lets start here. With 3 drives and a parity setup your at 600-750 of your budget and 28TB usable. Unrid is my pick here, but its not free, and would eat the rest of the budget fast.

 

For the hrdwre, I'd probbly get  old tower optiplex. Pretty power effiecnt, and chep ish. See if you cn find them cheaper locally, but here is an exaample on ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/226022009246?itmmeta=01HWVD9ANNQK6VEE466CASBPED&hash=item349ff6299e:g:v3gAAOSw0oFl3k35&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4M%2FWYRlbYarSY3IpMkZIUfsqrRDZEefjtX%2FfzX9MTJLnDfXD4sQYsNCuB5Yep6RuBwQeXzM29feK0uRl0MqKBpSnogvzoMpL%2BSvMjlcXixFYYjlDUI6L78GlPAmx0NlKgeTu3XouO2y2%2FmPb9sS1JK49KnPWFmHLPlr5OMKOJ86XmmF3%2FMKnR93EjCdphdfTpEbPL%2BTsLRAakBkd5tD20jvR82XzW3OTJmFEv8HAOKwENYiZhPP4ZlpUCZvzrZ9F2R5iGHGQE30TGiaAf1gQUZn8whbQsMOQjv46qe3m1Uwu|tkp%3ABFBMlKul7eZj

 

Might have to get a 3.5 to 5.25 bay adapter, a usb drive for the OS and some other parts, but this gets your close to the budget here. Should have enogh power to run a few vms and apps, but more ram would be nice. I doubt 2 systems will be cheaper, and will likely use more power.