What to do

[JWard]

Hey there,

 

I have abit of a conundrum at the moment, basically I have a HP ProLiant G7 Microserver which seems quiet low spec to me (2GB Ram, 2.2GH'z AMD processor). Currently I have Windows 8 installed on there and a couple of Hard Drives which are merged to give me around 8TB of space.

 

My first question is I am not sure if I should change the OS, basically I would like to setup Plex server for streaming. I would also like to be able to create folders and create permissions on them so that my youngler siblings don't accidently delete my files. Should I continue to use W8 or should I use a different OS? (I am happy to give Linux a try if that is recommended)

 

My second question is that unfortunately we don't have any data cabling inside our house. Currently the server is in my bedroom wired to the router however it is a little noisey to leave on all the time. If I use a powerline adaptor for the server so that I can move it somewhere else will I notice any performance issues especially when it comes to streaming? I don't want to be watching something and then it gets laggy etc.

 

Thanks for your help!

[kkpatel87]

-snip-

 

I would recommend FreeNAS or UnRAID. Both are excellent in terms of stability and have great support forums.

 

Also, power line adapter performance is going to be based on the internal wiring in your house. I wouldnt expect gigabit performance but if you have wiring that is up to code or better, you could get up to 400-500 megabits per second.

[JWard]

I would recommend FreeNAS or UnRAID. Both are excellent in terms of stability and have great support forums.

 

Also, power line adapter performance is going to be based on the internal wiring in your house. I wouldnt expect gigabit performance but if you have wiring that is up to code or better, you could get up to 400-500 megabits per second.

 

 

As my system is 32bit and only got 2GB ram would FreeNas work? The minimum requirements on the website state 64bit and 8gb ram ?

[unijab]

I would recommend FreeNAS or UnRAID. Both are excellent in terms of stability and have great support forums.

 

 

@Sunshine1868

[Sunshine1868]

@Sunshine1868

 

I am losing faith in this community....

[kkpatel87]

I am losing faith in this community....

 

What did i say that would cause you to make this remark?

[kkpatel87]

As my system is 32bit and only got 2GB ram would FreeNas work? The minimum requirements on the website state 64bit and 8gb ram ?

 

My bad, i didnt completely read your post prior to replying. I think you might be stuck with what you have. I havent run any kind of NAS on 32 bit...maybe someone else can comment?

[Sunshine1868]

What did i say that would cause you to make this remark?

 

@unijab and I were having a conversation earlier about how quickly people jump to suggesting FreeNAS and UnRAID whenever somebody even mentions building a NAS even though they are, quite often, NOT the best solutions to peoples' problems.

[unijab]

@unijab and I were having a conversation earlier about how quickly people jump to suggesting FreeNAS and UnRAID whenever somebody even mentions building a NAS even though they are, quite often, NOT the best solutions to peoples' problems.

 

Those two are not the only things people have jumped on the bandwagon for.... remember the threads created of people asking about Adobe media encoder after his videos on the 36 core server.

[kkpatel87]

@unijab and I were having a conversation earlier about how quickly people jump to suggesting FreeNAS and UnRAID whenever somebody even mentions building a NAS even though they are, quite often, NOT the best solutions to peoples' problems.

 

Those two are not the only things people have jumped on the bandwagon for.... remember the threads created of people asking about Adobe media encoder after his videos on the 36 core server.

 

Understandable and I agree. I have built quite a few NASes and the reason i made this suggestion is based on my experience.

 

That being said, instead of assuming that a user hops onto a bandwagon and making a passive/aggressive comment (as much as i agree with you), why not make a better suggestion? From your signature, you are a network engineer and server admin and I would assume that you would have a much better suggestions than what I could come up with and the community would be the better for it.

[alpenwasser]

- snip -

Openmediavault has a 32bit version, and your hardware seems to fit the bill:

http://wiki.openmediavault.org/index.php?title=Prerequisites

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openmediavault/files/2.1/

And it seems to have a Plex plug-in:

http://omv-extras.org/simple/index.php?id=plugins-stable

I haven't used it personally, but it might be worth a look.

Now, before you go jump around and ditch Windows, it might be possible to achieve there what you wish to achieve with that. But since I've barely used Windows for the past few years I'm not qualified to give advice on that one.

[Sunshine1868]

@kkpatel87

 

I always suggest Ubuntu with Samba, but everybody complains about "command line" and "linux". 

My server has been running without crash since I've gotten it (1.5-2 years ago) and I run it completely remotely.

^

that's how I got my job as a network engineer. I tinkered and learned things. All too often people here are too afraid to try new things, they just blindly follow words mentioned in LTT videos. hence my "I am losing faith in this community"

[unijab]

My storage server has always run CentOS, and I only use/monitor/manage it with SSH.

[Sunshine1868]

My storage server has always run CentOS, and I only use/monitor/manage it with SSH.

 

^Thats how I do it. 

 

Though next time I get back to where I keep my server, I will be P2Ving my Ubuntu machine, installing XenServer, putting that Ubuntu server on there as virtual, then running a UTM OS as my router, and then running separate instances of Ubuntu server for anything else i'd ever need.

 

It's called getting your hands dirty, and not enough people here actually do it. they're too focused on "WINDOWS IS BEST EVER"

I can't remember his name, but there is a guy CUSTOM BUILDING A CASE TO LOOK LIKE THE D-WAVE COMPUTER AND ITS AWESOME. he is a true tinkerer/customizer/dude. People should be more like him, and be less like the PCMasterFanBoyz

[kkpatel87]

@JWard

 

There are a few options here if you dont mind tinkering. I would suggest backing up everything twice just so nothing gets screwed up lol.

 

Here are your options from everyone's opinions  

1. Stay with Win8 and leave it alone 
2. OpenMediaVault
3. Ubuntu with Samba
4. CentOS
5. FreeNAS
6. UnRAID

My ultimate advice is to tinker with these and see which suits you best  .

[alpenwasser]

I always suggest Ubuntu with Samba, but everybody complains about "command line" and "linux".

Butbut, it's so scary!

 

- snip -

Well, some people just spend their time on other things besides tinkering with computers, be that software or hardware. Being a hardcore tinkerer is not a membership requirement.

Not that I don't love me some good ol' tinkering. I've sunk a ton of hours into Linux and computers in general over the years, and learned a lot. But not everyone has the time for that, after all.

But in the end, the day only has so many hours, and people spend their time on all kinds of stuff besides computers. We must all set our own priorities. Some people allegedly even have a life besides computers and internet!

Anyway, @JWard : You have a few suggestions at your disposal, now it's primarily a matter of trying out some things and finding the solution which suits your needs best.