What OS for new home server build?

[Gerr]

I am building a home server and am trying to decide which OS to put on it.  I also have a low end 2-bay Qnap NAS(TS-231) that is also new, so between the two, I need the following services...

 

1. Plex server.

2. Security camera DVR.

3. Central NAS storage for the whole home.

4. Central client PC backup storage.

5. (optional)...Separate NAS storage for my wife's iMAC.  Optional as I could just connect an external USB drive to her system to do this.

6. (optional)...Handbrake transcoding system.  Optional as I could just do this on my main gaming system, but would prefer if I didn't have to.

*Plex & Handbrake would have to be run on the server as the QNAP is a low end model and isn't powerful enough for that, but it could do any of the other options.  But the server with it's Xeon E3-1231v3 CPU and 32GB of non-ECC RAM is more than powerful enough.

 

Possible OS's...

 

Windows 10 Pro...

PROS:

Very easy to setup.

Can run any of the programs I want, including Plex, Handbrake, and Blue Iris(DVR)

Will run my paid anti-malware & anti-virus programs.

Could easily turn into a standard PC for sale if I ever don't need the server services.

Easy to setup a backup solution.

CONS:

Least secure of the options.

Frequent updates which require reboots.

Redundancy via Intel-RAID and/or software RAID.

Uses aging NTFS file system.

 

Windows Server Essentials 2012 R2...

PROS:

Somewhat easy to setup.

Can run any of the programs I want, including Plex, Handbrake, and Blue Iris(DVR)

Lots of other server services available if I so choose.

Easy to setup a backup solution.

Somewhat secure if setup correctly.

CONS:

Redundancy via Intel-RAID and/or software RAID.

Uses aging NTFS file system.

No free anti-virus available.

Still not as secure as other non-Windows OS's.

 

FreeNAS:

PROS:

Can use mirrored USB-3.0 Flash drives as a mirrored OS drive, which opens up SATA ports.

Uses the ZFS, which is a modern server file system.

ZFS allows parity based redundancy via software without a major performance impact, which is more efficient on the number of HDD's used,

Allows for an Apple only NAS option.

Very secure.

CONS:

While somewhat easy to do the initial install, advanced options like backups are much harder to setup.

No DVR options and not sure if it can run Handbrake.

Very limited expansion options as far as server services.

Worried that Plex server will be harder to setup and wont run as well as on Windows.

Memory hog, but hopefully 32GB of non-ECC RAM will be enough.

 

Ubuntu 16.04 desktop:

PROS:

Supports ZFS on non-boot drives, so has all the advantages of ZFS.

Can run most of the apps I need, but would have to find a different DVR solution as Blue Iris is Windows only.

Fairly secure.

CONS:

Advanced options like setting up backups would be difficult due to be being a newb in Linux.

Not a server OS, so would have to learn ways to tweak it to harden it more like a server.

 

Ubuntu 16.04 server:

PROS:

Supports ZFS on non-boot drives, so has all the advantages of ZFS.

Can run most of the apps I need, but would have to find a different DVR solution as Blue Iris is Windows only.

Very secure.

CONS:

Very hard to setup as the server uses CLI.

Would some how have to get a GUI desktop loaded onto the server as I don't know Linux CLI.

Advanced options like setting up backups would be difficult due to me being a newb in Linux.

 

 

Thoughts?  I am also open to other options.

[ion529]

If your an Ubuntu Server newb I would definitely recommend good old windows 10 home

[2FA]

When it comes to Linux, setting up almost any server software would be done through command line so having the GUI would be pointless other than being able to open a browser to look up how to set something up. I would suggest learning the commands for Ubuntu, not necessary all of them, and looking at guides on how to setup software through command line. 

 

basic tutorial site: http://linuxcommand.org/

[RedWulf]

In regard to freenas, Plex has a plugin, I have not used it but it seems most people have a fairly easy time with it. It is abit of a memory hog, but the 1gb per tb rule is supposed to be true for all zfs, however that rule falls apart at something like 20gb unless you run memory demanding programs or something like deduplication. 

If you use ubuntu server you can install a gui with command line, its just not as fluid. 

I would normally pull for ubuntu here, but I agree with ion529 if you are more familiar with windows stick with it since your server and data are not something to toy with. 

 

[fufs]

You should get unraid and run couple VM's. Unraid has it own's NAS service and it's easy to setup via Linus tutorial. And you can install any other OS which you don't have to worry about NAS.

[Mikensan]

FreeNAS is a lot easier than you think and services like Plex or Handbreak you could install in either a Jail or a VM (vbox, soon to flip to another solution).

To install plex, create a new jail, and if I can remember correct you simply pkg update, and pkg install mediacenter\plexmediaserver anddd you're done. I have a couple in-depth guides bookmarked I can send. Backups are also easy, just where do you want to back stuff up to? USB? Cloud? Another volume? 

 

**Also I've been playing with Zoneminder (Camera NVR), which works in Linux and BSD, so it would work in either Linux or FreeNAS, it is definitely not turn-key for the installation. You may be better off installing something on a VM and then mounting / mapping network storage.

 

Your only issue is actually the non-ECC ram :-( It will work flawlessly, however you have a <1% chance of bitrot happening, either accept the risk or buy ECC ram. Some people say it's like riding a motorcycle, it's not if you lay the bike down, it is when. I've never experienced bitrot in almost 20 years, so /shrugs.

 

** Windows 10 and Server 2016 are identical in terms of security, you simply disable some services in Windows 10 and you're now just as "secure" as server 2016. Only difference is 2016 offers more services you could run such as DHCP / DNS/ Domain services - which may actually make it less secure. If you want to go hardcore, lookup the DISA STIG or CIS guide and harden your OS. U.S. Government happily uses Windows environments for everything, and their only leaks come from naughty people. (Also helps some networks are air gapped :-))

 

Linux offers containers/dockers now, which behave very similarly to jails - a lot less overhead but allows you to install services without affecting the core OS. If you're new to linux I'd certainly suggest going this route to learn linux (if you were ever curious). A LOT of how-tos out there and huge community.

[alex75871]

+1 for FreeNAS. Anything the OS can't do out of the box or via plugins just setup a Virtual Machine using Jails.

[Ben Potter]

Webmin is a great tool that can work with Ubuntu Server so that you can manage & configure servers and the whole server easily. It made it so much easier for me to setup SMB/CIFS shares. Plex works like a charm on my Ubuntu Server. Also, even with a GUI, very little stuff for servers is managed with the GUI, it's all via the command line. Maybe you could set up a virtual security server inside Ubuntu, or use something like unRAID?

[spunner5]

So I'm coming from ~2 years of running the latest, stable revisions of FreeNAS.  Here are the downsides I've encountered:

1. Expensive hardware.  I was fortunate enough to get a number of server-grade pieces of hardware (Socket 1155), yet had to immediately invest into ECC RAM (32GB - 16 needed now with room to expand).  The i3 Proc was enough to start with, but found more than one Plex streams were too much for it and invested into a Xeon processor.  Finally, when my SuperMicro MB (X9SCL-F) would no longer see 1/2 of my RAM, I needed to look for a new MB.... or look for something newer.
2. The Plex Plugin would not always "Upgrade" automatically.  I eventually fell back to creating my own Jail for it, but even then, the upgrades were not seamless.  I am a Plex Pass user and love it!
3. Drive failures are not easily corrected, is not user-friendly, and the process of swapping the drive simply takes time.  Damn OEM Seagate Connie's haven't treated me well at all.
4. ZFS does take a chunk of space from each drive.  By the time I setup 6x 3TB drives in a RAIDZ2 configuration, I was left with just under 10TB of space.  In comparison, from the Dashboard in UnRAID, I see 15TB using a single parity drive, so it's as if I'm getting the full amount of each data drive.
5. Expanding your disk space is not easy.  Currently, you can create another RAIDZ set and not affect your existing RAID set, but to expand your existing set will me you have to backup all of your data to something else, destroy the existing set, and to create a new set with all of the drives.  In comparison, UnRAID allows you to add single drives to an existing set, as long as the drive you're adding is NOT larger than the parity drive.

 

I'm now in a similar place as you, but by the time I bought what I thought would be the best hardware, I found I had similar pieces to Linus's Gaming/NAS build using UnRAID.  I'm in the middle of creating the system, but seeing "Samsung M.2" issues (not seen by UnRAID, thus no Cache drives) and slowly coming to a conclusion that I will simply have two different systems rather than one single Gaming Desktop(VM)/NAS box.  This video from the UnRAID article"Gaming on a NAS? You better believe it!", showing 3DMark differences in a bare metal config, vs. the 3 VM's, using 4, 6, and 8 cores, kind of sold me on trying an all-in-one system

 

If I do separate them, it seems that UnRAID by itself is becoming mature enough to try it on for size.  It seems there are options in 6.2 Beta (i.e. Dual Parity) that isn't available in prior 6.x versions, so I might suggest you try it before buying it.

 

Just my experience...

 

[MrStraightface]

I run machines on the cheap.  If I had more recent hardware I would run VMs so....

 

I run Plex on ubuntu server and have zero complaints (Intel Dual core quad)

 

I seed torrents and put my surveillance on Windows Server 2008 using Sighthound (Intel Dual core duo)

 

I host a Mumble server on a Raspberry Pi

[Gerr]

My main concern with FreeNAS is that it's not easy to setup a backup scheme.  That seems odd to me as one would think backing up your NAS data would be one of the primary functions of a NAS and would be one of the easier things to do.

 

I would also like to avoid VM's of any kind if possible, so if the OS can't do it itself, not going to use VM's to get around that   Remember that I do have a QNAP NAS that can do some of the things I need.

 

I am starting to wonder if the new LTS of Ubuntu due out in a few says might not be a good choice?  I would get the desktop version and just use that as a server.  I know I can install Plex & Handbrake on it, it supports ZFS on the non-boot drives, and it has various NVR & backup solutions.  While not secure as Ubuntu server or FreeNAS, it is more secure than either Windows and since it sound like it can run everything I need, might be a good middle ground solution.

[Gerr]

My server's hardware:

Xeon E3-1231v3 CPU @ 3.4Ghz

32GB DDR3-1600 CL9 (4x8GB)

MSI Z97 Mate mobo

GeForce 610 2GB videocard

Intel PCIe x1 Server grade NIC

Dell PERC 6/6i PCIe x8 SAS card(8-port HBA)

Seasonic 450W Gold PSU

Fractical Design R4 case

 

I have the following drives I could choose from:

6x250GB various SSD's

1x240GB SSD

2x128GB various SSD's

1x120GB SSD

4x3TB WD Red HDD(could easily get a 5th one for a 5-drive RaidZ1)

2x3TB HGST NAS HDD

1x4TB HGST NAS HDD (can be used as a 3TB drive in a raid array with the other HGST drives)

3x500GB WD R4 Enterprise HDD

2x1TB WD Red HDD

1x3TB WD Purple HDD

2x3TB WD Green

1x3TB Seagate Desktop HDD

[SpaceNugget]

Learning how to use a terminal may be intimidating but it is definitely not hard. If you have an extra legal copy of windows hanging around go for it, but otherwise take the opportunity to familiarize yourself with linux.

[flibberdipper]

I personally run Windows Server 2012 R2, but that's just because I have some licenses from MSDN to use. I would honestly end up going with just a random copy of Windows, make a bunch of local accounts (for signin as a network drive), and then go from there.

[Mikensan]

I considered it very easy to setup a backup scheme for FreeNAS, 0 CLI required. Jails are not virtual and are how the plugins work for FreeNAS anywho. 

Storage > replication tasks... you schedule a time for it to replicate from one volume to another volume. 

 

I would say linux is very flexible and would suit your needs and would go through route.

[wunderhacker]

I personally would go with nas4free. Its BSD based but you can run windows and linux vms and connect to them via remote desktop. That would allow you to do everything you want easily.  (However you still have to get a windows license for your windows apps)

[Gerr]

I am leaning towards just doing Windows 10 Pro.  However, the only thing holding me back from going FreeNAS is a simply way to setup backups to external USB 3.0 drives off my NAS system.  If anyone knows a simple way to do this, I am all ears...