NAS/Server OS

[Kelleytech]

Ok so I have my home server hardware set up and running, but at a loss on software. Here is what I would like my server to do. Run my Plex server, central storage for all other computers in the house, back up/snapshot main drives in them as well, down the line host game servers like Ark, Minecraft etc. 

 

What OS? Looked in to FreeNAS, Unraid, Microsoft Server... I am pretty well versed on hardware, I come up short on networking and Linux. I can learn but need a reason to.

 

Any and all info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Edit: Hardware is i5 6500, Gigabyte z170 UD5 mobo, 2x16gb crucial non ecc (limited motherboard support for ecc in my price range) HyperX 240gb m.2 ssd, 4x4tb HGST nas drives.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Kelleytech
Left out possibly important info.

[Kelleytech]

2 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Ubuntu? It's pretty light and easy to use.

Is there an Ubuntu Server?

[Kelleytech]

Just now, wrathoftheturkey said:

There is, but honestly you can just use normal Ubuntu if you want a GUI. It should be more than enough.

I have played with Ubuntu for about 15 minutes, love the look, and seemed great. But thats about my total experience with Linux. Being honest Linux is sorta daunting, I am thinking about just using Windows 10 and utilize Storage Spaces but want to make smartest decision now...

[Kelleytech]

1 minute ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

For Plex, that'll work. You can set up a Homegroup for the other PCs in your house for storage, too. But if you don't want to waste 100 bucks on software, Linux seems scarier than it is.

I am sure you are absolutely correct about Linux, but can put my hands on Win 10 Pro key for about 30 bucks, so its less of a issue. My biggest problem is time or really lack there of, to try to learn, get comfortable with Linux. I have met the nicest people that totally just want to help that are diehard Linux users. So know the community is strong. Just torn... Windows=easy, Linux=better, but that learning curve. .. 

[WhatsCS]

The learning curve for linux isn't nearly as hard as you might expect. If you are comfortable using cmd or powershell in windows then switching over to linux won't be very difficult. As you said, there are a ton of people who love helping others get into linux or bsd. I personally do not have experience with any of the BSD variants but FreeNAS is a go-to for people wanting to store large volumes of data as it comes with ZFS (Features) by default which is very good at managing files for long term storage. As for game servers on FreeNAS, I have no clue but they have native Plex support so that won't be an issue.

[samiscool51]

some dedicated servers only work on windows (minecraft works on all platforms)

plex works with linux

for file storage linux is a great option

as for  "back up/snapshot main drives" this only works with windows enterprise and windows server

 

unRAID would be a option but it would need some power under tat hood

 

windows would work, if you are a student then use dreamspark.com it basicly allows students to have access to stuff they would have to pay for, it's a microsoft service, so you don't have to sell your kidney....

 

maybe try that....

 

[WhatsCS]

15 hours ago, samiscool51 said:

as for  "back up/snapshot main drives" this only works with windows enterprise and windows server

This is completely incorrect. The filesystem that I recommended using, ZFS, comes with a snapshot ability and if you are ballsy enough, btrfs does as well. You can even use rsnapshot which is a tool that utilizes rsync to create incremental backups or snapshots on either local or remote drives. Unfortunately I have not used it so I can not say with 100% certainty that it will work as intended.

[b1uew01f]

I picked up ubuntu desktop to use a server os a while ago and have picked up headless versions of various debian derivs pretty easily since (for my use).

 

I find windows server more daunting now, primarily because I don't feel the great user feature set that makes desktop windows so great translates well to the server environment - doing stuff in the graphical ui seems just really clunky and cmd is well, not great.

 

For the things you mentioned at the start you want to do, you should be able to find easy to follow step by step guides for linux, which you'd probably have to follow for windows anyway. And once you get a bit of confidence with terminal you'll realise its all you ever needed and is actually quite simple.

[Blake]

On 9/17/2016 at 2:24 PM, Kelleytech said:

Windows=easy, Linux=better, but that learning curve. .. 

Common misconception. for the scale your doing, They'll both be the same.

Once you get your head around the fact everything is a file, and how to use apt-get/yum, everything else is basically just an application, just like on every other OS, you just manage it from the CLI.

 

Then you'll start doing the same in windows, only to find that 50% of devs on windows are shit (seriously not hard to put a CLI extension on your app).