Interested in making a server/nas

[PaddyMully]

Hello I am curious about making my old rig into a server/nas kind of build. The rig has a i5 4690 8gb ddr3(can add more if needed for server/nas system) gtx 760 will be buying more storage then whats in it currently but as of now their is 3tb.
Now I am new to this and was wondering if it was possible to make the rig do stuff like being able to load movies/series off of it from my phone say while I am out of the house, have it as a place for family members to put their stuff onto as a back up, host servers for people and have them up 24/7 if needed and to also back up my main pc, is all this possible and if so how. What are the steps needed to do so

[themctipers]

its possible and you have plenty of power for that.

 

you can run freenas and be able to load videos/movies off of it using VLC i believe, and you can have it work with SMB (windows file sharing, it'll show up in 'networks' in windows exlporer) and they can have their own individual folders. hosting servers should be fine with their 'jails' system and it will be up as long as you dont shut it off or there's a power/ethernet failure

[PaddyMully]

So while doing this through freenas, i should be able to say watch stuff on my phone while I could be in town away from my pc ? 

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, PaddyMully said:

So while doing this through freenas, i should be able to say watch stuff on my phone while I could be in town away from my pc ? 

if you set it up with plex or ftp or simmilar and enable port forwarding.

[PaddyMully]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

if you set it up with plex or ftp or simmilar and enable port forwarding.

Is learning how use plex and port forward it difficult ? Sorry for stupid questions just curious and interested in building it into a server

[Beskamir]

If you use freenas try to use ECC ram if possible.

 

Edit: also on the subject of port forwarding, there are better ways. Such as using a vpn. So have a vpn server on your router and then connect to it. This is much more secure than port forwarding. I hadn't actually used plex so chances are there's a much easier and equally secure solution for that.

[PaddyMully]

2 minutes ago, ElfFriend said:

If you use freenas try to use ECC ram if possible.

Thanks for the info man! I'll check to see if mine is ECC ram. 

[jfat]

Setting up external access is possible but a bit more difficult.
You can also set up a plex server on it through the freenas jails.

[mrHoot1]

I have a NAS that is running an Athlon 64 3000+ (single core cpu) from like 2001 with some pretty piss-weak specifications, so i say you're fine PaddyMully

 

HaHa

[jfat]

4 minutes ago, PaddyMully said:

Thanks for the info man! I'll check to see if mine is ECC ram. 

Your ram isnt ECC and your cpu doesnt support ECC btw.

[PaddyMully]

Just now, jfat said:

Setting up external access is possible but a bit more difficult.
You can also set up a plex server on it through the freenas jails.

Would a plex server be easier or harder. Also is their a way for the pc to search through the internet and find say certain movies I am interested in and automatically download them. Oh thanks for the info about the ram, doesn't is matter if its not ECC?

 

[jfat]

1 minute ago, PaddyMully said:

Would a plex server be easier or harder. Also is their a way for the pc to search through the internet and find say certain movies I am interested in and automatically download them. Oh thanks for the info about the ram, doesn't is matter if its not ECC?

 

Plex would probably make the process easier, im not sure on how to set it up myself though so couldnt really guide you on it.

ECC ram isnt necessary, its recommended because with ZFS an error in the memory could cause file corruption. For you use case it probably isnt necessary, depends if you care about your data enough to risk it. If its just stuff you can redownload or whatever I wouldnt care... You should have an extra backup for important stuff anyway.

[mrHoot1]

1 minute ago, PaddyMully said:

Would a plex server be easier or harder. Also is their a way for the pc to search through the internet and find say certain movies I am interested in and automatically download them. Oh thanks for the info about the ram, doesn't is matter if its not ECC?

ECC is mainly used for reliability, so yes it will be important (to a degree) if you're leaving it on 24/7. However, when it comes to streaming apps, I know there are a few other apps like Plex that can stream movies to-and-from a domain. There is an OS called Kodi that does it.

[PaddyMully]

Just now, mrHoot1 said:

ECC is mainly used for reliability, so yes it will be important (to a degree) if you're leaving it on 24/7. However, when it comes to streaming apps, I know there are a few other apps like Plex that can stream movies to-and-from a domain. There is an OS called Kodi that does it.

hmmm So it just depends on which one runs better is it 

 

[mrHoot1]

Yes, and a VPN is recommended when streaming from apps like Kodi.

[PaddyMully]

Just now, mrHoot1 said:

Yes, and a VPN is recommended when streaming from apps like Kodi.

So I'd also have to invest into a VPN then too 

[mrHoot1]

Just now, PaddyMully said:

So I'd also have to invest into a VPN then too 

it's optional, like 2-factor-authentication. So no, you don't have to.

[PaddyMully]

Just now, mrHoot1 said:

it's optional, like 2-factor-authentication. So no, you don't have to.

But I am probably best of doing it 

[Beskamir]

2 hours ago, PaddyMully said:

So I'd also have to invest into a VPN then too 

You can use a VPN for free. Basically if you have a fairly decent router you can host your own vpn on it and then when you connect to it, it basically puts you within your network. I use pfsense and openvpn for when I need to access my home network. Although I basically only use it to access my server but in theory I could access anything else that's on my network.