Pre-Built NAS + Server

[phongle123]

I want to look for a pre-built NAS that also functions as a server for game hosting 24/7. What are those called?

[Oshino Shinobu]

They don't really exist. Most pre-built NAS systems are designed to just be a NAS and maybe a little media server too. 

 

You can just buy or build a server and then set up a NAS and game server on the system. 

[phongle123]

11 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

They don't really exist. Most pre-built NAS systems are designed to just be a NAS and maybe a little media server too. 

 

You can just buy or build a server and then set up a NAS and game server on the system. 

Oh. A friend told me some specific NAS's with the CPU capability can do it.

[Oshino Shinobu]

Just now, phongle123 said:

Oh. A friend told me some specific NAS's with the CPU capability can do it.

Kind of depends. Most pre-built NAS systems are low power and the ones that are higher power tend to be very expensive. 

 

It's better to build or buy a system that isn't locked down in terms of hardware, then set up both a NAS and the server you want. If you find that you need more power later, you can swap out hardware to do it. If you buy a pre-built NAS, you're typically locked into whatever hardware it has when you buy it. 

[phongle123]

14 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Kind of depends. Most pre-built NAS systems are low power and the ones that are higher power tend to be very expensive. 

 

It's better to build or buy a system that isn't locked down in terms of hardware, then set up both a NAS and the server you want. If you find that you need more power later, you can swap out hardware to do it. If you buy a pre-built NAS, you're typically locked into whatever hardware it has when you buy it. 

I would need Windows Server OS to run a NAS + a Gaming Server at the same time? Can FreeNAS OS do this or is FreeNAS just a NAS only OS?

 

Does ECC DDR3 Ram work the same as DDR3 RAM? I would just need a CPU that supports DDR3 ECC memory and it's compatible?

[Oshino Shinobu]

You can actually use Windows Server as a NAS if you want, then run the game server on that. That, or you can use a VM running on Windows Server to have FreeNAS for the NAS part and run the game server either in another VM or on Windows Server. 

 

ECC requires a CPU and motherboard that supports ECC, then it will work. It doesn't work the same as non-ECC RAM, but it's not something that you'll see or have to manage, it's automated and works on its own. 

[phongle123]

Just now, Oshino Shinobu said:

You can actually use Windows Server as a NAS if you want, then run the game server on that. That, or you can use a VM running on Windows Server to have FreeNAS for the NAS part and run the game server either in another VM or on Windows Server. 

 

ECC requires a CPU and motherboard that supports ECC, then it will work. It doesn't work the same as non-ECC RAM, but it's not something that you'll see or have to manage, it's automated and works on its own. 

In a little more detail, what I want in the server is to run as an authenticator and run server sided games for variable in games so they cannot be changed locally. This is something I would need Windows Server for?

 

So I could get some cheap CPU (like a dual core + supporting ECC for both) and 16GB of ECC RAM? Previously I was going to get a Ryzen 7 + GPU because I wanted it to also be a rendering machine so I can use my main machine. But the idle wattage was too high. Would using the combination above (not the Ryzen 7 one) have a good idle wattage? I know it's going to be more. But I don't want it to be like ~60W idle. Considering Pre-Built NAS' idle wattages are ~15W + HDD.

 

What would be the benefit of VM'ing FreeNAS on Windows Server and running the Server on Windows Server? Since I can run both the NAS and Server on Windows Server OS alone.

[Oshino Shinobu]

I can't help too much on the game server side of things, you'd need to either ask on the forum regarding game servers or look at some documentation for the servers you want to run. I'm more familiar with NASes. 

 

You could, but you also need to consider the performance you need. There's going to be a big gap in performance between Ryzen 7 and a low power dual core. It may be worth looking into the used Xeon market, though if you go for an older platform, the cost of compatible motherboards can be quite high. 

 

A Dual core would certainly consume less power at idle and load than a Ryzen 7 CPU (at least, if it's anything remotely recent it will). Pre built NAS systems use CPUs than are almost at the level of mobile CPUs, so they're weak and draw a small amount of power. They wouldn't handle a game server though. 

 

I'm just going to make sure, by game server, you mean that people would connect to the server and play in a map/level hosted by the server. Or do you mean that you store your games on the server and run them from your PC? 

 

FreeNAS is fairly powerful and easy to set up, as it is fundamentally designed to be a NAS, whereas Windows server isn't designed entirely around being a NAS. Virtualisation is also just a good idea for servers anyway as if something on the NAS VM or any other VM goes wrong or needs restarting, you can shut it down and restart it without affecting everything else. If you run everything from Windows Server without VMs, if one thing requires a system restart, everything else will have to go down as well.  FreeNAS is just what I use myself, you could use any NAS OS in a VM. 

[phongle123]

32 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

I'm just going to make sure, by game server, you mean that people would connect to the server and play in a map/level hosted by the server. Or do you mean that you store your games on the server and run them from your PC? 

Simple server sided variable save and load for mobile applications such as In Game Currency or stats. Not for hosting a game server such as Minecraft private server.