Home Server Operative System

[Nocte]

Hello guys,

 

I am planning to build a server with a spare motherboard that I have. Since the motherboard supports Raid 0, 1, and 10 and I need at least 4TB of usable space I planned a to put 4x2TB HDDs in R10.

I will be using the home server as storage for devices inside the house, to access the storage from the internet (password protected and all - doing this with my old NAS already), to stream movies up to 4k to the home theatre, to record security camera footage (1-2 cameras). Multiple devices would be accessing the storage at the same time (e.g. to access *.FLAC music, 4k videos etc.). The server is going to be always turned on.

 

I was planning to install Ubuntu Desktop, but I am not sure as I have never really made a home server before. What would you advice that is capable of doing all of the tasks listed above?

If Ubuntu Desktop is fine, how should I go about setting it up (any links to good guides?)?

 

Would you change any hardware chosen for the build without increasing the price?

I went with the Red HDDs because of heir 5 year warranty, so in case one of them fails I can replace it (and with R10 data shouldn't be lost).

Motherboard and CPU cooler are salvaged from a previous rig.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - A10-9700E 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (€80.94 @ Amazon Italia) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler  (Purchased For €0.00) 
Motherboard: Biostar - X370GTN Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  (Purchased For €0.00) 
Memory: Mushkin - Redline 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (€37.70 @ Amazon Italia) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red Pro 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€126.99 @ Amazon Italia) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red Pro 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€126.99 @ Amazon Italia) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red Pro 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€126.99 @ Amazon Italia) 
Storage: Western Digital - Red Pro 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€126.99 @ Amazon Italia) 
Case: Fractal Design - Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case  (€75.64 @ Amazon Italia) 
Power Supply: be quiet! - Pure Power 10 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€48.29 @ Amazon Italia) 
Total: €750.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-03 01:56 CET+0100

 

Thanks in advance!

[GDRRiley]

some changes. https://it.pcpartpicker.com/list/RxJQjc

better hard drives for the money. use software raid 5 or 6. as for os freeNAS or unraid are popular. 

[Blebekblebek]

That hardware lineup isn't the best option, generally you want decent CPU power and LOADS of ram.

APU is somehow kinda avoided for server or NAS in general because the GPU is quite irrelevant for it, but if you already preowned the motherboard it will work.

 

if you post this spec on freenas forum, you'll get lot's of heat from the userbase, specially ram size.

[Nocte]

8 hours ago, GDRRiley said:

some changes. https://it.pcpartpicker.com/list/RxJQjc

better hard drives for the money. use software raid 5 or 6. as for os freeNAS or unraid are popular. 

The warranty is much shorter though - I won't be using that much space anyway. Since they are going to be left always on chances of failure are higher.

FreeNAS and Unraid don't support applications that I need such as Twonky Server.

7 hours ago, Blebekblebek said:

That hardware lineup isn't the best option, generally you want decent CPU power and LOADS of ram.

APU is somehow kinda avoided for server or NAS in general because the GPU is quite irrelevant for it, but if you already preowned the motherboard it will work.

 

if you post this spec on freenas forum, you'll get lot's of heat from the userbase, specially ram size.

Does it need more RAM than this to do the tasks mentioned above?

I could get 8GB but it seems unnecessary to me.

 

I went with an APU as I can't find anything about making my motherboard work as a headless system (X370 motherboards usually don't boot without a GPU).

[Nocte]

I have just noticed that the Linux version of Twonky server requires Linux (i386) (still 32-bit, really?). Since I am not going to build an Intel machine, I am resorting to using Windows 10 as the OS for the server. I am definitely going to up the RAM to 8GB to do this.

Is it a bad choice? Otherwise I have to resort to a QNAP NAS enclosure, but that would be a waste of money.

[Blebekblebek]

General rule of building NAS is 1GB/TB

and not only that, this server is multitasking, since it will be storage, recording, transcoding, and maybe streaming.

Those tasks loves RAM, and need RAM, but if you think that's unnecessary then good luck.

 

If you think that amount of ram would be unnecessary, maybe try a premade home nas box like synology, it will be better in long run.

 

I challenge you to ask this same question over freenas forum or any server forum and see how they react.

 

 

[Nocte]

28 minutes ago, Blebekblebek said:

General rule of building NAS is 1GB/TB

and not only that, this server is multitasking, since it will be storage, recording, transcoding, and maybe streaming.

Those tasks loves RAM, and need RAM, but if you think that's unnecessary then good luck.

 

If you think that amount of ram would be unnecessary, maybe try a premade home nas box like synology, it will be better in long run.

 

I challenge you to ask this same question over freenas forum or any server forum and see how they react.

 

 

Alright, I will go for one 8GB stick and add a second one once RAM prices drop. Thanks.