Server software questions

[god_bmxes]

Hey guys, I am looking into buling a server in the next little while but I am confused on the software aspect. I wanna run a NAS, Plex Server, and a render/game server on one PC. My question is how would that work with virtualization, how would I remote into them, and is it even possible? I know Linus did some crazy cool stuff with the (insert number of gamers) one CPU stuff but could I do that on a Win 10 or Win server system or would I need to use unRAID?

[Electronics Wizardy]

How much storage do you need?

 

You can use windows server with hyper-v, windows 10, unraid, proxmox, esxi, and others here. 

 

I personally perfer proxmox as its free and has good virtuliaztion features and zfs for storage, but all above will work here. 

 

[sazrocks]

Nothing you listed seems to require a VM, so you can go with pretty much any (I would recommend linux) NAS OS, and just use docker instead of VMs.

[god_bmxes]

I know that Plex doesn't but I thought Freenas needed its own VM. could be wrong  but if I could run everything with no VMs just in Windows or Linux that would be awesome

[Razor Blade]

2 minutes ago, god_bmxes said:

I know that Plex doesn't but I thought Freenas needed its own VM. could be wrong  but if I could run everything with no VMs just in Windows or Linux that would be awesome

FreeNAS is it's own OS. I run FreeNAS in a VM but on a tier 1 hypervisor not Windows...

 

If I could give a piece of advise I wish someone told me when I first started my hobby... If power is expensive where you live like it is where I live and if you're going to have a box that runs 24/7 to run services like NAS, Plex, and maybe a router or something...just build a box that can run efficiently and deliver those services that don't necessarily take a beast of a computer. Then build a second more powerful machine to do things like rendering, game server, and other services you may run occasionally.

 

When I put all my 24/7 services on to a single less power hungry server, I calculated that I will save about $30 per month just in electricity!

[Electronics Wizardy]

17 minutes ago, god_bmxes said:

I know that Plex doesn't but I thought Freenas needed its own VM. could be wrong  but if I could run everything with no VMs just in Windows or Linux that would be awesome

Do you need freeNAS? You can run ontop of almost any linux distro or windows. 

[god_bmxes]

We pay 10.1cent per kWh, not sure if that is expensive as it says it is lower than the national average on  google atleat. But if I were to run one system I could have Free nas in a VM and then Plex as a server on the system and then just use the computer when needed I guess. I thought maybe I could have 3 seperate accessible systems like in tythe multiple gamers one CPU but I guess that is over kill for a server

[god_bmxes]

8 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you need freeNAS? You can run ontop of almost any linux distro or windows. 

I don't need freeNAS, I just want all 3 of those tasks on one computer, a NAS of sorts, a Plex server, and a render machine. so what ever the best option to do that is I would like to do that. Just saw some stuff on FreeNAS and it looks good

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, god_bmxes said:

I don't need freeNAS, I just want all 3 of those tasks on one computer, a NAS of sorts, a Plex server, and a render machine

what are you rendering? 

 

A windows system might be a good solution. Easy to make network share, plex works fine, and should work with your rendering software.

[god_bmxes]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

what are you rendering? 

 

A windows system might be a good solution. Easy to make network share, plex works fine, and should work with your rendering software.

I render gameplay footage to post online and archive, I would rather use dedicated nas service or FreeNAS rather than Windows as want it be be accessible on all devices not just windows and I have had issues with Windoes file sharing plus the stripped homegroup from Win10 now

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, god_bmxes said:

I render gameplay footage to post online and archive, I would rather use dedicated nas service or FreeNAS rather than Windows as want it be be accessible on all devices not just windows and I have had issues with Windoes file sharing plus the stripped homegroup from Win10 now

You can access windows file shares in linux and osx, I do this all the time. Don't use homegroup, just use network shares in folder properties.

 

What programss do you use to render?

[god_bmxes]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You can access windows file shares in linux and osx, I do this all the time. Don't use homegroup, just use network shares in folder properties.

 

What programss do you use to render?

I currently cant get my Win 10 main computer to share files at all and my SP3 either. Looked up guides and all but it has been a hassle and it is stil not working. I am currently using Vegas Pro 14 for editing/rendering

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, god_bmxes said:

I currently cant get my Win 10 main computer to share files at all and my SP3 either. Looked up guides and all but it has been a hassle and it is stil not working. I am currently using Vegas Pro 14 for editing/rendering

So vegas is windows only so you need a windows vm or a windows nas. Since it wants gpu power, your much better running windows on the host.

 

I think your doing something wrong with the shares, I can help set this up if you want, Its normally very simple and works well.

 

 

[god_bmxes]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

So vegas is windows only so you need a windows vm or a windows nas. Since it wants gpu power, your much better running windows on the host.

 

I think your doing something wrong with the shares, I can help set this up if you want, Its normally very simple and works well.

 

 

That would be awesome, I should be able to remote into my home PC as I am at work but I do have my SP3 at work and can show you my settings and what I did

[god_bmxes]

So on my SP3 the sharing settings are Network discovery on, file amnd print sharing is on, and it is that way for the private, guest/public and the all networks tabs. The settings are mimiced on my gaming rig at home. I do see both on the network as a media server but that is all

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, god_bmxes said:

That would be awesome, I should be able to remote into my home PC as I am at work but I do have my SP3 at work and can show you my settings and what I did

If you want file transferrs over wan outsite your local network, its a bit more complicated. 

 

Basically to share a folder do this.

 

First share the folder in folder prperies, go under sharing, advanced sharing, share this folder. 

 

 

 

Find the ip of your system, mine is 192.168.1.200. This is your local ip.

 

 

On anouther system go to map network drive, then \\IPADDRESSOFHOST\SHARENAME(frombefore)

 

Give it the password and username from the host

 

and it should be mounted and you can see and work with all the files.

[god_bmxes]

7 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If you want file transferrs over wan outsite your local network, its a bit more complicated. 

 

Basically to share a folder do this.

 

First share the folder in folder prperies, go under sharing, advanced sharing, share this folder. 

 

 

 

Find the ip of your system, mine is 192.168.1.200. This is your local ip.

 

 

On anouther system go to map network drive, then \\IPADDRESSOFHOST\SHARENAME(frombefore)

 

Give it the password and username from the host

 

and it should be mounted and you can see and work with all the files.

I will follow this and try it tomorrow, alternatively would it be reliable to run FreeNAS in a VM in windows? I have never seen how a windows VM does on a long term use.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, god_bmxes said:

I will follow this and try it tomorrow, alternatively would it be reliable to run FreeNAS in a VM in windows? I have never seen how a windows VM does on a long term use.

vms works fine for the long term, but freenas really won't help you here, and it freenas doesn't like being in a vm without hardware passthough(what hardware). This is a simpler solution that will work just as well.

[god_bmxes]

16 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

vms works fine for the long term, but freenas really won't help you here, and it freenas doesn't like being in a vm without hardware passthough(what hardware). This is a simpler solution that will work just as well.

Will I be able to find the shares on the network not on a Windows device? like a android device

[god_bmxes]

9 minutes ago, god_bmxes said:

Will I be able to find the shares on the network not on a Windows device? like a android device

I should clarify a bit, I want  the NAS for backups and for certain files that I would want on multiple device types. I love the windows sharing for transfering render workloads, although  I dont think I could edit and then render on a seperate machine but I don't know.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, god_bmxes said:

Will I be able to find the shares on the network not on a Windows device? like a android device

Yep, these are cifs shares, any device that can use a cifs share(vlc on phones and tablets can) will work fine. This is the exact same type of share freenas uses.

 

1 hour ago, god_bmxes said:

I should clarify a bit, I want  the NAS for backups and for certain files that I would want on multiple device types. I love the windows sharing for transfering render workloads, although  I dont think I could edit and then render on a seperate machine but I don't know.

You can set it up to edit on your pc, then save and open on the nas and render from there.

[god_bmxes]

8 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Yep, these are cifs shares, any device that can use a cifs share(vlc on phones and tablets can) will work fine. This is the exact same type of share freenas uses.

 

You can set it up to edit on your pc, then save and open on the nas and render from there.

I am about to go to bed but I will set up a share tonight, I am curious though how it would work if you did have say 3 vms on a machine doing three seperate network tasks like one vm running a nas, another running just a PC with a PLex server or some sort, how do they use IP address sharing as it will only have one nic with a MAC address?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, god_bmxes said:

I am about to go to bed but I will set up a share tonight, I am curious though how it would work if you did have say 3 vms on a machine doing three seperate network tasks like one vm running a nas, another running just a PC with a PLex server or some sort, how do they use IP address sharing as it will only have one nic with a MAC address?

The ip address depends on how you set it up, but normally its like  there is a switch and they all get a ip on your local network.

[Jarsky]

19 hours ago, god_bmxes said:

I am about to go to bed but I will set up a share tonight, I am curious though how it would work if you did have say 3 vms on a machine doing three seperate network tasks like one vm running a nas, another running just a PC with a PLex server or some sort, how do they use IP address sharing as it will only have one nic with a MAC address?

 

When you create the VM's you have a Virtual Switch, and each VM has a virtual nic with its own mac address. Make sure at the hypervisor level that its configured in Bridged mode, and then its just like any physical device on your network, and will get it's IP Address & Gateway Address from your DHCP (probably on your Modem/Router).