HELP with a 24/7 Streaming NAS/Server build!

[TechniLog]

Hello everyone! 

 

I'm currently running 4 24/7 youtube live streams on OVH.com VPN's, they work perfectly for my needs but the streams always "crash" and the streams are continuously interrupted. So I was thinking that instead of renting servers for $100 a month, why not spend some extra money and build a server at home in which I can do the same thing with which are more reliable?

 

Now I'm not at all educated in this regard, I've only built two PC's for myself and never a server so I have no idea what's good for what. What I would like to do is to have OBS installed and running 24/7 with and MP3 on loop and an image/video shown on loop as well doesn't have to be HD quality. I've tried to search for this information but I don't understand it. Can I do this with a NAS? Or do I have to build a server?

 

If I can do it with a NAS then I'd love to if I could get some instructions on what to buy for this purpose. If I have to build a server myself and like a server rack, I'd not mind that either but what do I need for parts? I'd love instructions here as well if possible. Also, could it be possible to run 4 streams from 1 server or would I have to have 4 separate NAS/servers? I wouldn't mind if it was possible to have a server rack with 4 servers in which have one stream each on them, I'd just need to access them and manage OBS.

 

TL;DR

Can I run a 24/7 youtube music stream on a NAS or do I need a server and what do I need to build either of them for this purpose? 

 

I'm grateful for any help with this as you'd do me a hell of a service!

[PeachyUwUSenpai]

the server designation more donotes the function of the device then what it is you could make a server with off the shelf computer parts which may be the best method for you. the other option is there tends to be server recyclers in every city so you could get a server from them with a redundant power supply ILO and some decent specs for about 200 - 400.  

[Electronics Wizardy]

Budget?

 

Id get a lower end server and run vms for each stream.

 

 

I would render a server though if you can, there normally a good amount more reliable and its more secure from things like a ddos.

[TechniLog]

Just now, Alaradia said:

the server designation more donotes the function of the device then what it is you could make a server with off the shelf computer parts which may be the best method for you. the other option is there tends to be server recyclers in every city so you could get a server from them with a redundant power supply ILO and some decent specs for about 200 - 400.  

2

 

So basically build a low budget pc and run it of there?

[TechniLog]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Budget?

 

Id get a lower end server and run vms for each stream.

 

 

I would render a server though if you can, there normally a good amount more reliable and its more secure from things like a ddos.

Budget is maybe around $200 but I could go higher if I needed, though if I need 4 of them I'd like to keep the costs down to a minimum. Can you elaborate on rendering a server? I don't think I understand what that means.

[PeachyUwUSenpai]

yeah im not sure exactly what content your streaming but id probably use a red/nas hard drive and something like a i5 maybe even an i3 since its just a static image with a mp3 right? 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, TechniLog said:

Budget is maybe around $200 but I could go higher if I needed, though if I need 4 of them I'd like to keep the costs down to a minimum. Can you elaborate on rendering a server? I don't think I understand what that means.

200 is a bit low. For that much Id just buy a used system like a used optiplex. 

 

You can rent a server from places like aws/digital ocean/google/microsoft and you can probably do this for about $10 a month.

[TechniLog]

1 minute ago, Alaradia said:

yeah im not sure exactly what content your streaming but id probably use a red/nas hard drive and something like a i5 maybe even an i3 since its just a static image with a mp3 right? 

 

 

Basically, a static image with an mp3 on loop, if possible I'd upgrade to video but if it'll keep the costs down I'll settle for an image. 

Can I buy a server chassis and put it in a server rack? I'd rather have that than 4 PC's standing around in my apartment lol. And just put in a hard drive with an i3? Then do it all again with 3 more when I can afford?. What do I need exactly, like I get that it needs a PSU but how big and what GPU should I get in that case. I don't know if there are special parts for servers or if I can just get tons of low budget PC parts? And what OS?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, TechniLog said:

 

Basically, a static image with an mp3 on loop, if possible I'd upgrade to video but if it'll keep the costs down I'll settle for an image. 

Can I buy a server chassis and put it in a server rack? I'd rather have that than 4 PC's standing around in my apartment lol. And just put in a hard drive with an i3? Then do it all again with 3 more when I can afford?. What do I need exactly, like I get that it needs a PSU but how big and what GPU should I get in that case. I don't know if there are special parts for servers or if I can just get tons of low budget PC parts? And what OS?

No reason to have 4 pcs, you can do this all on one pc, use vms if needed.

 

You really dont need a gpu here.

 

If you want a cheap(ish) fast rack mount server look for something like a r710 on ebay.

[TechniLog]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

200 is a bit low. For that much Id just buy a used system like a used optiplex. 

 

You can rent a server from places like aws/digital ocean/google/microsoft and you can probably do this for about $10 a month.

3

What is an optiplex?

 

I rent VPN's from OVH which they said would do fine for what I use them for... but they aren't and I pay almost $100 a month for my 4 VPN's which is quite expensive for something that's this unreliable. I was thinking it'd be cheaper to buy 4 servers than pay $100/month, so I could go up a bit in price but whatever the price is I gotta multiply it with 4 x)

[TechniLog]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

No reason to have 4 pcs, you can do this all on one pc, use vms if needed.

 

You really dont need a gpu here.

 

If you want a cheap(ish) fast rack mount server look for something like a r710 on ebay.

Obviously, I'm a total beginner at this and thank you for putting up with my stupid questions but what is a VMS?

 

I found something called "Toten 10'' wall rack" and I was thinking I could have one of those with servers in it, would that work?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, TechniLog said:

What is an optiplex?

 

I rent VPN's from OVH which they said would do fine for what I use them for... but they aren't and I pay almost $100 a month for my 4 VPN's which is quite expensive for something that's this unreliable. I was thinking it'd be cheaper to buy 4 servers than pay $100/month, so I could go up a bit in price but whatever the price is I gotta multiply it with 4 x)

You sure you buying a vpn? That company sells VPS or remote servers mostly. And your option seems kinda overkill, the one for $7 a month should handle one stream fine, so $28 total. What plan are you using now?

 

Id just get a single r710 if you have a rack, 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R710-12-Core-Server-16GB-RAM-2x300GB-2-5-SAS-iDRAC6-PERC6i/172143267111?epid=219506227&hash=item281489cd27

 

if you don't have a rack, id get this

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiplex-9020-SFF-Intel-i5-4570s-2-90GHz-8GB-1TB-Windows-10-Pro/123287588082?hash=item1cb4834cf2%3Ag%3Aos4AAOSwa~JbR8ly&_sacat=0&_nkw=dell+optiplex+9020&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1311.R1.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xdell+optiple+90.TRS0

 

both of the above can run 4 streams fine.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, TechniLog said:

Obviously, I'm a total beginner at this and thank you for putting up with my stupid questions but what is a VMS?

 

I found something called "Toten 10'' wall rack" and I was thinking I could have one of those with servers in it, would that work?

vms is virtual machines, it lets one system act like multple.

 

You don't want servers in a wall rack normally, these are mostly for switches and patch panels.

[TechniLog]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You sure you buying a vpn? That company sells VPS or remote servers mostly. And your option seems kinda overkill, the one for $7 a month should handle one stream fine, so $28 total. What plan are you using now?

 

Id just get a single r710 if you have a rack, 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R710-12-Core-Server-16GB-RAM-2x300GB-2-5-SAS-iDRAC6-PERC6i/172143267111?epid=219506227&hash=item281489cd27

 

if you don't have a rack, id get this

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiplex-9020-SFF-Intel-i5-4570s-2-90GHz-8GB-1TB-Windows-10-Pro/123287588082?hash=item1cb4834cf2%3Ag%3Aos4AAOSwa~JbR8ly&_sacat=0&_nkw=dell+optiplex+9020&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1311.R1.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xdell+optiple+90.TRS0

 

both of the above can run 4 streams fine.

1

Oh right, VPS that's what they're called! VPN is a totally different thing, sorry! I've tried the cheaper options but they're so slow and crash so often I went with the £16 model and I have windows instead of the cheaper Linux since I don't know a thing about Linux and I'm used to windows. OVH's VPS suck from my experience and their track record isn't good with all the downtime my streams have.

 

I don't have a rack. So you think that an Optiplex with VMS would do fine to run the streams and all? Even if I wanted to add more of them?

[Electronics Wizardy]

28 minutes ago, TechniLog said:

I don't have a rack. So you think that an Optiplex with VMS would do fine to run the streams and all? Even if I wanted to add more of them?

that optiplex should handle a few streams, its not the fsatest though. You can always add more if needed.

 

If you want a system with more cpu power, look at something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-POWEREDGE-T610-Server-Quad-Core-2x-X5560-2-80GHz-48GB-RAM-DVD-RW-NO-HDD/232823478257?epid=2198672177&hash=item36355c57f1%3Ag%3AtSYAAOSwZb5bM-NV&_sacat=0&_nkw=dell+poweredge+t610&_from=R40&rt=nc&LH_TitleDesc=0

 

Its a bit more expensive, but has a lot of cpu power and ram. It does need a ssd(or hdd, but there much slower)

[PeachyUwUSenpai]

8 hours ago, TechniLog said:

Oh right, VPS that's what they're called! VPN is a totally different thing, sorry! I've tried the cheaper options but they're so slow and crash so often I went with the £16 model and I have windows instead of the cheaper Linux since I don't know a thing about Linux and I'm used to windows. OVH's VPS suck from my experience and their track record isn't good with all the downtime my streams have.

 

I don't have a rack. So you think that an Optiplex with VMS would do fine to run the streams and all? Even if I wanted to add more of them?

if you want to add more you could do a ryzen or thread ripper or a i7 or i9 build then run either windows with virtual box or limtech unraid or proxmox or esxi