sanfark

For sure. I'm actually in the middle of rebuilding the server as I am currently running an AMD Athlon X2 in a somewhat warm room, it can't even handle a large file transfer while streaming a direct stream without crossing the 60 degree alarm, which for some reason, I cannot find where I set it now. I am curious as to why Plex was 'detecting intros' in the middle of the night. This does not seem normal to me and come to think of it, this has happened a year or two ago as well and just stopped.

Well, it happened again last night. Woke me up at 4am with cpu heat alarm going off. I logged onto the server and found Plex was detecting intros to a library! I restarted the plex service to stop it. Not sure why it's doing that every night though. I grabbed the diagnostictower-diagnostics-20240718-0828.zip Hopefully there is something glaring as to why this is occurring. Luckily my CPU heats up so much that the alarm goes off otherwise I never would have known this was happening

I am under the impression that we can share our plex servers with friends (hence the add friends function). I guess if it gets too big one would be outside copyright law? I know some people have 5, 10, 20, 30 friends they share with.

Is this a global option to cache to RAM? Would be great to cache a video to RAM, I agree, but not if it caches everything to RAM, that would suck. Specifically your 30 people watching 30 movies scenario.

Great scenario. That is exactly the scenario I imagined. 1. If I pre transcode the files, then I will have two copies in my library, which is annoying and ugly and space consuming. I want to make sure I have the best possible quality for myself and those who do not require the transcode, which would mean keeping the original larger file 2. Is there a cache option, where, if the system notices something is being played often, it can dump the files to an NMVe drive and simply serve it from there? Essentially removing the mechanical HDD from the equation? Or what about caching to RAM? Is there a setting where this could be done? I could just buy more RAM...

Why the increase in RAM. You're suggesting 32GB?

I just edited my post but also checked the scheduler. There is a mover, which I don't know what it is or why it's there but the time does not add up. My high CPU started at 2:53 but this scheduler is set for 3:40

This has happened for a few nights now. My room is slightly warm and I am running an old AMD X2 that has does have heat issues when two or more people are streaming plex, or when streaming plex and transferring a large amount of files to Unraid. That being said, why is this 2am 100% cpu happening now? Three nights in the past 7 days. I have checked netdata and it states that the 'nice' process is running at 95%. Having troubles determining what this 'nice' process/dimension is. It's not being very nice. system.softriqs also had a high usage of one dimension at that time, called 'RCU' Network inbound/outbound was minimal, in the 10-15kbps range. Disk reads were a little strange. Oscillating between 0MBps - 4.5MBps I also checked 'plex activity' in the gui and no user attempted to reach the server Application found! Wtf is Media? Also, the user 'nobody' was running at 90% during this time as well, I assume Media is owned by Nobody How do I know what 'Media' did and why?

Rebuilding Parts: Define 7 case Motherboard: ASRock Z690 Pro RS LGA 1700 CPU: Intel Core i3-12100 - GPU w QuickSync should handle dozens of transcodes RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 Disks: 5x but mostly HGST Ultrastar 8TB (One Parity drive) & 1x WD Blue (will be upgrading/adding more) PSU: Seasonic FOCUS GX-750 10gpbs NIC 10gpbs switch 1.5gpbs fibre internet connection Average file size 5GB - 30GB No 4K, no HDR, no DoVi. Friends are a mix of Shield owners and 'who knows what they use' owners. What features/functionality I really should be implementing to ensure success as I am not a total newb, but a simply layman +1 intelligence. Concerns/thoughts I have no answers to: HDD: Can mechanical HDD handle so many people accessing the drive. Imagine if 40 people just so happen to access data that's on a single drive, can an HDD handle this? HDD: Can we mitigate this somehow? CACHE: Do I need cache NMVe? What for? How much? Can it help store files people access as in if someone is watching a series, can Plex auto load a season into cache ahead of time? RAM: Is there a way to utilize RAM for anything? Return 16GB and upgrade to 32GB? File Optimization: Store metadata on Plex app data somewhere else? Does this optimize?

Rebuilding my Unraid server I already purchased parts for 5 days ago (still have 25 days to return). Big ask to help with this but maybe it's pretty simple.... Goal: Plex server that can host a minimum mix of 40-50 streams/transcodes or more Fully optimized Doesn't do much else but store some pictures and ftp etc Parts: Define 7 case Motherboard: ASRock Z690 Pro RS LGA 1700 CPU: Intel Core i3-12100 - GPU w QuickSync should handle dozens of transcodes RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 Disks: 5x but mostly HGST Ultrastar 8TB (One Parity drive) & 1x WD Blue (will be upgrading/adding more) PSU: Seasonic FOCUS GX-750 10gpbs NIC 10gpbs switch 1.5gpbs fibre internet connection How system will function: Implement Sonarr to download TV shows (I will figure this out later) I currently curate movie selections (only great stuff) and download to main windows PC and simply transfer them over to Unraid Average movie size 5GB - 30GB depending on awesomeness No 4K, no HDR, no DoVi. Users will be a mix of Shield owners and 'who knows what they use' owners. I would like to ask the community what features/functionality I really should be implementing to ensure success as I am not a total newb, but a simply layman +1 intelligence. Concerns/thoughts I have no answers to: HDD: Can mechanical HDD handle so many people accessing the drive if 40 people just so happen to access data that's on a single drive? HDD: Can we mitigate this somehow? CACHE: Do I need cache NMVe? What for? How much? Can it help store files people access as in if someone is watching a series, can Plex auto load a season into cache ahead of time? RAM: Is there a way to utilize RAM for anything? Return 16GB and upgrade to 32GB? File Optimization: Store metadata on Plex app data somewhere else? Does this optimize? Logging/Testing Once Built: Will be running a trial period and slowly add groups of 20 ppl. Unknown number of streams vs transcodes. How to log/track this for review? What else to watch for? If you have any insight on the above parts/concerns or have built a full streaming server; your insight would be greatly appreciated. If anyone really knows their shit (hi jorge lol) and willing to do a short google-meet phone call I can send some paypal your way to show my gratitude as well. I am a no bullshit guy and I really want to get this right from the beginning and not have to keep buying new parts or keep reconfiguring. Basically, how would you do it?

Finally rebuilding my 12 yr old Unraid server designed for Plex New Setup: ASRock Z690 Pro RS LGA 1700 Intel Core i3-12100 8x Ultrastar HGST Drives (always spinning) 16GB DDR4 of some random G.Skills RAM (3200) 10gbps PCIe nic PCI3 SATA Controller (in the future) The PSU seems to be the most confusing choice. Can someone give me a hand her please?

The more I read the more I see no reason for using a GPU for multiple transcodes if building a new server from scratch. Most CPUs can handle dozens of transcodes so it seems like a GPU is not worth the cost Unless we take into account that if I ever need to upgrade from say, 10-15 streams to 30 streams, then I could have started with a basic CPU and a decent GPU and when upgrade time comes I could simply swap out the GPU and keep the 5-10yrs old CPU/MOBO in tact.

Wow such empty. Bump?

I am starting to get more and more interest in my Plex server (I should stop talking about it). My server is approx 16 years old running AM2+ MOBO, just upgraded RAM to 8GB DDR2 and running a AMD Phenom X2 with no video card. I would like to upgrade to something more current. The server is just file storage and Plex, nothing else really. How would you go about building something that can satisfy multiple 4K transcodes? Say, 10 or even 20? If I were to hand out my Plex to users, I do not want them to have to go and buy special hardware (Nvidia Shield). I am no longer well versed in the world of GPUs/CPUs and how the different Intel/AMD technologies mesh together for greater efficiency, specifically for Plex and offering transcodes) Intel vs AMD (which ones? How to choose?) GPU vs no GPU (which ones and why? If GPU=yes, would any ol' cheap but current CPU be sufficient at that point?) How many streams could one get on a decent CPU without GPU, if it's 10-20 then I am happy with that. If not, then we have to go GPU. This may be a big ask because I don't know what I don't know, but I assume this isn't that hard of a recommendation to make from the hobbyists on here

It used to be part of the array and I replaced it with a larger 6TB disk. Then I bought the SATA controller and added the disk back into the server. Added it to the array and Unraid began wiping it (took like 24 hrs). Once complete it shows as unmountable. I thought the wiping of the disk was the same as formatting. I need to run the format?

Looks like the drive is part of the array now but after the pre-clear of the drive it is unmountable. How to fix this. If it is not fixable how can I remove this drive from the array and toss it?

Thanks. Sent you a small token for helping me out lately. I will add this disk to the array and keep an eye out for new errors. The fact that the SMART passed OK means they were there before? They may have been....This drive has been pulled out of the array for over a year so I do not remember.

I just installed a MZHOU 2 SATA Expansion Card, PCI-E 3.0 GEN3 JMICRON + JMB582 Chip (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B099ZCXJLQ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) I then reinstalled a drive I had sitting on a shelf that used to be part of the array and the moment I spun up the server the drive has a SMART Error: 187 Reported uncorrect 0x0032094094000 Old age Always Never 6 I have not yet assigned this disk because of this error, I came straight to the forum. How serious is this? How can I tell if it the drive or the controller I just installed? I also have two other drives with the: 199 UDMA CRC error count 0x000a200200000 Old age Always Never 2 I have read that these are generally not a concern and are due to bad sata cables (my motherboard is approx 15 years old though), I have just changed both of those cables. SMART test on the dev1 drive has completed without error attched. I don't understand how that is possible since we know there is an error ST4000DM000-1F2168_Z300G774-20240417-2027.txt

Excellent. That being said, would be be unwise to over provision your PCIe x1 throughput by adding more disks than you have throughput? for example using a 4 port SATA controller on PCI 1.0. If you leave your parity drive on MOBO dedicated SATA and your cache on MOBO dedicated SATA, one would believe it is fine to over provision or am I missing something? I am trying to think of a scenario where all disks are read/writing at once; then over provisioning would be unwise. Parity check perhaps?

TY! I believe my MOBO may be using PCIe 1.0 (250MB/s). My question is, when you use a SATA controller how are the lanes split? Are the lanes split evenly even if only one port is in use? Or are they split only if you use more than one SATA port? Another way of putting it: I install a 2 port sata controller, does each port receive 125MB/s dedicated or if I decide to only install one disk and only use one port will it receive the full 250MB/s while other port with no disk currently uses 0MB/s?

Are we still recommending this controller for Unraid as of today? I am in need of an extra SATA port (or two) for my PCIe 1x slot. MOBO GA-MA785GM-UD2H-rev-10, very old but solid as a rock and I assume the PCIe x1 is ver 1.0, hence a 2 port controller is sufficient.

About to watch the video but want to ask 'why use SAS expander if you are using SATA drives?' What is the purpose of this and not just use a SATA expander? If the SATA drive has a read/write of 120MB/s, what does using a SAS HBA vs a SATA HBA on SATA drives do?

Bump. Should I get a SATA expander? If so, where do the extra power cables come from? How do people normally power 14 HDD with your average PSU? I have not seen a PSU with 14 HDD cables. Clearly I would love some assistance with rejigging my rig

Rebuilding my 14 yr old unraid server because I don't want to keep upgrading my drives (running GIGABYTE AM2 MOBO with only 5 SATA ports, built to last!). Rather, I would like to start expanding my array with more drives. Wondering what the best option would be in terms of upgrading for minimum 10 drives. Should I just get a new case/MOBO/CPU etc? Seems like over kill since everything is working well. What would you guys do?

Is there any way to see the activity so I can determine what I just deleted?