Home server configuration


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Hi all,

I am considering to build my own home server, however I am not sure what the ideal configuration should be.

I am listing my concerns here, please discard if you feel they are OT in this forum:

1) is there an ideal OS for storing personal music and movies and playing them around the house through other devices? My feeling is that solutions like Unraid would be a bit too much (complexity and customisation) for my daily usage. 

2) I was considering a NAS-oriented OS because that would allow for a raid 5 configuration, is it really the only/best way to get that?

3) My idea is to start with an ssd running the os + a first hdd for the data, waiting for this one to be full before buying the other ones. I wonder however if I need to install all of the disks at the same time;

4) any idea how complex it'd be to install apps such as plex or roon?

 

Thanks!

 

 

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Until you have multiple disks, you don't have RAID of any kind. While not technically RAID, Unraid does provide redundancy with 1 or 2 parity disks, and unlike RAID, you can use disks of different sizes and easily add disks without rebuilding the array.

 

The Unraid OS is installed fresh into RAM from the archives on the boot flash drive at each boot, and runs completely in RAM. Think of it as firmware except much easier to work with. You can use that SSD for pool for faster access for dockers / VMs and for caching writes to user shares.

 

Very easy to install apps. See here for the vast number of apps already available:

https://unraid.net/community/apps

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Thanks a lot, very straightforward.

When speaking about the Unraid Os installed into RAM, do you refer to a specific scenario or is it just the regular Unraid configuration? Meaning won't the OS be permanently hosted on the main disk (ssd in my case) at some point?

Finally, as I am new to this world, I am not familiar with some of the jargon in use. For instance I found the vary last sentence totally obscure.. what do you mean by pool? And what about "caching writes to user shares"?

 

Thanks

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14 minutes ago, Vincenzo said:

won't the OS be permanently hosted on the main disk (ssd in my case) at some point?

No

 

6 hours ago, trurl said:

The Unraid OS is installed fresh into RAM from the archives on the boot flash drive at each boot, and runs completely in RAM.

That flash drive also contains settings you make in the webUI which are reapplied at boot. And it contains your license which is associated with the GUID of that flash drive. Booting from flash is required, but it is just loaded into RAM and runs in RAM.

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17 minutes ago, Vincenzo said:

what do you mean by pool? And what about "caching writes to user shares"?

Latest release candidate supports multiple pools. The original pool was called cache. Before V6 cache was a single disk but now pools can contain multiple disks in various btrfs raid configurations.

 

The original use for cache was to speed up writing since writes to the parity array also update parity at the same time and so are slower than single disk speed. Cached files are later moved to the array according to schedule.

 

There is no striping in Unraid which is how it allows you to mix different sized disks. Each disk is an independent filesystem which can be read all by itself on any Linux. Folders can span disks but files can't. Top level folders spanning disks are User Shares, and they can be configured for access over the network.

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I like this Q- my take:

  1. Best bet is a dedicated NAS- keep it up 24/7 and stable OS with no fuss, and this should be independent to your main desktop environment. (this is why I like using a VM as my main gaming desktop on top of Unraid)
  2. Like @trurl said, you can only do RAID when you have multiple disks (you need at least 3 drives for RAID 5).  You only need any RAID setup for disaster recovery, so if you are not worried about a disk failure wiping your content, you wouldn't need it at all.  Unraid let's you use a few different methods that are "like" RAID, using a "parity drive". 
  3. You don't need to install all disks at the same time no matter what route you take.  I like Unraid because adding/upgrading disks is EASY and SAFE.
  4. Plex is a common use case for Unraid, and it's as easy as searching for "plex" in the app store, which literally sets it up in a Docker container and allows you to access via a browser.  Installing on your own (as in desktop) should be as easy as any other application, too.  I also see roon server, but I never heard of it. (screen shot)

 

Trurl answered the pool and cache questions but, in short, they represent potentially faster and better ways for your NAS to operate.

 

image.thumb.png.ad5a01e83489ceecc7a3998eb8a0703b.png

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Thanks to both, however it seems that the more I get about the specs, the more i wonder why use a dedicated os for my needs.

What if, just for the sake of user-friendliness and personal ability, I opted for a standard linux distribution? What would I miss? Eg: are these versions unable to run parallel disks in raid? Is this a very peculiar feature of nas/server os?

I know I made a reference to "server" in the subject, but I guess that was more about the purpose than the tool itself.

 

Thanks.

 

 

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Only you can chose what is best for you.

Years ago I was using NAS4free. as a DLNA media streamer to my GoogleTV.

Half the time I would have to reboot it to get Fuppies to work. There own forum talked about installing miniDLNA.

But that was not part of the system. It was a embedded install on a CF card. Then it died.

So I tried unRAID version 5. added plugins (minidlna) and it just worked.

They where in development of version 6 with docker support and here we are.

User friendly GUI. Doesn't stripe my data. Can add Drives at will.

If you have a drive failure easy to replace. and your data may still be retrievable from your failed drive.

You could use a old pc Windows or linux and install Plex or minidlna.and stream from there.

Add a raid card your self, use raid on motherboard. if you chose to build your own thing.

The big selling point for me was it was so easy to setup. For someone how doesn't write code.

It is very appliance like. None stripped data.

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@Vincenzo: thurl is right when he says "Until you have multiple disks, you don't have RAID of any kind" (except that Synology doesn't think so---they've invented "RAID Basic" as a marketing name for their one-drive hardware!). But (and I speak as one only dipping an early toe into this UnRAID adventure) you can certainly start with a single drive, as I did about a couple of months ago, and add drives later as your budget and inclinations take you.

 

That single drive won't have any protection except the protection built into the drive. Modern drives actually look after themselves pretty well, and one of the first things you'll start to appreciate about UnRAID is the way it surfaces all the information about the drive's condition. A drive will typically either fail when new or fail when it's getting old (3-5 years, depending on the build quality) and UnRAID guards against that early failure by putting drives through a preliminary "Clear" procedure. Any drive passing that test should be good to go.

 

If you haven't started with a brand new drive, preferably built to enterprise standards, it's a very good idea to add a parity drive before you get serious with your NAS. But you can learn a lot on the nursery slopes with any old drive (that passes Clear) and a free trial licence. The trial licence gives you a month to find your feet, and a three week extension after that is easily added automatically. After that, the cost of the licence depends on the number of disks in your system, but you probably know about all that already.

 

So, yes, my advice is definitely not to feel shy about getting stuck in with a single drive. If you've any previous experience of classic RAID (which, IMHO, really has had its day for domestic and SMB use now that drive capacities are in double digit terabytes) you'll be amazed as I am by the flexibility of UnRAID.

 

-- 

Chris

 

 

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Thanks spazmc + bidmead, 

I delved into the documentation and understood you can indeed add more disks later on.

One final question would be around any need/advantage for ssd unit. Typically one would have os/software on ssd as it speeds up access to such data therefore reducing loading time and so on. Does this make sense with unraid? I mean since there's no os hosted on the hard drives, would it still make sense for a single/faster disk together with standard hdd's?

If I understood correctly, all of the software would be hosted in these so called "dockers", which would then be stored across the several disks like any other data. Is that right?

Thanks again for the kind support and best wishes to all.

 

 

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Thanks both, that makes a lot of sense!

Two questions: how would I set up that ssd? I mean would it be part of the array as any other data disc, and then maybe I just choose to put the docker in there? From the Unraid docs I understand there are no disks left roaming free in the machine, meaning every unit is somehow part of the array, whether for parity, data, cache and so on.

Second Q: what is meant exactly by cache drive in Unraid? Would it be an additional drive that I'd add to the ssd dedicated to dockers?

 

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You're wrong, @Vincenzo, to think that UnRAID makes no provision for drives outside the array. The Unassigned Devices plugin lets you manages such drives and even export them as shares. And the newest version of UnRAID, version 6.9 (currently a release candidate) incorporates unassigned drives more thoroughly into the UnRAID concept without necessarily including them in the parity-protected array. One or more drives can be assembled into pools that behave like single storage devices and can be included in the array or not.

 

Version 6.9 also seems to be generalising the idea of the cache into a special case of a pool. The cache drive (or pair of cache drives) was never part of the array, never a party to the parity checking. As its name implies, is was a "secret pocket", intervening between the source and the sink to help speed up data transfer (partly by being a super-fast drive and partly by not having to participate in CPU-costly parity checking).

 

The cache was simply acting as a proxy for a cached share pending the action of The Mover, which steals up in the night (usually) to move files from where they actually are (on the cache) to where the source thought it had sent them (the target share on the secure array).

 

-- 

Chris

 

 

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On 12/21/2020 at 2:37 PM, Vincenzo said:

Hi all,

I am considering to build my own home server, however I am not sure what the ideal configuration should be.

I am listing my concerns here, please discard if you feel they are OT in this forum:

1) is there an ideal OS for storing personal music and movies and playing them around the house through other devices? My feeling is that solutions like Unraid would be a bit too much (complexity and customisation) for my daily usage. 

2) I was considering a NAS-oriented OS because that would allow for a raid 5 configuration, is it really the only/best way to get that?

3) My idea is to start with an ssd running the os + a first hdd for the data, waiting for this one to be full before buying the other ones. I wonder however if I need to install all of the disks at the same time;

4) any idea how complex it'd be to install apps such as plex or roon?

 

Thanks!

1) best solution here is a cloud streaming service like spotify or apple music or amazon music

2) unraid does not do the RAID as you know it but is great in term of management and simplicity

3) unraid runs from USB

4) unraid is great for apps there is ton to choose from

5) maybe you should consider a synology or qnap if you are not very technicaly skilled person

 

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17 minutes ago, theruck said:

1) best solution here is a cloud streaming service like spotify or apple music or amazon music

@Vincenzo mentions storing personal music and movies. The solutions you propose don't seem to fit the need.

Plex is quite easy to setup for videos and can also handle music. I prefer airsonic for music and it is quite simple to set up also.

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