General advice and buying advice for my first server

[Reva]

Hi,

I´m planning on building my first server and i have realised there is a lot i know very little about, as well as a lot to consider and do in terms of security, reliability and automation.

 

What i plan to do with the server:

Plex for all my movies and tv-shows.

Calibre server + calibre web to access all my e-books.

Use as backup storage for all my familys devices. Sort of like a private dropbox for the family.

 

First of all, is Unraid what i should use? I assume so but am a complete newbie to servers so please tell me.

 

Now to the buying advice, i guess i should start with Intel or Amd? My budget excluding hard drives is around 500 dollars and im only planning  on getting two HDDs at most. Both my up and download speed is about 100 Mbps. I´ve read that intel quicksync is great and basically makes a gpu for the server unnecessary since it can easily handle transcoding. But will the server even need to transcode if i have that upload speed? I will (try) to run plex and calibre in docker but other than that and using the server for letting my family backup their devices i can´t think of any other important or processing intensive things it will do.

 

Please let me know if there is anything else i should add, thanks in advance!

Edited September 17, 2021 by Reva

[Reva]

Anyone who could give me some advice?

[sheldz8]

Hi,
I´m planning on building my first server and i have realised there is a lot i know very little about, as well as a lot to consider and do in terms of security, reliability and automation.
 
What i plan to do with the server:
Plex for all my movies and tv-shows.
Calibre server + calibre web to access all my e-books.
Use as backup storage for all my familys devices. Sort of like a private dropbox for the family.
 
First of all, is Unraid what i should use? I assume so but am a complete newbie to servers so please tell me.
 
Now to the buying advice, i guess i should start with Intel or Amd? My budget excluding hard drives is around 500 dollars and im only planning  on getting two HDDs at most. Both my up and download speed is about 100 Mbps. I´ve read that intel quicksync is great and basically makes a gpu for the server unnecessary since it can easily handle transcoding. But will the server even need to transcode if i have that upload speed? I will (try) to run plex and calibre in docker but other than that and using the server for letting my family backup their devices i can´t think of any other important or processing intensive things it will do.
 
Please let me know if there is anything else i should add, thanks in advance!

You can use Nextcloud for local cloud or use rclone and set up your cloud drive.

If you don't want to use a gpu for plex transcoding you need a good CPU. My i7 8700k can't handle 4k hdr and always forces transcoding.

My nvidia gpu for some reason doesn't work with plex.

I used to use Ubuntu Server but since moving to Unraid I don't regret it. Unraid is more flexible.

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