Need to build unRAID Server!!

[Donnyp]

I need to get a unRAID server built soon! My main PC now has about 6 hard drives in it, and some of them are starting to make noise and grind. Opening certain folders on some drives causes system to freeze for a bit until I hear a drive spin up and catch up with it.

 

I don't want the hard drive to stop working and lose all my data. I figure If I can back it all up and get a unRAID server up and going, at least I would have some data protection available.

 

It would also allow me to remove most of my drives from my current PC and downsize it. I have 3 media PC's that all link to this computer, so It needs to continually run for them to work. I think a dedicated server would be much easier and less costly to run.

 

I have a newer Antec 300 case thats just sitting here, hasn't even touched yet.

 

Whats some good hardware to get me up and running here? Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

[bkastner]

Hardware requirements are going to depend on what you want to do with the new server.

 

Are you:

1) Just looking for a dumb file server to centralize your data with some parity protection

2) Looking at running features such as SAB, Sickbeard, Plex, MariaDB? If so, plugins or Docker?

3) Looking to do any virtualization over and above the plugins?

 

Given that version 6.0 is what you should be planning your build for you are going to be building a 64-bit system. If you are looking at a dumb file server or plugins such as Sab, Sickbeard and CouchPotato then you would likely get away with a Celeron or low end i3 with 4GB of ram. Even if you want to centralize your database (assuming you are running XBMC on your clients), you are likely still okay with the above.

 

If you want to run Plex, which does server side transcoding of media before streaming to clients, then you will want a higher end i3 or even an i5 processor and would likely want to look at 8GB of memory.

 

If you want to get into virtualization, then you will want more horsepower as you are essentially running multiple computers on one set of hardware.

 

[Donnyp]

Wow, that is lots of great information. I normally just use storage as a main holding tank, per say. I just store data and access it when I need it.

 

I have no idea really on virtualization, or what I would even need/use it for? Any good reasons why I might need it?

 

I used sabNZBD and sickbeard for awhile. Now I mostly just use XBMC and ember to manage everything.

 

I have to use plex, as my apple TV doesn't support running XBMC, all other devices (2 Media PC's and 1 Amazon Fire) all run XBMC.

 

So unless I found a good reason to need VM, I think just a standard storage server is all I would need. I would just like something that is always on, doesn't take much power to run, out of the way, dependable and have plenty of storage space.

 

I would also setup MySQL, so I can link all my XBMC machines to act as one, I dk what hardware/server information I would have to change/add to make that work smoothly.

[bkastner]

Wow, that is lots of great information. I normally just use storage as a main holding tank, per say. I just store data and access it when I need it.

 

I have no idea really on virtualization, or what I would even need/use it for? Any good reasons why I might need it?

 

I used sabNZBD and sickbeard for awhile. Now I mostly just use XBMC and ember to manage everything.

 

I have to use plex, as my apple TV doesn't support running XBMC, all other devices (2 Media PC's and 1 Amazon Fire) all run XBMC.

 

So unless I found a good reason to need VM, I think just a standard storage server is all I would need. I would just like something that is always on, doesn't take much power to run, out of the way, dependable and have plenty of storage space.

 

I would also setup MySQL, so I can link all my XBMC machines to act as one, I dk what hardware/server information I would have to change/add to make that work smoothly.

 

Okay, that all makes sense - except your comments about SAB/SickBeard - since they are used to download content (TV shows for Sickbeard, or movies for CouchPotato), and then XBMC or Plex is used to consume the content. So it's not usually an either or, but a combination of all of them you use (Ember could be skipped if you used SAB/SickBeard they would do the rename and organization for you).

 

So, since you don't need virtualization (which is true for most UnRAID users at this point), you are likely going to look to Docker for plugins - for Plex, MariaDB (for centralized XBMC library) and possibly SAB, Sickbeard and maybe an XBMC instance if you want one to run that updates your libraries automatically.

 

The largest decision point is the number of Plex clients you will need to support - it sounds like one, so likely a mid-range i3 would do you, however if may be worth investing in an i5 to give extra headroom and to cover you in case you needs change (i.e. you want to run Plex on your phone or tablets as well as the ATV device).

 

I would personally likely purchase a mid-range i5 with 8GB of ram (ideally 2 4GB sticks you could expand to 16GB down the road if something new and shiny catches your attention).

 

For drives, I don't know how much data you have, but personally would look at Western Digital Red drives (either 4TB or 6TB drives). You will need two at a minimum - one for parity and one for data. Going to 6TB drives are nice in that you can have 12TB of storage on 2 data drives and still be using the free version of UnRAID, but since they are pretty new you are paying a bit of a price premium on them over the 4TB drives.

 

As for motherboard, you can pick anything you like pretty much as only virtualization has specific requirements.

 

For Power supply, you need to make sure it's a single rail (Corsair are good choices, but others work fine too). If you are only going to start with 2-3 drives, but want some room to grow, I'd likely buy a 600 or 650 watt PSU to be safe.

 

Since UnRAID only uses basic graphics you don't need a video card - just buy a cpu and motherboard that support on-board video and you are good to go.

 

If you are not sure of anything you can always post here with the shopping list of items you are thinking of buying and someone will chime in on whether there are any concerns or not.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[Donnyp]

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($64.99 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($68.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $213.97

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

 

What about this for a setup?

 

Would I need to go with a higher power I5, just in case scenario? When picking motherboard I was going mainly off number of sata ports it had.

[bkastner]

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($64.99 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($68.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $213.97

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

 

What about this for a setup?

 

Would I need to go with a higher power I5, just in case scenario? When picking motherboard I was going mainly off number of sata ports it had.

 

It looks that should easily support a single Plex stream, and possibly two - but borderline. On cpubenchmark.net it's got a score of 3980:

http://cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Pentium+G3258+%40+3.20GHz&id=2267

 

You typically want roughly 2000 per stream.

 

That looks like a good entry model, and being LGA1150 it's current, so if you need to upgrade cpu down the road the rest of your components should be fine.

[Influencer]

If i were you I would go with the best cpu in your price range.  You don't have to use the processing power but it's good to have if you do need it down the road.

 

Yes you can always upgrade later but then that will cost you more and unless you have extra compatible hardware or buy more you will have a cpu collecting dust.

 

Take me for example, I was in the same boat, a few media pcs with one being the storage computer that held all of my harddrives. I built my first unraid server and went low budget because I didn't need all of the back end processing power, my htpcs could handle the formats natively. But it wasn't long before I wanted to do more with the server and needed more power so I ended up upgrading my processor and now I have a barely used lower end processor sitting in my underwear drawer in the packaging my newer faster processor came in.

 

If think you will go past the number of sata ports the mb has I would make sure your pick has atleast one pcie 4x slot or higher. Right now I'm back in the same boat as before, I have a perfectly good motherboard but now I've expanded past the number of ports I have and I don't have room for another expansion card. So now I'm looking for a new motherboard.

 

Basically my advice is thid: before you make your purchase think long and hard about what you want out of the server. Will 6 harddrives be enough for you? With the growing capacities it may very well be enough. Are you going to stick with the media pcs or are you possibly going to replace them with more apple tv devices or rokus. If so more processing power will be needed.

 

I used htpcs exclusively until I built the server. Then I bought a roku to check it out. Now there is one in every room.

 

Again, think about what you will want in a year or two and build accordingly. A little bit extra now can save you in the long run.