Building a Plex Appliance


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The configuration you need for a given amount of storage is easy to compute; but in addition to the raw capacity don't forget to also consider how many drives (& thus SATA ports) you need.

 

For example, if you wanted 10TB (clearly that's what you meant when you said 10GB), you could simply use 3 5TB drives -- and would only be using 3 SATA ports and have 3 installed drives.    To do this with 3TB drives, you'd need 5 drives (and would have 12TB) ... and would be using 5 SATA ports and drive slots.  If, for example, you were building that in a mini-ATX form factor that only held 6 drives, the 5TB drives would provide a lot more expandability.

 

As for computational resources => if it's strictly going to be a NAS, a low-power Atom-based setup works great [My trusty little D525-based Supermicro board is perfect for the server it's running];  on the other hand, if you're building a system to run Dockers and VM's, you'll want far more computational "horsepower."

 

You could start another thread if you want to isolate this discussion -- or just leave it here, and (eventually) add some more feedback r.e. the pre-clear results when you have a chance to monitor the actual impact on system resources of adding additional pre-clears.

 

Taking your advice, forking the discussion from (http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=44804.msg427628#msg427628.

 

Yeah, fat fingers, meant 10TB.  So if I'm going to build this system, here's some key features:

 

The idea is to build an 'appliance'.

1. Plex Docker

2. Small Stylish (i.e. fits the typical home theatre room) but inexpensive case. 

3. Prefer a dock for drives (i.e. Icy Dock or something similar) for easy drive swapping.

4. 5 3TB drives best?  (3 - 5TB Hitachi 7200 RPM @$300 = $900 vs 5 3TB Hitachi 7200 drives @ 80 = $450).  Toshiba 5TB @ $150?  Seagate 5TB drives are junk (I have 3, all have had problems).  Hitachi seem to have the best rep according to Backblaze...

5. Wireless LAN Connect? (probably only handle a single stream that way?)

6. Small onboard video, low-power CPU (concern about multiple Plex Streams?)

7. I suppose would need 8 GB Memory at least?

8. Lastly, I'd like to be able to remote into the server should support be required.  Is the best solution a VPN service?  Is there a 'free' way to do this?

 

Other thoughts?

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Just a quick reply to share my experiences over the years... I started with an all-in-one HTPC years ago. Storage & player in the same box. Fast forward 5 years and 42 billion Windows updates later. Now I have a unRaid/Plex server off in my office (where noise and blinking lights is not a problem). In the "theater," I have networked Plex clients: a Dune HD D1 media player, Roku3 and even the Tivo can access Plex (look like cr@p tho lol).

 

I guess what I am trying to say is, if you're planning on using Plex, do a beefier server build for the storage & Plex transcoding heavy lifting. In the viewing area, make use of smaller, lighter, inexpensive clients (think appliance reliable/easy to operate). At my place, the Roku gets the most use; its the daily driver if you will. When I have a nice full byte BR rip, I use the Dune (direct access no transcoding) for the top shelf viewing experience. Best of both worlds and no HTPC to maintain.

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Small stylish cheap case with room for hotswap bays? Those are some words which don't really fit together.

 

Drop the stylish and go for a Silverstone DS380. (yes, that is cheap)

 

Secondly, look for a motherboard with on board wifi or get a USB wifi adapter because you are inevitably going to need that PCI-e slot empty for more sata ports.

 

The Gigabyte GA-H170N-WIFI maybe? AC wifi, 6 sata ports, socket 1151, 2 RAM slots. (do M.2 slots work in Unraid? As cache maybe?)

 

Get a single 8GB RAM stick, that leaves you room to expand.

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Yeah, fat fingers, meant 10TB.  So if I'm going to build this system, here's some key features:

 

The idea is to build an 'appliance'.

1. Plex Docker

2. Small Stylish (i.e. fits the typical home theatre room) but inexpensive case. 

3. Prefer a dock for drives (i.e. Icy Dock or something similar) for easy drive swapping.

4. 5 3TB drives best?  (3 - 5TB Hitachi 7200 RPM @$300 = $900 vs 5 3TB Hitachi 7200 drives @ 80 = $450).  Toshiba 5TB @ $150?  Seagate 5TB drives are junk (I have 3, all have had problems).  Hitachi seem to have the best rep according to Backblaze...

5. Wireless LAN Connect? (probably only handle a single stream that way?)

6. Small onboard video, low-power CPU (concern about multiple Plex Streams?)

7. I suppose would need 8 GB Memory at least?

8. Lastly, I'd like to be able to remote into the server should support be required.  Is the best solution a VPN service?  Is there a 'free' way to do this?

 

Other thoughts?

 

I think you are trying to have it all... so I anticipate you having to make compromises.

 

Questions:

 

How many concurrent HD Plex Streams do you anticipate wanting or needing... a basic rule of thumb is that each 2000 on a cpu benchmark score you add you can handle an additional concurrent HD streams... I would overshoot some, in case you expand your media watching empire later... Plex currently doesn't use GPU's at all to transcode.

 

I would also add a small amount of overhead for docker and other tools you might want to run on your Plex server server...

 

Non-Question Thoughts:

 

IMO it makes no sense to create a Plex Server and then bottleneck it behind wi-fi.

 

What I think is happening here is that your not thinking about the true power of plex yet. Plex is awesome because it allows you to have a beefy computer outside of your theater room to handle the video processing and server functions (Plex Server) and then any old / low end computer hooked up as an HTPC in your theator room (or living room... or whatever...) running Plex Home Theator or Plex Media Player (what will eventually replace Plex Home Theater). You want two devices... one to pitch and one to catch.

 

On top of that you might want your server to have good access to your internet not just your Lan so that you can stream outside of your home when you travel or on phones / ipads etc.

 

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