How to upgrade my Mini-ITX server for using Docker?

[Evin]

Hi everyone!

I'm using a Fractal Array R2 Mini-ITX and the X7SPA with an Intel Atom D510 and an old version of unRAID (5.0-rc8a).

Parity: 3TB Western Digital WD30EZRX

Storage: 1x Western Digital WD30EZRX 3TB and 2x Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB

I used it mainly as fileserver for photos and movies without any fancy extras or automation. But now I discovered sonarr / radarr and love it.

 

But what are my options?

 

 

The Atom D510 would by enough to use unRAID 6 , but is it sufficient for Docker and Sonarr/Radarr? If not, I could still buy a new Mini-ITX-Board and a 8 TB WD Red for parity and a second one for storage. My existing drives would be extra storage I would get 18TB (8+3+3+2+2) usable storage.

 

To be honest, a few years ago, I loved tinkering with different stuff but in the meantime I really enjoy hassle free hardware which draws me in the direction of Synology. But unRAID worked for YEARS without a problem and I guess there are a lot of new features for unRAID 6 worth to check out. 

 

What's your valued opinion on this problem?

 

 

 

[Hoopster]

On 8/12/2018 at 12:24 AM, Evin said:

Hi everyone!

I'm using a Fractal Array R2 Mini-ITX and the X7SPA with an Intel Atom D510 and an old version of unRAID (5.0-rc8a).

Parity: 3TB Western Digital WD30EZRX

Storage: 1x Western Digital WD30EZRX 3TB and 2x Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB

I used it mainly as fileserver for photos and movies without any fancy extras or automation. But now I discovered sonarr / radarr and love it.

 

But what are my options?

 

 

The Atom D510 would by enough to use unRAID 6 , but is it sufficient for Docker and Sonarr/Radarr? If not, I could still buy a new Mini-ITX-Board and a 8 TB WD Red for parity and a second one for storage. My existing drives would be extra storage I would get 18TB (8+3+3+2+2) usable storage.

 

To be honest, a few years ago, I loved tinkering with different stuff but in the meantime I really enjoy hassle free hardware which draws me in the direction of Synology. But unRAID worked for YEARS without a problem and I guess there are a lot of new features for unRAID 6 worth to check out. 

 

What's your valued opinion on this problem?

 

 

 

 

The case specs say you have room for up to six 3.5" HDD and one SSD, so, you have room to grow that way. 

 

I have personally never had an unRAID system built around an Atom CPU, however, there are several users in these forums who have/had such systems.  Perhaps one of them can give you a better idea of exactly what it can handle and when the line is crossed that requires additional CPU power.  Frankly, it is my sense of things that in the old days of unRAID (before version 6), the Atom was a very capable processor for a NAS-only build.  With the introduction of dockers and VMs, the Atom quickly became under-powered.

 

Both of my unRAID systems (see my signature - you have to enable signatures in your account settings if you can't see them) are Mini-ITX builds.  One is Xeon-based and the other uses a Haswell i5 processor.  Both can handle multiple dockers just fine.  My original build had an i3 and 4GB RAM. You don't say how much RAM you have, but, just for dockers (no VMs), I suggest you should have at least 8GB RAM.  My two systems have 32GB (I run a couple of lightly-used VMs on this one) and 16GB.  That much is not always needed, but, I like having the headroom of more RAM. Some people in these forums have dual-Xeon beasts with 20+ processing cores and 64-128 GB RAM.  These systems run multiple high-powered VMs.

 

If you want to run a handful of dockers (Sonarr/Radar/Plex or Emby/OpenVPN, etc.) I would look for a Mini-ITX board that supports an Intel i5 and DDR3 RAM. DDR4 is crazy expensive right now. You will probably need new RAM since your old board uses DDR2 SO-DIMMs.

 

You don''t have to break the bank for a decent build (unless you want the latest and greatest tech) that will still give you some expandability options.  If you get a decent motherboard and outgrow the i5, you can upgrade to an i7 and run a VM or two if you wish.

 

Take a look at my backup build in my signature for one example.

 

Another option is to build around AMD Ryzen; for example, the Ryzen 2600 would be a great option, but, that means DDR4 RAM

 

unRAID 6 is very stable.  If you aren't concerned about VMs and hardware passthrough which adds some complexity, and usually means you need more PCIe slots than you will find on a Mini-ITX board,  you can build a very capable server for NAS and dockers and I think you will find it will be very stable, yet also provide for some future expandability and flexibility.

 

The "downside" for most people with commercial NAS systems like Synology and QNAP is the underpowerd hardware for the price and the lack of flexibility in expanding the storage array.  However, they are just the thing for many people.  Only you can decide what is most important to you.

[Evin]

Thx for the detailed reply!

 

As for now I think I will try to upgrade to unRaid6. Maybe the Atom and 4gb Ram are enough to run Sonarr and Radarr. I don't intend to run more than those two applications. 

[Hoopster]

8 hours ago, Evin said:

Thx for the detailed reply!

 

As for now I think I will try to upgrade to unRaid6. Maybe the Atom and 4gb Ram are enough to run Sonarr and Radarr. I don't intend to run more than those two applications. 

 

Well, I assumed you would be like everyone else that upgrades to unRAID 6 with the intention of running just a few specific dockers and then discovers everything unRAID 6 can do.  All of a sudden their system is not sufficient to run everything they have discovered they can now do and the hardware upgrade bug bites them. I was just trying to save you from the first pangs of hardware remorse.

 

Obviously, the first step is to just upgrade to unRAID 6 and see if your current hardware can handle what you want to do.  If you really are disciplined enough to stick to just one or two dockers, perhaps the OS upgrade is all you need.

[Evin]

Upgraded yesterday, everything worked fine.

 

Sabnzbd, Sonarr and Radarr are running just fine. Average CPU-Load is around 50%, RAM-Usage at ~60%. Haven't been testing how long it takes for Sabnzbd to verify and unzip files though.

 

But I think you are right, in time I will upgrade (or build a second server) with more powerfull specs...  

[Compass]

Hey, see my sig, I've been running this for years, it just works.