Hi all,

I’ve recently started thinking if setting up a basic home server to use as a NAS for emby for use over local network.

I’ve read the budget build but still have a few questions as it’s my first server and Nas setup I will be doing so I may get a few things wrong.

I’m thinking of using a dell t100v2 3.1ghz Xeon processor, 12gb of ram, standard psu, graphics etc.
Wanting to add 3 or possibly 4 3tb wd green caviar HDDs, using one drive for parity, so data on other discs is shared over all the drives.
I’m wanting to run unraid so should one drive begin to fail I can swap the dieing drive to a new one and not lose my media/data.
I’m thinking of using unraid for my 0S
The questions I have are:
Is the above spec okay or is something likely to be an issue?
Will I need a raid card?
Do I need an SSD for cache ?

As I say I’m new to this so if I have made an obvious error I would sooner ask and know now before I start buying things. It will only be Nas really over local network

Thanks

13 minutes ago, Pluggy said:

Will I need a raid card?

Unraid is NOT RAID, and RAID cards are NOT recommended for a number of reasons.

 

13 minutes ago, Pluggy said:

Do I need an SSD for cache ?

SSD in cache gives some benefit to dockers since the can be configured to run from the faster cache and not keep array disks spinning.

 

15 minutes ago, Pluggy said:

It will only be Nas

15 minutes ago, Pluggy said:

a NAS for emby

So I am assuming it will be NAS but also taking advantage of docker hosting capability of Unraid.

Thanks for fast reply, thanks for clearing these points up for me, trying to make sense of what I'm wanting to do is a little confusing as I'm learning as i go. 

 

The SSD cache drive, could that possibly be added at a later time or would that mean having for format drives etc? 

 

Sorry if I caused confusion, if unraid has a docker for emby then yes, possibly other docker options depending on what unraid supports but at the minute I'm trying to keep things simple.

 

So with the setup I've put together there shouldn't be a problem in regards to configuration and my main usage intentions?

 

Thanks

 

7 minutes ago, Pluggy said:

SSD cache drive, could that possibly be added at a later time

It is simpler if you install it before enabling the docker service. That way all those associated files get created on SSD cache. If you enable docker before installing cache, then they will get created on the array and it takes a few steps to get all that moved to cache. But it is not that complicated to work through.

5 minutes ago, Pluggy said:

if unraid has a docker for emby then yes, possibly other docker options depending on what unraid supports

You should install the Community Applications plugin, then use it to help you install any other plugin or docker. Unraid currently has 775 dockers and plugins listed on the Apps page.

55 minutes ago, Pluggy said:

a dell t100v2

I'm not personally familiar with the details. Do you have a link with the specs?

1 minute ago, trurl said:

Unraid currently has 775 dockers and plugins listed on the Apps page.

And supports any given random container on dockerHub.

Sorry for the typo, 

Meant to be dell poweredge t110ii 

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=dell+poweredge+110+v2+spec&oq=dell+powe&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l3j69i57j69i60.2958j0j9&client=ms-android-cubot&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 

There's a pdf on the dell website. 

 

Okay so I will just get an SSD and set it all up correctly from the get go. Never realised unraid had so many dockers

The machine is a dell poweredge t110ii 

 

The board and chassis can take:

x4 HDDs 

X2 optics drives

X1 305w psu

 

I'm just wondering, if I had x4 HDDs, one parity, SSD for cache. 

 

Would it possible, as there is only 4hdds slots available, to put the SSD in place of the second optical drive, so final setup would be,

 

Four HDDs 

One optical drive

One SSD where second optical drive would be. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18 hours ago, Pluggy said:

One SSD where second optical drive would be. 

If you've got a SATA port to plug the SSD into, there should be no problem.

 

You'll have a 2.5" device going into a spot where a 5.25" device is designed to go, though, so you'll need a mounting adapter. You can plan for expansion and get a 4 by 2.5" caddy that will fit in and give you room for 3 future SSD/laptop sized spinners, or you can get a 5.25" to 2.5" adapter to put just the single drive in there.

 

Others have mounted SSDs just about anywhere in their cases using double sided tape or Velcro strips.