Creating new Unraid-Server for myself - need for perfect config [long!]


MisterT

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Hello Folks :)

First of all: I want to create a new (and first) Unraid-Server for home usage and I want share it with you to get some configuration Tipps - to get nearly perfect hardware Setup :)

Be patient: This thread will be very long (I think) - So sorry for that ;)

 

I will list here some use cases for this Server and how often it will be used:

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  1. Copying / Reading files from Samba share - but no crazy big files or rendering stuff! (everytime)

  2. Using docker Services - I think at least 8 docker services same time (everytime

  3. Virtualization for business testing purposes - only 2 VM same time with GPU passthrough (often)

  4. For Media Streaming with transcoding using PLEX - maybe with hardware transcoding ?* (rare)

  5. Backups to Samba share using rsync I think (1x monthly)

  6. Backup to an remote offsite Server - 3-2-1 backup rule (1x monthly)

 

* I am a single person and the only one who uses this server - but I am calculating with 3 transcoding streams sametime in 4k (for future proof and If the event I have guests at home :) )

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My Server Requirements:

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  1. Low power usage primarly in idle (I know that 30 watt Server is not possible because physics has limitations :D but it should  have a good ratio of both)
  2. Small case (Thinking of 4bay 3.5inch sata howswap case with headless unraid usage)
  3. Low noise but not fanless - Server will be placed in my living room (so good ratio also like point 1)

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But enough info for know I think - only want go thru question by question and not all the same time

 

First questions before I am looking for my hardware:

  • Is hardware transcoding in PLEX usable with unraid ? (I know: only dedicated nvidia cards with driver support)
  • better doing transcoding on a M.2 SSD drive temporaly or is an mechanical SATA drive enough for 1gbit LAN speed (I thing the LAN speed is the bottleneck here?)
  • Unraid power management: If I am not using the nvidia card for transcoding and use unraid headless... Whats about the 75watts from the PCIE slot itself - will it drain the 75 watts power anytime as soon dedicated cpu is connected or 0 watts then ?

 

Sorry for the weeird questions, but its important for my next calculations :D

Anyway thank you all for helping me out!

 

Have a nice day and stay healty!

 

EDIT: For Sure - I will post also my hardware config here later to discuss the config for improvements !

Edited by MisterT
text addendum
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Will your server hold your media and will the server be on your local network? If you answer yes, then why need Plex at all? I use an Odroid N2 with Kodi for my media streaming from my Unraid. Works perfectly from standard def to 4k and everything between. 

 

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I agree 100 percent, My setup today for streaming is exactly the same BUT 1 point here:

I am looking also for a nice webinterface for my media, where I also cam stream my media from the webbrowser If needed.

AND this would be even nicer :D after scraping new recognized media it will be added to the webinterface

 

And I dont know any webinterface for this kind of "kodi setup" :(

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2 hours ago, Harro said:

You could look into jellyfin. That would load in a browser and also could transcode.

Thanks looks very nice !

Do you use jellyfin also ? It seemd to me browser playback wont play video files directly, Video files will be transcoded everytime ? 

 

As I understand the transcoding options are only for hardware acceleration - if non: more cpu usage ?

 

Back to topic:

My first choice on CPU side:
AMD Ryzen 5 3400G, 4C/8T, 3.70-4.20GHz with APU (Zen+) ?

Btw: Will APUs also work for unraids GPU passthrough ?

 

Or better wait till 2021 for Ryzen 4000 Series APUs with more cores and Zen2 archiectur fur this purpose ?

 

Want avoid Intel for his Desktop SKUs for ALOT of reasons but mainly because AMD has really awesome power consumption when idle with his Ryzen CPUs.

Heard about 0.2v voltage per core - someone told me its nearly the same like mobile CPUs...

 

 

Edited by MisterT
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46 minutes ago, MisterT said:

My first choice on CPU side:
AMD Ryzen 5 3400G, 4C/8T, 3.70-4.20GHz with APU (Zen+) ?

Btw: Will APUs also work for unraids GPU passthrough ?

 

Or better wait till 2021 for Ryzen 4000 Series APUs with more cores and Zen2 archiectur fur this purpose ?

I do not trancode with igpu or with a card. 

As far as I know transcoding can only be done with the Intel igpu or with a Nvidia, or AMD card. The on board igpu on the APU's are not supported as of yet.

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no you misunderstood - has nothing to do with transcoding.

it was a seperate question :)

 

I ment gpu passthrough for virtual machines, is that possible with AMDs APU

 

not sure: Should I use this CPU or wait till 2021 with new ryzen generation and more cores ? Dont know if 8 threads are enough for my purposes...

Or... using dedicated GPU with faster AMD ryzen cpu (without APU) ? :D

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11 hours ago, MisterT said:

I ment gpu passthrough for virtual machines, is that possible with AMDs APU

 

not sure: Should I use this CPU or wait till 2021 with new ryzen generation and more cores ? Dont know if 8 threads are enough for my purposes...

Or... using dedicated GPU with faster AMD ryzen cpu (without APU) ? :D

No. AMDs APU can't be passed through to a VM.

Also no, you shouldn't just get a dedicated GPU and expect that it can be passed through to a VM.

 

If having VM with passed through graphics is critical to you, you should consider having 1 low-end card (preferably single-slot width) to boot Unraid with + 1 card for each VM that may run concurrently (i.e. you said 2 VM so 2 cards, preferably not wider than double slots - a lot of cards are "2.5" slots so they block stuff). That would mean all 3 slots in a typical Ryzen non-APU motherboard would be occupied (and I recommend getting a Gigabyte motherboard so you can put the low-end single-slot on the bottom most slot and boot Unraid with it).

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Yeah I know - only asking because Im worrying about bit errors and flipping bits while virtualization - anykind of errors u didnt recognize in first moment

 

but like I said: Dont know about the chances to get for example flipping bits and in which period of time u know ? tldr: is it worth using ECC ? :)

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Depends mostly on how important data integrity is for you, if it is very important then yes, use ECC RAM, all my servers have ECC, and memory errors are extremely rare, but they happen, I got ECC corrected errors twice one one server (in the same day) in the last 10 years, or worst case scenario and a dimm goes bad it can go several days or more without being noticed corrupting all the written data in the meantime.

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4 minutes ago, johnnie.black said:

Depends mostly on how important data integrity is for you, if it is very important then yes, use ECC RAM, all my servers have ECC, and memory errors are extremely rare, but they happen, I got ECC corrected errors twice one one server (in the same day) in the last 10 years, or worst case scenario and a dimm goes bad it can go several days or more without being noticed corrupting all the written data in the meantime.

Hm ok, do you know on Ryzen B550 chipsets which ECC dimms I have to use ? most desktop MOBOs just say "ECC Supported"

but not which type of DIMMs (RDIMMs for example) ?

 

EDIT: Is there maybe a plugin to show ECC corrected RAM errors on unraid dashboard ? :o

Edited by MisterT
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8 minutes ago, MisterT said:

Hm ok, do you know on Ryzen B550 chipsets which ECC dimms I have to use ?

No, I only use server boards, with ECC support it's not just important that ECC is supported but that any errors are reported by the board.

 

9 minutes ago, MisterT said:

EDIT: Is there maybe a plugin to show ECC corrected RAM errors on unraid dashboard ?

Yes, there's the IPMI plugin for server boards with IPMI, this was the warning I got, board is from Supermicro:

 

Event: unRAID Server Alert
Subject: Notice [TOWER2] - IPMI Event
Description: localhost *Warning* Memory - Correctable memory error ; OEM Event Data3 code = 00h
Importance: warning

These errors also appear on the board's system event log in the BIOS or though IPMI.

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for first question I found the solution :D

2nd: and without IPMI ? I know dmesg (also journalctl) showing RAM errors by kernel event - but there I need terminal access - would be nice to get it also on the first site of unraid dashboard :D

 

reason: there are no server board with mITX and B550 with IPMI support.... also wanna avoid server boards because of not ment for home use so no priority to get low power consumption on idle / soft off :D

Edited by MisterT
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