[SOLVED] Home NAS + Plex Server + Mini Lab for VM's

[parrypotter]

Hi,
I want to build my first system, have been mainly a laptop user and played some game. My requirements

1. System will act as a NAS with atleast 8 - 12 HDD supported by the case
2. Act as Home media server to be able to atleast stream 4 simultaneous media stream (planning to use Plex)
3. Record Indoor/Outdoor camera streams to NAS or to other drive if that is recommended way - support atleast 6 camera's writing to it directly or via blueiris
4. Be able to support 3-5 VM's for my labs - these may not be always on but want the capability to be able to run them
5. This will be always on machine to prefer on low power consumption
6. Want to be able to play latest games

I need your suggestion on the server/pc configuration, the server will be in a study room under a desk, appreciate any response/deals where parts can be bought cheaper.

 

[kanewolf]

Hi,
I want to build my first system, have been mainly a laptop user and played some game. My requirements

1. System will act as a NAS with atleast 8 - 12 HDD supported by the case
2. Act as Home media server to be able to atleast stream 4 simultaneous media stream (planning to use Plex)
3. Record Indoor/Outdoor camera streams to NAS or to other drive if that is recommended way - support atleast 6 camera's writing to it directly or via blueiris
4. Be able to support 3-5 VM's for my labs - these may not be always on but want the capability to be able to run them
5. This will be always on machine to prefer on low power consumption
6. Want to be able to play latest games

I need your suggestion on the server/pc configuration, the server will be in a study room under a desk, appreciate any response/deals where parts can be bought cheaper.

A device that is an appliance for storage and streaming and a gaming box should NOT be the same host, IMO. The home appliance device should run Linux and be stable without surprise updates or a high risk of virus. A gaming box is neither of those.

 

[parrypotter]

A device that is an appliance for storage and streaming and a gaming box should NOT be the same host, IMO. The home appliance device should run Linux and be stable without surprise updates or a high risk of virus. A gaming box is neither of those.

Thx kanewolf, what will be your recommendation if I remove the gaming requirement ?

 

[USAFRet]

Concur.
That is absolutely at least 2 systems.
1, 2, 3, 5 easily doable in a current mid level NAS box. Possibly 4 as well. Qnap or Synology.
#6 gets is own system.

 

[kanewolf]

Thx kanewolf, what will be your recommendation if I remove the gaming requirement ?

I do agree that a commercial NAS is the simplest, but not necessarily the cheapest option. With the functions you want, you should probably be looking at something that can have a 10GE connection to your primary network switch.

 

[parrypotter]

i am after a self build than commercial build as it will give me further control and can use the same for home lab on VM's

 

[kanewolf]

i am after a self build than commercial build as it will give me further control and can use the same for home lab on VM's

As long as your VMs run in Docker, the newer Intel base commercial NAS units will run VMs.

 

[parrypotter]

As long as your VMs run in Docker, the newer Intel base commercial NAS units will run VMs.

thanks kanewolf but i am after self build that will give me more control and learning exp, so if there a build spec to meet the req. ?

 

[kanewolf]

thanks kanewolf but i am after self build that will give me more control and learning exp, so if there a build spec to meet the req. ?

What OS is this going to be? A straight linux? A hypervisor with no bare metal? FreeNAS? You need to do more research on your own and come back with more specific questions.
Is your budget $1000 + disks? $1000 (including disks)? $4000 ??? $400?
Do you care about electricity costs? What about heat and noise?
What have YOU thought might fit your requirements?

 

[parrypotter]

What OS is this going to be? A straight linux? A hypervisor with no bare metal? FreeNAS? You need to do more research on your own and come back with more specific questions.
Is your budget $1000 + disks? $1000 (including disks)? $4000 ??? $400?
Do you care about electricity costs? What about heat and noise?
What have YOU thought might fit your requirements?

thx kanewolf, my lack of knowledge in this area is limiting the quality of questions, but i will try to answer what i can from my understanding ,

i am based in uk, budget is within 1200£ including HDD (prefer 6 * 4 TB )
OS : windows with oracle virtual box for VM's may move to other hypervisors once i gain more knowledge
don't know much about FreeNAS but one option i might explore is running NAS in it's own VM if that is feasible

build wise exploring below componentss

Asus ROG STRIX X470-F Gaming
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
ADATA XPG GAMMIX D10 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000
Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold
Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5"


not decided on which video card, case, hdd (nas specific or ?)

 

[kanewolf]

thx kanewolf, my lack of knowledge in this area is limiting the quality of questions, but i will try to answer what i can from my understanding ,

i am based in uk, budget is within 1200£ including HDD (prefer 6 * 4 TB )
OS : windows with oracle virtual box for VM's may move to other hypervisors once i gain more knowledge
don't know much about FreeNAS but one option i might explore is running NAS in it's own VM if that is feasible

build wise exploring below componentss

Asus ROG STRIX X470-F Gaming
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
ADATA XPG GAMMIX D10 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000
Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold
Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5"


not decided on which video card, case, hdd (nas specific or ?)

Your initial attempt is building a gaming PC, IMO.
Windows is not the proper OS.

My recommendation is to get a Raspberry PI 4B 4GB. Use that as a single drive NAS, build up your Linux experience, THEN think about stepping up. Get used to a a headless device. Start thinking in "appliance" not "PC" space.

If you want storage NOW, with all the other capabilities you want, then I will go back to a commercial NAS...

I don't think you have the experience to successfully implement what you want right now. You need some "baby steps" first.

 

[parrypotter]

Your initial attempt is building a gaming PC, IMO.
Windows is not the proper OS.

My recommendation is to get a Raspberry PI 4B 4GB. Use that as a single drive NAS, build up your Linux experience, THEN think about stepping up. Get used to a a headless device. Start thinking in "appliance" not "PC" space.

If you want storage NOW, with all the other capabilities you want, then I will go back to a commercial NAS...

I don't think you have the experience to successfully implement what you want right now. You need some "baby steps" first.

thanks kanewolf

i will try to learn but was expecting if someone here can provide a build spec which i can read about as need this capability now and not really want to buy commercial NAS, but i guess sometimes getting a answer is not as straight as one thinks!

thanks for your help anyways

 

[USAFRet]

A couple years ago (2017), when researching to update/upgrade my ersatz home server (low power thing running Windows), I looked at ALL the options.
Building a new 'server', or a commercial NAS.

For price and feature set, the QNAP NAS won easily. Once the price of a WindowsServer license was included, it was no contest.

Plex, serving multiple video and music out to multiple devices, VMWare, multiple backup options (and thats another thing you need to look into), HDMI out, etc, etc, etc...all built in, part of the OS.
And has been absolutely rock solid, running 24/7 for 3+ years.
Over time, drive space added...now a bit over 50TB available space.

Can you build your own? Sure. Won't be cheap, and you won't get the software right for a while.
But I wouldn't as a 'first build'.
And I've been doing this quite a while.