NAS/HTPC/Server in one PC, worth/possible ?

[Boris P]

Hello fellas, I have the first chance to read a bit about NAS just recently and I'm hooked.

I have upgraded my PC recently, well, practically bought a new one except Memory&PSU.

I have these components doing nothing;
Intel i3-2100 - artic freezer 7 cooler
Radeon 6870
ASRock H61m-u3s3
I can hook 4gb 1333mhz kingston & a very old but unused SeaSonic 430w.
All that with Antec Three Hundred case which I might change to some mATX case.


Now, according to my understanding I can theoretically make it do everything, no?
Can I install a linux distro and make it function as NAS, and simultaneously launch Steam/XBMC or something.. right ?

Can I make it solely a NAS + a server to .. say host a wordpress blog?

Do I need some special hardware to make a NAS or a regular server ?


Thanks

 

[das_stig]

Yep, you can even do it all off Windows 7/8/10/SVR

Install O/S.
Install Plex Server for streaming media, Plex for client PC/Android/IOS.
Uniform Server to give you a complete portable Apache/PHP/SQL Server, all setup a securely ready tro go.
Create standard network shares for people to access.

Seasonic 430w should ok, I run this type of setup with SVR2012R2 with 1xSSD(60GB)+6xdrives(10TB Raid)+Phenom II X4 3.2Ghz+Freezer 7 Pro+8GB DDR3-1333mhz+AMD 5450 on a Superflower Gold 350w.

The AMD 6870 probably overkill, but go with 8GB of ram.

 

[boosted1g]

Would also agree to do 8gb of ram.

A NAS box is just a computer with data storage that is shared across the network. You can do this with any windows or Linux OS. Now if you want specific raid setups or other specific items then you may need special hardware or a specific OS.

If you are hosting videos for multiple XBMC/KODI clients in your home then you should get an SSD drive for the OS and for the MySQL database and thumbnails. If this is the only XBMC/KODI display then a normal magnetic drive would be fine.

 

[Boris P]

Thank you for the fast answers.
I'll put 8 gigs of ram in the new box.

Using a standard network for sharing storage - I lose some of the features NAS has to offer ? such as accesing data from anywhere or is this also possible to make?

What are the cons/pros using regular Windows 7/Server versus freeNAS / Synology's OS ?

 

[boosted1g]

You are kind of going a million miles a minute and looking at 17 directions at once.
Why don't you slow down and decide exactly what functions you want to use the nas/server for and then we can guide you better

NAS - Network Attached Storage = a computer that has data storage accessible to other computers.
Server = a computer/device that has resources used by other devices. This could be files, printers, storage (so a NAS), websites, etc, etc.
Both of these terms are very generic terms with a plethora of hardware and software options to support more specific tasks.

As far as putting your data on the internet:
You cant just share a folder/hard drive on the internet like you do over the network with a windows share. You have to use some sort of file specific software.
You can use FTP server and configure ftp clients to connect to it, you can use VPN software to create an encrypted tunnel to your home network and then you can browse the shares as if you were home, or you can also get personal cloud software.
Both FTP and VPN options are (if properly configured) a bit more secure but are also much more complicated (and requires more understanding of networking) then software like owncloud.

FreeNAS and Synology OS are standalone OS that only functions as a NAS box, you wont be able to run steam or xbmc with it.

As stated if you tell us more specifically what you are wanting to do with your NAS then we can guide you better.

 

[Boris P]

Thank you for the patience mate Certainly feel like I'm shooting at 17 diff directions at once.

I'd like the computers run 'clean' without HDD's and only use SSD's.
Routing all downloads, movies, music, documents (important, which is also why I wanted access from android), photos etc..
Routing my postgres database to this server/nas (for HoldemManager2)
Have some sort of a backup (possible w/out buying RAID card?)

* Is it possible to install games from my main PC but route it on the server/nas ? for example install Dota2 from my PC but it's location will be on the nas. works ?

* I also wanted the ability to host a website (wordpress) locally. But, having only 3mbps of upload would limit the so wanted benefits ?

 

[boosted1g]

Using SSD for movie storage is a waste. First of all the required speed for the movie is 1/10 the max speed of a hard drive so you can run 4 multiple streams with no issues. Then there is the much higher cost of SSD over HDD.

For any database setup you will want that to be on an ssd drive.

Backup does not require a raid card, it just requires the data go on a separate hard drive.
Backup = data stored on a different location
RAID = Drives configured for speed and/or redundancy.

Technically you can install a game to a network drive but the performance is never on par, even saving the game to the SSD drive and having gigabit network will be less then ideal over installing on local computer. You also cant do this to play the game on multiple PCs with only one license.

Hosting a website locally is never really a worthwhile venture. First of all upload speed sucks on residential connections, then you have the fact that you have to have a dynamic dns service due to your constantly changing IP, and most ISPs block incoming port 80 (for http) so anyone going to your site would have to know the offbeat port number. In the end paying the $4 a month for hosted website is easier.

 

[boosted1g]

As far as storage here is what I do with my home server:

1 120gb SSD drive for OS/Programs/XBMC database and thumbails
(my server does not have xbmc on it, but it hosts the database and thumbnails for multiple other xbmc computers/devices in my house).

1 500gb drive for networked common files (music/pictures/documents)
1 2tb hard drive which has backups for all computers in house (including OS drive of the server), plus backup of 500gb drive
15 tb worth of hard drives in a software raid for movies.

I wanted a way to protect against a hard drive failure for my movies but did not want to have to have double the drives for a complete backup.
My software raid solution (called FlexRaid) gives me the benefits of RAID 5 without the hard drive wear or cost. I have 3 drives "spanned" together to appear as one large 11tb hard drive, I then have 1 4tb drive that has parity calculation on it. Parity is an XOR calculation that looks at the data across all the spanned drives and calculates a value of 0 or 1. From this calculation it can then figure out what the data needs to be if I have a single hard drive failure. Now on a true hardware raid 5 setup this parity is calculated on the fly every time new data is written; with my setup it is only calculated once a week.
Software raid is cheaper as it does not require expensive raid cards and you don't need expensive enterprise hard drives. The software raid setup also does not put as much stress on the drives as the file is still stored on only one drive instead of spread across all 4; this makes it much much less likely to damage a 2nd drive trying to recover your data.
Now the software raid is great for things like movies that once it goes on the drive it does not really change. For backups, databases, commonly modified files, etc this is a bad option because to run the parity on the fly would use a lot of system resources and would be more stressful on the hard drives.

 

[Boris P]

You're right about the server webhosting thing.

1 last (or is it..) question:
Assuming I'll use DSM (synology's os) will I be able to take advantage of the SHR thing they offer or is it exclusive to their built-machines ?

Big Thanks!

 

[boosted1g]

Yes you can use SHR (which is a software raid utility like the FlexRiad one I have) with DSM 5.2.

As stated earlier, the synology OS is for a standalone nas computer. You will not be able to use the system as an HTPC.