Help me set up a home file/media server
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I've mentioned this before
but haven't actually done much with it yet, and now I want to do the thing.I have an external RAID enclosure with 4 2TB drives, currently in RAID-5. It has an e-SATA cord, as well as Firewire 400 and 800, and USB 2, none of which I have cables for, and they're all slow anyway.
I also have a small form factor computer with an SSD and an e-SATA port, running Linux Mint that I put on just to make sure everything worked.
What would be the best OS/software setup to have the following:
- a network share, accessible by Windows at the minimum, cross platform if possible
- Plex Media Server
- SABnzbd or however you capitalize it
- Sonarr
- (optionally) caching using the SSD; dunno if it'll make much difference as the network would be the bottleneck, but sounds like it might be useful
Additionally, in the future I might want to
- use it as an HTPC, with media stored locally
- use it for Steam in-home streaming
There are a kabillion Lunix distros and probably a lot of pitfalls that I don't even know about, but someone who's done this sort of thing might be aware of. So, what would you guys advise?
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I guess the zeroth concrete question is: Could I do a half decent job with all this using the Linux Mint I have on there now, or would I be better off installing some other distro, maybe a dedicated NAS distro (and assuming those will still support the other stuff I want)?
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@hungrier in interest of energy efficiency and not trying to build a machine to do everything (that ends up doing nothing well), would you be better served by any of the NAS appliances for general file serving and then using another machine for the more resource intensive uses?
As an example, I store our movies, local backups, shared files, etc. on a Drobo and then I built Raspberry Pi machines that are hooked to each TV to play our movies and such.
No clue about Steam, etc., how much horsepower that takes. Someone else can chime in about that. I have a friend who has a Nvidia Shield thing that he uses for that purpose, but that's the limit of my knowledge on the matter.
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@Polygeekery A purpose built NAS would probably be better and easier, of course, but the big advantage of the thing I'm trying to do is that I have all the stuff already, whereas I'd have to go out and buy a NAS.
My current setup is one big Windows computer that I do everything on, that includes storing and serving my media, as well as being powered on 24/7 so it can auto download my TV shows. If anything, the new setup could potentially be more energy efficient. The SFF system should theoretically take less power to run than my Windows gaming computer, and I'll also be able to shut that one down while still having the media server and downloading done by the SFF one.
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@hungrier gotcha. Sunk cost vs CapEx and opportunity cost.
How often does said box need to download items? And is that process at all time sensitive?
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@Polygeekery Regular downloads are a few times a week (TV episodes), plus on-demand downloads whenever. They're not particularly time sensitive
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@hungrier said in Help me set up a home file/media server:
Could I do a half decent job with all this using the Linux Mint I have on there now, or would I be better off installing some other distro, maybe a dedicated NAS distro (and assuming those will still support the other stuff I want)?
I don't see why not. You're not doing anything that requires a more specialised OS.
I have a NAS at the moment and I looked at replacing it with Unraid or FreeNAS but couldn't see where either offered a benefit. If I moved from the NAS to a PC then I'd likely use Mint or (as I have a spare license) Windows.@hungrier said in Help me set up a home file/media server:
use it as an HTPC, with media stored locally
Previously I used XBMC/Kodi on Raspberry Pis but now both TVs are smart TVs so just have Plex on both and Plex Server on my main PC which, like you, is on all the time with Sonarr/Radarr. Chromecast works pretty well with Plex too for a dumb TV.
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@hungrier said in Help me set up a home file/media server:
@Polygeekery Regular downloads are a few times a week (TV episodes), plus on-demand downloads whenever. They're not particularly time sensitive
Could they be done via Raspberry Pi?
You might be astounded as to how much boxes cost to run 24/7/365.
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@Polygeekery said in Help me set up a home file/media server:
@hungrier said in Help me set up a home file/media server:
@Polygeekery Regular downloads are a few times a week (TV episodes), plus on-demand downloads whenever. They're not particularly time sensitive
Could they be done via Raspberry Pi?
You might be astounded as to how much boxes cost to run 24/7/365.
*listens to the hum of some seven-odd machines* why yes, yes I might be...
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Or possibly set the box up to wake via BIOS, do its thing and shutdown when done?
Or just leave it off unless you need it and use a Raspberry Pi and NAS to handle the downloading and file sharing tasks.
Some of the new NAS units have apps you can install, or can install anything available for Linux. I've never really used such functionality except for MySQL running as a Drobo app to keep media in Kodi/OSMC synced across devices.
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@Polygeekery said in Help me set up a home file/media server:
You might be astounded as to how much boxes cost to run 24/7/365.
Mine's on 24/7/365 alongside the NAS. It's not enough for me to worry about.
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@Polygeekery said in Help me set up a home file/media server:
Could they be done via Raspberry Pi?
Maybe, but I'd have to find some way to connect the RAID enclosure, or buy a standalone NAS.
@Polygeekery said in Help me set up a home file/media server:
You might be astounded as to how much boxes cost to run 24/7/365.
I'm already pretty much doing that anyway
