Is OMV going to work for me?

elsmandino · 23. November 2016

Hi there,

I am hoping to build a server, from old parts, purely for backup purposes.

I have an old Pentium 4 PC with 1GB of RAM.

I have four hard drives that I was going to put in it.

The idea is for me to run the server headless - I am hoping to turn it on (say) once a week, backup all my files from everything on my network and then turn it off again.

One thing that is important is the ability to create a drive-pool of the hard drive space - I don't want any RAID, just the combined JBOD space appearing as a single drive on the system - is there any particular plugin I can use for OMV, to achieve this, or would I need to install a FUSE-based file system for this - e.g. MHDDFS, MergerFS or unionfs-fuse?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

vl1969 · 23. November 2016

well you will need to install a FUSE-based file system for this but OMV has a plugin to do that for you.

and yes OMV will work for you. you might want a bit more RAM though.

#1 it is designed to be run headless and managed via WebUI, you only use CLI on rare occasions if any, and even that you can do mostly via SSH

#2 it is adaptable to many needs using plugins.

only issue is you can not use OS(system) drive for data. OMV wants all drive for it self, so plan on having a fifth small drive for system. if it is not a 24/7 run server you might be able to run it from usb flash drive directly though so it can save you a sata port

I might suggest, if possible to put in at least 2GB RAM
install OMV 3.0
install OMV-Extras plugin.

From plugins:

install unionfilesystem plugin
maybe install SnapRaid

some one might chime in for or against but I am partial for BTRFS as a file system on the drives but it is your choice.

Nibb31 · 24. November 2016

I don't think a Pentium 4 is going to be powerful enough. That's ancient. You'd be better of with a Raspberry Pi.

vl1969 · 24. November 2016

If it works on raspberry pi, it should work on p4

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ryecoaaron · 24. November 2016

Zitat von vl1969

If it works on raspberry pi, it should work on p4

Especially if it works on a RPi1 (which it does)

bookie56 · 24. November 2016

Hi vl1969!
I am just a novice when it comes to OMV....and no they are not paying me to write this....;)
I searched for a very long time for something I could trust as a server os and started testing OMV...
I run a small computer business and I usually build my servers from old computers etc...even if I use new drives in several...
This server based os is free and has fantastic support here....
I have actually paid for a server os before but that had different issues depending on your hardware...
With OMV I have never really looked at the hardware it is being installed on apart from checking whether the processor is 32 bit or 64 bit...
This OMV works and I now have it on a range of different computers that have outlived their lives as my every day computers but still serve a purpose as a server for storage...
At present I have OMV on 7 computers and am planning a number 8 because of a customer donating a computer when he went over to a laptop....
I hope this helps along with the expert advice available here to make the decision that is right for you...;)

bookie56

vl1969 · 24. November 2016

Zitat von bookie56

Hi vl1969!
I am just a novice when it comes to OMV....and no they are not paying me to write this....;)
I searched for a very long time for something I could trust as a server os and started testing OMV...
I run a small computer business and I usually build my servers from old computers etc...even if I use new drives in several...
This server based os is free and has fantastic support here....
I have actually paid for a server os before but that had different issues depending on your hardware...
With OMV I have never really looked at the hardware it is being installed on apart from checking whether the processor is 32 bit or 64 bit...
This OMV works and I now have it on a range of different computers that have outlived their lives as my every day computers but still serve a purpose as a server for storage...
At present I have OMV on 7 computers and am planning a number 8 because of a customer donating a computer when he went over to a laptop....
I hope this helps along with the expert advice available here to make the decision that is right for you...;)

bookie56

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Hey,bookie56 you are preaching to the quire. I am running OMV for the last year.
Open was just not sure if it will work on a particular hardware set and we were just reassuring him it will.

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bookie56 · 24. November 2016

glad to hear ot....

elsmandino · 30. November 2016

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I am pretty excited about OMV as it, based upon what you said, does exactly what I was hoping plus more.

Things have taken a slight change, since my last post, as I found something a bit better in my loft - a motherboard with an Athlon IIx2 240e CPU and two sticks of 4GB RAM.

The only slightly problematic thing mentioned is that you need a separate hard drive for the OS.

Is using an USB stick for this purpose a long-term thing or should it only be used, temporarily, just for testing purposes?

ryecoaaron · 30. November 2016

Zitat von elsmandino

Is using an USB stick for this purpose a long-term thing or should it only be used, temporarily, just for testing purposes?

You can use it long term if you use the flashmemory plugin. I just wouldn't use an old usb stick.

elsmandino · 30. November 2016

There is even a plugin to accommodate that?!

You really do seem to have a great piece of software here.

Anything in particular to look for when looking to purchasing the stick? Brand, size, USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0 etc.

ryecoaaron · 30. November 2016

Zitat von elsmandino

There is even a plugin to accommodate that?!

Yep

Zitat von elsmandino

Anything in particular to look for when looking to purchasing the stick? Brand, size, USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0 etc.

Just avoid the cheapest sticks.

elsmandino · 10. Januar 2017

Further to my earlier posts, I am still yet to take the plunge with this but am hoping to give it a go very shortly.

Over the Christmas period, I bought a 120GB SSD for my main PC as an upgrade, meaning that I now have a 60GB SDD going spare.

I was thinking of using it for OMV rather than gong with a USB stick.

Is it possible to partition this drive into two 30GB sectors and install OMV on one and Ubuntu on the other?

The reason I ask is that I am more familiar with Ubuntu and if anything happens, I can always reboot into Ubuntu and still have access to the information on the drives.

Nibb31 · 10. Januar 2017

Zitat von elsmandino

Is it possible to partition this drive into two 30GB sectors and install OMV on one and Ubuntu on the other?
The reason I ask is that I am more familiar with Ubuntu and if anything happens, I can always reboot into Ubuntu and still have access to the information on the drives.

Yes, but the OMV install takes up the entire drive, so you have two solutions:
- Install OMV, then run gparted to repartition the drive.
- Install Debian, partition your drive during the install, then install OMV manually using apt-get.

My suggestion is to use 20Gb for OMV (it shouldn't need more) and use the rest as a data partition for docker containers or VMs.

Dual boot as a security measure is useless. If something goes wrong with OMV, you could always use a Ubuntu Live thumbdrive, or just reinstall OMV.

elsmandino · 10. Januar 2017

Thank you for that - much appreciated.

As a Linux beginner, am I correct in thinking that I could, technically, set out do exactly what I want above with both OMV and Ubuntu?

Is the main difference, the fact that OMV is stripped of all the unnecessary bloat that Ubunut might have, along with a modular approach to installing programs?

Also, what exactly is a docker container?

vl1969 · 10. Januar 2017

well I certainly not an expert, but in my point of view, the way I understand it,
it is kind of pseudo-virtualization technology to virtualize/isolate an application rather than whole system, similar to Linux containers.
in Docker, you build a container that holds a single application.
it uses the Host system Kernel and services but presents them to an application as if it was running in it's own system. this way you can setup and configure an application as you see fit and then run it unchanged on any system that can present the needed resources such as proper Kernel, and services that is needed by the application. you can control the amount of resources this app is using by setting limits on the container before hand, also Docker container isolates the applications not only form each other but from the Host system so it makes it more secure.(or so it is marketed like.)

on distributions like OMV it means you can run many things in an isolation without actual full virtualization hence with less resources needed.
instead of building out a full VM to run a single application, you just virtualize a single app.

Nibb31 · 10. Januar 2017

Zitat von elsmandino

Thank you for that - much appreciated.

As a Linux beginner, am I correct in thinking that I could, technically, set out do exactly what I want above with both OMV and Ubuntu?

Is the main difference, the fact that OMV is stripped of all the unnecessary bloat that Ubunut might have, along with a modular approach to installing programs?

Also, what exactly is a docker container?

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The OMV install is Debian + OMV. So you can either install OMV (which will use the entire disk) or install Debian (which allows repartitioning during the install) plus OMV manually.

So you could do as you say, install a dual boot system, using one of the two methods I explained above, but the idea of a dual boot NAS is a bot pointless, especially as a safety measure, because you can easily boot into Ubuntu with a USB thumb drive if you ever need to.

Docker is a sort of virtualization framework that is designed to run applications in a containerized environment. If you don't know what it is, you probably don't need it (yet).

elsmandino · 11. Januar 2017

Thanks again for your really helpful responses - definitely starting to understand things a lot better now.

I will give a bit of background on what I am looking to do at the moment.

At the moment, I have a headless windows 10 server (12GB RAM, G1840, 1 x dual DVB-T tuner, 1 x single DVB-S2 tuner, 1 x 60GB SSD, 1 x 6TB HDD, 2 x 2TB HDD).

I run stablebit drivepool and stablebit scanner. Drivepool makes the hard drives appear as a a single 10TB Hard drive and clevearly balances recordings between the discs. Scanner keeps a check on the drives and lets me know if any contain errors or are likely to fail.

I run NVPR, which records all my shows. EPG is grabbed via Schedules Direct.

I run Emby, which scrapes all the data for my recordings and ripped DVDs.

Other than storing and streaming all my other media (music, photos etc.), the server does not do much else.

The build that I mentioned in my previous posts was for the purposes of backing up this windows server.

The more I read, the more I realised that the windows could be converted to run on Linux instead and now I am beginning to think that OMV would be perfect for that too.

Emby runs on Linux natively, so that will not be a problem.

NPVR is strictly windows only, so I shall have to consider using TVHeadend instead.

As mentioned above, there seem to be equivalent plugins for stablebit drivepool and scanner.

Is the switch to OMV something I should realistically consider or is there anything that might make me want to reconsider?

As a general rule, the current setup works pretty well but for a few exceptions:

1. Sometimes, following a windows update and restart, I find that my version of Emby no longer works. I have to switch between stable and beta versions to get it running again.
2. Very occasionally, following an update and restart, one of the TV tuners is no longer recognised and I have to reinstall drivers.
3. Every now and then, the system freezes and I have to restart it.

I really need something that is pretty much bullet proof and can be set and forget (the only time I can really see myself having to mess with the server is for channel rescans - in case they have changed frequency or additional channels).

Do you guys think that OMV could do all the above?

Thanks again for your help with this?

ryecoaaron · 11. Januar 2017

Zitat von elsmandino

3. Every now and then, the system freezes and I have to restart it.

This would happen less since you wouldn't be using Windows

Zitat von elsmandino

I really need something that is pretty much bullet proof and can be set and forget

From your list, it doesn't seem like Windows is fulfilling that need.

Zitat von elsmandino

Do you guys think that OMV could do all the above?

Yes. The biggest change would be the NVPR to tvheadend. unionfilesystems/mergerfs would be a great pool and scheduled SMART tests would replace scanner. I think you should switch.

vl1969 · 11. Januar 2017

I just want to chime in as well here.

putting aside the fact that I would not personally run a windows 10 headless server.
most of the issues you have are windows issues and overly normal if you are willing to put up with them.
your big mistake is , and that is what causing you most grief , you let your server to be update (I know in win10 it is difficult to prevent updates but we can only try )

to answer your questions directly

#1. nothing is "Bullet proof" but a properly setuped Linux server is as close to it as you can get.
#2. before doing anything drastic, do your research on hardware compatibility. specifically your tuners.
even though Linux support most hardware, not all hardware is created equal so get the manufacturing and model of your tuners and let your fingers do the walking.

#3. don't expect miracles and do some reading. also if you can, invest in a new SSD.
WHY? well this way you can try the setup first and see if your hardware will work without loosing your windows setup. if all is well you can always convert the setup to RAID-1 OS setup on 2 SSDs for better uptime and redundancy. or use the second ssd for cache.

#4. if you go with OMV, you do not need stablebit scanner or drivepool.
OMV has built int SMART scanner to monitor drive health, and a unionfilesystem plugin to pool your drives into single volume. both of them work great. if you use ZFS or BTRFS on your drives as file systems you will have some protection from bitrot data corruption as well.
you can even add SmartRaid for some additional data loss protection but that could be done later at any time.

#5. Emby works natively on OMV and managed via Plugin as well.

#6. now, TVHeadend is great but I am not sure OMV has plugin for that so you might need to use CLI to setup and manage. but it works great from what I hear in my research. I am still not at the point of recording things but want to get there eventually.

so to recap, Yes OMV should work for you just fine, and I certainly recommend it.
just be prepared to learn new things and get your hands a little dirty with CLI
OMV forum is great for help and general knowledge.

one more thing, before starting anything, make sure you have a good backup of your data.
you can rebuild the system, but data is difficult to come by.

PS>> on a personal note, may I inquire about your folder setup and naming convention?
what do you use for metadata scraping in Emby?

thanks.

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