New Media Server build (feedback welcome)

OK I'm sure this is thread number 1 billion on this topic, but everyone's needs/requirements are different so I'm throwing my quest for knowledge on the interweb. This site has been supremely helpful in my research, but wanted to get some opinions on what the masses here (who are much more knowledgeable than I) think that is the best config.

So requirements for this box:

• 3-4 simultaneous streams (potentially 4k streaming in the future)
• This box will house all of my movies, tv shows, music, etc
• It will be used as an auto-downloader with Sonarr, Radarr, NZBget, and OpenVPN (fully functioning VPN is a must have)

I will have about 8 HDs and of course the focus is on redundancy, fault tolerance and performance. OS will run on a separate SSD (or Cruzer Fit, can't decide which is better). I have a gigabit switch with ports in all rooms, so most will be wired with some scattered devices wireless.

My main questions are:

• What RAID is best for a setup like this? Software/hardware RAID?
• What OS is best for the tools that I am looking to use and what I have earmarked the server for?
• Read things about doing everything through a VM with ESXi, researched FreeNAS (by itself and through VM with passthrough to the physical drives), OMV, and a new one called OpenFlixr which is relatively new and not talked about much).

I realize that's a lot, so I will leave it there and just continue the conversation with whomever responds so I can filter down to the perfect setup. I just want to thank the community in general here for posting so much information on helping noobs like myself get into the game.

Nibb,

Thanks for the response. Let me try and respond to everything. So in addition to all my media, which yes can be downloaded but I also have a TON of movies/music AND pictures that cannot be replaced that will go on there. Yes, I will eventually backup my pics to the cloud for extra peace of mind. And yes, if a drive failed I wouldn't want to lose everything, I'd much rather just have the RAID rebuild a new drive in place of a failed drive than to try and rebuild my entire collection.

SnapRAID with MergerFS sounds like the best route to go, I've been reading about MergerFS and that does seem like the best option. So for SnapRAID is that done through OMV during the setup of the drives and pooling with MergerFS? And I am totally fine using OMV for all my needs, I was just wanting to make sure it could/can, and from what you said there are plugins for basically everything on my list.

I did have a question about using OpenVPN, is that necessary on a downloader server if all the places I download from use SSL? If the payload is encrypted, is it overkill to sit behind a VPN for anonymity?

- Aitrus

*EDIT: To what you said above about transcoding requirements, I was planning on using Emby instead of Plex. Is there a reason I should be using Plex over Emby?

Nibb,

I was under the same impression as you about SSL without a VPN, so I'm always in the mindset of being MORE safe than not. I did have a question about something you mentioned above with regards to 4k streaming to my client boxes from the server. So say I had a 4k rip on my media server, and my clients have Kodi on them, would that be considered direct streaming from the server without encoding, or does the server do the encoding when feeding it to the client?

Also, I was more looking into Emby for the centralized database, does Plex have that functionality too? As in I start watching something on my living room TV and stop it, then go upstairs and I can resume right where I left off.

- Aitrus

Awesome thanks. I will look into rolling out Plex and see if that does everything I need it to. Appreciate all the info you've given.

One other thing I wanted to ask, is there a reason NOT to install OMV to run off a Cruzer Fit? I'd rather not have to get an SSD for the OS if the Cruzer Fit will handle OMV just fine?

rye,

I am assuming I do that through the GUI after OMV is installed on the Fit? Any other quality of life plugins that I will need to make sure all is running smoothly? Also, if I setup OMV on a VM to play around with it, get my plugins working the way I want, can I export the entire config/setup once I'm ready to do it for real on my permanent server once I have it built?

- Aitrus

OK then I will just use my current VM to play around with OMV and at least prove I can get the automation stuff working. As for updating OMV, say it goes to a newer release, is there an update function that will let me know there is a newer version or something I just have to manually check on with the site?

Now that I have had a chance to play with OMV, I'm really liking it. I did have a question about the apps that go on OMV. What is the preference between running apps as plugins through OMV-Extras repo (i.e. - NZBGet, Sonarr, etc) vs running them in a Docker image through the Docker plugin? Just curious as to the benefits of one over the other. I see a lot of movement towards Docker so I wanted to see what the community thinks specifically as it pertains to OMV. Thanks.

- Aitrus

How I understand it is that Docker runs a fully compartmentalized bubble with the app and all its dependencies/configurations so you don't saturate the OS and don't leave orphaned dependencies, packages, etc if you want to delete it. Like you, I haven't messed with Docker much, but it pretty cool, I just don't know if there are more system resources used running things in a Docker than just an omv plugin. You pretty much start/stop the images in Docker as you need them, so they sort of function like individual VMs, which concerns me for utilization.

Also, I was considering running OMV off my Cruzer Fit but that doesn't leave me any redundancy for the OS itself. Do any of you run your OS drive in a RAID 1 for peace of mind, or just take backups regularly in case of catastrophe? Also I read an article about someone installing FreeNAS on a Cruzer Fit and having FreeNAS mirror everything to a second Cruzer Fit. Do you know if OMV can do something similar?

Also, I am planning to have about 8 drives in my NAS when I get the money to buy all the drives, but its surprisingly hard to find a case that would accommodate all those drives and potentially have hot swap bays for them for easy replacement. Anyone have recommendations?

Was looking at something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Supermi…4897e60291818f006341ee9f0

That CPU is a monster when it comes to transcoding and being able to run extra VMs if I wanted to in VirtualBox. And I love the inclusion of IPMI will make building/maintenance at the server level awesome and fully headless. I am not married to that, so if you wanted to recommend another board to consider, I'm all ears. I definitely want ECC RAM and a ton of SATA to handle all the drives that I will be throwing in it. Nibb above said I won't really have to worry about transcoding from the server, but my TVs are all running Fire Stick TVs and nvidia shield on my main TV. I was thinking that transcoding would be important to the Fire Stick TVs because of their lack of horsepower, the shield can hold its own. Thoughts?

rye,

Fire Stick TV and nvidia shield are current generation. They are doing great so far streaming from my old Synology, I'm concerned more with the future, obviously I am not going to be able to stream 4k to any of the Fire Stick TVs (which are only wireless), but the nvidia shield is wired and could handle it. So my question really is, if I have 4k rips on my media server and am serving it to the shield, so I need the beefy transcoding that board affords me, or is the shield doing everything?