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.