Which NAS software - semi-noob

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y0bailey

Gawd
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Mar 31, 2003
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Alright folks. My server/NAS box is built up, I just need to decide which "OS" I should install to meet all of my needs. I am computer hardware savvy, but when it comes to some of the complexities of some of the FreeNAS guides I have concerns I am not going to be able to pull it off.

First, the hardware:
AMD quad core 65watt APU + mobo
8gb DDR3 (non-ECC)
2x2tb hard drives
Multiple other drives to use as a boot drive (either USB thumb drive for FreeNAS or SSD for others)

My needs:
1) Home media server. Have all my movies/videos that I can stream to my HTPC's around the house/local network.

2) Plex media server. I want to also have the ability to stream to my phones/tablets and have the server/nas box be able to transcode any "too high" quality files on the house/local network.

3) Plex media server - travel edition. When on the road I would like to have access to my movies in hotel rooms/etc. Again, transcoded on the fly to a chromecast or like device.

4) Windows file back-ups. I would like to schedule windows auto back-ups and have the files dumped onto the server/NAS.

5) Ability to log into the server remotely and download any programs/apps/movies/documents while on the road. This would be helpful to do even on my android phone.

6) Least important of the above is the ability to run some sort of RAID mirroring on the 2x2tb drivers. It isn't crucial in my eyes, but would be an added bonus.


That is really it. I also want this box to be relatively energy efficient. I am not sure if FreeNAS has much energy savings/sleep mode features? But having it sleep, be woken up by WOL, etc. would be crucial.


OK...so in my mind we are talking a Windows 8.1 vs. FreeNAS vs. Amahi vs. other linux based server setup.

Which would you run based on the above needs, my need for some simplicity, and my desire for the most possible energy efficiency? Right now I am running a Synology NAS, but it cannot handle transcoding and is getting on my nerves. It however does a great job of everything else on my list.
 
2 and 3 are the same thing, as long as you have the proper port forwarded on your router.

As for everything else, I've never used FreeNAS, but it seems like that would be the way to go if you want something that functions like an appliance. I use Ubuntu and ZFS as my base OS and have good luck with it, but have been tempted myself to try FreeNAS for easier management.
 
I'm on the same boat right now. I have a Buffalo NAS with 2x2TB drives in raid 0 and I need it for:

Streaming services to my 2 tv's, tablet's, and phone via Plex
File storage and remote retrieval via cloud and ftp services
Torrent management since my main pc on since it draws too much power to leave on

I looked at NAS's that has a stronger CPU for decoding power, but those NAS's cost too much for my needs. My solution? I bought a Gigabyte Brix since its small, consumes about 15 watts of power and strong enough to decode. It runs Windows 7 and I just remote into it when I need to get access to it. Good way to supplement your NAS instead of solely relying on it for those services.
 
subbing. in the same boat. considering buying this mated to an external enclosure:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173044

would install windows 7 on a thumb drive and connect 4TB worth of storage (seems to be the magic number for this sort of thing) via external enclosure(s).

thoughts? I don't mean to thread jack OP. But I'm going through the same thing. My biggest factor was power usage, as I'm currently using a server board and older dual core chip, which requires a dedicated GPU. The Zotac should cut energy use by like 90% I figure.

as for OS, I had a spare win7 key so that's what I used. I like it because its familiar and easy to navigate. I'd rather not learn a new OS. I disabled the services I don't need, turned off themes, etc, but that being said, it's a pretty large install compared to others for what we're using it for.
 
I tried all the options the OP listed. Amahi, FreeNAS, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server, NAS4Free, etc. I settled on Windows Server 2012 R2. You can get a key for like $120 or so off Ebay. Can run all Windows software, easy to RDP into and control like your sitting in front of it, built in backup options, drivepooling, thin provisioning, etc. And you'll have people say that you can access these other options in your browser via these other OS options. Believe me when I tell you that RDP'ing into your computer and being able to actually use it, and not just some web based GUI, is a god send.

The other options are popular because they're free. But once you decide you want to run X piece of software on FreeNas or one of the others and can't, you will miss having a Windows based setup. The plugin/program support for those OS's is horrible at best. And if they do have a decent working plugin for a program you want, it's usually extremely out of date. You are dependent on some third party to make each new version of XX software compatible with FreeNAS or whatever. So you will always be behind, if it works at all. Not to mention all the extra work you have to do to get these other options setup and working properly.

I run Plex on my server to stream my media to local and remote devices. I run Crashplan to back all my important pictures and videos up every night. Those are the only programs I run on bare metal. I run a virtual machine on my server that has Sonarr, Couchpotato, and Sabnzbd running on it that does all my usenet related tasks. The VM is running Windows 7, and I can RDP directly into it and mess with updates and stuff. I've had my setup going for 2 years now, and the most I ever have to do is RDP in and update Plex or something. Everything just works.

I have heard of people using Windows 8.1 as their server OS. I think that would probably work fine. You would miss a few of the benefits of Server 2012, but for the most part you'd have everything you need without the headache of one of the open source options.

You're gonna have purists on here tell you that open source is the way to go. If you want to spend a lot of time learning, tinkering, and setting things up, and don't care about the ease of running Windows software, then I'd go open source. If you want easy, familiar, and good software support, go Windows 8.1 or Server 2012 and never look back. I rarely EVER interact with my server, and haven't even physically seen it in probably 6 months. So take that for what it's worth.
 
officer921 said:
I tried all the options the OP listed. Amahi, FreeNAS, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server, NAS4Free, etc. I settled on Windows Server 2012 R2. You can get a key for like $120 or so off Ebay. Can run all Windows software, easy to RDP into and control like your sitting in front of it, built in backup options, drivepooling, thin provisioning, etc. And you'll have people say that you can access these other options in your browser via these other OS options. Believe me when I tell you that RDP'ing into your computer and being able to actually use it, and not just some web based GUI, is a god send.

The other options are popular because they're free. But once you decide you want to run X piece of software on FreeNas or one of the others and can't, you will miss having a Windows based setup. The plugin/program support for those OS's is horrible at best. And if they do have a decent working plugin for a program you want, it's usually extremely out of date. You are dependent on some third party to make each new version of XX software compatible with FreeNAS or whatever. So you will always be behind, if it works at all. Not to mention all the extra work you have to do to get these other options setup and working properly.

I run Plex on my server to stream my media to local and remote devices. I run Crashplan to back all my important pictures and videos up every night. Those are the only programs I run on bare metal. I run a virtual machine on my server that has Sonarr, Couchpotato, and Sabnzbd running on it that does all my usenet related tasks. The VM is running Windows 7, and I can RDP directly into it and mess with updates and stuff. I've had my setup going for 2 years now, and the most I ever have to do is RDP in and update Plex or something. Everything just works.

I have heard of people using Windows 8.1 as their server OS. I think that would probably work fine. You would miss a few of the benefits of Server 2012, but for the most part you'd have everything you need without the headache of one of the open source options.

You're gonna have purists on here tell you that open source is the way to go. If you want to spend a lot of time learning, tinkering, and setting things up, and don't care about the ease of running Windows software, then I'd go open source. If you want easy, familiar, and good software support, go Windows 8.1 or Server 2012 and never look back. I rarely EVER interact with my server, and haven't even physically seen it in probably 6 months. So take that for what it's worth.
Click to expand...

This! I have a similar setup, and can't recommend it enough.
 
I've moved away from building my own and have been using Synology units for quite some years now.

I have recently discovered that there is a version of the Synology operating system (DSM) available to install on your own hardware called XPEnology. I've not tried it- but very interested to know if it's any good.
 
ltickett said:
I've moved away from building my own and have been using Synology units for quite some years now.

I have recently discovered that there is a version of the Synology operating system (DSM) available to install on your own hardware called XPEnology. I've not tried it- but very interested to know if it's any good.
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could you tell me if your nas turns off HDDs when inactive?
 
Esxi & separate VMs.
  • Plex VM
  • Samba VM for fileshares
  • OpenVPN AS VM for remote acceas into your network
 
Just and update to my original post....WINDOWS 8.1 IT IS.

Started with OPENMEDIAVAULT because people said it is easier to configure than FreeNAS...doesn't recognize my motherboards NIC card. Backdoor fixes involve a bunch of linux command prompt BS, installing debian, and then installing the OMV back on top of it. So much work, so much inconvenience.

FreeNAS has it's own set of issues resulting in me being unable to get it installed as well. I don't fully understand them, and google searches of the error give ZERO results. I have literally created a new error with FreeNAS and 2 hours later I still haven't even managed to set it up.


So FUCK IT ALL. Windows 8.1 configured to be a server it is. I have an extra key anyways, so why I ever deviate from Windows I will never know. This is a fucking AMD APU released 1 year ago and these fucking shitty open source programs cannot even get a driver to load.

Sorry. Super frustrated after 5 hours of my life wasted. Now to figure out what hard drive I want to install my windows 8.1 install to...I will miss installing the "OS" to a usb drive. Except that shit didn't work.
 
y0bailey said:
Now to figure out what hard drive I want to install my windows 8.1 install to...I will miss installing the "OS" to a usb drive. Except that shit didn't work.
Click to expand...

With 120GB SSD's so cheap, why is it even a question? There was a 120GB Sandisk for $40 the other day on SD.
 
y0bailey said:
Just and update to my original post....WINDOWS 8.1 IT IS.

Started with OPENMEDIAVAULT because people said it is easier to configure than FreeNAS...doesn't recognize my motherboards NIC card. Backdoor fixes involve a bunch of linux command prompt BS, installing debian, and then installing the OMV back on top of it. So much work, so much inconvenience.

FreeNAS has it's own set of issues resulting in me being unable to get it installed as well. I don't fully understand them, and google searches of the error give ZERO results. I have literally created a new error with FreeNAS and 2 hours later I still haven't even managed to set it up.


So FUCK IT ALL. Windows 8.1 configured to be a server it is. I have an extra key anyways, so why I ever deviate from Windows I will never know. This is a fucking AMD APU released 1 year ago and these fucking shitty open source programs cannot even get a driver to load.

Sorry. Super frustrated after 5 hours of my life wasted. Now to figure out what hard drive I want to install my windows 8.1 install to...I will miss installing the "OS" to a usb drive. Except that shit didn't work.
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I use Win 8.1 as my server OS and it does everything I need to push media to my HTPC but you mentioned Wake On Lan and sleep in your first post.... GOOD LUCK WITH THAT :D:D:D
 
mw8t said:
I use Win 8.1 as my server OS and it does everything I need to push media to my HTPC but you mentioned Wake On Lan and sleep in your first post.... GOOD LUCK WITH THAT :D:D:D
Click to expand...

I too ran into issues with sleep and WOL with my file server. Once I finally got WOL to be enabled, the damn thing would never sleep, or it would come on randomly when there was network activity.

I ended up making it so only magic packets could turn it on. This works, but I don't know how you could wake it remotely this way...

I'd say make an extremely conservative power profile and try to shave watts out of the system (minimum voltages, no more fans than are needed, no optical, etc) and have a schedule for it to sleep/hibernate at certain hours and be on the rest of the time.
 
yea...WOL may be a pipe dream. I will try my best but ultimately just minimizing wattage is the most important (1 fan, no optical, etc).

Now...I am convinced Win 8.1 is the way to go (especially since I have a key already), so I want to pick everyone's brains on how they would set it up to meet my requirements (see original post for requirements).

1) Home media server. Have all my movies/videos that I can stream to my HTPC's around the house/local network. Would you just setup a HOMEGROUP for this, or would you just share your whole drive and have XBMC look in that shared drive. With my NAS I just mapped my network drive and had XBMC pull from it.

2) Plex media server. I want to also have the ability to stream to my phones/tablets and have the server/nas box be able to transcode any "too high" quality files on the house/local network. Install Plex media server....easy enough

3) Plex media server - travel edition. When on the road I would like to have access to my movies in hotel rooms/etc. Again, transcoded on the fly to a chromecast or like device. Install Plex media server....easy enough...make sure ports are open on router.

4) Windows file back-ups. I would like to schedule windows auto back-ups and have the files dumped onto the server/NAS. I think this will be easily configured especially if I just map the servers hard drive

5) Ability to log into the server remotely and download any programs/apps/movies/documents while on the road. This would be helpful to do even on my android phone. THIS IS WHERE I NEED ADVICE. Just built in RDC? Other app?

6) Least important of the above is the ability to run some sort of RAID mirroring on the 2x2tb drivers. It isn't crucial in my eyes, but would be an added bonus. Storage Spaces fixes this.
 
Could be a "sticky" once your done!

Like the majority here I am in the same boat (isn't everyone?).
My whs v1 died and I lost my serial so after much research built a heavy duty NAS4FREE box. I used a AMD A6-6400K 16G etc, not energy conscience at all but had the parts...

Not hi-jacking as I'm very interested in the Windows 8.1 or Server solution as NAS4FREE installed and works fine but just a little above my knowledge level for the details. I still am frustrated with no simple nightly Image backup like whs provided. Also PLEX options etc. are out of reach.

I feel like begging MS support line for a replacement whs key but since it was discontinued a long time ago chance seem nil...

Is there a reason you didn't go with Windows Server 2012 R2?

Really hope you continue this thread as you are not alone on your journey!
 
y0bailey said:
yea...WOL may be a pipe dream. I will try my best but ultimately just minimizing wattage is the most important (1 fan, no optical, etc).
Click to expand...

It is absolutely scandalous that in this age of power conservation/efficiency Microsoft cannot get Sleep right in Windows.

Check this out. 18 month old thread, 196 pages, last post 2 days ago
 
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mnewxcv said:
I too ran into issues with sleep and WOL with my file server. Once I finally got WOL to be enabled, the damn thing would never sleep, or it would come on randomly when there was network activity.

I ended up making it so only magic packets could turn it on. This works, but I don't know how you could wake it remotely this way...

I'd say make an extremely conservative power profile and try to shave watts out of the system (minimum voltages, no more fans than are needed, no optical, etc) and have a schedule for it to sleep/hibernate at certain hours and be on the rest of the time.
Click to expand...

http://magicpacket.free.fr/ is what I use. There is also a WOL add-on for Kodi which I have initiate on startup. My server will still not reliably sleep though.
 
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Alright folks...a weekend of messing around has come to an end. This info may help someone in the future, so here it is.

Build specs are again a AMD quad core APU (newest 65watt version), 2x2tb WD green drives (with park disabled), 8gb ddr3, 400watt platinum efficiency PSU.

Went with windows 8.1 due to being unable to get FreeNas and OMV to play correctly with newer hardware. No giant surprise there.

Met my demands from post 1 with the following

1) Homegroup easy networking of files/videos in house. Made sharing the server folders a cake walk

2) Plex Media Server to stream to any devices on network with ease. Don't really need this because I have HTPC's that just pull the files directly from the server drive, but if I want to add a roku/etc I can.

3) Plex Media Server to serve files while I travel. Transcodes on the fly. Just had to open a port in the firewall. Easy stuff.

4) Windows file back-ups setup through FILE HISTORY to auto dump to the server. Backs up documents, pictures, videos. The standard. Also created windows system images and had them dump from my important PC's to the server so an image is available to restore from

5) TightVNC to remote login and manage the server. Super easy to setup, and again just needed to open a port on the router. I no longer have a keyboard/monitor attached to the server I just remote in to manage it. Works from android phones and windows PC's very easily. Can also download files remotely if needed with windows PC's remoted in.

6) Raid handled by windows Storage Spaces (software raid). So far very impressed. Only have enough drives to mirror with, so haven't gotten into partity setttings or the like.

Bonus Teamspeak 3 server hosted there as well.


I didn't even mess with WOL. This PC when idling uses 10-15 watts on my kill-o-watt meter, which I can live with 24/7. When doing a file transfer it goes to 26-35 watts, when transcoding a bit higher. I just used all of the in windows and in bios efficiency setting available. My Synology NAS used 6-15 watts, but this rig is a whole different beast and still just barely sips any electricity.


So far I am SUPER excited and glad I didn't waste any more time trying to get a freeware option working. Honestly for a home server, this has been way easier than expected.

Thanks for the helps/tips along the way. Any critic's of things I have done are welcome (improved remote access programs, etc.)
 
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Thanks for the follow up. My WHS v 1 also recently kicked the bucket (and i have TWO keys for it I cant find) I currently have freenas running but dont care for it much, amahi was ok but didnt suit my needs.
 
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