Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions
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The growth question is not that important at the moment though. I will start with 6x3TB, but if I could build another array later on the same controller (with, say, 6-8 x 4-6TB drives) that would also be fine.
That it is not a backup, I am aware of. My plan is to, should one drive fail, buy more drives, backup the data and then attempt a rebuild. I haven't seen a drive failure yet (my oldest HDD that I still use is probably around 7 years and 13yrs for an external), but I am only a home user, so I am sure it will happen eventually. -
I was thinking to eventually add Plex somewhere down the line. Right now both my media pc and work pc are much more powerful than the server.
The server is based on the AM1 platform, I just switched out the terrible 2650 (2x1.45) for a slighlty better 5150 (4x1.60). Should be ok for x264, yet I don't know about x265 and whatever may come.
Building my Kodi library has taken a while do, I'd assume the same process would wait for me with Plex (with foreign language movies not being scrubbed correctly from databases, etc...) -
Welcome to the community!
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@DustinB3403 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@wirestyle22 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
With that size I would seriously consider using software raid. Something like CentOS w/ ZFS using Striped Mirrored Vdev’s (essentially Raid 10).
Why when there is a hardware raid controller would you effectively downgrade to software raid? Unless there are limitations on the card (like a number of supported drives or some
I think Raid Controllers are a waste of money unless you absolutely have to use windows in which case you have no other good choice. They don't make the raid controller listed anymore so if that thing breaks hes going to lose all of his data. You have to install the exact same raid controller with the exact same firmware for that to work too. With software raid you don't have to deal with that headache and the overhead on the processor is almost non-existent in the modern day.
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Thanks a lot for the warm welcome.
And also for the incredibly fast respones. I'm quite amazed, really. I wish I could give something back. -
@geertcourmacher said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
I do not insinst on Windows if there is a good reason for not using it, at all. I know it's not the best OS by far, although for my normal usage it kind of is (Office Suite, few decoding tools, some Games); but that's not on the server, of course. I wouldn't have bought a licence though.
So the thing with Windows is, beyond it being really expensive, is that its software RAID is kinda craptastic. Software RAID on its own is great, as a concept. And there are great implementations of it like MD RAID (from Linux) and ZFS (from Solaris and FreeBSD.) For home use, whatever, Windows is just fine. But it's also not free. Using Linux with MD or FreeBSD with ZFS would give you a really good software RAID option that Windows does not.
Linux or FreeBSD are also generally considered much better for use as a media server.
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@geertcourmacher said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
Thanks a lot for the warm welcome.
And also for the incredibly fast respones. I'm quite amazed, really. I wish I could give something back.I would have been much faster myself, but have been on the phone with my dad. Haven't talked to him for the last seven countries that i've been in so had to catch him up.
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@geertcourmacher said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
Thanks a lot for the warm welcome.
And also for the incredibly fast respones. I'm quite amazed, really. I wish I could give something back.Welcome sir!
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I just bought the RAID controller, new not used. I'll have to keep an eye on its availability though, but right now it's still being sold by a couple of shops.
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@wirestyle22 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@DustinB3403 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@wirestyle22 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
With that size I would seriously consider using software raid. Something like CentOS w/ ZFS using Striped Mirrored Vdev’s (essentially Raid 10).
Why when there is a hardware raid controller would you effectively downgrade to software raid? Unless there are limitations on the card (like a number of supported drives or some
I think Raid Controllers are a waste of money unless you absolutely have to use windows in which case you have no other good choice. They don't make the raid controller listed anymore so if that thing breaks hes going to lose all of his data. You have to install the exact same raid controller with the exact same firmware for that to work too. With software raid you don't have to deal with that headache and the overhead on the processor is almost non-existent in the modern day.
The key benefit (other than fixing a Windows deficiency of course) is that good hardware RAID offers blind swap. That's not a trivial feature.
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@geertcourmacher said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
I just bought the RAID controller, new not used. I'll have to keep an eye on its availability though, but right now it's still being sold by a couple of shops.
Aww - there are ton on ebay for $60'ish ... for a home setup, I don't think I would have gone with new... but that's me.
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@scottalanmiller said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@wirestyle22 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@DustinB3403 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@wirestyle22 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
With that size I would seriously consider using software raid. Something like CentOS w/ ZFS using Striped Mirrored Vdev’s (essentially Raid 10).
Why when there is a hardware raid controller would you effectively downgrade to software raid? Unless there are limitations on the card (like a number of supported drives or some
I think Raid Controllers are a waste of money unless you absolutely have to use windows in which case you have no other good choice. They don't make the raid controller listed anymore so if that thing breaks hes going to lose all of his data. You have to install the exact same raid controller with the exact same firmware for that to work too. With software raid you don't have to deal with that headache and the overhead on the processor is almost non-existent in the modern day.
The key benefit (other than fixing a Windows deficiency of course) is that good hardware RAID offers blind swap. That's not a trivial feature.
And Scott beat me to it - exactly, blind and hot swap is awesome, assuming your RAID controller supports it.
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My general rule of thumb (very general, lots of exceptions) is that if you have a real hardware RAID controller* that you use it, when you don't, you use software RAID.
*Real meaning not FakeRAID, has a real cache (128MB or larger, 1GB or larger is best), has a real offload processor and supports blind swapping.
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It was an amazon glitch I think. It was only 250€ instead of the 700€ average price in other shops. Went up straight after I bought it. I could actually still return it and go all the other way to upgrade the rest of the hardware for software raid. But I kind of settled for this route already.
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@marcinozga said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
I questioned choice of Windows on spiceworks, and his reply was that he was more familiar with it. However, using client OS for server role is just silly - I doubt $800 windows server license is in play here.
That should be a factor, too. Using Windows desktop here is silly and limiting. Using Windows Server is expensive and impractical (unless you are ultra rich or just looking for excuses to get Windows experience.) Using Linux or a BSD or a Solaris variant would all be "server class" options with zero actual cost and all give lots of good career growth and education opportunities.
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@Dashrender said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@scottalanmiller said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@wirestyle22 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@DustinB3403 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@wirestyle22 said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
With that size I would seriously consider using software raid. Something like CentOS w/ ZFS using Striped Mirrored Vdev’s (essentially Raid 10).
Why when there is a hardware raid controller would you effectively downgrade to software raid? Unless there are limitations on the card (like a number of supported drives or some
I think Raid Controllers are a waste of money unless you absolutely have to use windows in which case you have no other good choice. They don't make the raid controller listed anymore so if that thing breaks hes going to lose all of his data. You have to install the exact same raid controller with the exact same firmware for that to work too. With software raid you don't have to deal with that headache and the overhead on the processor is almost non-existent in the modern day.
The key benefit (other than fixing a Windows deficiency of course) is that good hardware RAID offers blind swap. That's not a trivial feature.
And Scott beat me to it - exactly, blind and hot swap is awesome, assuming your RAID controller supports it.
Software RAID does hot swap... if your hardware supports it. Hardware RAID needs supporting hardware, too. So that would be equal.
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@geertcourmacher said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
It was an amazon glitch I think. It was only 250€ instead of the 700€ average price in other shops. Went up straight after I bought it. I could actually still return it and go all the other way to upgrade the rest of the hardware for software raid. But I kind of settled for this route already.
Not saying that you should return it, but why would hardware need to be upgraded for software RAID? Unless you are running an overburden Atom processor or are trying to run in only 1GB or less of RAM, I don't see software RAID being hardware hampered.
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@geertcourmacher said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
I was thinking to eventually add Plex somewhere down the line. Right now both my media pc and work pc are much more powerful than the server.
The server is based on the AM1 platform, I just switched out the terrible 2650 (2x1.45) for a slighlty better 5150 (4x1.60). Should be ok for x264, yet I don't know about x265 and whatever may come.
Building my Kodi library has taken a while do, I'd assume the same process would wait for me with Plex (with foreign language movies not being scrubbed correctly from databases, etc...)Plex should be able to read the media in your Kodi library if it is stored as standard MP4 / AVI files, etc. You shouldn't have to re-rip your entire library just to switch from one to the other.
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@scottalanmiller said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@geertcourmacher said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
It was an amazon glitch I think. It was only 250€ instead of the 700€ average price in other shops. Went up straight after I bought it. I could actually still return it and go all the other way to upgrade the rest of the hardware for software raid. But I kind of settled for this route already.
Not saying that you should return it, but why would hardware need to be upgraded for software RAID? Unless you are running an overburden Atom processor or are trying to run in only 1GB or less of RAM, I don't see software RAID being hardware hampered.
Blind swap is definitely a thing but does the benefit outweigh the cost for a home server? I don't think so but I'd love to hear your opinions.
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@dafyre said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
@geertcourmacher said in Raid 6 Amateur File Server Setup Questions:
I was thinking to eventually add Plex somewhere down the line. Right now both my media pc and work pc are much more powerful than the server.
The server is based on the AM1 platform, I just switched out the terrible 2650 (2x1.45) for a slighlty better 5150 (4x1.60). Should be ok for x264, yet I don't know about x265 and whatever may come.
Building my Kodi library has taken a while do, I'd assume the same process would wait for me with Plex (with foreign language movies not being scrubbed correctly from databases, etc...)Plex should be able to read the media in your Kodi library if it is stored as standard MP4 / AVI files, etc. You shouldn't have to re-rip your entire library just to switch from one to the other.
Not to mention that MKV's (as you mentioned they will be) are natively supported by Roku (and most others) meaning no transcoding. That dramatically reduces the hardware requirements of your server.
