Looking a building a home sever used as a NVR & Media server

BobbyT28

Hi,

Hope this is the right forum.

I am looking at building a home server. I currently own a synology DS214play which I am currently selling.

What I want to use it for:

NVR - Blue Iris, open to suggestions (SV3C camera & Foscam noth ONVIF cameras)
Plex
Documents

Hardware I have currently
2 x 2TB Seagate barracuda drives
1 x 3TB WED Red (Intend to add 2 x 3TB WD Red also.)

Looking for suggestions on a build using new or used parts. Obviosuly this will be running 24/7 so something that is lower powered is preferrable.

Software:
Not really sure, Was looking at Freenas but opened to suggestions as this will be my first server build

House is wired wiith Cat6, I have a Patch panel connected to a switch (4 POE ports). So don't need anything wireless.

Any help, links or suggestions etc would be great.

Thanks in advance
BobbyT28

ED E

Barracudas will work but aren't rated for dense packing.

3x1 + 2x2 will give you 3.6TB usable under a sensible setup - not great. Adding a few more disks will definitely be advised.

I'd probably run UnRaid as its a much more hands off setup once done. Then spin up a VM for BlueIris and another for media applications (plex and downloaders etc). Give BlueIris priority over CPU time.

BobbyT28

ED E wrote: »

Barracudas will work but aren't rated for dense packing.

3x1 + 2x2 will give you 3.6TB usable under a sensible setup - not great. Adding a few more disks will definitely be advised.

I'd probably run UnRaid as its a much more hands off setup once done. Then spin up a VM for BlueIris and another for media applications (plex and downloaders etc). Give BlueIris priority over CPU time.

Any suggestions on what a decent build would cost that will be silent and power efficent?

Not sure what chasis to go for at it will be going into a spare storage behind one of the doors in the attic (Synology and Switch is currently up there)

Would probably prefer a tower than a rack mounted server although I do like the idea of a rack in the attic so suggestions for both would be great.

Motherboard - one with plenty of SATA ports, USB and m.2 ?

Ideally 32GB ram

Graphics card?

Storage - Hope to add at least another 9-12TB or storage (Red WD)

Thanks for the repy
BobbyT28

BobbyT28

What about something like this?

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/Jdp7vn

I already have a 250g Evo SSD and a few HDD with the space for expansion in the case and the motherboard I can upgrade down the road.

Your thoughts would appreciated

CPU
AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor £79.95

Motherboard
ASRock - A320M-DGS Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard £45.43

Memory
Crucial - Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory

Case
Fractal Design - Define Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case £76.97

Power Supply
Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

Wired Network Adapter
TP-Link - TG-3468 PCI-Express x1 10/100/1000 Mbps Network Adapter £8.48

Case Fan
Deepcool - XFAN 120 44.7 CFM 120mm Fan £33.97

ED E

Wait, you have a Syn, is that fully loaded or could you use that as your storage and serve from a companion box?

32GB then build with 8GB, which do you want? TBH mine is 8GB and with VMs Id push it to 16GB but 32 is nuts UNLESS running Freenas(ZFS) because then you need 1GB/TB in the array.


Board only has 4 Sata ports. Maybe pick something from here:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/motherboard/#f=7&K=8,10

Id also maybe look for an IPMI, there's no filter for that there so it'd be a manual check.

This adds dual network interfaces:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/motherboard/#f=7&K=8,10&a=2,5


I've an Asrock Rack SoC board with 12 SATA and IPMI but its been far from perfect so I wouldnt recommend it necessarily.

Maybe have a look at /r/datahoarder too as theres a huge amount of options and approaches.

BobbyT28

ED E wrote: »

Wait, you have a Syn, is that fully loaded or could you use that as your storage and serve from a companion box?

Yes I still have the DS214Play which is full with mostly movies and TV shows (5TB). I could keep it to use as storage but was hoping to sell it and just setup a new DIY server, but I am open to hearing what suggestions you regarding keeping this and using a seperate box for serving

32GB then build with 8GB, which do you want? TBH mine is 8GB and with VMs Id push it to 16GB but 32 is nuts UNLESS running Freenas(ZFS) because then you need 1GB/TB in the array.

I don't know!! but honestly, I would have probably gone with 16GB anyway.

Board only has 4 Sata ports. Maybe pick something from here:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/motherboard/#f=7&K=8,10

Link not working for some reason

Id also maybe look for an IPMI, there's no filter for that there so it'd be a manual check.

Never thought of a IPMI, will definitly want that.

This adds dual network interfaces:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/motherboard/#f=7&K=8,10&a=2,5

Link not working for some reason

I've an Asrock Rack SoC board with 12 SATA and IPMI but its been far from perfect so I wouldnt recommend it necessarily.

Maybe have a look at /r/datahoarder too as theres a huge amount of options and approaches.

Will have a look here.

Look I really appreciate all the help and suggestions.

One of the reason I wanted to change from the Synology was that the camera license's are crazy money so was hoping to setup a server for camera (Blue Iris or something similiar ) and Plex for my MOvies and TV Shows. The synology has been very laggy recently and was really just looking for a DIY project.

If I was to keep the Synology then what way would you suggest I do the setup?

Synology hosting all the TV shows and movies and running plex or just the TV shows and Movies and running Plex and Camera software on another Server that I build, create shares from synology to new server for Plex and go from there?

Thanks again,
BobbyT28

ED E

Those links should be good, dunno whats up there.


The Synology is:
Great at storing stuff
Terrible at computing stuff

So what I'd do is let it just store your data. So it has the movie files, CCTV recordings etc.

Give the thinking to another box. So Plex Media Server runs on this other box, as does Blue Iris. Something like a NUC/Zbox or small tower you build yourself. You map the synology as a drive on it, give it its own small HDD/SSD to run on, stack em in the attic and forget em.

BobbyT28

ED E wrote: »

Those links should be good, dunno whats up there.


The Synology is:
Great at storing stuff
Terrible at computing stuff

So what I'd do is let it just store your data. So it has the movie files, CCTV recordings etc.

Give the thinking to another box. So Plex Media Server runs on this other box, as does Blue Iris. Something like a NUC/Zbox or small tower you build yourself. You map the synology as a drive on it, give it its own small HDD/SSD to run on, stack em in the attic and forget em.

Sounds like a plan. Any links to a decent Nuc or zboz?

Thanks again

BobbyT28

What about this?

ZOTAC ZBOX IQ01 Barbone Desktop (Intel Core i7-4770T 3.6GHz, 16GB RAM) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GU2X08Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fSHwBbE4CF8A4