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Deano316 · (This post was last modified: 2012-03-23, 02:37 by Deano316.)

I already have a HTPC (running Vista) which at the moment is doing all the heavy lifting for my media (downloading, viewing etc). I'd like get a second PC which could act as a server (just running sabnzbd/sickbeard/couchpotato/headphones), this would free up my main PC to solely view media and run games on. Anyone have any suggestions on the minimum specs I would need for my server PC?

aicjofs · (This post was last modified: 2012-03-23, 05:12 by aicjofs.)

Probably depends on what OS you plan on running on it. Its mostly acting as a network interface with a few post processing jobs(not encoding). You could go low as a Pentium 3 1Ghz, maybe 512MB RAM, linux build. I ran my old server with Technet Windows Server 2008, Pentium 4 2.8Ghz Hyperthreaded, 2GB RAM, even had my Teamspeak server, ventrillo, and a PBX, no video encoding, with windows based software RAID. The only thing that would kill it was software RAID 5 with gigabit transfers, and/or running it as a domain controller which changed the encryption level which the CPU couldn't handle and halved the gigabit transfer speed. Anything better then that would be fine if you don't plan to encode anything on it.

In contrast I now have 6 core Phenom, 8GB RAM, but a few extra virtual machines, and its complete overkill.

alex84 · 2012-03-23, 08:42

Suggestion mate. Skip the power hungry server and get an Qnap atom powerd device like this one
http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=161

Install 2x 2tb in raid1 or jbod. You have one klick installers for you apps, sabnzbd, sickbeard, cp, headphones. You will be upp and running within an houre. Then you got an set it and forget it, low power, low maintanence, raid server.

Cheers

Deano316 · 2012-03-23, 13:32

Thanks for the suggestions guys, what I was thinking was to repurpose an slightly older PC as I have a friend who is always getting them and refurbishing them. I've basically learnt about HTPC's from scratch over the last two years and have outgrown my current system. Not familiar with RAID (yet) but continually buying new desktop HDD's is making my tech area (family man) increasingly untidy. Going to relocate the new server PC and all my storage to a tall, well ventilated cupboard which is central to the house. Currently have around 10TB of storage (only 70GB left!) need a neater way of doing that too?

**Harro** · 2012-03-23, 14:15

I feel your pain and have been in the same situation.
I finally got tired of hearing my PC 's fans that I went and took the plunge on building an Unraid server. I thought I would need to move the server in another room but found that it is very quite and infact have it running behind my tv. Once the TV is turned on Ido not hear it at all, but if all is totally quite you can hear a small humming from it. I am very happy and will be upgrading to another one soon.

wsume99 · 2012-03-23, 14:23

I would check out unraid. It is built off a version of linux so it runs on pretty much anything. The OS runs off a USB stick and you can use it for free with a 3 disk array. My advice to you would be to get a free copy and try it out on your hardware. If it runs then you can decide for yourself if it will suit your needs before purchasing a license. It is intended to be a media server and there is an active development community that has created a ton of add-ons. It does a very good job of handling a bunch of different disks, which it sounds like that may be your exact situation. Check out the unraid forum for more info.

mr.sparkle · 2012-03-23, 15:25

(2012-03-23, 14:23)wsume99 Wrote: I would check out unraid. It is built off a version of linux so it runs on pretty much anything.

It's pickier than you think.

bigdog66 · 2012-03-23, 15:47

(2012-03-23, 15:25)mr.sparkle Wrote:
(2012-03-23, 14:23)wsume99 Wrote: I would check out unraid. It is built off a version of linux so it runs on pretty much anything.
It's pickier than you think.

not really...only thing it could be considered picky on is the nic...if that is a problem even an expensive intel gigabit nic at $30 is a relatively cheap fix
you do need a mobo that can boot from usb because the OS runs from a flash

other than that other limitations come from the hardware side...you don't want to run multiple hard drives from a pci expansion card because pci shares resources

I run my unraid server with a sempron 140 and 2 gigs of ram and it runs great
could be something else im not thinking of at the moment though lol

Kirky99 · 2012-03-23, 16:46

You don't need much for a file server. However I normally suggest looking at low poer (musually means newer hardware) when you're looking at a machine that will be on 24/7.

I had mine on an Athlon II 240e processor with 4G of memory running Ubuntu server. I'm now running one using Win7 with FlexRAID. As I've said numerous times, I prefer the FlexRAID option, for me it's easier to maintain.

The key is you want to look at something that can use a variety of disks and it would be swell if you dodn't have to format them to work. There are a few options. More if you don't mind formatting the disks ahead of time.

mr.sparkle · 2012-03-23, 17:03

(2012-03-23, 15:47)bigdog66 Wrote: not really...only thing it could be considered picky on is the nic

Nope, you gotta watch for Gigabyte boards that can't disable HPA.

**Sureguy** · 2012-03-23, 17:11

(2012-03-23, 17:03)mr.sparkle Wrote:
(2012-03-23, 15:47)bigdog66 Wrote: not really...only thing it could be considered picky on is the nic
Nope, you gotta watch for Gigabyte boards that can't disable HPA.

That's not so much an issue of unRAID being picky, that's a problem with Gigabyte boards and poor BIOS options. There should be an option to turn HPA off.

jackh · (This post was last modified: 2012-03-23, 18:27 by jackh.)

Any old hardware will pretty much do. I run my 24x7 home server on a -roughly 8 years old!!- Pentium 4 with only 512MB of RAM.
OS: Lubuntu (LXDE) and running ktorrent, sabnzbd, couchpotato, sickbeard, Samba and NFS servers, dynamic DNS client, remotely accessible via SSH and VNC... so extremely versatile. And running smoothly, even snappy.

I am now just about to upgrade the hardware, for the sole reason that I need to run a VM on it (using VirtualBox) and this old P4 processor does not support Virtualization. If I try to run the VM, CPU usage goes to the roof. In normal operation, it hovers around 10%.
So I'm going to build a new "server" on -again- inexpensive second-hand hardware, now just with a CPU that can handle Virtualization. You might want to keep this option in mind, so you can easily grow usage on the same hardware in the future.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, if I had to deal with multiple HDD's (not there... yet) I'd install FreeNAS in a VM for handling the storage piece alone, then maybe Lubuntu on another VM for all the apps, just because I'm familiar with the interface... hhmmm... I'm thinking out loud, but looks like my future upgrade path is taking shape... Blush

wsume99 · 2012-03-23, 19:27

We can go on forever nitpicking certain issues. Again, I'd suggest that the OP visit the unraid forums. I'd start by reading the Read Here First thread (obviously). There is a TON of info in that thread. I'd also take a look at the Is my motherboard compatible with unRAID? section of the Hardware Compatability page.

If you have any other questions based on what you find/read then feel free to ask.

Deano316 · 2012-03-23, 19:35

I appreciate all the input guys, I'm locating my server PC in another room purely beause I don't have the space for two in our family room. As far as OS goes, I'm undecided at the moment. Video encoding, apart from Air Video there's none (although I don't think that counts?), TBH I'll probably run that from my media PC.

Took a quick look at FreeNAS and unRAID, they both seem like they could be what I'm looking for Big Grin

Although, all of my hard drives are nearly full so reformatting is out of the question. I'm wondering if this is a problem? Also, might be a stupid question but I thought these solutions allowed you to recover data from failed hard drives by backing them up. But with 10TB+ would I need the same space again for it to be protected? Definitely leaning towards unRAID though.

@Harro - I'm feeling you on that one, my PC's fan spazzes out at least a few times an hour!

@wsume99 - will do.

I'll do a bit more research and be back with any questions. Nice one guys. Cool

**Sureguy** · 2012-03-23, 20:42

I have an unRAID array, the disks must be empty to add them to the array. You do have the option of doing the following however:

Set up server, and purchase 2 drives the same size or larger than your largest disk. One of these will be your Parity drive, and one your first data drive. Copy data from your largest hard drive by attaching it to the unRAID system and mounting it with SNAP. Then preclear your largest hard drive and add it to the array. Follow suit with your next largest hard drive, and then your third until all your disks are in the array.

Note that preclearing may show that some of your hard drives are problematic and shouldn't be used.

As long as you have a parity drive your data is somewhat protected - you can have a single disk fail and rebuild the data. If more than one disk fails you will still be able to get the data from the other drives. unRAID is not a replacement for a backup though.