XBMC + NAS All in one PC?
#1
Hi guys,

I've built a new system that I plan to use as my NAS. I was initially planning on running NAS4Free or FreeNAS 8, and then I was going to build a new HTPC to stream from there.

However, physically, I actually am constrained and must place my NAS unit inside of my home theatre cabinet. I figure, why not let it serve a dual purpose and be both a NAS and my HTPC? I would plan to force XBMC to read locally, and then run some kind of NAS software to do file sharing, streaming (to other potential devices), ftp, http management, etc. at the same time. The PC's hardware is as follows:

-Lian Li PC-Q25B Case
-Intel G540
-Asus P8H77-I mITX LGA1155 (HDMI) Motherboard
-8 GB of ram (1 stick, another slot available to do another 8 GB)
-6 TB in RAID 5
-2 TB in RAID 0

What would be my optimal software setup? NAS4Free and FreeNAS both run on FreeBSD. I would assume it is prohibitively difficult to port XBMC to FreeBSD? I have some experience in cross compiling but not much beyond cross compiling various applications.

Any advice, pointers, experiences are very welcome! Thanks!

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#2
I run an HP N36L (http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quick...16_na.HTML) with a low profile radeon card for HD decoding.
I have it with 8gb RAM and 2x3tb hdd's in Raid1 (it supports upto 4 or 5 if you use the optical bay drive aswell).
Its running Windows 7 and its flawless Smile

All depends on how technically inclined you are. FreeNAS i have heard works well, but why not run Windows or Ubuntu and just have all the media served via shared folders/media sharing (via XBMC)?

As for management, i just use remote desktop via my laptop to either the login for XBMC or a secondary account i use for file management (moving things around in folders, etc). For torrent management i use the web interface for uTorrent.
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#3
I have comp sci degree and work in the industry, so playing around with complex setups shouldn't be too much of a stretch (I hope!). I suppose I just want a few of the features that FreeNAS offers, combining ZFS with a web interface to control things remotely, supporting tons of different streaming and file sharing protocols, etc...

Ubuntu is workable. Would I just run a samba server for file sharing to my windows computers? Are there any good windows NAS solutions?
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#4
The only problem with most (if not all) NAS projects is that they assume a headless server environment with web-based administration...

So you may be better off looking at something like XBMCbuntu - Eden or XBMCbuntu - Frodo and adding the NAS components you need to it.
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#5
Looks like you can get XBMC for FreeBSD:

http://www.freshports.org/multimedia/xbmc/

Do you think this port is likely crippled in many ways or are ports like this generally pretty fully featured? Obviously that is difficult to tell just from reading the release notes, so I'm just looking for opinions unless someone has had direct experience with running XBMC on FreeBSD.
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#6
Locke,
please read again the post from vicbitter - you are thinking about building a machine for sharing files and presenting video and audio. So the basis for it should be a xbmc-proven OS like Ubuntu. There is also quite some experience about sharing folders with Ubuntu Linux (at least in the ubuntu forums, there are willing to share their knowledge).
So, in my opinion, this would be the easier way.
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#7
(2012-07-20, 01:16)Gazzyb Wrote: I run an HP N36L (http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quick...16_na.HTML) with a low profile radeon card for HD decoding.
I have it with 8gb RAM and 2x3tb hdd's in Raid1 (it supports upto 4 or 5 if you use the optical bay drive aswell).
Its running Windows 7 and its flawless Smile

All depends on how technically inclined you are. FreeNAS i have heard works well, but why not run Windows or Ubuntu and just have all the media served via shared folders/media sharing (via XBMC)?

As for management, i just use remote desktop via my laptop to either the login for XBMC or a secondary account i use for file management (moving things around in folders, etc). For torrent management i use the web interface for uTorrent.

I have a similar setup with WHS2011 (except the extra HDD's) I stream BR ISO rips seamlessly with all the HD audio streams. My PC stays on 24/7 and don't have an issue at all. I am so happy with my setup ATM.
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#8
I doubt there would be anything FreeNas can do that you can't do with a full operating system.
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#9
I'd say Locke42 with his qualifications doesn't want something easy, that doesn't satisfy the geek inside Big Grin
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