Noob advice for a Home server

[hairyhobo]

hi, pretty new to this but have come across FreeNAS as my mate has started to use it.

Im going to be installing a home network (cat6 to the rooms) to run audio/video to 5/6 rooms.

Can i run a itunes server for devices to stream from? As i plan to use some apple tv's to receive the music for various rooms.
Also can you select the streaming itunes server in the remote app on the iphone/ipad?

I may use this to back up my computers as well, but i think i will wait for the price of hard drives to fall again. Am i correct in thinking time machine can run ok to this?

Also for a server spec, would anyone recommend anything?
Would one of the HP servers with cashback deals on ebuyer do, or should i build something and if so what sort of spec would be ideal?

thanks

 

[jgreco]

FreeNAS 8 is light on multimedia features, being a ground-up rewrite that is aiming at something more like the SMB marketplace to begin with. You might try FreeNAS 7, a link for which is available at the top of the page.

 

[joeschmuck]

We have 8.0.3 which now includes Multimedia support. It's light as jgreco mentioned but if you don't need to do any transcoding then it might work fine for you. FreeNAS .7x is also a good product and you should look into both as serious contenders. Do not let the version numbers make you thing one is superior to the other, .7 is matured, 8.x is new and still in progress of being developed.

As for hardware, if you really want to use this as a media server and you think you will need transcoding, I would recommend a dual core processor @ 2.8GHz or better, 8GB RAM (FreeNAS 8) or 4GB RAM (FreeNAS .7), a motherboard with built in video is nice or just a really cheap video card to reduce power use and heat. Above all, a quality power supply rated for your needs. Stick to an 80 Plus Bronze or better. Here is a link everyone should read about these power supplies. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...-calculate-consumption,3066.html#xtor=RSS-182

As for hard drives, I would imagine you desire at least one drive fault tolerance so buy drives of the same size. I have four 2TB drives in a RAIDZ1 which means I have 5.2TB (something like that) of available data and one drive could fail and I will not lose any data.

There are more things to consider like a case and ventilation.

I would not buy a cheap system if you're going to buy new. You get what you pay for and those small systems typically don't have the room for extra drives, the power supply is already near it's max, there is likely no more SATA connection available meaning you would need an add-on board.

When you are closer to a decision, post another question about something you are thinking of buying.

I assume you have a computer right now, why don;t you run FreeNAS in a Virtual Machine to test it out.

Oh, yes FreeNAS could handle all your reqeusts, iTunes, DLNA, files sharing, backing up your computers, etc...

-Joe

 

[angellayne]

I'm interested in the iTunes streaming capabilities also. I am confused as to whether you can steam purchased video content (from the iTunes store) from freenas to something like a ruko player or WD multimedia player. I would love to avoid having to purchase another video device.

 

[hairyhobo]

Thanks for that joe.

I'll be using boxee and xbmc, so I can just stream it all in the same video format to the apple tvs via Ethernet so shouldn't have to worry about converting anything.

I have started to price up a build, so a i3 processor wouldn't be silly to put in?

 

[joeschmuck]

Thanks for that joe.

I'll be using boxee and xbmc, so I can just stream it all in the same video format to the apple tvs via Ethernet so shouldn't have to worry about converting anything.

I have started to price up a build, so a i3 processor wouldn't be silly to put in?

Nope, an i3 would be more than enough CPU power in case you decided later you wanted to do more with the box plus it's not an expensive CPU in the first place and it's not a power hog. I cannot overstress enough how critical a high quality power supply is. Stick with names like Seasonic, Antec, Cool Master. My preference is SeaSonic as they have the best reputation out there (in my opinion) as I've never seen a bad report on their products. Ensure you go with an 80 Plus certified unit as well and if the price looks too good to be true, it is. My power supply cost me just over $110 and I've had it for over 3 years. It's rock solid and I think it will last another 3 years. It sounds like you're already knowledgeable on computers but I just wanted to ensure anyone else reading this thread understands the importance of good clean solid power.

Last thing, if you are looking to make this a really quiet device, buy an aftermarket CPU cooler, not the intel model. One with a 120mm fan but you need to take into account your case size when you do this. The thinner cases cannot give you the width required for some of them. Eh, you're figure it out.

Hope this helps.

 

[hairyhobo]

No probs, thanks for the input.

Cool and quiet is what I need, though I'm not fussed if it's a full atx or mini as I've got the room to store either. I'm guessing you can build one with a full size atx motherboard? If I can I may just pop it in a g5 case as I've just done that with my hackintosh.