Some questions on AFP and CIFS, Plex, and Drive Configurations

[Mark Levitt]

Hi,

I am currently using an Ubuntu server to store media. I'm looking at migrating to FreeNAS, but I'm not sure it will meet my needs so I'm hoping someone can clarify something for me.

AFP and SMB:
My home machines are all Macs and my iTunes media for my wife and I are stored on a shared AFP volume. We use Sonos which only works with SMB, so the Ubuntu server is set up to share the same folder with both Samba and Netatalk.

The advice I've seen is that you shouldn't share the same folder with both SMB and AFP. As this works fine on Ubuntu, is there some issue with FreeNAS and/or FreeBSD which makes this more dangerous? And, if it is done, what is the risk? Data loss?

Plex:
From what I've read on the Plex forums, the recommendation is not to use the "Plugins" to install Plex, but rather to set up a Jail and install Plex there.

I understand that you create a "mapping"(?) so that the Jail can mount a folder that is actually a view on the underlying volume for media.

My question is, what about Plex's metadata, DB tables, etc that it needs to store. Specifically, where do those end up? How do I allocate and manage the space available for them? And, if the space required for Plex itself grows, is it possible to grow the storage space allocated to Plex itself?

Drive configuration:
Last, I'm thinking of using 6 4TB drives. From everything I've read, this would be best set up as a RAIDZ2 configuration? That would give me about 12.5 TB of usable space?

From what I've read, expanding this in the future would requiring adding another 6 drives or replacing each drive one at a time with a larger one?

Thanks!

 

[nojohnny101]

The advice I've seen is that you shouldn't share the same folder with both SMB and AFP. As this works fine on Ubuntu, is there some issue with FreeNAS and/or FreeBSD which makes this more dangerous? And, if it is done, what is the risk? Data loss?

I can not provide you the technical answer you might be looking for but let me give you an analogy. It is the same concept as two people trying to edit a single file at once. This causes revision conflicts and can corrupt files. Same concept applies, and this is why it is not recommended. It is not guaranteed you will run into problems, but the risk is high.

From what I've read on the Plex forums, the recommendation is not to use the "Plugins" to install Plex, but rather to set up a Jail and install Plex there.

I do not use plugins from the GUI as I have found installing them from the CLI to be less error prone. This is a chevy vs. ford debate though, so do whatever way you find easiest. I have used this guide with great success (very easy to follow):
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...to-install-plex-in-a-freenas-9-10-jail.19412/

I understand that you create a "mapping"(?) so that the Jail can mount a folder that is actually a view on the underlying volume for media.

Yes. I do this in the GUI and it is straightforward. You basically tell the jail where to access the data that is stored on your pool outside of the jail. You should read more about this in the manual, as it is covered well:
https://doc.freenas.org/9.10/jails.html

My question is, what about Plex's metadata, DB tables, etc that it needs to store. Specifically, where do those end up? How do I allocate and manage the space available for them? And, if the space required for Plex itself grows, is it possible to grow the storage space allocated to Plex itself?

The plex metadata is stored within the jail. The location of these vary from jail to jail so reference the appropriate documentation to determine its location. You do not need to manage or allocate storage for this. Most people create datasets for jails to use and you can control quotas in this way, but you don't have to "expand" or "add" storage to your jails or things like metadata and things. The jail will take up as much space on your pool as needed.

Last, I'm thinking of using 6 4TB drives. From everything I've read, this would be best set up as a RAIDZ2 configuration? That would give me about 12.5 TB of usable space?

This space estimator was built by someone here on the forums (@Bidule0hm) and will give you a good estimate of your space once you plug in all your information.

From what I've read, expanding this in the future would requiring adding another 6 drives or replacing each drive one at a time with a larger one?

Correct. You aren't required to create another vdev with the exact same specs as your original (i.e. 6 drives in raidz2) but it is recommended.

Good luck!

 

[Ericloewe]

This space estimator was built by someone here on the forums (@Bidule0hm) and will give you a good estimate of your space once you plug in all your information.

You missed the link:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/zfs-raid-size-and-reliability-calculator.49/

 

[nojohnny101]

I even had the tab open, man I'm getting old!

 

[Stux]

If the problem is read/write corruption then the Sonos will be read only anyway, and that won't be a problem.

Also, I thought Samba had support for netatalk locks and that should handle the r/w conflicts.

I thought the issue was actually permissions, which won't be a problem if the permissions are simple.

 

[Mark Levitt]

Thanks everyone for your answers.

Regarding the SMB and Netatalk question... it sounds like the issue is more that different clients (i.e., Macs and Windows) might not respect the locking, etc. so if you've got two clients accessing the same file at the same time, they might clash?

If that's the case, then I'm not too worried about that (I'm not supporting hundreds of PCs in a mixed environment. :))

My impression was that there was some known issue with FreeBSD itself (or the Samba and/or Netatak versions for FreeBSD) that would cause issues.

Now trying to narrow down motherboard choices but perhaps will start another thread for that...

Thanks again.