Almost sold on unRAID, need some consultation

[DontJudgeMeMonkey]

Hello, 

 

I've recently built a NAS with these specs:

• Motherboard: SuperMicro X8DAL-I REV 2.0
• CPU: 2x Intel Xeon CPU E5645 @ 2.40GHz
• RAM: 32GB of ECC RAM
• GPU: EVGA GeForce 210 (No integrated graphics)
• PSU: EVGA 450 BT, 80+ Bronze 450W
• Storage: 3x 3.5" WD 3TB Reds

 

I tried using FreeNAS 11 but I haven't been able to get my plugins working and I've had an idea of switching to unRAID to utilize some of the spare CPU power.

 

What I want to do:

• Change from FreeNAS 11 to unRAID
• Buy a capture card and install it in the NAS
• Create a Virtual Machine that uses the capture card
• Allocate most of the 24 threads available to the Virtual Machine to be used as a dedicated twitch streaming PC (streaming during the evenings on weekends)
• Have a Plex server running off my NAS

 

Questions that I have:

• Do I need to buy an SSD for this?
• Do I need a second graphics card for this since there's no integrated graphics?
• What would I need to do to change over from FreeNAS 11 to unRAID? (I do not have anything on these drives right now)
• How feasible is this project?

 

If this project isn't going to put me in the own-zone for a month and it's do-able I will commit to unRAID. 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

[BobPhoenix]

47 minutes ago, DontJudgeMeMonkey said:

• Buy a capture card and install it in the NAS
• Create a Virtual Machine that uses the capture card

There are Dockers that will allow you to use a capture card so you don't really have to use a VM if the DVB plugin has drivers to support your capture card.  You can however use a VM if you want as long as your hardware supports pass through (not all hardware does).  I have multiple unRAID servers using the Docker version of SageTV as well as a Windows VM running SageTV for those capture cards that don't have drivers available in the DVB plugin.  I also have some network tuners (HDHomeRun) and don't need the DVB plugin or a VM to use those tuners with the SageTV docker.  If you don't like SageTV there are other dockers available.

[BobPhoenix]

1 hour ago, DontJudgeMeMonkey said:

Questions that I have:

• Do I need to buy an SSD for this?
• Do I need a second graphics card for this since there's no integrated graphics?
• What would I need to do to change over from FreeNAS 11 to unRAID? (I do not have anything on these drives right now)
• How feasible is this project?

Now to give you my answers (my opinion anyway) to your questions.

1. You don't HAVE to use an SSD for this.  But a Spinner would limit your access speed for your VMs and dockers.  I have one of my unRAID servers that uses a WD Veloci-Raptor HDD that I had on hand - works fine.
2. You only need a graphics card if you want to pass it through to a VM or use features on it to speed transcoding.  I have NO graphics cards on my unRAID servers.  I use RDP to connect to my VMs.  I'm not gaming on them so I don't need the performance.
3. If you don't have anything on the drives then you should be able to just attach them and use them in unRAID
4. I don't see any problems as long as you don't have any data you need to save and your hardware will provide what you need with regard to your VMs (I.E. pass through).  Didn't look to see if your MB and CPUs are VT-d compatible - sorry.

Edited November 16, 2017 by BobPhoenix

[DontJudgeMeMonkey]

Thanks for replying!

 

21 hours ago, BobPhoenix said:

There are Dockers that will allow you to use a capture card so you don't really have to use a VM if the DVB plugin has drivers to support your capture card.  You can however use a VM if you want as long as your hardware supports pass through (not all hardware does).  I have multiple unRAID servers using the Docker version of SageTV as well as a Windows VM running SageTV for those capture cards that don't have drivers available in the DVB plugin.  I also have some network tuners (HDHomeRun) and don't need the DVB plugin or a VM to use those tuners with the SageTV docker.  If you don't like SageTV there are other dockers available.

 

I think I do need a Windows VM in order to use OBS or the included software that comes with for example the elgato HD60 Pro. I won't be capturing TV or anything, but instead footage straight from my computer.

 

21 hours ago, BobPhoenix said:

Now to give you my answers (my opinion anyway) to your questions.

1. You don't HAVE to use an SSD for this.  But a Spinner would limit your access speed for your VMs and dockers.  I have one of my unRAID servers that uses a WD Veloci-Raptor HDD that I had on hand - works fine.
2. You only need a graphics card if you want to pass it through to a VM or use features on it to speed transcoding.  I have NO graphics cards on my unRAID servers.  I use RDP to connect to my VMs.  I'm not gaming on them so I don't need the performance.
3. If you don't have anything on the drives then you should be able to just attach them and use them in unRAID
4. I don't see any problems as long as you don't have any data you need to save and your hardware will provide what you need with regard to your VMs (I.E. pass through).  Didn't look to see if your MB and CPUs are VT-d compatible - sorry.

 

1. Could I add an SSD at any time or would this need to be purchased in the beginning?
2. I need it to install unRAID though, correct?
3. Awesome.
4. They do support virtualization. 

 

This is great news. I will look into getting this up hopefully this weekend depending on if I need to grab an SSD first or not.

[BobPhoenix]

16 minutes ago, DontJudgeMeMonkey said:

• Could I add an SSD at any time or would this need to be purchased in the beginning?
• I need it to install unRAID though, correct?
• Awesome.
• They do support virtualization.

1. You can add an SSD at any time but if you are using it as your cache drive you will have to transfer over all of your files when you remove the other.  If you want you could add the SSD and pass it through as the boot device using Unassigned devices.  I haven't done that but I have seen many posts from others that HAVE done that.
2. You don't need a graphic device to install unRAID.  unRAID is installed on a USB flash drive and I have done that on my laptop before transferring the flash drive to its' eventual home.  You might WANT a video card to look at the first boot but if your MB has IPMI that will work just as well.  That is how I watched the first boot on all of my headless servers in my basement.

One thing I neglected to mention was that you will need to format the drives in unRAID before they can be used as each drive (except parity) has it's own file system.  It is also possible that unRAID might at first refuse to format them if they have partitions in particular so you might want to EMPTY the disk of all partitions before adding them to unRAID.  Although this step will most likely not be necessary - deleting the partitions will then fix any problems of assigning and formatting drives in unRAID.  New drives with no partition can be added right away although the established best practice is to TEST the new drives before adding them to the array.  I use the Preclear script to test the drives but any good program can be used including the manufacturers test programs.  If you have any problems with installing just post again as the user base is excellent at troubleshooting problems and should get up and running in no time.

[BobPhoenix]

29 minutes ago, DontJudgeMeMonkey said:

I think I do need a Windows VM in order to use OBS or the included software that comes with for example the elgato HD60 Pro. I won't be capturing TV or anything, but instead footage straight from my computer.

I wondered if that isn't what you meant.  Since your not using a capture card for TV capture a VM would probably work best - in my opinion anyway.