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Build a small, high-performance NAS (6 bays) for only $392


Bingie

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Happy2Play
7 minutes ago, Bingie said:

ARGH!  Okay I just discovered one problem from migrating files from one server to another...

NONE OF THE DAMN REMOTE USER ACCOUNTS HAVE PASSWORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Out of sheer curiosity, I checked access to my Emby server over the WAN, and was able to login to every account without a password.  That's not good.

I just had to shutuff all Internet access to my Emby server.  Every single account I had created for WAN access no longer had a password.  So, for anyone planning moving your server, umm, you might want to disable WAN access, until you can re-assign all the passwords first.

 

How did you move the server?  Did you use the Server Configuration Backup plugin to restore users?  As we have recently discovered a issue.

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3 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

How did you move the server?  Did you use the Server Configuration Backup plugin to restore users?  As we have recently discovered a issue.

My bad, never test when are tired.

My cell phone was locally connected to my wifi, so instead of connecting over the WAN, I was connecting locally, hence no password requirement LOL!

That sure woke me up :)

I already edited that post hah

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On 9/21/2021 at 12:00 PM, jaycedk said:

If you want to monitor windows remote, take a look at prtg or zabbix with grafana.

It takes some setting up, the only thing that I haven't figured out yet is GPU monitoring.

Screen shot of zabbix with grafana, runnig on a separate server in a VM.

billede.thumb.png.ed96e239a92c561a7ed4503a8431cca7.png

That looks good.  What OS are you running in the VM?

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Remote desktop to the NAS using tightvnc.  NAS only using 2.1GB RAM w00t!

I wish all of those monitoring tools were rolled up into just 1, and viewable from my cell phone.  I'd still like a better remote monitoring tool.  I haven't programmed in years, not sure I want to dip into that well again.

 

nas-monitor1.png

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I just realized... windows hasn't asked me once for a license key.  When I installed windows from USB (free iso download from microsoft) I skipped the key part, was going to do it later.  But since I locked windows down (replaced windows firewall with simplewall that blocks windows OS from accessing the Internet), windows is basically running in what's called offline mode.  I'm sure if I turn off simplewall, and allow the OS to start talking on the Internet, it will probably start complaining for a key.  Unexpected, but interesting.  If I had known this, maybe I would've installed Pro instead of Home :P Pro and Home are the same software, they just handicap Home in a few ways, none of which I really need anyways.

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jaycedk

A bit curious is it only real time monitoring ?

Can you go back in time ?

Does is save peak's on your system ?

And most important, is it secure ?

Are you opening ports in your firewall, router or both ?

Are anyone snooping in on the data ?

Tbh i'm not convinced.

I would setup a local monitoring system, where you could VPN in to look.

If it requires you to open ports in your firewall, router or both.

I will give you it look great.

 

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Okay, I finally settled on the backup plan for this NAS.

First things first, use the Windows built-in image backup utility, to perform a full image backup of the boot drive C to the first data drive D.

Second, use the Windows built-in File History backup utility, which runs every hour, that backups up any changes to drive C since the image utility.

Third, install and use the FreeFileSync utility, configured to run automatically (realtime or daily), which duplicates and synchronizes data drive D to data drive E.

(optional) Fourth, on a non-scheduled, occasional basis, connect an external data drive (archive) to my desktop pc, and using freefilesync, copy the NAS data drive D or E to the archive drive connected to my desktop pc, then disconnect the archive drive, and store it away safe somewhere, either off-site, or at the very least, inside a fire proof safe or cabinet.

At any time, drive E can replace drive D, and the archive drive can replace either drive D or E.  The contents are the same.  The sizes may differ, but recommended to keep them the same or similar size.  Since they are formatted with a clean NTFS with no encapsulation, no encryption, or software based multi-drive "volume" capabilities turned on, they are directly swappable, with no changes required.  No rebuild or resync necessary.  Direct replacement.  Maybe change the volume name, for cosmetic purposes.

Windows built-in image backup utility:

Follow the directions here:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-make-full-backup-windows-10

Make an image of all of drive C, and save it to drive D.  You don't need to create another bootable USB stick to restore this backup.  Just use the original USB you made when you first installed Windows 10.  The windows install USB also has repair and image restore functionality built-in.  You want to use the built-in utilities, so you don't lose time installing a 3rd party utility before you can restore.

Windows built-in backup using File History:

Follow the directions here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/backup-and-restore-in-windows-352091d2-bb9d-3ea3-ed18-52ef2b88cbef

This will automatically backup, on an hourly basis, any changes on drive C, to data drive D.  These backups can be selectively restored from, using the same utility.

FreeFileSync to duplicate data drive D to data drive E:

Download and install FreeFileSync from here:

https://freefilesync.org/

FreeFileSync is an excellent program, that can be configured to automatically synchronize two drives.  It can be configured to do it in real time, or on a daily basis.  I configured it to run every morning at 3am.

After installing, configure it to duplicate all of drive D to drive E.  After first run, go back in to the config, turn on database option, so it remembers what got copied, and will detect when files are moved, deleted, etc., and do the same on the destination drive.

Save the dailysync configuration to sync file, then using the built-in Windows task scheduler, have windows run FreeFileSync every night.

FreeFileSync can also be configured to send you an email automatically, letting you know each sync job completed successfully.

 

That takes care of backups and restores.  Any problems, you can get your NAS back online hassle free, and with the least amount of effort.

Cheers

 

Edited by Bingie
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Bingie

It's been a week, everything working perfectly, running cool and quiet, no problems.  I love this box!  The case is a brilliant design.  Air flow fantastic.

Here is the remote desktop (using tightvnc), I leave these status windows open, so I can take a quick peek, to make sure everything is okay.

Look at those low temperatures.  Even the NVMe runs cool, no heat sink on it.

remote-desktop-01.png

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Bingie

Sorry, the hwmonitor was behind the daily sync message.  Look at how cool the cpu is running.  The system is idle right now.

 

 

remote-desktop-02.png

Edited by Bingie
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  • 2 weeks later...
eNES0nsEsK

I stumbled on to this thread somehow, read it all and enjoyed the write up. thanks.

I used to use the same Fractal design case with a low powered Intel J1900 Celeron integrated on to an ITX motherboard and 6 x 3TB hard drives. I used FreeNas as the operating system and ran Emby in a jail. It did well for a few years but I needed more storage and better transcoding so upgraded.

Now I run Truenas 12 core for my storage because I love ZFS as a file system, but I've offloaded the apps I was running in FreeNAS jails to docker containers, as a docker host I use a little mini PC with an Intel Celeron J4125 CPU with Ubuntu server as OS.

I hope that you try TrueNAS scale again in the future once it's mature and report back here and let us know how it works out for you.

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10 hours ago, eNES0nsEsK said:

I hope that you try TrueNAS scale again in the future once it's mature and report back here and let us know how it works out for you.

Thanks, I definitely will try TrueNAS again, once it matures, I've been using Debian since Sarge days, so looking forward to it.  Glad they finally came over to Linux, and of course, they chose the right distro :)

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  • 3 weeks later...
heffeque

Personally for 6-bay NAS I would have gone with a second hand DS1621+ (I've seen it for around $200 more than your setup), since DSM7 is actually pretty great, and SHR-1 on Btrfs is mostly heaven on earth (wonder why other companies haven't implemented automatic Hybrid Raid solutions yet).

Having different sized drives on RAID-5 without resulting on unused space is perfect for builds with incremental drive space updates.

Add that DSM7's SSD read/write catching works wonders, that it's low maintenance and that it's fairly easy to configure... and IMHO the difference in price is totally worth it.

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  • 1 year later...

UPDATE:

It's been a year and a half, thought I'd give some feedback on this build.

Going great, we love our Emby server, watch it about 99% of the time (switch to live tv for news and football season).

PC is overpowered, wasted on us.  Runs cool and idle, which is great, should last for years to come.  We only have 2 tv's though, and 1080p more than enough for us, don't bother with higher res's yet.  I'm older, remember as a kid watching black & white tv's, so we don't need the latest and greatest.

I put 9GB dual drives (mirrored) in the server, but never went past half full.  I leave the 2nd drive unplugged to save it (turn it on every once in a while to resync).

As a backup, I'm tempted to grab one of those new 4tb ssd drives, copy our collection to it, and install it in a cheap mini-pc (I have a few collecting dust).  Again, for only 2 tv's showing 1080p, that would be more than enough to keep us happy for years to come.

Thanks again for the Emby team, and everyone here that contributes to this project.  It must be working well, since the only reason I visit this forum anymore is when there is a problem LOL, or want to add a feature.

Cheers

 

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