Performance of server with local files versus samba shares.

[marriedman 32]

My current QNAP server that runs Emby (and nothing else) is getting full and I am trying to decide how to proceed. I have an older Synology server that is just collectig dust right now. I was thinking about making it a file server and moving all of my low quality video and music files onto it and adding them to the network paths in Emby.

My question is this: how noticeable is the performance hit when the server has to grab data from another server versus the local files? 

[rbjtech 4265]

4 hours ago, marriedman said:

My current QNAP server that runs Emby (and nothing else) is getting full and I am trying to decide how to proceed. I have an older Synology server that is just collectig dust right now. I was thinking about making it a file server and moving all of my low quality video and music files onto it and adding them to the network paths in Emby.

My question is this: how noticeable is the performance hit when the server has to grab data from another server versus the local files? 

It's limited by the network bandwidth - but assuming you are connecting over a 1Gig LAN - then it be no different for general playback (even 4k high bandwidth files should be fine) - but it may be a little slower browsing items and such like but the local 'cache' will try and compensate for this.

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

FWIW: I have two servers that use the same data. One of them accesses the files via local (the drives are physically attached to that server) and the other accesses the file through the network. I notice no real difference in performance and I can use either server for playback of any media I own.

It should be noted that I have no high bitrate files and it is possible that really big files might produce different results than I have experienced.

The only real difference I have seen is that the server that is not using local files is sometimes a little slower to pickup on file changes than the one that uses local data. It is not a huge difference but it is a difference.

I could use either server for any watching I choose to do on any of my clients without any noticeable problems.

[marriedman 32]

Thank you both for your replies. I figure even the highest quality music I have would pale in comparison to most of my low quality movies and TV shows which are 1000 kbps or less. I have old cartoons & TV shows that are literally 320x240. Those should stream fine from what I am getting from your posts.

I would have the older second file server wired to my Netgear RBK852 or one of it's satelites. That mesh system will be plenty fast I would imagine. 

Thanks again guys. This kind has me wondering about building a beefy CPU/GPU combo with just fast SSD for an OS and emby and turn both of the servers into just file servers. My QNAP isn't the newest either. Been reading about the NAS Killers over at serverbuilds.net and that sounds like a lot of fun!