acnp77 60 Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) @@Happy2Play or anyone who could point me in the right direction: I am running Emby server on a small microserver at the moment. I would like to upgrade but I do not know where to start. Any pointers in the right direction would be very much appreciated. Current setup: - HP Microserver Gen8, Intel Xeon E3-1220L v2, 16 GB RAM - VMWare Esxi 6.5 Host - 4x 2TB "WD Red" Harddisks in a RAID1 (mirror) configuration - Gigabit LAN - 1Gbit up- and download internet connection - Emby server is on a VM with 8 GB RAM and 50GB storage running Debian 10 Linux - Media is on an other VM with 2GB RAM and 3.5 TB storage running Debian 8 Linux (SMB shares, mounted to /mnt/media/... on emby server.) My goal: - Expand Storage to something like 40TB - improve transcoding (at least 2 concurrent 4K streams) Questions: - Let's say I get a storage like Norco RPC-4224 (just an example) - Does it work like a NAS and I connect it over the network and mount the shares on the emby server? Or do I connect it directly to the server? - Servers typically do not have great GPU's and a PC is not great for 24/7 usage. So what kind of machine will do the job? - Would you advise against VM's for emby server that have to do a lot of transcoding? - Would you advise against mounting SMB shares on the emby server? I do not expect a Server HW course, but maybe just some pointers, thank's a lot! Cheers Edited December 27, 2019 by acnp77 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvanevery 2 Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) Questions: - Let's say I get a storage like Norco RPC-4224 (just an example) - Does it work like a NAS and I connect it over the network and mount the shares on the emby server? Or do I connect it directly to the server? - Servers typically do not have great GPU's and a PC is not great for 24/7 usage. So what kind of machine will do the job? - Would you advise against VM's for emby server that have to do a lot of transcoding? - Would you advise against mounting SMB shares on the emby server? First and foremost, you shouldn't be transcoding 4K content; resource requirements are steep and if the source is HDR then the converted content will have poor color. Always better to have separate libraries for 4k content (IMHO). The Norco is just a chassis, you would need to build it out and at that point you're better off building it to replace the Microserver altogether. PC's are perfectly fine for 24/7 usage, MANY use consumer hardware 24/7. A VM is fine depending on the host you're putting it on and really only beneficial if you have additional resources on the host that can be utilized by other vms/services. There are other benefits but if you have a low resource host then the appeal of virtualization diminishes. Nothing wrong with network shares as long as your network bandwidth supports your usage. My suggestion, for the sake of saving money-- -replace the ODD with an SSD boot -4x12TB drives (WD externals that you can shuck are a popular option for the price) -a single slot low profile GPU that you can leverage for hardware transcoding (~Quadro P400) Edited December 27, 2019 by rvanevery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdiesel 1114 Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 You might be interested in a Direct Attached Storage (DAS) If you don't want to purchase one check out here to build one on the cheap. https://www.serverbuilds.net/16-bay-das 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acnp77 60 Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share Posted December 27, 2019 Thank you so much for your suggestions.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvanevery 2 Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) (realized your in Switzerland...so these may be moot). 10TB Easystores are on sale right now @ $159/eaP400's are on ebay for ~$90$7 for the ODD power adapter$5 for a sata cable ~$20 for a 120GB SSDRoughly $760 before tax.That should give you some perspective but the bulk of the cost is likely to be storage, regardless of the direction you take. Edited December 27, 2019 by rvanevery 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acnp77 60 Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share Posted December 27, 2019 thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acnp77 60 Posted December 29, 2019 Author Share Posted December 29, 2019 (edited) I think my main questions would be: - VM or dedicated HW? (Especially when it comes to transcoding) - DAS or SAN? (I assume with the SAN I would have something like SMB network shares that I have to mount onto the emby server. Is this even a legit setup?) Maybe somthing like this: https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/product/dell-poweredge-r230-intel-xeon-e3-1220-v6-8gb-35-servers-6305591?tagIds=615-91 https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/product/hpe-d3600-empty-sas-storage-systems-5329437?tagIds=615-91 https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/product/apc-br900gi-900va-540w-line-interactive-protection-class-5-ups-241894 Edited December 29, 2019 by acnp77 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvanevery 2 Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 I think my main questions would be: - VM or dedicated HW? (Especially when it comes to transcoding) - DAS or SAN? (I assume with the SAN I would have something like SMB network shares that I have to mount onto the emby server. Is this even a legit setup?) Maybe somthing like this: https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/product/dell-poweredge-r230-intel-xeon-e3-1220-v6-8gb-35-servers-6305591?tagIds=615-91 https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/product/hpe-d3600-empty-sas-storage-systems-5329437?tagIds=615-91 https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/product/apc-br900gi-900va-540w-line-interactive-protection-class-5-ups-241894 It depends on your use case. Are you planning to run additional services on the hardware? If so then VM or container may be a good choice. If you're looking to replace your existing hardware, why even consider a DAS or NAS versus building out a server with storage? https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/product/dell-poweredge-r540-silver-4210-servers-12297079 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acnp77 60 Posted December 29, 2019 Author Share Posted December 29, 2019 (edited) It depends on your use case. Are you planning to run additional services on the hardware? If so then VM or container may be a good choice. I have several other services running, but none of them need a lot of resources. So I could leave them on the microserver VM's. For these services the VM's a great. I think it might be difficult to get the transcoding power I need on a VM because I do not know if I can use any of emby's HW transcoding options like this. If you're looking to replace your existing hardware, why even consider a DAS or NAS versus building out a server with storage? This seems like a great option. Thanks! I looked at the link, but I can not tell if this is just an emtpy casing or it is already equipped with Processor, RAM etc... Edited December 29, 2019 by acnp77 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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