Comparing Systems - Will I See Performance Gains?

[Chris Dill]

My current system:
Motherboard: SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLL-F-O uATX
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1220 v3 @ 3.10GHz (4 cores)
RAM: 32 GiB
Storage: 5x 3TB WD Red 5400 RPM, SATA
NIC: Single Intel
Roles: Plex, Deluge, Sonarr, Radarr, Sabnzbd, Tatuilli

A new server I inherited:
Model: DELL T430
RAM: 72 GB RAM
CPU: Dual Intel Xeon E5-2623 v3 @ 3.00 GHZ
RAID Controller: PERC H730
Storage: 8x 1TB 7.2k RPM, SAS
NIC: Broadcom NetXtreme Dual Port

So as you can see, the new system has a way better CPU, and two of them. More RAM, faster disks, Hardware RAID Controller.

If I move Plex and/or other plugins over to new server, will it perform better? I know the specs are better, but I would like to ensure there are no gotchas for performance on the Dell based on the PERC, etc. Basically looking for better Plex streaming, transcoding, etc. Will be moving to 4k soon.

 

[Snow]

If you do 4k Video yes, the memory unless your doing VM's/database not really freenas will just grab it all up and use it. As long as your Perc has IT mode you should be fine. Best thing I can say that adds to plex, is Nvida Gpu for hardware transcoding. & I know its like night and day with 4k video.

Also putting your jails/Plex jail on a SSD's/Fast SAS Drive's (This will help with loading & Buffering ). The dual Cpus/Cores will help with the amount of videos that can be transcoded. But you also have to add the streams/threads in to the plex config. Stock I think it is set to 2 or 3 Not very hard to do. With that many cores you could add 10-12. So it makes use of more of the core's. So yes the new server should see gain's.

Show : Plex User/Streams Count

 

[Chris Moore]

RAID Controller: PERC H730

If you intend to use this with FreeNAS, you should not use that hardware RAID controller at all. Only bad things come from it.

Best thing I can say that adds to plex, is Nvida Gpu for hardware transcoding. & I know its like night and day with 4k video

Would be true if using Linux, but FreeNAS does not pass GPU through to jails, last I knew, so there is no GPU acceleration for Plex on FreeNAS.

 

[nap]

If you intend to use this with FreeNAS, you should not use that hardware RAID controller at all. Only bad things come from it.

Would be true if using Linux, but FreeNAS does not pass GPU through to jails, last I knew, so there is no GPU acceleration for Plex on FreeNAS.

I experienced a performance bump replacing a PERC H710 with an LSI/Broadcom HBA in my Dell R815 back when it ran FreeNAS. It wasn't a huge difference since there were only 6 SSDs, but it was noticeable. So, given the fairly low cost of the Broadcom HBAs, I would agree with Chris here for sure. Just be sure you get the proper SAS connector to connect to the backplane.

 

[Snow]

If you intend to use this with FreeNAS, you should not use that hardware RAID controller at all. Only bad things come from it.

Would be true if using Linux, but FreeNAS does not pass GPU through to jails, last I knew, so there is no GPU acceleration for Plex on FreeNAS.

Yeah I have yet to attemp to try it and make it work.

 

[Chris Dill]

Is there a tried and true method to transfer everything from one server to the next, provided they are running same version? I would like to move storage as well, but not move the actual disks, just data.

 

[anmnz]

ZFS replication. See section 7.6 in the user manual.

7. Tasks — FreeNAS®11.2-U7 User Guide Table of Contents

www.ixsystems.com

 

[Chris Moore]

I have moved storage from server to server several times. The fastest way to do it is if you can connect all the disks to the same chassis temporarily for a direct, pool to pool, zfs send and receive. I posted about that before a few times. I will see if I can find it.
Second best, if you are doing it over the network, and the network is trusted, you can turnoff the encryption on the transfer for better speed. I know there is a post or two about that also.

 

[Snow]

For Server to Server, best would be Point to Point 10GB/ Nic Mellanox Connectx-2 Card's. Find 2 on amazon for under 40$ and a DAC Cable that is under 20$ put in both servers and setup a Peer to Peer Network.

 

[Chris Dill]

Ok, how about this. I just want to move the Plex jail, and the Plex storage, but leave everything else alone. To be honest that sounds really complex so I might just build a brand new Plex and manually copy everything over, unless you guys think there is a better way. Just thinking about all of the mappings I have in all of the other applications which would all need to adjust to the new setup.

 

[Chris Dill]

Also, I'm not worried about speed. I have a complex home network, and I don't mind if it takes a day or two to move things.

 

[Chris Dill]

I do have some permissions issues with my current setup... I run the shares on CIFS from Freenas, which is domain joined, with Windows permissions applied since I manage media from Windows.

To be honest, after searching all night, it looks like I either migrate my whole FreeNAS to new Hardware, or I manually migrate Plex + Storage by itself. Anyone have any comments?