FreeNAS Custom-Built NAS for Plex Media Server

[Guinea]

Because most are crap quality and prone to failure.

Using this you won't need any install media you just mount the image file and install to the destination drive. Trust me, take the time to learn your IPMI and you'll wonder how you ever got by without it.

Definitely good to know. I will probably just grab a Samsung SSD (like 128GB should be plenty right?) or whatever is a reliable brand these days.

So if I went that route, I would just plug it in and set it up and just IPMI to load FreeNAS on to the SSD? I need to learn how to do that for sure, because that seems way easier.

Thanks again everyone for all of the help. Once I get the components and start the build, I will keep everyone updated as it progresses. I was planning to start up a blog about my home projects, so this would probably be number one for me (it will be very Star Wars oriented...).

 

[Jailer]

So if I went that route, I would just plug it in and set it up and just IPMI to load FreeNAS on to the SSD?

Yup, all from a remote console.

I will probably just grab a Samsung SSD (like 128GB should be plenty right?)

More than enough.

 

[Guinea]

Yup, all from a remote console.


More than enough.

So one thing that confuses me is the redundancy and mirror for the boot drive. Should I buy 2 smaller SSDs and use them in a mirrored configuration from initialization? Or use one as the backup location for the configuration so I make sure I don't lose it in a failure? Not sure what the ideal configuration would be for that since I have seen so many variations.

I was looking at Intel SSDs for their reliability and simplistic nature.

 

[Jailer]

If you save a current copy of your config, reinstalling FreeNAS and restoring the config is trivial. For this case one boot device will suffice. On the outside chance your boot SSD fails a USB drive can be put into service to get you by.

I personally don't see a need for mirrored bot devices for a home server. If it were a mission critical server where up time is paramount then mirrored boot devices make more sense.

 

[SweetAndLow]

If you save a current copy of your config, reinstalling FreeNAS and restoring the config is trivial. For this case one boot device will suffice. On the outside chance your boot SSD fails a USB drive can be put into service to get you by.

I personally don't see a need for mirrored bot devices for a home server. If it were a mission critical server where up time is paramount then mirrored boot devices make more sense.

Exactly

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[Guinea]

If you save a current copy of your config, reinstalling FreeNAS and restoring the config is trivial. For this case one boot device will suffice. On the outside chance your boot SSD fails a USB drive can be put into service to get you by.

I personally don't see a need for mirrored bot devices for a home server. If it were a mission critical server where up time is paramount then mirrored boot devices make more sense.

That makes perfect sense. So I should just go with a small SSD and maybe a flash drive as the configuration backup location? Would that be an ideal configuration? Or should I be backing it up over the LAN to another device, like my gaming PC or something?

 

[ArgaWoW]

That makes perfect sense. So I should just go with a small SSD and maybe a flash drive as the configuration backup location? Would that be an ideal configuration? Or should I be backing it up over the LAN to another device, like my gaming PC or something?

Hi,

You can just use a script to send the configuration via email. Look at this thread.

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/27365/

 

[Guinea]

Ok that is a nice solution! So considering FreeNAS takes up the entire SSD for a boot device, Won't I need 2 SSDs? 1 for FreeNAS and 1 for Plex? And will the Plex one need to be anything specific? Size? Speed, etc.?

 

[danb35]

You don't need an SSD for Plex.

 

[Guinea]

Oh really? I was reading about jails and how they had to be separated from the boot drive and that Plex would fall in a jail. Or did I read the wrong thing?

 

[danb35]

I was reading about jails and how they had to be separated from the boot drive and that Plex would fall in a jail. Or did I read the wrong thing?

Nope, that's right as far as it goes. What part of that indicates to you that Plex needs to be on an SSD?

 

[Guinea]

Nope, that's right as far as it goes. What part of that indicates to you that Plex needs to be on an SSD?

Well the way it read was that Plex was installed in a jail and that jails needed to be separated. So are you saying that is not the case? I can get a 120GB SSD and have FreeNAS use it as the boot device and also install Plex on it? If that is the case, that is fine. I will just grab the Samsung EVO 850 120GB drive. They are pretty cheap nowadays.

 

[danb35]

No, you can't put jails on the boot device. You'd ordinarily put them on your storage pool. You can put them on a separate pool (like an SSD pool), but there isn't generally a need to do that. I have my jails on an SSD, but that's only because I'd been running a VirtualBox jail, and I wanted the SSD for the sake of the VMs. I'm sure the SSD provides some marginal benefit for the jails, but it's minimal at best. If you have the drive laying around anyway, I guess go ahead, but I wouldn't spend any extra on an SSD just to put jails on.

 

[Guinea]

No, you can't put jails on the boot device. You'd ordinarily put them on your storage pool. You can put them on a separate pool (like an SSD pool), but there isn't generally a need to do that. I have my jails on an SSD, but that's only because I'd been running a VirtualBox jail, and I wanted the SSD for the sake of the VMs. I'm sure the SSD provides some marginal benefit for the jails, but it's minimal at best. If you have the drive laying around anyway, I guess go ahead, but I wouldn't spend any extra on an SSD just to put jails on.

So are you saying Plex CAN be installed on the boot device? That is what was confusing me. I was reading some blogs and forum posts saying that Plex needed to be in a jail. Hence why I was going down that route.

 

[danb35]

So are you saying Plex CAN be installed on the boot device?

No, I'm saying Plex can't be on the boot device. Yes, Plex is installed in a jail. What about that makes you think that it needs to be on a separate SSD?

 

[Guinea]

No, I'm saying Plex can't be on the boot device. Yes, Plex is installed in a jail. What about that makes you think that it needs to be on a separate SSD?

Well I am using an SSD as my boot device. I can't install Plex on the boot device. So my next assumption would be that I needed a second SSD for Plex. That was recommended in a few forum posts as well, so it was a fair assumption. I was not aware you could put Plex in the same pool as the media itself. I am not sure if there are any benefits to this or if the SSD is better.

 

[Jailer]

Some posters claim an increase in performance by having jails on an ssd. Ive had Plex (amoung other things) installed in a jail on my main pool from the start and have never experienced any performance issues. In fact if i had it to do over again id have went with much less CPU as my 4 core xeon sits idle most of the time.

 

[Guinea]

Some posters claim an increase in performance by having jails on an ssd. Ive had Plex (amoung other things) installed in a jail on my main pool from the start and have never experienced any performance issues. In fact if i had it to do over again id have went with much less CPU as my 4 core xeon sits idle most of the time.

That is definitely good to hear. I would rather my CPU be idle than to be maxed out, I am a huge fan of overkill haha. The one thing I have been reading and there are arguments on both sides....is that moving the jail to the SSD can improve things such as Plex media artwork loading etc. Whether that is worth the effort is also up for debate haha. I just want to do what is logical and maintainable. I think I will just stick with a single SSD for the FreeNAS boot drive, e-mail the configuration as a backup, and then create the jails on the primary zpool. If I notice any drawbacks of this configuration, I will post a more direct question down the road. But for initially configuring and toying with it, I think that should be sufficient.

I am leaning towards a Samsung 850 EVO 120GB SSD. There is no M.2 port on the MoBo I chose (I don't think), so I may need to use a Sata port on it, or if there is not enough for the HDDs, I would just grab a SATA to PCIE board. Those are smaller details I will work out as I start getting the parts in the mail.

 

[eldo]

... The one thing I have been reading and there are arguments on both sides....is that moving the jail to the SSD can improve things such as Plex media artwork loading etc.

Guinea,

I've got plex running on an Avaton system (Think the FreeNAS Mini), using 6 drives in a RaidZ2 configuration. My CPU is way less powerful than you're planning for, and I have no problems loading artwork or transcoding multiple streams for LAN and outside use.

My plex jail is sitting in my Z2 pool, and I've never had any performance issues.

What gains do you think you'll get by using an ssd for plex? The actual transcoding is cpu/mem heavy, and the only real disk access you need is the source material. Since plex will already be running in the jail (and so in memory) I don't even understand what performance gains you /could/ see from offloading the plex jail.

While I'm not against going for overkill, I think your system will admirably perform to your expectations. Count me for another vote of your jail SSD being unnecessary.

 

[Guinea]

Guinea,

I've got plex running on an Avaton system (Think the FreeNAS Mini), using 6 drives in a RaidZ2 configuration. My CPU is way less powerful than you're planning for, and I have no problems loading artwork or transcoding multiple streams for LAN and outside use.

My plex jail is sitting in my Z2 pool, and I've never had any performance issues.

What gains do you think you'll get by using an ssd for plex? The actual transcoding is cpu/mem heavy, and the only real disk access you need is the source material. Since plex will already be running in the jail (and so in memory) I don't even understand what performance gains you /could/ see from offloading the plex jail.

While I'm not against going for overkill, I think your system will admirably perform to your expectations. Count me for another vote of your jail SSD being unnecessary.

Thanks again for the input. I really appreciate it. Like I said, I don't actually have an opinion on whether it is better, I am just doing research and have seen posts concerning these things where people argued over the benefits of using an SSD or not. Some of it made sense and what you say also makes sense. I was just trying to get everyone's opinion. I am also in agreement with you and have decided to keep it all in the same zpool. I just wanted to understand why people were saying that...but then again, the forum posts might be old and based on older architecture or software versions.