Intel Atom C3XXX build | Will it FreeNAS ?!

[pro lamer]

a VM with proper passthrough of the CPU functionality should work as well.

Would it work with bhyve and Quick Sync (?)

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[LimeCrusher]

I'm not sure about Plex, but ffmpeg is free (and what most companies like Plex seem to be using on the backend). You may have to compile your own ffmpeg though but I'm pretty sure QSV can be used on *BSD - if nothing else a VM with proper passthrough of the CPU functionality should work as well.

Would it work with bhyve and Quick Sync (?)

I would not try wizard my way through compiling ffmpeg on *BSD without a step-by-step how-to. I clearly lack the skills and time to do that. I am aware that people seem to host their Plex server in a Linux VM (easy to install everything and maintain) hosted on Unraid for instance. After making sure the VM has proper passthrough of the CPU functionality, hardware transcoding with Intel Quick Sync seem to work.

I don't see what you would benefit from a "faster" boot SSD. FreeNAS doesn't store anything besides the configuration on the boot drive, not even a VM (should be on the ZFS volume) and you can/should point logs and stats to your ZFS volumes too so you literally only boot from the drive, most binaries will be in RAM for the uptime of your system.

You could use an M.2 SSD for ZIL or L2ARC but that's not really within your 'budget' any more and also less flexible since your future system may not have a compatible M.2 SSD slot, I think M.2 SATA will go away in favor of NVMe.

Yes, I think I gave up on using an SSD (I was thinking M.2 NVMe at first). SLOG and L2ARC on SSD are clearly out of the scope of my requirements.

 

[Ericloewe]

Do not skimp on the boot device. USB flash drives can be painfully slow. A cheap SSD is a much better choice for both speed and reliability. Anything from WD, SanDisk, Toshiba, Intel, Crucial, Micron or Samsung will do, except for the cheapest SATA WD and SanDisk models.

 

[LimeCrusher]

Do not skimp on the boot device. USB flash drives can be painfully slow. A cheap SSD is a much better choice for both speed and reliability.

Slow to what? To boot only? I might be fine with that. I'll consider this in my next build proposal and will probably come up with the two options.

Anything from WD, SanDisk, Toshiba, Intel, Crucial, Micron or Samsung will do, except for the cheapest SATA WD and SanDisk models.

Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[Ericloewe]

Slow to what? To boot only?

Boot, update, delete old environments, change environments, save the config file...

It really is painful and you live in a constant limbo of "is this doing anything?". GUI changes may fail outright with a timeout.

 

[LimeCrusher]

Boot, update, delete old environments, change environments, save the config file...

It really is painful and you live in a constant limbo of "is this doing anything?". GUI changes may fail outright with a timeout.

What you're describing sounds like a hell I have no desire to experience. All hardware recommendation guides should reflect that better IMHO. I will keep that in mind in my future build proposals.

 

[LimeCrusher]

This thread has walked away from the original subject that was: building a small NAS based on an Intel Atom C3558 or any Atom C3XXX Denverton low-TDP CPU. Thanks to all of you who have helped me better understand the requirements for a fully functional NAS, and in particular the minimum requirement to run a Plex server for a light home usage.

I suggest we keep our later additions to the potential use of an Atom C3XXX in a NAS. I will soon create new threads for a couple alternative builds I am thinking about.

Nota Bene: For the curious, CPUs of the Denverton Atom C3XXX series do not possess graphics chip, hence they cannot benefit from Intel Quick Sync Video (QSV) technology that may enable hardware transcoding with Plex on FreeNAS.

 

[Ericloewe]

What you're describing sounds like a hell I have no desire to experience. All hardware recommendation guides should reflect that better IMHO. I will keep that in mind in my future build proposals.

The nasty part is that it creeps up on you.

At first, everything is fine and dandy.
Then upgrades start taking 40 minutes. Still okay.
Then you're taking over an hour and start deleting environments. The first operation takes 10 minutes just to go through. The others take long enough to be irritating.
After rinsing and repeating a few times, the USB flash drive's controller craps out and the fragmentation hits on the performance brakes.

hence they cannot benefit from Intel Quick Sync Video (QSV) technology that may enable hardware transcoding with Plex on FreeNAS.

It wouldn't work on FreeNAS anyway, so nothing much is lost there.

 

[LimeCrusher]

The nasty part is that it creeps up on you.

At first, everything is fine and dandy.
Then upgrades start taking 40 minutes. Still okay.
Then you're taking over an hour and start deleting environments. The first operation takes 10 minutes just to go through. The others take long enough to be irritating.
After rinsing and repeating a few times, the USB flash drive's controller craps out and the fragmentation hits on the performance brakes.

You wouldn't be the person responsible for the good hardware guides, I would say you're exaggerating given how popular they seem to be. But I have beheld your works, built trust and what you're saying about USB flash drives is a dealbreaker to me. Maybe your hardware guide should reflect that analysis better. Like yes, it's possible to use them but at the cost you've just described.

It wouldn't work on FreeNAS anyway, so nothing much is lost there.

According to the FreeNAS/TrueNAS project tracker, I have good hope that Plex hardware transcoding through Intel Quick Sync will soon be supported. Am I misguided?

 

[Ericloewe]

You wouldn't be the person responsible for the good hardware guides, I would say you're exaggerating given how popular they seem to

It's a combination of historic things:

• Pre-9.3, FreeNAS used a static 2 GB image, so USB flash drives were easily good enough.
• Early on with ZFS boot, FreeNAS install sizes were kept in check, even though it was no longer a strict requirement. A 4 GB drive was okayish.
• Most flash drives seem to fail outright before they are used long enough to trigger my scenario. Mine have been around since 9.3 was released.
• Six-wide RAIDZ2 is a fairly popular setup. Thing is, six SATA ports was the typical maximum you'd see on motherboards before Skylake, which supports eight ports and finally allows for easy use of an SSD for boot along with a six-disk pool.
• Before that, you'd be looking at 100+ bucks for an HBA plus 40+ for an SSD. Both prices are somewhat lower these days.

As for the hardware guide, the next version will more strongly advocate for SSDs for boot.

 

[Ericloewe]

Oh Plex now claims to support it? In that case, it might finally be within reach. The folks running Plex might know more details.

 

[LimeCrusher]

Oh Plex now claims to support it? In that case, it might finally be within reach. The folks running Plex might know more details.

The page Using Hardware Accelerated Streaming on the Plex support website mentions Intel Quick Sync and :

"FreeBSD-specific Notes
Compatible FreeBSD servers require Plex Media Server 1.13.9 or newer."

 

[pro lamer]

Compatible FreeBSD

Wow! No QSV passthrough to VM needed then!

Edit:
But are there any gotchas in their compatibility list for FreeBSD? :/
I guess the "compatible" word is the most important here and that other threads in our forums discuss the gotchas already (I haven't read them yet, just spotted the titles)

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[LimeCrusher]

Wow! No QSV passthrough to VM needed then!

Edit:
But are there any gotchas in their compatibility list for FreeBSD? :/
I guess the "compatible" word is the most important here and that other threads in our forums discuss the gotchas already (I haven't read them yet, just spotted the titles)

FYI