Tips, suggestions on this DIY Server?

[mark42]

After much research into what NAS to get for my home media storage and play needs, I decided to build my own server. Decided to go with Windows Home Server power pack 3 as the OS. So I ordered the following to build the server.

(1) Microsoft Windows Home Server Operating System Software with Power Pack 3, 32-bit, 1Server, 10 CAL, License and Media, P/N:CCQ-00099. OEM

(1) ASUS M4N68T-M V2 Socket AM3 uATX Motherboard, NVIDIA nForce 630a Chipset, Supports AMD Socket AM3 CPUs, Dual DDR3 1800(O.C.), SATA 3Gb/s RAID, PCIe 2.0 x16, Onboard Video, Gigabit LAN

(1) AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 4000MHz Socket AM3 Dual-Core 45nm Processor ADX250OCGMBOX

(2) HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.C HDS721010CLA332 (0F10383) 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

(1) Kingston ValueRAM 2GB DDR3 1333 System Memory, 240-pin DIMM, CL9, non-ECC, Unbuffered. Model: KVR1333D3N9/2G.

(1)Black Broadway Com Corp 943 Steel m-ATX Computer Case, w/ 500W PSU and Card Reader, P/N: 943PK-CardRead

(2) Masscool 120mm Case Fan, Ball bearing, 3 / 4""Pin, Wire Coating, Model: FD12025B1L34

Plus a few cable accessories.

Already have a CD/DVD ROM drive (24 x), and a USB external Diskette drive (if one is ever needed) so these parts were not ordered.

What are the best accessories in the way of Digital Media Players that would work well with the high throughput from a system like this?

Any suggestions for freeware or purchased applications to support photo/video management and streaming?

 

[00Roush]

Not sure if you are stuck on using Windows Home Server but I always recommend people test out FreeNAS. Also might recommend getting a better power supply. Typically the cheap ones included with cases are not very good, built with cheap capacitors, and don't last very long. I recommend something (300-500 watt) from Antec, Corsair, Enermax, Power & PC cooling, or Seasonic if you plan on keeping your server on 24x7. Just my opinion though.

I think in generally most media players can't really take advantage of a high performance NAS/server as streaming does not even completely utilize a 100 Mbps network. However if multiple media players are in use at the same time the higher performance ensures no hiccups.

00Roush

 

[mark42]

Not sure if you are stuck on using Windows Home Server but I always recommend people test out FreeNAS. Also might recommend getting a better power supply. Typically the cheap ones included with cases are not very good, built with cheap capacitors, and don't last very long. I recommend something (300-500 watt) from Antec, Corsair, Enermax, Power & PC cooling, or Seasonic if you plan on keeping your server on 24x7. Just my opinion though.

I think in generally most media players can't really take advantage of a high performance NAS/server as streaming does not even completely utilize a 100 Mbps network. However if multiple media players are in use at the same time the higher performance ensures no hiccups.

00Roush

Thanks for the heads up on the FreeNAS. Checked it out before making a decision. It just doesn't appear to be up to the capabilities that WHS has. I decided to go with WHS. Ordered the parts outlined above, and the hardware and WHS software only cost about $400! So now I have a classic little black box server.

I'm still researching what add ins to get to support media streaming and organization. Still have not loaded up the server with data just yet as I play around. Just a few files to test streaming rates over a 10/100 ethernet. So far its doing OK.

Hit 72% bandwidth copying a 640 video file to the server, and streamed it back using only 15%. That performance can probably be improved by testing with a PC that has better capabilities (its using Fat32 drive formats, less than 1 gig memory, and a 1.4 gig pentium processor - its old).

Tonight I connected a 1.8 gig laptop to the server using wireless G. A 1080p hd video was copied to the server using about 60% of the wireless bandwidth, having negotiated a speed of 48Mbps. It played back using ViewNX application full screen smooth, but there were drop outs in the audio. The drop outs coincided with 100% CPU utilizaton. The CPU was running 90% or higher throughout the entire video. The wireless network was being used at a consistant 40% - 50% with a 54Mbps bandwideth negotiated (that would occasionally drop to 48Mbps). There were some spikes to 60%.

Considering this is an aging laptop with onboard graphics and sound, to be able to play back 1080p smooth with just an occasional frame drop and audio problems is just amazing, especially over a 54 Mbps wireless G network.

I can't even get apple's Quick time (free version) to play the 1080p video, it plays it back at only about 12 frames/sec so its losing more than half the video!!! ViewNX is the only player I have that will play 1080p 30frames/sec 100% smooth, and that is on a PC with a nice graphics card.

The video was shot with a Nikon P100 set to 1080p, 32 f/s. The format is .MOV

I doubt I would be able to do that with the small Synology NAS that I was looking at for the same money. And the WHS supports so much more than what the Synology can do.

I think for my needs, I made the right choice.

Next is a wireless N router (probably the Linksys E2000) and a media player that can handle wireless N and 1080p.


Edit:

Just ran some tests with another 1080p video. (.MOV) that had a lot more action. Closed all the apps on the laptop, and ran the video. The cpu war running at 100% nearly the entire time. The wireless G spiked to 100% (54Mbps) twice in a 3 minute video, and ran at about 45 Mbps for most of the action scenes. It still played pretty good, but had audio drop outs and some frame drops. Surprisingly, in neither test was there any video freezing. If wireless G can perform this well, wireless N should handle it with no issues.

 

[Hydaral]

I doubt I would be able to do that with the small Synology NAS that I was looking at for the same money. And the WHS supports so much more than what the Synology can do.

If all you want the NAS for is to act as a streaming server for pre-encoded video, then the only thing you need to be concerned with is it's network transfer speed. If the Synology and your WHS server can both stream at, say 30 MB/s, then the difference in hardware and software will be irrelevant.

 

[mark42]

If all you want the NAS for is to act as a streaming server for pre-encoded video, then the only thing you need to be concerned with is it's network transfer speed. If the Synology and your WHS server can both stream at, say 30 MB/s, then the difference in hardware and software will be irrelevant.

And there in lies the problem. They Synology can not stream at 30 Mbsp, but my server is streaming now at upwards around 80 Mbps. Which is why I went with a server over the NAS for the same money. The server is clearly a superior solution in the areas of storage, backup/restore, streaming, data manageability and product features.

 

[Hydaral]

And there in lies the problem. They Synology can not stream at 30 Mbsp, but my server is streaming now at upwards around 80 Mbps. Which is why I went with a server over the NAS for the same money. The server is clearly a superior solution in the areas of storage, backup/restore, streaming, data manageability and product features.

Ah, OK. You didn't quote speeds for the Synology, I assumed their speeds were similar.

Also, please keep in mind the difference between MB and Mb when quoting speeds (and capacities for that matter). it can result in confusion.

 

[stevech]

Tom's Hardware, IIRC, recently showed benchmark tests of the low-end Synology achieving up to 70M Bytes/sec, and 30 for typical streams.

Perhaps the key decision is if you want/need the media and file software that comes with QNAP and Synology, versus a generic RAID storage unit.

 

[mark42]

Tom's Hardware, IIRC, recently showed benchmark tests of the low-end Synology achieving up to 70M Bytes/sec, and 30 for typical streams.

Perhaps the key decision is if you want/need the media and file software that comes with QNAP and Synology, versus a generic RAID storage unit.

On Tomshardware.com the best performance of a Synology product is the DS-408, which costs nearly twice what I paid for my server. The specs you reference are for backup and restore and it gets a best time of 30-35MBps, not the 70 you listed. The true telling spec is their benchmark of "office productivity" where the unit is put to real daily access, and the streaming drops to a miserable 5 MBps. Twice the price, and it won't even stream Netflix smoothly. The problem with these NAS devices (and I have spend a lot of time researching Synology, my favorite brand to date) is they have way under powered processors, no memory to speak of for buffering, and as soon as more than one application (PC) accesses them, their performance is out the window. They are great for doing nightly backups. But to manage and access large amounts of data stores, and do it to multiple users at once, and include online access from remote locations, a server based on traditional hardware and processors is needed. Its just night and day comparing the mid and high priced NAS devices to a server.

Also note that the best of the Synology units are Windows Home Server units, but they drop the ball with only 1.6 Gig processors and 512 memory compared to the 3.0 Gig, 2 Gig memory with high speed buss on mother board like I built. Once you get into the real server category for Synology, its better to buy a product from HP or others that have specialized in WHS models for a few years.

WHS is not configured with RAID the way I use it (you have a choice). Its data mirroring. And it doesn't use the proprietary drive configurations that QNAP and Synology use. So the drives in a WHS server can be plugged into any windows machine and accessed in an emergency. Something that can not be done with the basic NAS units.

So far my server is running flawlessly. And streaming smooth with my existing wireless for files 720i or less. Need to get a cable run to the TV for the 1080p files to stream smoothly.

Latest tests show that two laptops can stream the same 640 video wireless while a different 1080p video is streamed over wire (to a PC) and it all runs smooth with no frame drops, stuttering or freezes. The more I push the server, the better it performs. The NAS units, even at three times the price will choke on a data delivery schedule like I outlined above.

In fact, I nearly dropped $530 + on a DS 211 w/2 TB of storage before I realized it won't support what I want. That would have been a major mistake (remember my server cost $400 w/WHS). And the DS 211 through put is considerably lacking. It can't handle streaming a simple 640 video, and a MP3 file simultaneously to two different users without "chugging", audio drops, frame drops, etc.

At this time, I plan to get the WDTV Live interface for the HD tv. Will run it on the wire, and all should be well.

BTW, if you want to build your own server, get WHS power pack 3, NOT WHS 2.0 if you want unique data redundancy between drives and adding more drives mindlessly. Its what I needed, so I bought PP3, and not 2.0.


Damn! Is that a Wall of Text or what??????