Other Limitations – There are other limitations like CLI is available in read-only access or no SNMP support. Full read-write access is necessary for all commercial backup/recovery solutions like Veeam, Trilead or PHD Virtual.
So no automated backup that way.
I have the iSCSI option on my NAS, but I am worried that the speed will be impacted, safest solution is to keep it on a local SSD but would a local HD be accessible on the network? - So I could do backups?
@gbooker02 OH So one limitation would be a max of 8 vCPU on a PLEX VM running linux right?
Not that I endorse using them, but there are plenty of full blown ESX licenses on the web if you just search for them.
But that aside, Its also easy to deploy a new install of ESX on a USB, and plug it in, and adopt the VM’s and let it run in Demo for 60 days. That demo comes with full functionality too.
Regarding Veeam, I have a customer that uses it at the enterprise level and it works really well. but to be honest, I’ve never tried it at the consumer level with the free version. I have it downloaded and in my list of things to test out, but I just haven’t had the time lately.
My server drives are mirrored in pairs for data protection. I have 2x4TB drives mirrored, 2x3TB drives mirrored, and another 2x4TB driver mirrored. In total, I have 11TB of useful storage. As I said before, I run an HP server, and I use it to do hardware raid. I monitor the disks through the ILO and get an email if one of them goes into alarm. I have a spare 4TB drive on hand just in case one dies, but “knock on wood” I haven’t had one die yet, and its been a few years since I started using those drives.
+1 on all of the USB answers as to why you install it on a USB. There are many reasons, and I support most if not all of the ones listed so far.
In my case the Ubuntu VM is also my storage NAS so everything of value is on the pool, not the boot disk. This means I don’t actually need backups because I can trivially regenerate the boot partition. Also, since I’m using ZFS for the boot, I can trivially backup with a zfs send/recv to the NAS (which I will likely setup at some point because my boot pool is using < 2G).
You can browse the disk via the web interface and upload/download files.
It would appear that the 8 vCPU limit could limit you (don’t know your hardware). I didn’t even know of the limit before this thread because my hardware is a single proc that’s quad core. I very rarely transcode anything so my over 10k passmark CPU is more than enough.
I would encourage you to play with ESXi before doing a production machine. You can run as a demo to get the full functionality to test with ore you can get a free key to run the free version indefinitely. I installed it on an old desktop that I had and played with VMs there before putting it on my production server.
@Isaac_A I just checked and it is possible to buy a used license from companies that close down major infrastructure, but it is a extra cost and even if they are cheaper they are still 100$. @gbooker02 you’re absolutely right I need to start playing around with it to see how it performs.
SW will always be related to what HW you have and what the main target is.
I did specify that my main purpose is the PLEX server and the performance on this is vital.
“Long story made short”. I was started to buy up used HW to build the ultimate home PLEX server.
As many of you know this is a really big thing now on Reddit and they even have their own webpage now: serverbuilds.net
But I stopped after calculating the added needed power consumption cost, I would have to pay a yearly cost of +312$ for every extra +100W power consumed
There is also something to be said about new HW, and since I don’t need storage (Have a NAS)
I am now looking into building a brand new server. Because it looks like we are going to get +20.000 Passmark with a single thread +2000 CPU with 95-100W TDP (I know this is not the actual power consumption of the CPU, but it does provide an indication to it!) in a single CPU having 10 cores in Sept. from Intel in a reasonable price point but this would not be a enterprise CPU - Yes this is still related to choosing the right OS because I guess the CPU has to be listed on ESXi’ s supported list or do any of you have any experience in running this on other than XEON CPU’s which I also think it is mostly intended for?
I have run ESXi 5.5 on an old Core 2 Duo E8400 with 8GB Ram.
I’m currently running ESXi 6.7 on an i7 4770K with 16 GB Ram (will be maxing it to 32GB soon).
I’m also planning on using ESXi to replace my current Windows 2016 Server which is hosting my Ubuntu Plex server (Hyper-V). This bad boy is running on an i9-7960X.
Before I do that, I need to get a full license so I’m not limited by the 8 way SMP (8 core) limitation of ESXi free.
By the way, here’s a screenshot of my USB boot drive from the i7-4770K machine:
@earratia Thanks for the info!
i9-7960X thats is a nice CPU for ESXi!, but if it’s for PLEX wouldn’t a Intel CPU with support for Intel Quick Sync and 265H playback be better? Or does RAW CPU power provide better transcoding quality? What Motherboard did you use for this “Bad boy”?
Thanks for the screenshot I guess ESXi can run on almost anything! I think you are the first Hyper-V user I have talked to that have Plex running ubuntu is the performance good?
Performance is really good. Ubuntu, like many Linux distros, is a very solid and efficient OS. The only reason I have this running in Windows 2016 and Hyper V is because it was the fastest thing to throw together after I built the machine earlier this year. I needed to spin it up quickly and didn’t have time to research ESXi 6.x (up until that point I had only used 5.5). But I’ve since setup an i7-4770K with ESXi 6.7 and I’m ready to use it on the i9. I have also been using VMWare Converter to move VMs from Hyper V to ESXi, so I shouldn’t have any trouble with the conversion.
Yes, the i9 might be overkill. But Plex is not the only thing running on this server. There are several VMs running on it all the time. The need for those VMs running in addition to Plex was why I picked the CPU. I need the horsepower and, above all, the ability to add 128 GB of ram.
Also consider that hardware transcoding (Quick Sync) provides lower image quality vs software transcoding.
Of course, no transcoding at all (Direct Play) provides the best image quality of all. In which case you need neither a 16 core CPU or one with H.265 capable Quick Sync.
BTW. I have nothing against hardware transcoding. I’m just pointing out that while it is great, hardware transcoding does have its drawbacks.
The motherboard is a Gigabyte x299 Gaming 7. It also has a LSI 9271-8i SAS/SATA RAID controller with battery backed cachevault. It is configured in RAID 6. So, among the things this machine does is serve as a file server.
I have VMs for each supported distribution with a PMS installation.
Every time PMS is updated for Linux, I spin through each of the VMs looking for gross problems.
I believe QNAP uses QEMU/libvirt. It is the most logical implementation given the primary duties are NAS.
I really want to use the ESXi solution and use it primary for PLEX!
but also for “Homelab” max +2 servers - Gaming server and windows workstation = 3
So in order to do this I need sufficient cores and high passmark scores without using 500W on a older Xeon server.
So I have started to see what is available and pro & cons (Would like ECC but thats only for Xeons! and AMD…)
also would like to have the option of internal graphics with 4K support and quick sync but no CPU can do it all, so compromises have to be made!
I would like your valuable input on what CPU to go for and why?
Ok not much feedback on CPU vs ESXi (Guess Intel is best suited)
One thing I did find looking into transcoding and the power consumption a year was this:
Looks like a great alternative solution to a i9 CPU and maybee going down to a i7 with a Nvidia Quadro P2000 doing the transcoding - BUT does it work on linux or would this require Windows OS?
This other test running on a much slower CPU also looks like a good solution
Still would like to go with ESXi… and that would require at least 8 cores for my Home-lab
My HP Proliant ML350 G6 server is currently running 2 Intel Xeon E5620’s @ 2.40Ghz.
And just so you know, I am running 15 VM’s on mine, including Plex. My CPU runs at about 20% utilization when Plex is NOT transcoding. But when Plex starts to Transcode, it runs around 90% or so when transcoding 2 streams at once. It is certainly not the absolute best CPU for the job, but it does a great job. My Windows 2016 server that Plex run on has been given 12 Virtual CPU cores. I rarely need more than 2 streams at once, much less 2 transcoding at once. I have all of my movies in MP4, so they just stream naturally. My TV Shows, however, are a variety of different formats, so they usually need to be transcoded.
My machine supports Hyperthreading, so those Dual Quad core CPU’s turn into 16 Cores when its all said and done.
P.S. I’m not checking in on this post regularly. If you want my response, you’ll have to mention me so I get notified there’s activity on it.
