Ok, so I am planning on using a Dell T130 server and setting it up as my home media server. I will be installing 4x 8TB HDD in it. I will be using this primarily to get rid of cable and watch my media content on 4 separate TV’s in the same house, with the possibility of them all being used at one time. The clients I am hoping to use to access the server will be an Xbox one, an Xbox 360, a PS3, and a Roku 3. I was hoping to avoid having to use the internet at all because I don’t want to eat up my entire bandwidth. My current internet speeds are around 60 mbps down and 5-6 mbps up. Is there a way that I can set this up and run it 24/7 without using the internet. Sorry if this is a dumb question. I am really not computer savvy anymore. Haven’t really messed around with the technical aspects of computers since the apple II. 
Even with the “Home” feature, the only thing that would happen over your internet connection would be some initial authentication. From that point everything gets handed off to your PMS and the streaming will remain local if both the server and client are on the local LAN.
How will you be managing the 4 drives’ combined space? Just one big pool, or some sort of RAID…? OS?
@sremick said:
Even with the “Home” feature, the only thing that would happen over your internet connection would be some initial authentication. From that point everything gets handed off to your PMS and the streaming will remain local if both the server and client are on the local LAN.How will you be managing the 4 drives’ combined space? Just one big pool, or some sort of RAID…? OS?
As you can probably tell, I know very little about any of this. I am slowly learning by reading many different articles online. So far I think what would suit me best, and give me room to add on more later if needed, is to use FreeNAS with ZFS. So it would not be a hardware RAID setup, and would just be one large volume. I would like to start off with just 2 drives, and add on as needed until i hit the max of 4 for this server. As for not having to use my local clients online, does this mean that I will have to run long ethernet cables throughout my house to get them to the different clients in the different rooms?
@jebusfreek666@gmail.com said:
So far I think what would suit me best, and give me room to add on more later if needed, is to use FreeNAS with ZFS. So it would not be a hardware RAID setup, and would just be one large volume.
That is totally fine. You don’t want to do hardware RAID w/ FreeNAS anyhow, and the software RAID gives you many advantages.
I would like to start off with just 2 drives, and add on as needed until i hit the max of 4 for this server.
This will be a problem with FreeNAS. The full discussion of how pools and volumes work w/ FreeNAS is best left as reading of existing info on the FreeNAS forums, but suffice it to say that for your own sanity I’d start with the same number of drives you wish to end up with. Then swap them out with larger drives later.
4 drives limits your redundancy options. You can give up one drive to redundancy (RAIDZ2) but that’s strongly advised against with modern drive capacities (1TB+) due to other things beyond the scope of this thread. But RAID5 these days is false security and you’ll probably have a bad time if you ever have to depend on it to rebuild a failed drive. You could do RAIDZ2 (tons better) but you’ll lose half your total capacity to redundancy with only 4 drives.
As for not having to use my local clients online, does this mean that I will have to run long ethernet cables throughout my house to get them to the different clients in the different rooms?
No, you don’t “have” to, but wifi can easily get saturated and brings many more potential performance issues into the mix. If you’re not going to run PMS on the same server as FreeNAS, I’d at a minimum make sure you’re all-wired between the PMS server and the NAS.
When doing wifi, anytime you’re having issues Step #1 will always be: bypass the wifi and rule that out.
@sremick said:
@jebusfreek666@gmail.com said:
So far I think what would suit me best, and give me room to add on more later if needed, is to use FreeNAS with ZFS. So it would not be a hardware RAID setup, and would just be one large volume.That is totally fine. You don’t want to do hardware RAID w/ FreeNAS anyhow, and the software RAID gives you many advantages.
I would like to start off with just 2 drives, and add on as needed until i hit the max of 4 for this server.
This will be a problem with FreeNAS. The full discussion of how pools and volumes work w/ FreeNAS is best left as reading of existing info on the FreeNAS forums, but suffice it to say that for your own sanity I’d start with the same number of drives you wish to end up with. Then swap them out with larger drives later.
4 drives limits your redundancy options. You can give up one drive to redundancy (RAIDZ2) but that’s strongly advised against with modern drive capacities (1TB+) due to other things beyond the scope of this thread. But RAID5 these days is false security and you’ll probably have a bad time if you ever have to depend on it to rebuild a failed drive. You could do RAIDZ2 (tons better) but you’ll lose half your total capacity to redundancy with only 4 drives.
As for not having to use my local clients online, does this mean that I will have to run long ethernet cables throughout my house to get them to the different clients in the different rooms?
No, you don’t “have” to, but wifi can easily get saturated and brings many more potential performance issues into the mix. If you’re not going to run PMS on the same server as FreeNAS, I’d at a minimum make sure you’re all-wired between the PMS server and the NAS.
When doing wifi, anytime you’re having issues Step #1 will always be: bypass the wifi and rule that out.
@sremick said:
@jebusfreek666@gmail.com said:
So far I think what would suit me best, and give me room to add on more later if needed, is to use FreeNAS with ZFS. So it would not be a hardware RAID setup, and would just be one large volume.That is totally fine. You don’t want to do hardware RAID w/ FreeNAS anyhow, and the software RAID gives you many advantages.
I would like to start off with just 2 drives, and add on as needed until i hit the max of 4 for this server.
This will be a problem with FreeNAS. The full discussion of how pools and volumes work w/ FreeNAS is best left as reading of existing info on the FreeNAS forums, but suffice it to say that for your own sanity I’d start with the same number of drives you wish to end up with. Then swap them out with larger drives later.
4 drives limits your redundancy options. You can give up one drive to redundancy (RAIDZ2) but that’s strongly advised against with modern drive capacities (1TB+) due to other things beyond the scope of this thread. But RAID5 these days is false security and you’ll probably have a bad time if you ever have to depend on it to rebuild a failed drive. You could do RAIDZ2 (tons better) but you’ll lose half your total capacity to redundancy with only 4 drives.
As for not having to use my local clients online, does this mean that I will have to run long ethernet cables throughout my house to get them to the different clients in the different rooms?
No, you don’t “have” to, but wifi can easily get saturated and brings many more potential performance issues into the mix. If you’re not going to run PMS on the same server as FreeNAS, I’d at a minimum make sure you’re all-wired between the PMS server and the NAS.
When doing wifi, anytime you’re having issues Step #1 will always be: bypass the wifi and rule that out.
Sorry, don’t know how to only quote small parts of what you said. Thank you for all your help. Just had a couple questions about what you replied.
- It sounds like you are saying that swapping larger drives out in place of smaller ones is a lot easier than starting with only 2 drives and sequentially adding drives later. So if I start with 4 drive right off the bat, do they all have to be the same size? Or can I start with just 2x 8tb drives and 2x 2tb drives, basically as place holders until I can add 2 more 8tb drives?
- You stated that I could use only 1 drive as redundancy and said it was called RAIDZ2, but then later stated that RAIDZ2 would use up half of my total capacity and was “tons better”. I am assuming this is a typo? If it is possible to use only 1 drive as redundancy, that would be nice. But if that is a huge no-no, then I guess I could sacrifice half my capacity. I have been toying with the idea of using no on board redundancy at all, and just using the plethora of external drives I have laying around to make copies of everything so that I do not sacrifice any of my capacity. Is this a bad idea?
- The server I am looking at states it has a capacity of 4 drives. Is there any way to increase this number, or would I have to just get a different server to be able to do that? I am assuming that 4 is the total number of sata connections I am able to make to the mother board, and that is what is limiting me? Also, I’m sure the answer is no but, the server has 8 USB ports which I will not be using at all. Am I able to use these for external drives to increase my capacity?
- I have no idea what a PMS is. Told you I’m dumb when it comes to this stuff. From what I have read, it sound like this is short for package management system, though knowing its name is about as far as my knowledge extends. No idea what it does, or why I would need it. Is this something that I have to have? And if so, is it something that I can easily put on the NAS? But as for having it wired for use in home, it sounds like I will get the best results if I run Ethernet cables to all 4 clients in the house, right? Am I able to use the ports on the back of my router, or do I have to have a separate switch for this?
Thank you again for all of your help. You have no idea how valuable it is to me to have someone to talk to who knows this stuff and has experience with it!
hey i found this on yt.check it out dell optiplex 790sff quad core
https://youtube.com/watch?v=A3AzPPma7MQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3AzPPma7MQ
@jebusfreek666@gmail.com said:
Sorry, don’t know how to only quote small parts of what you said.
You just go up and edit when hitting reply.
- It sounds like you are saying that swapping larger drives out in place of smaller ones is a lot easier than starting with only 2 drives and sequentially adding drives later.
Yes. Because it’s not so much “easier” as doing it the latter way won’t actually get you to where you ultimately want to be
So if I start with 4 drive right off the bat, do they all have to be the same size?
No, but if you did a RAIDZ1 or RAIDZ2 the combined size is only as good as the smallest drive minus redundancy. So if you had a 1TB, 2TB, 3TB and 4TB drive in a RAIDZ1, the total size would be 3TB (smallest drive is 1TB so it’s as if all are 1TB, so 3x 1TB +1 drive for redundancy). But we don’t like RAIDZ1/RAID5.
Or can I start with just 2x 8tb drives and 2x 2tb drives, basically as place holders until I can add 2 more 8tb drives?
You could if you did 2 vdevs that were mirrored pairs, but that would be a messy and far less-than-ideal end result. Plan ahead and do it the right way that will get you where you want to be. 6 or 8 drives is a sweet spot for building a RAIDZ2 array, even if you have to start small now.
- You stated that I could use only 1 drive as redundancy and said it was called RAIDZ2, but then later stated that RAIDZ2 would use up half of my total capacity and was “tons better”.
No. RAIDZ1 is sort of like RAID5: 1 drive’s worth of redundancy. RAIDZ2 is 2 drives’ worth. Therefore, a 4-drive RAIDZ2 is losing half of your capacity to redundancy, which sucks, yes… which is why 4-drive arrays aren’t great. RAIDZ2 is “tons better” as a matter of course, not specifically in a handicapped 4-drive array but it has to do with providing REAL redundancy vs. a false sense of security (RAID5/RAIDZ1).
If it is possible to use only 1 drive as redundancy, that would be nice. But if that is a huge no-no, then I guess I could sacrifice half my capacity.
It’s unwise because the odds are not in your favor. No one likes to lose capacity to redundancy, but either you care about redundancy or you don’t. If you do, then you need to face the reality that in RAID5/RAIDZ1, if you lose one drive then you have zero redundancy now. Odds are there’ll be an URE during the resilver of the replacement drive, and then boom all your data is gone because the whole pool has been degraded with no further redundancy.
I have been toying with the idea of using no on board redundancy at all, and just using the plethora of external drives I have laying around to make copies of everything so that I do not sacrifice any of my capacity. Is this a bad idea?
Then FreeNAS is not for you. There are better, simpler solutions for people who don’t care about their data. FreeNAS is for people who really care about their data.
- The server I am looking at states it has a capacity of 4 drives. Is there any way to increase this number, or would I have to just get a different server to be able to do that?
Likely you need a different chassis & motherboard.
I am assuming that 4 is the total number of sata connections I am able to make to the mother board, and that is what is limiting me?
That and the physical space in the case to mount the drives. More SATA ports can be added with an HBA PCIe card, but where would you put the drives?
Also, I’m sure the answer is no but, the server has 8 USB ports which I will not be using at all. Am I able to use these for external drives to increase my capacity?
Not with FreeNAS or anything else that actually matters. USB is no good for permanent connections. It’s for temporary connections but is inherently unreliable and doesn’t pass critical things like SMART and other low-level stuff required by stuff like FreeNAS.
- I have no idea what a PMS is.
PMS = Plex Media Server, the back-end software component of a Plex setup. Specifically the software but can also be used to refer to the box/hardware that is running the software and acting as the PMS.
But as for having it wired for use in home, it sounds like I will get the best results if I run Ethernet cables to all 4 clients in the house, right?
Yes but that’s not always practical. Honestly most of our clients are wireless but I have a $200 router and the main one is just feet away from it. A $20 router located 200’ from a client might not give you great results. Wireless is always a “try it and see, but if you have performance issue rule out the wireless first”. There are dozens of things that can mess up wireless… it’s a convenience technology, not a reliable or performance technology.
Am I able to use the ports on the back of my router, or do I have to have a separate switch for this?
You can use the ports but most people only have a few, like 4. So you can use a switch to get more if needed.
@sremick said:
That and the physical space in the case to mount the drives. More SATA ports can be added with an HBA PCIe card, but where would you put the drives?
The server comes with an optical drive. Would I be able to pull this out and put a HDD in that space instead? I will have no use for a DVD burner on the NAS, and at least 5 drives gives me a little more wiggle room.
@jebusfreek666@gmail.com said:
The server comes with an optical drive. Would I be able to pull this out and put a HDD in that space instead? I will have no use for a DVD burner on the NAS, and at least 5 drives gives me a little more wiggle room.
Typically, yes… you’d need a 5.25"-to-2.5" bracket/adapter and you’d really want a front plate (some adapters might come with one, but how well it matches with your case will vary). But double-check on your case before taking my word as gospel, as factors in your case could cause issues.
