Media Server....What's important?

[Grondir]

Hey guys,

Starting to get my home network together, got a basic pc for each room but want to keep all my music/movies in a central location. Thinking of putting a pc in the attic room, with lots of storage space, but what else is important?

Does it need lots of RAM? How about RAID setups? Don't think it needs a high end graphics card but what about a Blu-Ray drive for ripping films?

Looking at maybe using one of the new i3 chips or is this too low spec?

[Heartspark]

Depends on what you use for server, I recommend Windows Home Server, its cheap, its reliable, and its awesome.

You can put together a cheap WHS for about $500. It can stream movies, music, tv from it anyplace on network, even over internet.

4gigs of ram is recommend, you don't need a high end graphics card, just a built in video card on motherboard is perfect.

I have about 7TB of hardrive space on whs, its down in basement. The system is pretty basic.

1.8ghz dual core Core 2 duo
4gigs of ram.
Motherboard is a intel one with built in NIC, videocard, etc.

The most important thing is the case, cause you want lots of space.


Most people rip the movies, etc on main PC and transfer it to server.

RAID servers are not important for home anymore, you will always be limited by network bandwidth in the regards.

[ebony]

i use windows home server and its very epic . and the server has a 1gb networks as the hole off my home network is 1gb that helps when watching movies from the server. i got about 2tb off space on it

i3 would be great its a dualcore with HT (4cores) and cheep my servers are like p4 With HT and works great no probs at all

[Grondir]

Will take a look at windows home server then, may be what i'm looking for. But a few more questions...

Can I connect all my pc's using a wireless connection or do I have to install cables?

Would I not be able to do the same thing using Windows 7 homegroup?

[Lindline]

I think the key is to maximize storage reliability. A RAID 1 or higher would definitely be needed. This isnt about speed, its about redundancy. As for the rest of the specs, it just needs to be able to read and transmit data fast enough. It shouldnt be doing any rendering so processing and graphics power arent as important.

[Heartspark]

Lindline WHS you don't need RAID. Redundancy is not a issue with WHS, since you can set it up to mirror data on multiply drives, files, folders, etc from a simple UI.

[EaTCarbS]

I personally would do a RAID 1 on a media server.

This thread is making me want to build one.

[Grondir]

Keep the info and tips coming guys, all help is much appreciated

[Honorguard]

When I decided I was going to use a Media Server, I researched numerous options.

The server needed to fill a few roles;

Backup Storage
Media Storage
Multiple NIC at gigabit speeds

What I settled on was a HP ProLiant DL360.

It has 4gb of ECC Ram. Dual Xeon processors at 3.0GhZ. Two 2tb drives in Raid 1 (Striped). Dual 100Base-T (Gigabit) NIC, and iLo (Independant Lights Out Management),

I have 4 HD televisions and full 7.1 DTS on each. I have wired my home for gigabit (Cat6 everywhere). and I can reliably stream in full 1080P with at least 5.1 to each television without taxing my internal network. The server chugs a little (READ: no stuttering, the fans just crank up to about 80% speed).

I run Windows Home Server (henceforth known as "WHS") and I have a current backup of every PC I own.

Tonight, I wanted to restore my main PC after my RAID-1 failed on me. Popped in the WHS restore CD, restored the drive from my WHS, popped in my Windows 7 DVD, and I was completely done in 30 mins.

WHS is a MUST HAVE. It is amazing for what it does and its VERY low cost (about $99 US).

For HD streaming to multiple locations, you need at least 100base-T, with a recommendation of 1000Base-T.

HP makes a Media Server, but it's over-priced. With all the fire sales of IT components, you can pick up a full-on DELL Poweredge, or HP ProLiant for next to nothing (Mine was $150 with 1gb of ram, two 80gb SATA hard Drives, and one 360 watt power supply).

DISCLAIMER: I am a GIANT IT nerd. I do infrastructure for a living, and I couldn't see myself with anything other than ridiculous speeds for my home network.

[ollee]

i might be able to find an acceptable used poweredge server(have to ask the guy if he sold it yet or not) i wanna say 2750 series??