Advice for setting up a multi-purpose NAS server

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Nezgal

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Nov 26, 2015
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Hello,

I'd like to build a NAS server in the coming months and since I don't know much about networking, I'd like some help.

First off, here are the connected devices that will need to access the NAS:
- Main PC
- Smartphone(s)
- Laptop(s)
- Raspberry Pi
- (TV maybe, not so important since I have Kodi on the Raspberry to handle multimedia)

I'd like the server to be a NAS cloud to store music/videos/images/documents so they can be accessed by any device. I'd also like it to be accessed remotely when I'm not home. On top of that, I'd like to use it as a game server (mostly Minecraft, but maybe some other at some point), a torrent download/upload server, and maybe a LAN/WiFi router.

So some questions:

1) Is it possible to do all those things? Should I separate the router from the server?

2) Does it require virtualization? Does 64 bit help? Does hyperthreading help?

3) Can Kodi on the Pi play music/videos directly from the NAS?

4) Do I need a GPU for this or is the integrated graphics card enough?

For the hardware, I thought of the Xeon Skylake processors, I just can't seem to find a compatible Mini ITX/Micro ATX motherboard with integrated WiFi. That's a very secondary problem since I can always add a card. Anyway, this is not for immediate purchase so I'm not asking for precise build advice, just some general ground rules of what to look for. Also, I have absolutely no idea how a router works, yet again how to set one up, hence my not being sure if it's even possible to be both a router and a NAS/game/torrent server.

Thanks for your help!
 
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Here's a recent guide to OEM NAS: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401086,00.asp. Many of these have apps that you can download to provide additional services/functions that you're looking for. Another source of good info/education is www.wegotserved.com.
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jsmithepa

jsmithepa

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Jun 14, 2014
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This maybe a problem. If you don't know how it works, you are not going to be able to troubleshoot it.

Losts of desires, lack of know-how.

Network equipment (router) typically should be stand-along, because they are the heart of your network, the more complex to make a box, does-it-all swiss army knife, the less reliable is the box, and when it goes down, or you need to do maintenance blah-blah, your whole network goes down.

A box like that doesn't need GPU (why?) are you displaying 3-D graphics, 128 FPS necessity? NO. Most time, you don't even care what it display does, it should hum in the background without intervention.

Some of those ready-built NAS have some of the functions you require (i.e. torrent), check them out just to get an idea what they run in conjunction being a NAS.
 
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Scottray

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Jul 14, 2016
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Here's a recent guide to OEM NAS: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401086,00.asp. Many of these have apps that you can download to provide additional services/functions that you're looking for. Another source of good info/education is www.wegotserved.com.
 
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Nezgal

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Nov 26, 2015
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4,510


Ok, I was having doubts about the router thing anyway.

I'm still interested in building it myself though, was thinking of using Ubuntu Server with a small SSD for the OS and 3 HDD in RAID 5. I can use Samba to share files on the HDDs over my network and still have the machine work as a FTP/Minecraft/personal web server.
The question about Kodi remains, is it able to access and play media through LAN?

For the GPU, I was wondering if it would help for game servers.

I'll add another question:

Say I set this server up, using Ubuntu Server, and share the RAID HDDs over the network. Would it be advisable to only have the OS/programs on my main computer (running Windows) and use the shared drives as my data drive (my documents/music/videos/images/downloads/etc. Basically everything that's would be on my data partition)? Or is that a bad idea (or even impossible)? It would prevent me from having to synchronize the data HDD from the main PC with the NAS server.
 
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