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If you enable any media server functions, power-saving features won’t work because the NAS needs to be available all the time. You should consider a NAS if you have more than one computer at home, since you can back them all up to the NAS rather than connect an external backup drive to each computer. And if you want to protect your data and backups from theft and natural disasters, a good NAS is capable of uploading files directly to a cloud backup service, too. If you are looking at Seagate drives, for example, the NAS-class drives are called the IronWolf, IronWolf Pro, IronWolf SSD, and IronWolf SSD and HDD lines. Straight IronWolf drives are what you're after for outfitting a NAS drive in a home.
At the end of the day, Subsonic will not be the best choice for everybody, especially since it is only compatible with a limited number of streaming devices. Avid show and movie watchers will have to deal with a lack of subtitle support, plus an inability to stream quality settings. For myself, music makes up over half the media I own, and Subsonic adequately meets my needs. As an older software, SubSonic doesn’t have the same regular updates as PlayOn, and will be a little harder to work with.
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Much of the new development is focused on building out the higher-end functionality for managing advanced Windows Server features, such as high-availability clusters, Storage Spaces Direct, and more. Several original equipment manufacturer vendors, such as Lenovo for instance, have taken advantage of the extensibility feature to add management for their systems into the WAC. Some features, such as the new Domain Name System tool, which will make managing DNS properties possible from within the WAC, remain in preview. To qualify for this benefit, you must be a Microsoft Software Assurance customer with a current contract in place. The goal of this benefit is to make it financially attractive to move your virtual machine workloads up to Microsoft Azure.
If you’re hoping to gain experience to eventually get a job in IT then you’ll probably want to follow the Microsoft route and install Microsoft Exchange on your home server. Most of the “email admin” jobs currently on the market are for Microsoft Exchange. Similarly, if you’re already working in IT, perhaps in a support role and hoping to progress then running your own MS Exchange home server could help you out. Not only does having a file server make access and sharing much easier, but it also makes it much easier to perform backups and protect your important files. This is probably the most popular use of a home server and is something a lot of people do, even in they’re not very technical. Basically, you can install software such as Plex, point it to your library of movies, TV shows, music, etc and it’ll let you stream them.
FreeNAS: Enterprise-Grade RAID Support
Windows server eats up a lot of system resources, and to me, only looked like a hyped windows 10 version. There's nothing like Windows Server for emulating a corporate IT environment. It's an excellent foundation for AD, including unified access to network resources and all the applications that require it. At most they'll be about 6 clients, plus a MAC, which I'll network, a couple of printers, smart devices and a few mobile devices. Most people that set up their own home server makes use of their old computer. It is a great way to put an old computer that is lying around into use and save some money.
Many NAS devices have even added photo-management tools and file-syncing services that attempt to replicate various cloud storage offerings. While those NAS tools aren’t as rich with features as commercial storage services from Google, Apple, and others, they can at least provide an adequate alternative to pricey subscriptions. The four-bay QNAP TS-451D2-4G has hardware similar to that of the two-bay NAS boxes we like but adds two drive bays for additional storage, redundant backup, and a bit more speed when storing files.
QNAP TS-451D2-4G
As you can imagine, I’m going to address the first question today and list some fun things you can do with a home server. If you’re on the fence about getting a server, maybe this list will inspire you. I've just finished building a home server that I intended on using Linux to run as a file server and Plex media server, however I've been having a rethink and considering going over to windows. Amahi also has the largest app stores among all the server software options available. On the other hand, every server takes care of file storage, downloading, sharing, and many more.
Depending on whether your NAS comes with hard drives pre-installed or not, you may need to start by inserting hard drives into the NAS’s drive bays. Next, connect the power and local area network cable from your router to the NAS, and power it on. Following this, you will likely follow guidance by the software included with your NAS to finish the rest of the installation process. It will involve locating, formatting, and other steps, depending on what you plan to do with your NAS. This setup is ideal, as it allows you to expand the storage capacity of the NAS over time, and even swap out defective drives without losing data in some models. If you're on a tight budget and don't need to store a ton of data, the Buffalo LinkStation 210 is a great option.
To add to that, you get live TV support , DVR support, hardware-accelerated transcoding, cloud syncing, offline viewing, and a cinema mode that enhances your viewing experience with trailers and custom intros. Plex is possibly the most popular media server software out there, as it offers an easy setup and a highly flexible system for managing different types of media libraries. Plex can be set up on any hard drive, ideally, a NAS (network-attached storage device), but since I already use a web server to store my media collection I can install Plex on the server. The Synology DiskStation DS220+ is the best two-bay home NAS for most people. They're typically more expensive and complex storage solutions than a simple external hard drive, but they allow you to access your files anywhere.
One of the most significant things about Amahi is the fact that it offers a comprehensive and user-friendly interface, which is also one of the reasons why it has become so popular today. The interface provides a user-friendly browsing experience and the company has added features which can be used as advanced features, such as e-mail management, in addition to basic administration functions. We checked the distro’s boot-up speed, the stability and security it offered, and whether it had GUIs. We took into account how active the online forums were, how regularly the updates rolled out, and if there was official support available. The second Fedora-labelled distro in our list, Fedora CoreOS is designed specifically to run containers.
This two-bay NAS uses a sleek, glossy white enclosure and is equipped with a single 1Gbps LAN port and two USB 3.0 ports. You’ll have to remove a couple of screws to install the drives, which you’ll have to supply yourself as they are not included. Serviio is similar to UMS, as it is a fast and powerful open-source media server rich in advanced controls and functions. But unlike UMS, Serviio has a paid version that offers a convenient remote browser player, an Android app, and some other functionalities. This software runs on either a computer or NAS, and also streams content from online sources, like RSS feeds, live audio/video streams, web page content.
If you fear the unthinkable event of a fire and losing precious photos or replaceable or sensitive data stored on computers or external drives, the IoSafe Bay NAS eases those fears. Despite being a secondary feature, video streaming works fairly well on Subsonic, and thanks to the huge quantity of transcoding plugins available, you can play just about every codec. Subsonic Premium also allows you to watch videos from devices like a Chromecast, Sonos system, or an Android/iOS/Windows smartphone like the Pixel 4 . One of the first things you’ll notice about Plex is that its menus are beautiful on every platform. The menus are fast and easy to navigate, though I do run into some hiccups trying to browse my stupidly large music collection.
On the other hand, if set it up correctly, UMS will work with just about any streaming device. The keyboard and mouse interface for Kodi isn’t terrible but its menu layout is definitely designed to be controller-friendly. Regardless of how you navigate Kodi, it will automatically organize your content to give it a more polished look. You can set it to scrape metadata from your choice of sources to deliver synopses, reviews, movie posters, titles, and genre classification for your downloaded media. You can also install custom skins to give your media library its own unique feel. A USB Copy button sits on the front of the DS220+, but before you can use it you need to tell the NAS what the button should do when you press it.
On the other hand, there are those who already work in the industry but lack server knowledge in certain areas. These people, often quite rightly, don’t feel comfortable testing things on their employer’s hardware. You could set it up so that you can stream your library from your home server to your smartphone from the other side of the world! Of course, you’ll want to secure it so that random people can’t just access your stash. If you would prefer to go with a popular brand, then this server software made by Microsoft would be an ideal choice. You can easily operate it if you are already familiar with the Windows environment.
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