Where to start in server setup and configuring as a noob?

[Wiktor]

Hello, I recently wanted to expand my home with a server that is available in the whole house, but I am a complete noob. I purchased an HP elite desk 800 g1 with an i5 4590 and 8TB of HDD space and 8GB of ram. I want this server to do numerous things:

• NAS
  • Make the 8TB of space available on every computer at home and easily transfer files to and from, easy to see in windows explorer. Maybe even on android/ios phones.
• Plex/Movie server
  • Split the disks into volumes and make the one volume discoverable for all smart TVs and Apple TVs where I can play movies from my server with just a few clicks on my tv.
• Back up my Pc from time to time automatically.
• Make the whole server very secure, and prevent attackers from open internet access to my files and personal things. I don't want the server to be accessible outside of my private network.
• Use a VPN on it and torrent files to it and when done transfer them to my PC.
• Use the server without a screen, connect to it and see the screen from my pc/control it remotely.

My internet is quite slow, at 30 Mbps. But the server will be connected with ethernet directly to my router, also my main pc is connected directly to the router with ethernet, how will the transfer speed look like? Will the router limit the transfer speed or the HDDs? Sorry for any grammatical errors as English is not my main language, hope you can help me out!

 

[Rainmaker]

Wiktor, welcome. You're asking a lot there, as you basically request someone tell you how to set up a whole server from scratch - OS, Plex, network shares, hardening etc. I think you need to spend some time on YouTube (or YewTube). Videos from Level1Techs and Level1Linux as well as SpaceInvader would be interesting to you. Maybe also check out Trash Guides on hard linking and setting up media servers (Plex, Sonarr/Radarr etc).

Think about the OS you want to use. Maybe something like TrueNas or Unraid would suit you, and there are a lot of guides available for both.

You don't say how the 8TB is set up. Is it a single 8TB drive? Multiple smaller drives? Ideally get a small boot drive (SSD) and at least 2x hard drives with large capacity to run as storage for your shares and Plex. Then you can install Plex either natively, or as a Docker/container. I would also set up WireGuard VPN so you can access the server from the Internet safely. Have fun.

 

[BigT]

I'd echo @Rainmaker 's comments. Everything you want to do is perfectly achievable with everything from a Synology box to a full blown enterprise server.

But you've bought a machine so the first thing to decide on is an operating system. You can do all this with a regular OS like Windows or Linux but I would also suggest like Rainmaker to have a look at an OS that is optimised as a feature rich NAS OS. Personally I use UnRaid but have tried others. TrueNAS, OMV, FreeNAS - there's all sorts. For me the ability to setup docker containers is key. It keeps overheads low and makes things pretty straightforward to maintain. Watch the videos suggested and do some research and ask some more questions in here on them.

I can talk to personal experience with UnRaid and your requirements.

• The shares on my disk that I wish to be shared on my network are exposed as Samba shares
• I run Plex in a docker container that uses my media share as a source. Plex can also operate as a DNLA server for devices without a Plex client
• I have a time machine share for Apple backups and a regular share using backup software for PCs
• Don't forward any ports or leave your router open to attack and its as safe as any other machine on your network by default once you set a root password
• I don't instantiate a VPN connection on my server since I used policy based routing on my router to send all such download traffic via a VPN, but there are plenty of dockers and guides ot tell you how to do your torrenting over VPN
• Most NAS/server OS come out of the box with the expectation of running headless. UnRaid uses a web GUI for example

 

[oggiet]

I personally have gone from Synology to unraid and it was very easy. As @Rainmaker said YouTube is your best friend, if you do go unraid Spaceinvader has guides for everything you will need.