Help me design a jellyfin media storage/serving solution please?

[Engulf2169]

So, I'm looking to set up a cost effective jellyfin server that (hopefully) will have the capacity to serve multiple 4k high bitrate media files to 2-3 users simultaneously. Hoping to get some guidance here on whether my hardware will realistically be capable of that.

For the server I'm looking at a refurbished Dell Optiplex 3060 (i5-8500 6 cores, 8gb ram, 256gb ssd) currently selling for ~$212 CAD. I have compared that to something like a Beelink S12 with a 12th gen N100 for around $250, but I was thinking the extra cores from the Optiplex might be more advantageous. Also looked at a Beelink SEi12 i5-12450H for extra processing power, but that is basically double the price (approx $450 CAD), so i'm not sure its a good value...

For media storage, I have found a used 2-bay Synology DS214play for $80. I'm thinking maybe I can use that to run 2x10TB drives as RAID0 for extra read/write speed, since high bitrate rips are anywhere from 60-80Mbp/s I'm thinking it might not be viable to rely on a single HDD being fast enough to serve multiple files simultaneously?

I already have another Synology DS220j, with one drive being used for constant recording of my security cameras, and the second drive being my media storage. What if I were to use the second drive as a backup drive for my RAID0 array? How might i implement something like that?

I have also read about people using ZFS storage solutions and I have no idea how that works or whether it would make sense in my application?

Thanks for any input the community has!

[tmsrxzar]

i would immediately discount the optiplex, 8 series intel is very old at this point (5 years) and if you plan to keep it in service for another 5 year it will be 10 by the time you're done with it, not to mention if power consumption is a concern the N100 will be more efficient

considerations need to be made whether or not your clients will need transcoding, the N100 also has a better GPU but if no clients need transcoding then there's no point in considering that

jellyfin tends to be light on CPU so the 12th gen i5 may be more than is needed, again depending on simultaneous clients

my vote is for the N100 in a general use environment, overall has the features needed, power consumption is quite low which could offset the slightly higher up front price


as far as storage, the syno seems like a good price but may also be more than is needed, something simple like a USB3.2 external enclosure would be fine but i don't think can beat the $80 price, this has the advantage of plug and play though

storage speed is less so a consideration as most storage will be faster than you can serve it, depending on clients

[Efficient_Good_5784]

For media storage, I have found a used 2-bay Synology DS214play for $80. I'm thinking maybe I can use that to run 2x10TB drives as RAID0 for extra read/write speed, since high bitrate rips are anywhere from 60-80Mbp/s I'm thinking it might not be viable to rely on a single HDD being fast enough to serve multiple files simultaneously?

Going with RAID0 will be useless in this case.

A single low-end 5400rpm HDD can output data at around ~120MB/s. That's the same as ~960Mbps. Going off of your numbers of a HQ rip using a max of 80Mbps, a single drive could theoretically output 12 streams.
Realistically, this number will be limited by the IOPS of the drives in your server and how each stream is accessing your drives. Not all streams will always start at the same time (and Jellyfin has a setting to limit how much of a buffer each stream can request), so you could have a bit more streams at the same time if they're staggered correctly to avoid a bottleneck.

You'll also probably be limited by the CPU if there's transcoding going on.

What if I were to use the second drive as a backup drive for my RAID0 array? How might i implement something like that?

You could set up an rsync task from one NAS to the other. 

I have also read about people using ZFS storage solutions and I have no idea how that works or whether it would make sense in my application?

ZFS is a file system (like how BTRFS is the filesystem that you can select in Synology NAS units). You can install ZFS yourself onto something like Ubuntu.
Most likely what you read about is using NAS software like Truenas or Unraid. Truenas uses ZFS to store your data, while Unraid recently added ZFS as an option.

A lot of people like using ZFS to store their data. You can look up online why. ZFS (like BTRFS) allows for things like snapshots, data scrubbing, and other benefits.

You can buy a pre-made Truenas system, or you can build your own Truenas server. For Unraid, you'll need to buy a license to install it onto a system that you have.


Finally, I don't know your situation with money, but I would suggest invest in a Synology unit that has more than 2 drive slots. You might end up filling up your drives and needing more space.
Also, I would advise not going with RAID0 on a 2-bay NAS. If you ever lose one drive, all that data is gone. If you run out of space, there's no way to add a new higher-capacity disk without losing the data.
If you go with a unit with more than 2-bays and use something like SHR on it, you can increase your storage capacity with just a single drive.

[mikesulsenti]

People have put in their opinions, I'll put in mine.
There's used rack servers on ebay with 12 HDD bays for $280 with more than enough resources included to run Jellyfin. You just need a rack and put in a GPU into it like the https://www.newegg.com/asrock-arc-a380-a...6814930110

If you don't want to have a rack, a used Intel Core series made in the last 7 years would work well. The iGPU will work wonders
You can run Jellyfin on 8GB, but I recommend a system with 16GB

You should have an SSD and at least 4 HDDs for RAID 10 or more, for RAID 6 or ZFS RAIDz2. I say RAID not because of any speed needed but for redundancy and data safety. The SSD should be used for the OS, Jellyfin the software, and Jellyfin's database, cache, and transcoding files

Your main limitation for streaming 4K content would be for remote users where typical home connections are limited to 15-50 Mbps. A typical 4K bluray can range from 35-80 Mbps bitrates

For OS, I use Proxmox. It's a Debian based server OS that has ZFS ready to go out of the box. It's not for the uninitiated. While it has a WebUI I recommend as much be done via CLI as possible especially for ZFS configuration. It also allows you to setup a container for the Jellyfin media server to compartmentalize it and you can run and compartmentalize other self hosted things on the server at the same time.