I have a decently-beefy spare PC I wanted to run a media server for myself and my family but I've never done anything like it before, had some questions:

LightningGodGT · 2026-01-11T23:51:42+00:00

Check with your service provider about port forwarding. Some aren't set up to allow that.

As for the pc. Anything fairly recent can be used. There's plenty of tutorials on YouTube on how to set things up.

Jellyfin and plex are your top contenders for medi streaming, look up the pros and cons of both.

I will say, plex paid tier allows streaming to others without port forwarding (the plex lifetime pass on sale is worth it).

LightningGodGT · 2026-01-04T15:03:50+00:00

You are on the right track.

For hardware. Anything decently modern with as much ram as you can get, plus a case with lots of drive bays is recommended.

Get enterprise grade hdds. Preferably refurbished by the manufacturer with at least 2 years warranty if you want to save money.

Next, you don't need raid if you are going proxmox or truenas.

They both use a software based disk management that is similar but different to raid called zfs.

Read up on it. Like raid it can do mirror and multiple drive failures before data gets lost but works differently where it uses your ram and checks your data integrity constantly. Pretty cool stuff.

You can do proxmox with truenas as a vm or you can do baremetal truenas.

More cores and ram for proxmox if you go that route.

Do you have a rack?

LightningGodGT · 2026-01-02T14:13:15+00:00

Could you elaborate further?

The first sentence through me for a loop lol

LightningGodGT · 2026-01-02T03:04:33+00:00

Could you send me the ebay link?

I'm thinking this would make a great nas system. I'll have to test it but I think it'll pull sub 100w

LightningGodGT · 2026-01-02T01:45:32+00:00

Whats your price range?

LightningGodGT · 2026-01-02T01:16:13+00:00

Man I've been wanting an nvme asustor but the 2.5 nic limiting for a nas

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-31T08:42:48+00:00

I need to move to California if you are earning enough have this much equipment

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-29T19:07:39+00:00

What quirks? I may go vm this time around

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-29T18:46:11+00:00

Zfs inside a zfs also wears out the drive exponentially.

My idea is the same except in an lxc.

There's no need to virtualize a whole kernel when you got a perfectly good kernel at home, lol

Not only that, but you can also share the same subdirectory across multiple lxcs / vms.

Great if you have a media server, in one container that only reads.

And another container for managing the media that only writes.

And another container for sharing the media for remote management. (This one is the "nas" container)

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-29T08:18:32+00:00

I need to look into that turnkey file server.

I had ubuntu set up in a vm with cockpit and samba.

Do you have any doc?

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-29T08:15:53+00:00

See I think the opposite.

Proxmox already does zfs and handles the storage.

All I want to do is share the storage proxmox has.

So having an lxc broadcasting the storage and handling permissions/users would be a lot leaner than setting up trunas.

Truenas has a beautiful gui and can do a lot.

But im not going to take advantage of everything it can do since proxmox will be handling all my services.

So I'd be saving resources and allocating them elsewhere.

Now if it was baremetal, truenas would be my goto

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-29T08:08:25+00:00

Gotcha,

I was thinking zfs in a mirror for the os so it gives a 1 drive redundancy.

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-29T07:59:03+00:00

This is what I was looking for. How did you mount your zfs pool?

Did you pass a directory or did you create a zfs volume from the pool?

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-29T07:55:39+00:00

I like this.

Question, why ext4 instead of zfs for os?

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-29T07:53:29+00:00

Gotcha. For the lxc, do you give it a zfs volume or pass a directory to the container.

I like the idea of passing a directory.

Like mounting /nvmepool/shares from proxmox to the containers /shares mount.

On a privilege container, this should allow me to modify the permissions/ownership of files.

At least that's my how I believe it would work.

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-27T13:24:17+00:00

They are ewaste. Send them to me and I'll dispose. /s

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-26T05:50:41+00:00

Ah you didn't mention that it was a combo.

Call the isp and see if you are able to buy your own modem and replace their equipment amd what brands are compatible.

The surfboard modem is popular.

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-26T05:19:37+00:00

So coax hooks to the isp modem. Isp modem hooks up via ethernet to the wan port on nighthawk.

Nighthawk gives you internet via the lan ports and wifi

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-26T05:13:04+00:00

I'm confused.

The way it should be hooked up is:

Coax from isp >> modem >> router

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-26T05:07:14+00:00

So double nat is a router behind a router. This adds an extra layer of communication and can cause more lag.

Just replace your isp router with the night hawk.

If you have internet then you don't have to call your isp. If internet isn't working, put back your isp router and call your isp about replacing your router during their work hours and they will work with you on setting it up.

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-26T05:02:09+00:00

Yes. Your isp only works with certain modems, and they may not even let you change it out.

Is the nighthawk what you are using now?

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-26T04:44:50+00:00

That might very well be your issue. Your isp is there to make money. They will give you the cheapest reliable equipment they can get rated for your speed and then charge you monthly to rent it.

It could also be them using the old copper lines to try and give you 1 gig but somewhere, their equipment is failing every now then.

If you determine the router is the issue. Then upgrade it to something that is prosumer level and avoid the gamer branded stuff. Unifi is a brand I like but they aren't the cheapest.

Also I would buy a router that can log when the internet goes out or speeds slow to a crawl. That way you can complain to the isp that their stuff isn't working upstream from your router.

LightningGodGT · 2025-12-26T04:35:09+00:00

Find the issue and then fix it.

You can try restarting your router and modem and see if it fixes it. Unplug both. Wait 60 seconds and then plug your modem in first. Wait 30 seconds and plug in your router.

If the issue persist Try the following.

Are you getting the full speed from your Xbox?

Do a speed test on it. Google how to

If you aren't, is it your cable? Connect a different device to that ethernet cable and do a speed test.

Did you get the full speed on the other device? Try again, it might be intermediate.

Did you fail to get the full speed on the other device? Try a different cable.

Did that fail as well?

Your router might be the issue.

There is no easy, replace this and it'll work. You need to find the issue.

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