Cheap Windows server setup

[pseudoid]

Has the PC technology advanced enough that the need for a NAS can truly be dispensed with?
Can they be replaced by a few 2TB+ USB sticks, instead? Even running an OS within the stick, with apps?

 

[kemmler3D]

Has the PC technology advanced enough that the need for a NAS can truly be dispensed with?
Can they be replaced by a few 2TB+ USB sticks, instead?

I think the main benefit of a NAS at this point is having a space-efficient case with not much in it except drives, and a nice FW/OS that's optimized for serving files over a network, managing RAID, etc.

Now that moving on from spinning disks is becoming kinda-sorta- cost effective, I think the answer to your question is yes, as long as you can find a case you like with a mobo that can accommodate enough drives.

There is plenty of free NAS software for PCs although I think most of them are Linux installs and not just Windows apps.

 

[somebodyelse]

Has the PC technology advanced enough that the need for a NAS can truly be dispensed with?
Can they be replaced by a few 2TB+ USB sticks, instead? Even running an OS within the stick, with apps?

I think some of the words mean different things to each of us. To me a NAS is just a computer with a particular subset of software, and you've been able to do this with x86 hardware since the mid 90s, maybe earlier. It's been possible to make them quiet enough for the listening room for about the same time, but SSDs make it a lot easier.

 

[BillG]

How many nodes do you have in the mesh? How does VPN make a device secure?

Another security feature of Tailscale which reduces the risk of my being hacked even more: the encryption keys must be refreshed based upon an administrator defined length of time. This can be anywhere from 24 hours to 6 months, and the frequency at which I do so is only known to me.

So, I've got the VPN obfuscating my public IP addresses and managing encrypted peer-to-peer connections, a firewall blocking all unspecified incoming connections, and a network monitor (Fing, which I didn't mention earlier) which would inform me of intrusions via email and/or SMS as they occurred.

That's multiple layers of security, which how NetSec is properly handled. I've never been hacked, ever.

 

[usern]

VPN by itself does not make devices secure like the ButtCheekVPN ads claim in every YouTube video, it allows secure communication between devices.

Did not know Tailscale offers public IP addresses. When I looked into it it was more like ZeroTier that allows VPN connection to be made between devices you own with hole punching behind NAT. How are the speeds through Tailscale public connection?

 

[Vincent Kars]

Has the PC technology advanced enough that the need for a NAS can truly be dispensed with?

Don't think this has anything to do with PC technology.
I want a backup of all the PC's in the household and a separate one of my music. I don't want the backup to be local.
Hence a box somewhere in the network you can use for backup is convenient.
I also use the NAS to sync its content to a identical one at my sisters.
Maybe one day I will drop it in favor of cloud based backup.

 

[BillG]

VPN by itself does not make devices secure like the ButtCheekVPN ads claim in every YouTube video, it allows secure communication between devices.

Did not know Tailscale offers public IP addresses. When I looked into it it was more like ZeroTier that allows VPN connection to be made between devices you own with hole punching behind NAT. How are the speeds through Tailscale public connection?

I don't know what you're on about with that cynical "ButtCheekVPN" comment.

If you knew how a VPN works, then why be intellectually dishonest by baiting me with questions about it? My time is valuable and not someone else's playground.

As for Tailscale, I'd recommend reading more about it to gain a full understanding of its capabilities:

Tailscale: How it works

Understand the entire Tailscale system, how it works, how we built it, and its benefits compared to legacy VPNs. Use this article as a guide to quickly build your own Tailscale replacement.

tailscale.com

As for Tailscale provided public IP addresses, it uses those to expose my nodes to the greater Internet, while hiding my real public IP addresses behind a certain. Tailscale public IP addresses are assigned on a permanent basis and can only be deleted by an administrator.

As for a public connection, that's not how Tailscale works: there are a number of coordination servers located around the globe that pass on encrypted information regarding every node on a personally defined VPN, which the company refers as a "Tailnet."

When I activate the Tailscale client on a device, it request information specific to my Tailnet from the nearest coordination server - this happens in milliseconds. Once that's happened, there's no further public connection. That information is then used by my client devices to connect directly peer-to-peer to my other nodes.

 

[pseudoid]

Don't think this has anything to do with PC technology.

When "USB 3.1 Gen 1 supports speeds of up to 5Gbit/s while USB 3.1 Gen 2 supports speeds of up to 10Gbit/s" Read/Write (data) rates, it begins to compete favorably << in reference to a NAS connected to the same networked "PC".
Accessing anything (flash/ssd/etc.) connected to your PC's USB port can easily be remotely accessed, even while being behind your firewall, VPN, etc.
Does it not?

 

[rgdawsonco]

Nice. Sure you can install W11 on it if you want. I have even older machine running W11 for years. Just need to bypass the couple things Win11 wants your bios to have for upgrade checks. But keeping it on W10 for now is fine.

I just pulled out an old idle 5th gen airport time capsule and hook it up as NAS(CIFS) for LMS(pCP) running on my pi2B. Perfect for that 2TB drive inside just for music NAS as it is noiseless. Will swap in a 6TB drive when the needs arise.
Love the Squeezelite/MaterialSkin/LMS eco system. Have SLX running on multiple PC too myself. (Btw WDM-KS output works better for me w/ SLX.)

I just noticed this post where you mention, that the WDM-KS output works best for you. I’m the author of SLX, and I recently removed the WDM-KS outputs in the most recent version as choices because on every machine I tried them they give me super loud 100% output regardless of any volume settings and I was afraid of potential damage. Now I am wondering if I should add it back, since it appears to be preferred in your case. That output seems to bypass the computer’s volume controls for me, is that not the case for you?

R Greg Dawson

 

[nsfgp]

I just noticed this post where you mention, that the WDM-KS output works best for you. I’m the author of SLX, and I recently removed the WDM-KS outputs in the most recent version as choices because on every machine I tried them they give me super loud 100% output regardless of any volume settings and I was afraid of potential damage. Now I am wondering if I should add it back, since it appears to be preferred in your case. That output seems to bypass the computer’s volume controls for me, is that not the case for you?

R Greg Dawson

Hi Greg: Thanks for jumping in and listening to feedback/comments/etc. What a great tool you have produced and making the LMS eco system more reachable for a lot of people.
Yes if I may request it would be great if you could add back in support for WDM-KS. That is my preferred output to use.
In particular it is the most consistent in terms of supporting the native sampling rate of my music which has PCM and DSD with all possible sampling rate. Without WDM-KS I am limited to WASAPI and the Topping ASIO driver output. Both of them are not consistent and will resample some of my music for some unknown reason when there is no need to.
I use these 2 Squeezelite-win parms: "-R -u E ", "-D 5:dop" to get the best native rate compatibility for the library I have. And indeed WDM-KS works best for me.
(I do wish Squeezelite-win could someday support DSD-Native in addition to DOP only now. With Squeezelite on my pi it supports both DSD-native and DOP to my USB DAC.)
Thanks again for all your hard work/dedication/support for Squeezelite-X. Cheers.

EDIT: Forgot to add. Yes my PC/USB DAC are always set at max/fixed volume (which is needed anyway for DSD). Volume control from the amp after the DAC. SLX will of course run in exclusive mode only always. Other low-priority stuff (youtube/etc.) in shared mode use.

EDIT2: Just FYI I am using your new V2.11.66 now Thank you so much for adding back WDM-KS support. All good now. Awesome support Greg. Anyone giving you a 2-stars review was a crime seriously. Keep up the good work. Much appreciated.
(Just FYI I had earlier removed the MS-Store version so it does not auto-update to latest; and manually went back to V2.11.64 (w/ the newer Squeezelite-win 1432 I downloaded from Ralph directly.)

 

[rgdawsonco]

EDIT2: Just FYI I am using your new V2.11.66 now Thank you so much for adding back WDM-KS support. All good now. Awesome support Greg. Anyone giving you a 2-stars review was a crime seriously. Keep up the good work. Much appreciated.
(Just FYI I had earlier removed the MS-Store version so it does not auto-update to latest; and manually went back to V2.11.64 (w/ the newer Squeezelite-win 1432 I downloaded from Ralph directly.)

I generally keep a close on Ralphy's squeezelite-win updates. SLX ships with 1428. His 32-bit exe is on 1431 and his 64-bit is on 1432. Neither have any changes since 1428 that affect anything on Windows as far as I can tell and since he did not build a 32-bit version of 1432, I have put off stepping up to latest. I'll grab his latest in next version, but I wanted to get .66 out for you ASAP.

 

[himey]

Linux mini pc running LMS Media Server. Main player is a Windows mini pc that always runs Foobar2000 as a Renderer. Cheap USB optical output adapter running WASAPI to my receiver. Another dedicated mini pc for simply a file server and Jellyfin server running LibreElec.

 

[JRR]

I would run linux on those old things

 

[himey]

I would run linux on those old things

I started using Daphile since I posted here, as my renderer rather than Foobar2000. Server is a container running LMS Music server in Linux (Zorin OS).

 

[mrehorst]

I have an old (>10 years?) Dell Optiplex 3020 mini desktop PC that has an i5 CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and a 128 GB SSD that is setup with a headless install of ubuntu server, Jellyfin, and LMS. It has been 100% reliable for about 5 years now, requiring only occasional updates (sudo apt upgrade). There's an external box with 3 HDDs for media storage plugged into a USB port. I have an Nvidia Shield Pro connected to the TV, and use Wiim Amp Ultra, Wiim Amp Pro, and a Wiim Pro Plus for playing music.

I used to use Plex for video, but it turned into a PITA when they decided to become a streaming platform and I had to log into their servers every time I wanted to play stuff on my HDD. Jellyfin is every bit as good as Plex ever was, and there are no issues with logins. It's entirely possible I had Plex configured incorrectly, but I see no reason to ever go back.