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[Hollingshead]

I was surprised I couldn't find this question being asked and answered before, but my searches were fruitless. If there are earlier threads, sorry I missed them.

I've been running JRiver on Windows Home Server for years, but since my clients upgraded to Windows 10, I'm having increasing and various problems. I think I'd like to strip it down and start from scratch. My files are mostly WMA lossless, but that is also becoming increasingly problematic, so I would like to convert to FLAC at the same time.

Considering Windows Server and Linux, but I'll need some study for either one. I'm in the PC business, so not completely clueless, but I've never maintained a true server before.

Which do you think would perform better with a 90K song library?
Which do you think would be the most reliable?
Which do you think would be the easiest to find the setup info that I would need?
Could I also use some variant of the iD software and just make this the world's largest NUC? It is running Intel graphics on an old Core2Quad, but I'm open to a new processor/mainboard.

Thanks for any advice,
Kevin

[mwillems]

Topline: I think in your situation you'd be better off using plain windows (not windows server).  A few points:

1) MC is not supported on windows server, and it's not recommended.  Some folks  have had good luck, but others have had myriad, mysterious problems due to parts of windows that MC relies on being missing or different in windows server.  So if you go windows, I'd recommend using a consumer windows build (I ran my own server that way for a few years with no issues at all).

2) Due to MC's difficulty with cross-platform path names, windows clients of linux servers and linux clients of windows servers will not have a perfect experience.  It may or may not matter depending on your file types and general needs, but, for example, .ifo/directory rips of DVD's will not work correctly with cross platform server/client scenarios.  .MKV rips work fine, as do most other file types.  Sometimes the lack of direct path access can trigger transcoding when no transcoding is necessary, but that issue can be addressed by careful attention to settings.  I currently run my server on Linux with a mixture of windows and linux clients and it mostly works fine, but I had to choose a side because my clients are mixed;  if I only had windows clients I would not have migrated my server to Linux.  I haven't heard of any fixes on the horizon for the pathing issue.

3) MC for Linux is not as "feature complete" as the windows version in ways that affect it's use as a server.  For example, the live TV functionality isn't working on Linux yet, and the Linux version of MC (mostly) can't serve live TV tuners to clients.  That's on the agenda for MC22, but is not there yet.  Theater view for Linux just made its debut as a testing branch, which is good news as prior to that there was no way to edit client theater views with a Linux server.  That's not in the mainline stable builds yet, but should be very soon.  There are a handful of other areas of limited function, but TV and Theater view (until it arrives in mainline) were the main holes.  That's another point for windows for now, but feature parity is coming.

4) A linux server is (in my own experience) more stable and more tolerant of underpowered hardware than a windows server.  My windows server worked well, but required frequent maintenance and weekly reboots.  I reboot my linux server two or three times a year, typically when I need to add another hard drive or clean the dust out. So that's a point for Linux.

I love linux and prefer to use it whenever possible, but I don't think it's likely to be the best choice right now for a setup that only has windows clients.  Next year might be a different story.  Hope this helps.

[Manfred]

I have a slightly different architecture for my ~20000 audio and video files.
I have decided to put all my data (incl. PC user data) on a central NAS (QNAP, Linux based) totally ~50000 files and two Windows 10 based PC/HTPC with only an SSD for the OS and SW and no a/v data and other data on it.
Win 10 is for me a must because Devialet AIR is supported only for Win/MacOS. If you have an external DAC check the vendors driver support-> determines the OS.
I do 1-4 Firmware Updates on the NAS per year. For me very reliable solution, runs 24 x 7 without any outage so far and this since 4 years. I use FLAC as audio format.
The HTPC could be a NUC if you don't need 4K HDMI 2.0@60 HZ, HDR, HDCP 2.2 support-> requires mostly Kaby Lake and for RO Standard  seems to be enough.
My a/v architecture fit's most to System Four without the second switch:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/524-complete-guide-hifi-upnp-dlna-network-audio/

I have not seen any performance degradation up to now- 3.5 years ago I had ~5000 files on the NAS. My HTPC relies on an i7-4770T 8GB RAM. Typical utilization is ~7-18%. So for managing large audio only libraries a modern i3 or i5 is enough.

[JimH]

Win10 and local file storage (no NAS) would be the easiest to set up and maintain and the most trouble free.

A NAS drive is a computer so why have two when one will do?

[AndrewFG]

+1

I use a Windows 10 PC with 8 GB RAM, the OS and MC on a 128 GB internal SSD, and the tracks on a 1 TB internal (mechanical) HDD (you could have a bigger HDD if you want).

For me, the most important issue is to choose a PC platform that is either very quiet (in my case) or totally fan-less (even better).

From time to time I back up my tracks over the network to a separate NAS.

[Manfred]

As I started with MC I had only one HTPC with optical drive in the living room with a SSD and 3 TB WD RED drive.The WD was the most noisy component. I could not live with it. Now the disks are in a NAS behind a wall and one could access the data from multiple devices in my place. I personally have never regret it.

[JimH]

It's not much different than putting a second computer in another room and playing from it.  Or moving the HTPC to another room and using a lightweight device like an Id to do the playback.

I don't mean to discourage anyone from using a NAS.  I'm just pointing out that a NAS is a computer, with all the problems that can bring.

[Manfred]

If you have only audio files and a 1TB disk would be enough I would agree with you Jim. I have also thought a lot to have only one computer and merge the NAS and the HTPC, but I would need in my place a 5m HDMI cable from my GTX960 card to TV and a 5m USB 3.0 (to my knowledge not possible) cable for a new external optical drive. If you have any suggestion how to avoid that highly welcome. The ID for me is no option no RO HQ for 4k.
But we are now a little away from the orginal question - what is the best OS fro MC ?

[imugli]

I run mine a little different. I have MC on my HTPC, with a separate Library because it has the TV tuner in it. My files are all on my server, which are mapped as drives in windows.

The HTPC isn't on 24/7 though, so I also have MC running with a separate library on my linux server (which IS on 24/7), which I use to serve audio to Gizmo or other clients. 

Until Linux can do TV and the cross-OS file path anomalies are rectified, Windows still has it IMO.

Once Linux version can receive and serve TV, I'm changing all my systems to it.

[Hollingshead]

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies to my question. I'll admit that I was kind of liking an excuse to finally build some Windows Server/Linux chops, but I think mwillems makes a very good case for good old Windows. Not sure what Windows I have laying around, but I might buy a new Win 10 Pro copy.

The box is a big old server box with 6 drives in it, but it lives in a closet upstairs, so noise is not an issue. I considered using a Linux NAS distro and turning the big box into a NAS, but I suspect that just letting all Win 10 boxes talk among themselves might be the easiest solution.

So Win 10 it is, and I'll replace some of the drives with big new NAS drives that should be happier running 24/7 (not that I've had much trouble so far) and an SSD for the OS. All this box has to do is send the files to PC's with more horsepower, so the Core2Quad should still perform OK.

Now off to another part of the forum to find out why my encoding and transcoding has recently gone south. WMA, FLAC and MP3 VBR are all refusing to work in JRiver. I've had to go back to ExactAudioCopy for image copy with a Cue Sheet. I suspect that this is a Windows 10 issue, because I think it might date to the last upgrade.

Thanks again for the help,
Kevin