Server Machine Alternatives.

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  • Craig
    Senior Member
    • Apr 2005
    • 867

    Server Machine Alternatives.

    > When I get back home I must search on the SSL libraries (I do not know
    > what ssl libraries are or do) and see what I can do. Any links are very
    > much appreciated!


    I thought I had posted this before. But here's a good summary:



    > What problems might that create on my setup?


    I think besides the struggle of the update process itself, it shouldn't
    hurt at all.

    > The other option I am considering is another sbc, probably rpi4, for
    > LMS.


    That's definitely an option. I'm running a Pi 3B+ with pCP connected to
    a NAS (for the music files) myself.

    > So the question is LMS in old macOS/old Mac or in new sbc?


    I've only done the latter. If you don't mind the configuration work,
    then that's probably the simpler and more future proof way.

    --

    Michael
    MC2Slim - Windows Shell and J River Media Center Integration for Squeezebox.

    http://www.duff-zapp.co.uk
  • Craig
    Senior Member
    • Apr 2005
    • 867

    #2
    Server Machine Alternatives.

    I've had LMS running on an old XP PC for many years but house renovating has caused suggestions of something smaller.

    What are my best options, I just need to run LMS and offer a network share of my music drive to other machines.

    Thanks
    Craig
    MC2Slim - Windows Shell and J River Media Center Integration for Squeezebox.

    http://www.duff-zapp.co.uk

    Comment

    • mherger
      Babelfish's Best Boy
      • Apr 2005
      • 24099

      #3
      Server Machine Alternatives.

      > What are my best options, I just need to run LMS and offer a network
      > share of my music drive to other machines.


      Cheap: A Raspberry Pi with piCorePlayer.

      Less cheap: a NAS (Synology, QNAP have decent support for new LMS packages).

      --

      Michael
      Michael

      "It doesn't work - what shall I do?" - "Please check your server.log and/or scanner.log file!"
      (LMS: Settings/Information)

      Comment

      • d6jg
        Senior Member
        • Feb 2011
        • 8652

        #4
        Originally posted by Craig
        I've had LMS running on an old XP PC for many years but house renovating has caused suggestions of something smaller.

        What are my best options, I just need to run LMS and offer a network share of my music drive to other machines.

        Thanks
        Craig
        Raspberry Pi3 with attached USB Drive plus piCorePlayer configured for LMS and Samba.
        This is the cheapest option but actually one of the best available at present as pCP is so well supported here in "Linux / Unix". Its a doddle to set up and zero knowledge of Linux should be required.

        Or wait a month or so and do it with a Pi4 and USB3 Drive.
        Jim



        VB2.4 storage QNAP TS419p (NFS)
        Living Room Joggler & Pi4/Khadas -> Onkyo TXNR686 -> Celestion F20s
        Office Joggler & Pi3 -> Onkyo CRN775 -> Celestion F10s
        Dining Room SB Radio
        Bedroom (Bedside) Pi Zero+DAC ->ToppingTP21 ->AKG Headphones
        Bedroom (TV) & Bathroom SB Touch ->Denon AVR ->Mordaunt Short M10s + Kef ceiling speakers
        Guest Room Joggler > Denon RCFN8 -> Wharfedale Modus Cubes

        Comment

        • Craig
          Senior Member
          • Apr 2005
          • 867

          #5
          Thanks for the replies,

          My library is currently 460G so if I went with the Pi would I be able to attach a SSD or would a large USB flash drive be a better option?

          Craig
          MC2Slim - Windows Shell and J River Media Center Integration for Squeezebox.

          http://www.duff-zapp.co.uk

          Comment

          • d6jg
            Senior Member
            • Feb 2011
            • 8652

            #6
            Originally posted by Craig
            Thanks for the replies,

            My library is currently 460G so if I went with the Pi would I be able to attach a SSD or would a large USB flash drive be a better option?

            Craig
            With that sized library I think I would use a Pi3 coupled with a NAS.
            Install pCP on the Pi
            Resize the SD card
            Add additional file system support
            Mount the NAS via NFS or CIFS if you must
            Add LMS to the Pi and point it at the mounted drive
            (All of the above can be done via web tools)

            Alternatively you could use an SSD but backup might then become an issue.
            Easier to plug something into the NAS for backup purposes which can run and not affect LMS.
            As Michael said a NAS can run also LMS. Synology or QNAP are quite well supported but I'd still go for the Pi as there can be issues with upgrades on NAS that cause problems with LMS.

            In my case I have an old HP Microserver with SSD running LMS but it works in conjunction with an older QNAP (that doesn't now support LMS) via NFS. I do this as the HP also provides direct CD ripping to the NAS but otherwise I'd run a Pi with the QNAP.

            I think Michael does something similar.
            Jim



            VB2.4 storage QNAP TS419p (NFS)
            Living Room Joggler & Pi4/Khadas -> Onkyo TXNR686 -> Celestion F20s
            Office Joggler & Pi3 -> Onkyo CRN775 -> Celestion F10s
            Dining Room SB Radio
            Bedroom (Bedside) Pi Zero+DAC ->ToppingTP21 ->AKG Headphones
            Bedroom (TV) & Bathroom SB Touch ->Denon AVR ->Mordaunt Short M10s + Kef ceiling speakers
            Guest Room Joggler > Denon RCFN8 -> Wharfedale Modus Cubes

            Comment

            • garym
              Senior Member
              • May 2008
              • 13396

              #7
              Originally posted by Craig
              Thanks for the replies,

              My library is currently 460G so if I went with the Pi would I be able to attach a SSD or would a large USB flash drive be a better option?

              Craig
              Because of a problem with my main LMS server, for the last 4 months I've run a pi3B+ with attached 4TB USB drive (holding a library of about 1.5TB of audio files, so about 3 times what you have). It uses piCorePlayer setup. Easy to setup. Relatively fast when scanning library, and perfectly good for browsing, etc. I have become very impressed with this little setup.
              Home: Pi4B-8GB/pCP8.2.x/4TB>LMS 8.5.x>Transporter, Touch, Boom, Radio (all ethernet)
              Cottage: rPi4B-4GB/pCP8.2.x/4TB>LMS 8.5.x>Touch>Benchmark DAC I, Boom, Radio w/Battery (Radio WIFI)
              Office: Win11(64)>foobar2000
              The Wild: rPi3B+/pCP7.x/4TB>LMS 8.1.x>hifiberry Dac+Pro (LMS & Squeezelite)
              Controllers: Material Skin, iPhone14Pro & iPadAir5 (iPeng), or CONTROLLER
              Files: Ripping: dBpoweramp > FLAC; Post-rip: mp3tag, PerfectTunes, TuneFusion; Streaming: Spotify

              Comment

              • ho_kuku
                Junior Member
                • Aug 2016
                • 22

                #8
                Odroid N2

                Been streaming from my Synology NAS for years. Got the Odroid N2 orginally for retro gaming purpose - but I was damn free and bored one day.

                Installed dietpi on the N2 and run LMS. Pointed LMS to the music library on my existing NAS.

                It was 1) fast and 2) sq was so much better when streaming from the N2. So much that I beat myself in the head a few times to make sure that I am not imagining. Smooth and quiet - harshness gone - darker background. I had linear power supply powering both the NAS and Odroid.

                I concluded that streaming from a NAS for convenience sake is ok. If you are going for SQ - I suggest running a dedicated machine just for music. I easily get a 20-30% bump in sq by moving LMS from the NAS to Odroid. To top it up - this Odroid N2 is many times more powerful than the pi- used very little power.

                I suggest to also use a linear power supply and better network cables if possible.

                The Odroid has side stepped most (if not all) problems that plagued RPi. Mostly importantly - its snappy.
                Last edited by ho_kuku; 2019-07-26, 14:25.

                Comment

                • garym
                  Senior Member
                  • May 2008
                  • 13396

                  #9
                  Originally posted by ho_kuku
                  The Odroid has side stepped most (if not all) problems that plagued RPi. Mostly importantly - its snappy.
                  Haven't used an Odroid, but my rPi3B+ is very snappy with about 111,000 music files. Not noticeably different from LMS running on a Win10 (64) bit computer with 8 cores and 32GB RAM. That's why the rPi impressed me so much as a LMS server.
                  Home: Pi4B-8GB/pCP8.2.x/4TB>LMS 8.5.x>Transporter, Touch, Boom, Radio (all ethernet)
                  Cottage: rPi4B-4GB/pCP8.2.x/4TB>LMS 8.5.x>Touch>Benchmark DAC I, Boom, Radio w/Battery (Radio WIFI)
                  Office: Win11(64)>foobar2000
                  The Wild: rPi3B+/pCP7.x/4TB>LMS 8.1.x>hifiberry Dac+Pro (LMS & Squeezelite)
                  Controllers: Material Skin, iPhone14Pro & iPadAir5 (iPeng), or CONTROLLER
                  Files: Ripping: dBpoweramp > FLAC; Post-rip: mp3tag, PerfectTunes, TuneFusion; Streaming: Spotify

                  Comment

                  • drmatt
                    Senior Member
                    • Apr 2013
                    • 1323

                    #10
                    The only time I've heard of people having performance issues with Pi's running lms was back in the days of Pi v1 and when using crazy long playlists. And then it's really about memory consumption I think.

                    On the other hand I've heard plenty of people complain about the performance of lms on low end NAS platforms.

                    Transcoded from Matt's brain by Tapatalk
                    --
                    Hardware: 3x Touch, 1x Radio, 2x Receivers, 1 HP Microserver NAS with Debian+LMS 7.9.0
                    Music: ~1300 CDs, as 450 GB of 16/44k FLACs. No less than 3x 24/44k albums..

                    Comment

                    • drmatt
                      Senior Member
                      • Apr 2013
                      • 1323

                      #11
                      Originally posted by ho_kuku
                      Been streaming from my Synology NAS for years. Got the Odroid N2 orginally for retro gaming purpose - but I was damn free and bored one day.

                      Installed dietpi on the N2 and run LMS. Pointed LMS to the music library on my existing NAS.

                      It was 1) fast and 2) sq was so much better when streaming from the N2. So much that I beat myself in the head a few times to make sure that I am not imagining. Smooth and quiet - harshness gone - darker background. I had linear power supply powering both the NAS and Odroid.

                      I concluded that streaming from a NAS for convenience sake is ok. If you are going for SQ - I suggest running a dedicated machine just for music. I easily get a 20-30% bump in sq by moving LMS from the NAS to Odroid. To top it up - this Odroid N2 is many times more powerful than the pi- used very little power.

                      I suggest to also use a linear power supply and better network cables if possible.

                      The Odroid has side stepped most (if not all) problems that plagued RPi. Mostly importantly - its snappy.
                      Fwiw Rpi4 uses the same CPU cores as the odroid n2. I'll make no comments on the sound quality, it being provably identical between the two products and entirely dependent on the quality of your DAC not the streamer source, unless your original source was transcoding your files!

                      One thing I do like about the odroid is the chance to buy emmc storage for it, this will solve the remaining RPI major weakness: sdcard.. but it's nearly three times the price of the pi so you get what you pay for I guess.

                      For me the killer reason to use a RPI is that distributions like picoreplayer exist.. someone else has done the hard work of producing a reliable flexible dead-easy-to-deploy full blown lms-in-a-box solution.

                      Transcoded from Matt's brain by Tapatalk
                      Last edited by drmatt; 2019-07-26, 20:04.
                      --
                      Hardware: 3x Touch, 1x Radio, 2x Receivers, 1 HP Microserver NAS with Debian+LMS 7.9.0
                      Music: ~1300 CDs, as 450 GB of 16/44k FLACs. No less than 3x 24/44k albums..

                      Comment

                      • Craig
                        Senior Member
                        • Apr 2005
                        • 867

                        #12
                        OK so it looks like Pi4's are available in 1,2 or 4G memory configs,
                        If I bought one of these then I need to put LMS and PiCorePlayer on it but do I need an OS too? the one I was looking at offers NOOBS on a card for £8.

                        I'd just have a play around with storage that I already have until I'm ready to go with it.

                        Does that sound like a good plan?

                        Craig
                        MC2Slim - Windows Shell and J River Media Center Integration for Squeezebox.

                        http://www.duff-zapp.co.uk

                        Comment

                        • kidstypike
                          Senior Member
                          • Feb 2007
                          • 6444

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Craig
                          OK so it looks like Pi4's are available in 1,2 or 4G memory configs,
                          If I bought one of these then I need to put LMS and PiCorePlayer on it but do I need an OS too? the one I was looking at offers NOOBS on a card for £8.

                          I'd just have a play around with storage that I already have until I'm ready to go with it.

                          Does that sound like a good plan?

                          Craig
                          piCorePlayer IS the operating system, you don't need NOOBS.
                          Pi5 .. pCP 9beta5 .. LMS 8.4 -- nomysqueezebox
                          Study - Pi2B .. S.M.S.L SU-1 .. Q Acoustics M20
                          Snug/TV .. DAC32 .. Audio Engine B2
                          Spares - 1xSBTouch, 1xSB3, 4xRPi, AVI DM5 speakers

                          Comment

                          • Craig
                            Senior Member
                            • Apr 2005
                            • 867

                            #14
                            Originally posted by kidstypike
                            piCorePlayer IS the operating system, you don't need NOOBS.
                            Ok thanks, what memory spec would be best? and will I be able to share the storage on the network so I can do my ripping from my main pc?

                            Craig
                            MC2Slim - Windows Shell and J River Media Center Integration for Squeezebox.

                            http://www.duff-zapp.co.uk

                            Comment

                            • kidstypike
                              Senior Member
                              • Feb 2007
                              • 6444

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Craig
                              Ok thanks, what memory spec would be best? and will I be able to share the storage on the network so I can do my ripping from my main pc?

                              Craig
                              I purchased the 4GB version, but I don't know how much better/quicker it is over the 2GB version. Something to take into account is the new Pi4's run hot, if you intend to put it in a case, it would benefit from some sort of cooling.

                              A Pi3B+ is actually quite good enough with a medium sized library, (say 50K tracks), well tried and tested, more choice of cases etc.. No USB3 though.

                              Yes, you can rip on your PC, and transfer the music files to the HDD/SSD attached to the Pi using Windows Explorer or similar. You need to install and configure SAMBA on the Pi, dead simple, everything is done in a web browser on your PC.

                              Always plenty of help here.
                              Pi5 .. pCP 9beta5 .. LMS 8.4 -- nomysqueezebox
                              Study - Pi2B .. S.M.S.L SU-1 .. Q Acoustics M20
                              Snug/TV .. DAC32 .. Audio Engine B2
                              Spares - 1xSBTouch, 1xSB3, 4xRPi, AVI DM5 speakers

                              Comment

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