First Nas build

I initially wanted to build a VMIX streaming box for field events but ended up exploring Linux a bit more.

After nearly 13 months of accumulating components I finally built it.

I'm running an AMD Ryzen 5 5500 processor paired with an RTX 3050 and 32GB of DDR4 memory. Initially, I considered installing TrueNAS, but I was more familiar with Linux at the time. Additionally, there seemed to be more support online for beginners like me – tutorials, examples, and documentation – so I chose Proxmox instead.

Opting for a hypervisor turned out to be quite fascinating, as it allowed me to run various environments. Currently, I have three intriguing use cases:

1. Simple NAS:
   I've set up a Debian container where I mounted a ZFS share from an 8TB SSD RAID 0 array. I installed a 10GbE card connected directly to my Mac's 10GbE port. This setup enables me to nearly saturate the connection, allowing me to edit CinemaDNG and BRAW footage directly from the NAS to my Resolve timeline.

2. Blender VM
   After numerous tutorials and the usual frustrating prompting from Chatgpiddy, I finally passed through my GPU to a Debian VM running the GNOME desktop environment. I installed OBS and Blender, ensuring the use of NVENC and CUDA by installing NVIDIA proprietary drivers. I'm hoping this will be the year I delve into Blender, experimenting with VFX and digital set extensions. As well as really exploring OBS as a complement to my VMIX experience.

3. AudioGridder Server
   When experimenting with Reaper and audio plugins on my Mac, I quickly ran out of space. My solution was to run an AudioGridder server on a Windows VM. This server hosts the plugins and serves them to my Mac via the AudioGridder plugin. While some plugins, like Scaler, don't work (or I haven't figured them out yet), most run smoothly.

In all, I'm happy with how I've structured my workflow so that my Mac Mini serves as my client computer, while my AMD build complements it not only through enhanced storage capabilities but also by offloading some computational tasks, particularly by leveraging the GPU. I'm looking forward to exploring my KASM Workspaces VM, which will enable me to run isolated applications like GIMP and Inkscape through the browser on my Mac

My current pc case is too small to install beefy HDD drives, despite my motherboard supporting them. Therefore, in the future, I'll be looking to possibly experiment with TrueNAS CORE on another budget-friendly build. I plan to connect this over the network to create a slow, perhaps somewhat noisy, but reliable backup server.

Embarrassingly, the thing I'm probably most proud of is achieving RGB fan control despite Proxmox's limitations, as iCUE doesn't support Linux. Additionally, I'm pleased with how I've utilized my LCD screen to display various statistics using Grafana and InfluxDB. This setup requires a significant amount of resources, including a Debian container running Grafana and InfluxDB, an Arch VM with the DWM window manager to run the Firefox browser (which displays the stats), and a 1x PCIe NVIDIA card- passed through the VM, that connects to the screen.

Definitely the 'bloat king', but hey, the lights and the little stats make me happy. Besides, all of this is very much about getting some work done, learning, and having fun.

And breaking things! Imdefinetly runnig some stuff i dont fully understand, but when they break or in the process of mainting them or tinkering with them, im elarning more about them.

Links to the tutorials that have helped me: