Help choosing home server OS - W10 / W7 / WS2K16 Hyper V

[Compman55]

Need your opinions on the best HOST OS. I do not want linux as the host!

Duties: RAID 1 file share, plex server, ubiquiti NVR software, and the unifi controller host.

Option 1: Windows 7 Pro x64
Install plex, the unify controller, and the nvr software straight to one instance of windows.

Option 2: Windows 10 Pro x64
A. Use the host OS for the file share.
B. Use hyper V to install ubuntu in a VM and install the unifi / NVR software
C. Use hyper V to install ubuntu in a VM and install plex.

Option 3: Windows Hyper V Server 2016
Setup exactly like option 2. But will I loose transcoding power in plex?

I am liking Hyper V server 2016 but the command line is really a pain, and I beleive the transcoding is suffering when in a VM vs on the HOST.

Help me choose please!

 

[Compman55]

anyone?

 

[XavierMace]

Not seeing how/why transcoding would suffer running on a VM rather than bare metal unless your host is over utilized. My Plex server is a VM and has no issues transcoding multiple streams at once.

Personal preference, but I'd rather use VMWare than Hyper-V.

 

[Ketchup]

A couple things:
1. Windows 10 seems like the obvious choice. It seems capable of doing everything you want, is simple to use, and should cost considerably less in the long run. You also get hyper v should you choose to go that route.

2. I always cringe a bit when I hear people talk about RAID 1. There are such better options out there for backup and increased performance, the relatively low cost of drive space today makes RAID 5 and 10 much more viable options. And for home use, a single volume with external backup may be a better option still, as the main goal here would be to backup you data, not minimizing downtime, which is what RAID is really for.

What hardware are you using?

 

[PliotronX]

Hyper-V 2016, you only need to dabble with the CLI to get remote connectivity up. Most of what needs to be done is with sconfig and hvremote. However, this would be for pure windows environment because Hyper-V is effing terrible for linux with desktop environments. So laggy and integration services for linux were abandoned a while ago because Microsoft's official stance is that "anyone needing to run linux in Hyper-V is likely going to be using CLI." ESXi is far better for virtualizing linux.

One thing I don't like about windows 10 Hyper-V is the exclusion of integration services installation. This means it is not updated via windows update, you have to rip vmguest.iso from 2012 r2 and even that will be out of date at some point. VMWare Player/Workstation has produced more responsive Windows VMs for me than Hyper-V in 10 but YMMV on that one.

 

[Compman55]

Hardware is a Asus H61 mobo with a G2020 cpu. I have had hard drive failures thoughout my life of all makes, and the raid 1 had really saved me so I can get another drive on order and not wake up one day missing my data.

 

[Ketchup]

Well, I know the first hardware upgrade you will be making, lol. While two cores and no HT can be adequaute for a normal PC, it will get killed running a VM, let alone multiple at one time.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah. While an entry-level 1155 IB rig is ok for puttering around the interwebs, if you have RAM and an SSD, it's no VM server hardware.

 

[sdifox]

Entry level servers or workstations are dirt cheap these days. or ebay an off lease server.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

So are you saying that if you use Windows 10 Hyper-V instead of Server 2016, there are no integration services offered? Never knew about that! I wonder why they did this? do most people not really need it when using a non-server OS? seems kind of strange...

Hyper-V 2016, you only need to dabble with the CLI to get remote connectivity up. Most of what needs to be done is with sconfig and hvremote. However, this would be for pure windows environment because Hyper-V is effing terrible for linux with desktop environments. So laggy and integration services for linux were abandoned a while ago because Microsoft's official stance is that "anyone needing to run linux in Hyper-V is likely going to be using CLI." ESXi is far better for virtualizing linux.

One thing I don't like about windows 10 Hyper-V is the exclusion of integration services installation. This means it is not updated via windows update, you have to rip vmguest.iso from 2012 r2 and even that will be out of date at some point. VMWare Player/Workstation has produced more responsive Windows VMs for me than Hyper-V in 10 but YMMV on that one.

 

[PliotronX]

Integration services are left out of 2016 as well, it has been deprecated by enhanced session mode which only works with windows 8.1+. I did not know about ESM at the time As for why, its obvious they can't wait to EoL 7. Hyper-V is great for running windows, I do like it lots but its starting a downhill trend here.