Very much depends on the size of your library and whether you want to have RoonServer run on the same device your library is stored on. I went that route using a mini-itx. An i7 with 8GB ram and database on a suitably sized SSD will make for a great server. Tunes can live on a regular hdd in the same setup. If you don’t get a RoonReady endpoint/DAC you can use a Wandboard or Celeron based Intel NUC as a RoonBridge. There’s a howto re installing Arch Linux in the Linux subforum. Makes a great set and forget OS for both RoonServer and RoonBridge.
I have less than 5K albums stored on a NAS. I’d need a 2TB SSD for all the music, so will keep it on a NAS for now until those prices go down. Have a BeagleBone Black with RoonBridge as my endpoint. Not familiar with Arch Linux. Tell me more.
Use the NAS as a backup, throw a 2TB drive into the same box you run RoonServer on. I like Arch because it’s bloat free, robust and very snappy iro performance. Perfect for server and headless duty.
Although I’m sure this will be lost in the noise, I’d recommend a “fit-Headless 4k” HDMI adapter for any headless computer. It activates the video card in situations where (I’m told) the video card may not otherwise be operational, and more importantly, it makes rendering UI in virtual environments possible. I’ve often noticed that when I remote desktop into my headless Windows 10 computer, Roon UI will not show up if I have forgotten to keep the fit-Headless HDMI adapter plugged in (it is tiny and doesn’t need any power, I just sometimes forget to plug it back in after I’ve moved things around). It also gives you other resolutions available for your remote desktop software. I don’t own stock in the company or anything, but I’m a huge fan: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/fit-headless-4k/
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Yeah. I haven’t done a BYO in so long I wouldn’t know where to begin. Would love to get some ideas.
I really like NUCs. You need to plug in your own RAM + storage, but that’s it. Very few choices to make. The models with 2.5" drive support can take an M.2 SSD + a 2.5" Spinning drive, to solve your media problem.
I set up a RoonServer for my parents a few weeks ago, this was the configuration (US Amazon links, sorry):
That could easily be a 64gb SSD + an i3 NUC to save some $$…but I like overkill.
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What did you do for an OS?
Ubuntu Server 15.10. Mounted the big drive at /mnt/media, set up as a watch folder, and then configured samba to expose it as a share on their network so they can drop music in.
What if we have single disk (like 1TB SSD) for storage and Boot? Instead of one for Boot and other for music storage?. is there any performance advantage of having different SSD & HDD/SSD ? Can we have one single SSD for both the operations?.
Assume HDD Vs SSD (cost vs performance is understood)
And yes i too want to know -> [quote=“fritzg, post:128, topic:90, full:true”] What did you do for an OS? [/quote]
What if we have single disk (like 1TB SSD) for storage and Boot?
Nothing wrong with single disk at all, so long as it is an SSD!
HDD+SSD the way is just for cost savings. If money were no object, a big SSD is great.
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I use a BRIX i7-4500 with 8G RAM for Core with a 120Gb mSATA SSD drive for the OS and a 1Tb SATA SSD for music. The i7 helps run HQPlayer and could easily be an i5 if running RoonServer alone.
The mSATA SSD is partitioned for Windows Server 2012r2 (AO tweaked) in Minimal Server and Debian with a minimal net install. I have heard of people also installing OS X enabling a triple boot configuration ( I might look at doing that one very rainy week).
The BRIX has given me zero issues. It’s fan starts when HQP gets very demanding, but with RoonServer alone it only starts after I dump ten or more albums on the SSD and stops after it digests them.
I currently have a 2014 mac mini core i3 1.4Ghz with a HDD. It is not super snappy but not horrible. I’ll probably stick with it for a while longer unless something changes. Just don’t have the bandwidth to learn Ubuntu set up at this time.
Sounds like a nice setup. Seems like this would be quiet enough if one had a big enough SSD to serve as the endpoint as well.
It could serve as an endpoint, however, NUCs have fans and under heavy CPU utilisation they kick in, so that may be audible in your listening space. I’ve used a combination of Wandboards and entry level Intel NUCs as endpoints…given paltry CPU utilisation by the OS and RoonBridge the fans never kick in.
I’m not disputing what Evan says–but I will note that I’ve been using a NUC for a few weeks now and didn’t even know it had a fan. I tend to keep the volume fairly low.
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Thanks for that. Just what I was looking for 
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This is sounding a lot more intriguing to me. But I would really benefit from a blow-by-blow install guide for Ubuntu Server from scratch that is optimized for Roon and making the HD share available on my network. Been so long since I did his as an experiment on a mac mini and I know the options are endless.
Any takers? 
Thanks in advance.
Faster than Ubuntu…
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You posted this before. While helpful to many I am sure. I am looking for something with a bit (read a lot) less command line work.
Then the simplest answer is to download the Ubuntu Server 64 bit ISO image, write it to a flash drive, boot the target machine from it and follow the installation prompts.
Installing a server OS inevitably entails working in a terminal window…the Ubuntu install script will leave you with a functional OS, but for e.g. it’s not going to leave you with a working SAMBA server in order to share your files across the network with a Windows PC, nor is it going to mount your music folders on a NAS etc. You’ll pretty much have to get your hands dirty at some point. Only way I know to mostly circumvent that is to install Webmin on top of the server and to then use a Web UI to configure the server.
@fritzg if you’re really not into the command line, I’d honestly stick with a Mac and OSX. There’s a reason Linux will never be commonplace in the home environment (outside of a Mac) and that’s because it’s an absolute PITA for the average user and is an absolute mess. I often work in a cross-platform environment and Linux only ever works well with an experienced coder/sysadmin type person dealing with all the nonsense that comes with it. It’s great for coders and people really into IT, but I don’t see any place for it at home unless there’s a specific thing you need to do that you can’t do on Windows or a Mac. Personally I hate Windows so never touch it, but even the limited Mac hardware doesn’t force me into Linux without serious thought. Life’s too short - home life especially!
Ok a Pi for a set and forget endpoint or something, but a home server? Not on your life.
One mans opinion of course.