[Gingobilly]

Hi all,

First, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Nico, 25 years old and new on this message board. There, that's out of the way

I've created this account because I have a few questions about upgrading my home entertainment system. At this moment, I've got one XBMC device, which is the Raspberry PI, installed on my living room television.

I would like to take it a bit further and move my Raspberry PI to my bedroom, so I'll need a new XBMC device for my living room TV. Now, if I want to do so, I'm also going to install XBMC on my desktop pc. I would like to use the same library on all 3 devices, so I would like to install a MySQL server on the new device I'm going to buy. So it needs to be able to do so.

So my question is: which device is powerful enough and stable enough to use as both media center and MySQL server? I've already heard it needs to be powered on 24/7, so that's why I won't use my desktop pc as a MySQL server (because if I do, I would cry while paying my electrical bill). I also think the Raspberry Pi is a bit too slow for hosting a MySQL server, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Needless to say in this economical situation, money is an issue. But don't let that stop you in your advice, If there are several options, I'll make my decision depending on the price tag.

It would be awesome if you guys could help me out with this

Kind regards,
Nico

[t4_ravenbird]

It is not entirely true that MySQL needs to be on 24/7. If you enable Wake on Access on your KODI clients it can bring up your sleeping MySQL server when needed if it is able to wake as result of a Wake on LAN message.

Also, IMO r-pi is a good enough option to use as a 24/7-server ; that is how I have my setup, and I dont feel it is too slow.

[Prof Yaffle]

Where is your media stored? Is it centralised so it's accessible everywhere? In which case, don't you already have the 24x7/WoL issue - so it's not a mysql issue in itself, it's a low-power, fast-to-respond, on-when-I-need-it issue. You could thus look into whether a Pi could act for both (discs will take a couple of watts at idle up to high-single-digit when spinning, IIRC, plus the Pi itself) or look towards proprietary NASes (though purchase price might make you swallow hard if you're on a budget).

[Gingobilly]

Well, my media is accessible from both my computers, because it's on a standard 2TB USB hard disk connected to my RPi. It's not a NAS though. I do have a WD MyBook Live too which I'm using to back-up all my important files(none of my media is stored there, though). I guess if you guys could help me on how to do it, I might use that to store the MySQL library?

If so, I can just buy a second RPi for the bedroom, because I don't think it's too slow for normal use. I just thought it would be too slow to use as both media server and MySQL server.

Am I right or completely wrong on this one?

[teki4u]

If you use the Rpi for mySQL task then you'll have to plug your 2TB hdd in it and if you access the database from other device then you'll need to use ethernet jack. Don't the Rpi's usb port and ethernet share bandwidth? that will create a bottleneck and things will feel noticeable slower while browsing your media with all the ArtWorks.

A chromebox (HP's ones are cheaper) with a full OS loaded like Ubuntu server (light weight compared to full Ubuntu OS and is ideal for server tasks) is my recommendation for a low budget. No wake from sleep though if you install coreboot firmware BUT you can leave it on 24/7 no problem because power consumption is a joke. With it's 16gb SSD will be enough for the artwork and it will load them faster.