Home Server Build

Linux Discussion Hardware
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Hello All,

I am finally ready to build a real deal “home” server. I have been doing some research and what I have found is there are a thousand and one ways to do this :expressionless:. I have read some articles that say do this, and some that say do that, however I would love to get input from my linux family.

Listed below you will find what I hope to accomplish with this setup, along with some questions that I would love feedback on. I am very aware that my idea of a solution may not be the “best” way or even practical. What I do know is that we have such a treasure trove of knowledge, and better yet, wisdom in this community from various backgrounds and experiences that I fully expect a few “your overthinking it’s” or “this would be simpler if”, and that is welcomed feedback.

I enjoy building building PC’s, I have built well into 100’s of desktop pc’s over the years for my company, my family and friends. That is another reason why I am not just looking to buy an off the shelf setup, I like to tinker. However, in doing so I humbly acknowledge that the “server” space is a different animal.

I am using this as a learning experience as well, so if you feel a certain direction is better or worse, I would enjoy understanding why you feel this way. If you have a build you are using and happy with that you think fits my needs, please share it.

Thank you in advance for your input and I hope to have a really nice system when all said and done.

Home Server Use Goals

  • NAS and NVR Storage -

  • Backups - using Syncthing and Carbonite to backup wife’s photoshop and lightroom catalog’s

  • Plex Media Server - am also considering switching to KODI as Plex looks like it’s moving in a direction Im not sure I want to go long term.

  • Shinobi - Home Video Surveillance

  • DNS and possibly DHCP server to filter content for my family, ie Pi-Hole.

  • Minecraft Server

  • Server Playground - I would like to be able to play with containers and VM’s as I learn more and more, so it would be nice to have a playground, possibly a separate local VM that I can setup and trash as I want.

Hardware Goals/Questions

  • Intel vs. Ryzen - Would like to do a Ryzen setup, however I read that they don’t utilize ECC Ram well, which I thought was kind of a “server” staple. :man_shrugging:

  • Do I need ECC Ram?

  • Is a Xeon or Thread Ripper way overkill for this? Should I be looking at lesser Intel/AMD and ditch the ECC?

  • Minimum 10tb storage - usable, so in Raid 1 I would need 20TB right?

  • Redundancy for my wife’s photography. So Raid 1? Raid 5? Can I have multiple setups in a system, so lets say Raid 1 for photography, but a Raid 0 for media?

  • Size and Power Requirements are not that big of a deal, however I do not want some ancient mini-fridge size chassis that sounds like a plane taking off if possible.

There is my list. So please share your feedback, thoughts, and suggestions.

Thank You

1 Like
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I would love to hear how this ends! More specifically what you do software-wise for all of this!!! I’m in the process of moving offices around my home, and when it’s done, re-loading my FreeNAS miniXL.

My one suggestion is, if you are looking at 10TB of ‘active’ storage, buy a WD 10TB External Drive

Will work great as a backup for your solution - it’s what I’m using!

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Just a note, syncthing is not a backup, it’s a sync. Removing something on the client won’t leave a copy on the server, as it will sync the change.

I use borg for backups, running every hour after the initial backup was completed.

Raid is also not a backup solution, as it will just make it so you can replace a bad disk before you lose data.

If you have a few bucks a month (really doesn’t cost much) tarsnap is a good off sight backup solution, that I use for my servers. I send backups to my main server, and then backup the backups using tarsnap.

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Thank You for the note, I mis-worded it. I have syncthing running to pull her data from her MBP to her Mac Mini (which would be replaced by the server hopefully) and then Carbonite currently to make a cloud backup.