I’m having trouble finding a proper starting point for self hosting, so I am curious on any resources you’d recommend, or even some build lists / pre-built devices.

What I want to do:

Important

  1. Host some applications like TinyTinyRSS, Jellyfin, GitLab, and Nextcloud which I’d want to be accessible in my home network
  2. Use the computer as a NAS to back data up and have it easily accessible on my desktop and laptop
  3. Have a piHole

Optional

  1. Access my hosted applications from outside of my network
  2. Use tools like Radarr to automatically download things from torrent lists
  3. Use it as a seedbox

The reason the last three are optional is because for that I’d have to expose the computer to the outside network, which has a whole bunch of benefits, but also a whole bunch of risks I am likely neither capable of nor comfortable with working around, so unless there’s an easy fix (number 3 might be able to be handled via a VPN?) they’re a problem for future me. For anything further I think I can just go from here once those requirements develop

I have already skimmed through some articles, watched some build guides for both NAS and home servers and honestly I just don’t know what I need, both in information, hardware, and software.

  • Should I separate the NAS and Home Server, get a separate device for the piHole, or just have all three in one?
  • What hardware would be suitable for this?
  • Should I buy something off the shelf like a mini PC (for instance an Intel NUC) or one of these fancy prebuilt NAS devices where you just need to plug in some drives or build my own?
  • Would it be smarter to go with a Linux distro as the OS, for instance Debian, or should I use something like Unraid or TrueNAS which from what I can gather make setup more convenient and even handle docker images for you?

I am somewhat comfortable with Linux and the command line and have a budget of about 1000€, but if I can get away with less that would be great, and I can also stretch higher if needed for my requirements. I am also very new to self hosting and my networking knowledge is not non-existent, but limited.

I’m just a bit lost and would love some beginner-oriented resources or direct advice, thank you!

  • acockworkorangeEnglish
    3·
    5 months ago

    I am just starting so take this not as a recommendation but as an option. I am familiar with Linux but do not work in IT.

    I got myself a used desktop as a starting point. It can handle 2x 3.5” drives, one 2.5”, plus an NVMe. You could buy an adaptor and change the DVD drive for another 2.5” caddy, but more on that later. It came with 8GB of RAM, but it can handle 64. I spent something like $250 including cables, bolts, caddies, but not drives.

    If you watched the video, you’ll notice the CPU has video transcoding acceleration and encryption acceleration too. It comes out ahead of modern N100 CPUs being widely used for home NAS these days, and draws a minuscule amount of power while idle. Indeed, most of the idle power draw for my machine comes from the drives.

    So pros:

    • can host a decent amount of services
    • upgradable (PCIe slots and up to 4* spindles)
    • the fourth needs you to convert the DVD to a caddy, but then you need to get an expansion card to add another SATA port, but will allow you to go RAID 10 or z2/6.
    • small and mostly silent, low power draw
    • 2x M.2 slots, one for NVMe and the other for an expansion card (like a Coral TPU or Wi-Fi)
    • cheap

    Cons:

    • 3x onboard SATA ports, 3x drive bays means you’re rather stuck with RAID z1/5
    • lower reliability from a used unit
    • 1x 1 Gb Ethernet port onboard only

    For software, I’m using TrueNAS scale. It’s easy to install and configure, there’s good documentation and a support forum, can run docker containers and VMs. Lots of administration quality of life tools built in that you don’t need to build. Plus it’s Linux and I can tinker with it if the need arises.

    To get to what you want, you could install an M.2 A+E to SATA adaptor and a slim DVD to 2.5” caddy to come up to 4 drives, add memory, a multiport multigigabit NIC, an NVMe and 4 drives and you’d be set. VMs for your firewall, VPN, pihole, dockers for the rest.