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
- Host some applications like TinyTinyRSS, Jellyfin, GitLab, and Nextcloud which I’d want to be accessible in my home network
- Use the computer as a NAS to back data up and have it easily accessible on my desktop and laptop
- Have a piHole
Optional
- Access my hosted applications from outside of my network
- Use tools like Radarr to automatically download things from torrent lists
- 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!
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I usually recommend beginners to start with a consumer plastic router and a regular PC as server.
A consumer router with 16 MB of flash and 128 MB of RAM running OpenWRT will be able to do pretty much everything you need from a router including port forwarding, DNS, DDNS, adblocking (like pihole), traffic shaping etc. They can usually be found super cheap and with even better specs (flash and RAM).
A regular PC will use off the shelf components that are cheap to buy used and easy to replace. It also lets you use regular 3.5" hdds as well as 2.5" hdds, ssds, nvmes and anything in between, and it doesn’t use USB for that, which is unreliable and prone to a million issues.
Again you don’t need super specs for the PC either, the smallest NVME you can find for the system drive and 8 GB of RAM plus a gen 6 Intel CPU will get you started and you can probably get this used for $50.
Use the PC for storage (NAS) and for hosting services, the router for network management, DNS and adblocking. If you know any Linux use it. If you don’t, install a ready-made tool and use that.
Buying USB enclosures and mini-pcs limits your options and ties you to cramped, unreliable and proprietary hardware.
