Hello, I’ve been saying it to myself for a year now, but I’m on summer break rn and I really need to do something with my life. Here’s some of the software I plan to host. Goal is to not spend more than $150-200, I do have some gift cards though.

Absolutely Will Run:

Nextcloud & Immich - I want to replace Google and OneDrive

Might do in the near future:

Jellyfin - my mom and I usually just bootleg by using Kodi on our FireTV, so not a major need rn, but might be nice for future purposes.

piHole - better overall ad blocking, so I don’t have to use nextDNS on all my devices, and maybe help my mom out.

VPN - I currently pay for Proton, and we use it on the FireTV, the TV app sucks cause it doesn’t have killswitch (PC and mobile have Killswitch). I have several devices and profiles that I use, so I was thinking maybe just an overall VPN might be nice

Seeding - I think it would be nice to give back to the community, since I torrent every now and then.

OS Plan: I plan to use Proxmox as I have a little bit of experience using it, and others seem to like it a lot for managing multiple software.

I know I don’t need to go full power mode rn, so I wanna stick with something low end that I could maybe upgrade in the future. Should I just buy a used laptop/PC, or get like an Optiplex or ThinkServer? I don’t wanna rack up my parent’s electric bill. I already got some hard drives a year ago, so but is using an external drive bad?

I know to use the Ethernet ports so my signal isn’t shit, but I gotta work out the best spot I can put my server. I do know an okay amount of networking knowledge, and I’m a cyber student anyway so this is like a fun yet educational personal project for me.

When it comes to external access and security of these services, should I stick with Tailscale? Some people have concerns over the proprietary bits and are using headscale instead I guess.

Any guidance is much appreciated!

  • Father_Redbeard@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    9 hours ago

    I’m still a beginner myself, but from my experience I’d say skip Nextcloud at least to start with. I found even the AIO version confusing to set up. Hell, I still do. I have the NextcloudPi image running on a Pi4 but am actively looking for a replacement because it runs like crap on that hardware and I don’t need all of the features it offers/tries to cram into one service.

    I’m leaning towards FileRun. Yeah, you have to pay for it once. But so far it seems to be the best alternative that doesn’t try to do too much. And yes, I tried Owncloud Infinite Scale, before everyone jumps on me :)