Hi, I wanted to start selfhosting and I’d like to have your opinion on something that I’m struggling to decide.

I don’t plan to tinker too much with my system, I’ve been a Linux tinkerer myself some time ago but now I’d like to setup something that’s really bulletproof and then leave it running (ofc I know I’ll have to do a bit of bugfixing now and then), not replacing hardware ideally for >= 10 years.

This is why I’m planning to use TrueNAS, and that’s why I’m planning to buy a UGREEN DXP2800: has two 3,5" HDD bays (4TB should be enough for me for the next 8-10 years, so I’ll have two 4TB disks in RAID1 or mirror or whatever is recommended). Only problem I have with this machine is that it only has 1 RAM slot, and I guess 8 GB isn’t enough if I use zfs. So I’ll have to upgrade to either 16 or 32 GB. Now I did my research and from my understanding 16GB seems to be enough, but it would be such a waste having to replace the whole RAM if it turns out it isn’t enough.

For reference, I don’t plan on having more than 7-8 services running: Immich, Nextcloud+office, firefly, audiobookshelf, paperless and a maybe few more if they’re useful. I value responsiveness but it’s ok if some things take longer to process (thinking immich ML, or stuff like transcoding)

I’m very interested to know your opinion:

  • is the dxp2800 a good choice?
  • should I go with 16 or 32 GB RAM?

And a little extra

  • how much ssd space do you recommend for high speed data? is 500gb enough?

Thank you so much!

  • cRazi_man@europe.pubEnglish
    3·
    2 hours ago

    I don’t plan on having more than 7-8 services running: Immich, Nextcloud+office, firefly, audiobookshelf, paperless and a maybe few more if they’re useful.

    This will change when you get confidence and start realising how much good stuff is out there.

    I’m a noob with this stuff who has recently self learned some of this and got a decent server setup running. Feel free to DM if you want detail about my beginner resources, how, what and any other questions.

    I started with a Synology NAS. I don’t know about your specific NAS, but NAS hardware can be underpowered and quickly becomr too underpowered for the stuff you want to deploy.

    People online recommended a mini PC for and keeping the NAS as just a NAS. I thought I better double check what’s suitable for my needs…R.Pi, DIY build server computer, NUC , Unraid, TrueNAS, HexOS, etc.

    So I put in loads of work to come round to realising the initial recommendations was correct. I’ve kept my Synology for only NAS and use a dedicated mini PC. I’ve put Debian on it as my server OS. No RAID configurations, but critical data is backed up across 2 to 3 different devices and media.

    Super happy (and quite proud) of my setup. It is slowly expanding.

    I would recommend taking it slow, document steps you take (because you will fuck up and need to redo things), backup all important data and keep it completely detached from the devices you’re tinkering with, find suitable and appropriate beginner guides. Don’t go underpowered, and don’t get caught up with very advanced user setups with huge overkill.

    It really has been a lot of fun. Welcome inside the rabbit hole.

    • bordam@feddit.itOPEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      Thank you, really! Congrats for your setup, seems awesome! Yeah, splitting the computing and the storing parts is an interesting option I may not have considered enough. What I don’t like about mini PCs (if you mean refurbished) is that they’re tipically from 2015-2018 so I’m afraid a part will break in <4 years. New mini pcs are an interesting option though.

      I started with a Synology NAS. I don’t know about your specific NAS, but NAS hardware can be underpowered

      Yeah I noticed that too, but the ugreen has great specs from my understanding. N100 cpu seems to be enough for Immich (so I guess for pretty much anything that doesn’t imply heavy AI usage), and it ships with 8GB of RAM so not so little to begin with.

      I was tending towards this system because it would serve as both a server and a NAS, while if I had to buy both a nas and a mini pc I’d have to spend like 100-150 for a mini pc with enough computing power and at least 200 for the nas, so we’re still in the same range, but the power consumption and practicality of such system looks a bit worse. Also, I’m afraid having data in a network device can bottleneck performance.

      DMed for the beginner resources! Thanks! :)

      • cRazi_man@europe.pubEnglish
        1·
        1 hour ago

        If you’re getting a mini PC then your NAS can be older and really underpowered since it’s literally just housing your HDDs and not running compute heavy tasks.

        You might need a bit more horsepower if you want to use Immich AI and PaperlessNGX AI.

        eBay has been great and secondhand tech is worth taking the (small) risk on for the big savings. Get an old NAS that still gets firmware updates. Synology has worked great for me since it handles reverse proxy safely without me trying to learn that myself and doing a bad job to leave my server exposed and vulnerable. Get a mini PC suitable for your needs. I got a 12th gen Intel one earlier this year for £230, many companies dump “old” stock that’s perfectly functional. Look out for which CPU has a good enough iGPU for your needs if you need something like Jellyfin video transcoding.