Hey!
I've decided that it's time to finally get something resembling an actual server for my home setup, and I was hoping you folks could give me some pointers (given the current prices).
My current set up is just my old laptop with 2 external hard drives plugged in - one is the regular portal USB HDD, another is 3.5 HDD plugged via powered enclosure (ZFS and LUKS on both). I want to switch that for something relatively small, but extendable, as I want to add more disk space in the future. I'm selfhosting Plex, Immich and Navidrome, and occasionally some multiplayer games like Valheim. I'm not planning to use Proxmox or TrueNAS/whatever, I mostly just plan to throw Debian on it and spin everything in Docker.
I looked through some guides on https://selfhosting.sh/ and on Reddit, but that just got me more confused, as everyone keeps suggesting Optiplexes and NUCs, but I don't get how to combine that with 20TB+ disk space while ensuring the disks are secure and well powered. Plus my understanding is most of those mini-PC's/refurbished workstations use regular DDR3/4, whereas I was hoping to get ECC.
Should I go DIY route, or is there something I could get as a solid enough base to expand in the future? If DIY is the answer - what mobo/cpu/case should I get? My ideal budget (for everything excluding hard drives and maybe PSU since I have one lying around) is ~500 euros, but if paying a bit more would mean a substantially better deal - then I'd be OK with that. I'm in Berlin, so if you know any good local markets - that'd be great too.
Thanks!
I can see you getting confused, seems to me you want 2 separate servers: a storage box and a services box. The services box would be doable for 500 euros - although ECC might throw a wrench in the works there. For a storage box, 500 euros won't even buy the HDDs needed.
That's exactly what I want to avoid though. I see no reason to power and network 2 different small boxes when just one slightly bigger one will do. And as mentioned - 500 is without HDDs, I plan to use the ones I have for now and extend it later.
Oh if you will keep using the external drives, then you have options. ECC will cost you though, some 300 euros extra as far as I can tell after a quick search. And then all the other internals would end you well above the 500 mark.
If using the external USBs, I'd just drop the ECC requirement and get a NUC.
Old DDR3 ECC is actually cheaper than regular DDR3 RAM, and it generally works with AMD CPUs (who unlike Intel don't artificially restrict ECC support to their enterprise offerings).
But tbh, ECC is generally not needed and I wouldn't bother designing a system around it. Use a file system with checksums and regularly scrub the drives and you should not have any major issues with random bit flips that ECC protects against.