Hey guys, I am new to the whole home NAS scene. I am trying to setup email reports to for my automated scrub and smart test with all details irrelevant of the results. And I am having trouble finding any support for it which works. I am not receiving anything and tbh ChatGPT is now going around in circles suggesting the same things. I just wanted to know if anyone has a setup like this and if so how did they manage to get it to work. I am on TrueNAS Scale. Thanks for the help.

Hello guys,

I thought for some year about building a home server, but I've never fully embraced the idea because I am not 100% sure I need one.

Currently I have a vast media server on my gaming rig (about 6 TB on SDDs) and I use Plex.

In general this is what I have on my mind:

• To build a small pc (possibly micro atx to save some money compared to mini itx boards). It should be small, but it doesn't have to look amazing (I want to hide it somewhere in the house).
• I should be relatively silent, so I would avoid having 5 120mm fans spinning at 100% all the time.
• I was looking at serverpartdeals and evaluating to buy 3 HDD 14 TB each and to run them in RAID5.
• To buy an used B450-550 board and a relatively old Ryzen APU to run it (3000-5000 series). IDK about ram (8 vs 16), but this is very marginal considering the prices.

My main concerns are:

• Are the specs enough to run it as a media server with hardware encoding? Do I need a network card or am I ok with a decent motherboard?
• I basically use it only for movies/other contents and I will also leverage it as a personal cloud, but I don't see the point to have it running 24/7. Doesn't this defeat the purpose of a home server? When we are at home I guess we'll turn it on only when we need to consume contents or upload data.
• Any idea on which RAID configuration I should go for? That one seemed the most reasonable for my needs.
• I am completely ignorant regarding software for NAS. I've heard about TrueNAS, Unraid, etc but I have no idea what should I install or use. As I've said I expect to just have Plex on it and some application to use it as a personal cloud for pics, personal, data, etc of me and the family (so, like, a remote folder? A shared folder I can have on my windows PC and on my partner's macbook to drag and drop stuff?).
• I want it to be accessible remotely to back up pics from our phones and to stream remotely if I'm abroad or away for a business trip. Also in this case I have 0 idea on how to do it.

I feel a bit stupid because I've built custom rigs for like 15 years and I'm just now realising how ignorant I am regarding server stuff, so every recommendation or suggestion on how to navigate this environment will be very helpful.

Thank you in advance,

I can’t understand those color table for CAT6 lining. How should I connect them with right colors ? “B A A B” -> 🤔

I recently acquired an HP prodesk 600 G5 mini

It currently has 16gb of ram (supports up to 64gb) A 500gb sata 2.5” drive And has 2 m.2 ports

I’m strongly considering using this little pc for home media, like music, movies and retro games.

Is this a good option to use this pc for?

I want to create a home server to host a digital library. Maybe eventually make a website where people can read the stored works.

What recommendations or tips would you give to essentially a newbie to server management? Maybe tips on where to buy storage cheaper, like surplus stores?

I’m severely disabled, so something lower maintenance would be best. I can get help for lifting stuff but not regularly.

I am looking for electricity use as low as I can get in a machine but have enough power to drive this stuff. What would you advise?

I need enough PCIe slots for several PCIe tuner cards (like the TBS-6909X v2) and probably a 10 GbE PCIe module since most of the motherboards I find these days only have crappy 1 or 2.5 GbE built-in.

I intend to put at least 8TB of NV.Me storage in it (probably gonna use a WD SN850X), and a second smaller NV.Me drive just for the operating system. This server will be used only for recording TV from multiple DVB and ATSC sources simultaneously (this task uses very little CPU power). But the many terabytes of recordings that will be generated over the years will of course need to be edited and moved through the local network to my NAS and main desktop on a regular basis so that is where having 10 Gbps network speeds and NV.Me SSDs will come in handy.

I already have the PCIe tuners, a bunch of SSDs, and some PCIe -> NV.Me cards, power supply, case, and a 10 GbE PCIe card so expenses can be cut there. Basically I just need a CPU + motherboard + RAM. So my anticipated budget is less than $1,000.

I'm in the process of setting up my NAS for remote access and I would be keen to get some feedback on the way I'd do this.

Here are my use cases for remote access :

1. share files with clients and family (grandmas etc...), with ease and no setup needed
2. use SMB and Synology Drive PC Client, and access DSM with admin rights

So here's what I'm planning to do :

- For 1, DDNS (with synology.me) + Reverse Proxy (on another port than 443 for security through obscurity) + Strict firewall IP Geoblock + Auto Block.
- For 2, OpenVPN running on NAS

I chose Reverse Proxy over Synology's QuickConnect for

- better latency,
- be able to use IP geoblock
- no data passing through Synology's servers, and no dependency on server failures

Although on that last point, since I'm using a Synology.me domain, isn't the same ?

What are y'all opinions on this securitywise ?

ZFS newbie here, I have a raspberry pi 3b+ that just collects dust and I would like to use it as an onsite backup of my main server. I connected an external 750gb usb 2.0 hdd and installed zfs and created an single drive pool already and it seems to write at about 20-ish megabytes per second over samba which is to be expected and thats about as much bandwidth as I can get from a 3b+ considering the usb 2.0 bottleneck. I have a couple of questions about some things I still have to set up.

1. How much ARC cache should I allocate? From my very basic understanding of zfs i think ARC cache is used only for the most frequently used files and since this is a backup server I wont really be accessing any data on it (well except if I have to recover it) so ARC cache seems kinda pointless so should I just allocate some minimum amount like 64MB of ram or something? Please correct me if Im wrong about this and if this would matter for such use case. Also I suppose during write operations zfs uses ram to cache files normally?

2. Can I use some sort of compression? Again from my basic understanding zfs includes a couple of compression algorithms and it would be useful to save some space, so is this possible and which one should I use or is it just out of the question considering the slow CPU?

3. I should use snapshots to sync the data between servers right? I still havent gotten to figuring out how snapshots work but from little I have read I should be able to create for example a snapshot on my main server every day with crontab and than send the snapshot to the backup server and than delete it on the main server to prevent it from taking up space and than all the data will be backed up on the backup server right? I still havent gotten to figuring out how this works yet so maybe Im completly wrong.

Basically the title. I have a Windows server (😦) and I was wondering if there was any free software that can make an EXACT bootable backup of the boot drive nightly. I have 2 of the exact same SSD as my boot drive and what I want to be the copy, so size won't be an issue of one being bigger then the other.

Edit: I seem to have found something, not sure if it makes a bootable backup, but it still should work for what I need. It is called Macrium Reflect Free. It's no longer available, but you can download it from here: https://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/macrium_reflect_free_edition.html

Hello,

A few months ago I got my first NAS mainly as a Plex sever but I also used it to store other files. I went with the TS-644 so far I’m loving it but I have a couple of questions about raid groups and storage pools.

So I’ve got two 1TB M.2 SSDs in a storage pool and RAID one for main system storage and apps and what not and that’s fine I think? I don’t have any problems there The main issue is I have is when I bought the NAS I bought one 22TB WD RED PRO HDD I put that into a storage pool with 20.45% unallocated storage and have the notification set to 80% full. Then I put it into a single RAID. So currently it says the storage pool capacity is 20.01TB - Allocated 15.91TB - Unallocated 4.09TB And the HDD management - capacity 15.57TB - free size 3.70TB

If there a way to change this I’d like to used a bit more than just 15.91TB of the original storage?

So the question is I’ve just hit the 80% mark and bought a second HDD same brand and size of 22TB. The very first thing I’ve done since putting the new drive in is I’m currently changing the RAID group from single to RAID 1. Which is going to take around 37 hours apparently. Do I then change the storage pool size? If so how do I do that and will I lose my data from the original first drive? Or have a messed up completely?

I’m planning on getting a 3rd Drive in the next couple of months I, not sure if I should keep RAID 1 or should I change it to RAID 5? you can’t go from a single RAID straight to a RAID 5 you have to go from RAID 1 to 5 I believe? So I definitely need to put both on mine into a RAID 1 of I want to eventually you RAID 5?

I’m so sorry if I sound like an idiot I’m learning as I go and definitely going to make mistakes.

Thank you for the help!

Hi everyone,

I'm currently troubleshooting an issue where port 664 is showing as open when I probe it externally, but I can't find any logs on my OPNsense firewall indicating whether the traffic is being allowed or denied. I've checked my firewall rules, and other ports I’ve probed are logged as "denied" in the firewall logs, so I suspect port 664 might be handled differently.

Here’s my setup:

• Thinkcenter Tiny with 1 PCIe NIC and 1 USB to Ethernet adapter.
• Proxmox installed, with OPNsense running as a VM (with PCIe NIC passthrough for WAN).
• LAN is passed through as vmbridge, and Proxmox’s management IP is assigned to the LAN bridge.
• A couple of other services are also running on the server.

Here's what I've tried so far:

1. Checked OPNsense Firewall Logs: I see the logs for denied traffic on other ports, but no log for port 664.
2. Firewall Rules: No explicit rules for port 664, and I’ve ensured logging is enabled for all traffic.
3. Probing the Port: Using external services (e.g., Shildup), port 664 shows as open, but there's no corresponding log on the firewall.
4. Packet Capture on OPNsense: I ran a capture on the relevant interface but couldn't see any packets for port 664 when probing it externally.

Given that other ports are being logged properly, it seems like traffic on port 664 is either bypassing my firewall or potentially being forwarded by my ISP.

I’m wondering if anyone has had a similar experience where an ISP has automatically opened a port, or if there’s something I’m missing in terms of diagnosing this traffic flow on Proxmox and OPNsense. Any insights or suggestions for further troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Sorry if this is the wrong place or a stupid question. I have tried searching myself for guides on how to make a specific site/port on my QNAP NAS accessible via a web page for my family, and doing it semi-securely. Through reading them all I get in the weeds on if I need Cloudflare, NGinx, reverse proxies, which combo of them, all of them, etc. It's kind of confusing. I will get a domain name as I know I need that. I get tripped up on how to make it so when people go to that new domain they are directed to the program running on a specific site/port on the NAS.

I am tech savvy, but this is my first foray into this kind of thing. Is there any guide/s someone found helpful for making 192.XXX.XX.XXX:XXXX on a NAS available via a website? Or any advice? Thank you for any helpful info!

My current system was a work leftover freebie and has been working just fine, but I'd like to move to something more power efficient, if possible.

Current setup:

OS:

- TrueNAS Scale

Hardware:

- Dell Optiplex Intel i7-3770 3.4GHz

- 32GB RAM

- Zigbee USB stick

- Z-Wave USB stick

- Coral TPU PCIe

- 2 500GB SSD

- 2 3TB HDD

Home Assistant running in a VM with the following installed as "Add On's" in Home Assistant

- ESPHome

- Frigate NVR

- Scrypted

- qBittorrent

- Music Assistant

- Mealie

- Whisper/Piper STT and TTS for Home Assistant

I also have media stored on the NAS and watch it regularly from my AppleTV via Infuse - so no Plex instance in my case.

I'm pretty lost when it comes to server style hardware so here are my uses and future plans. Hoping someone could offer their insight.

- I'd like to do some facial recognition and maybe local LLM software.

- I'd like to add some more storage bays, but I'm maxed out at 4 with my current setup

- preferably low power consumption. To me this means getting a power efficient NAS and a SFF PC to run the various services that I'd like to have. I'm unsure if that's less power efficient than just having one machine that is a NAS and does all the various processes as well.

I run a small electrical business and am looking to make a file server. I would like to be able to keep all my important files in 1 place. I have a laptop in my truck and my desktop at my house and it sucks when I need a file from one of them when I am on the other.

I would also like to run my plex server on this machine. With an external hard drive I could keep all the files in 1 place.

I would need to connect to the server from outside my home through a hotspot. What kind of software would be best for this? I used to be into computers a lot more when I was a bit younger. When I was about 18 I used to run a webserver out of my house with FreeBSD and a dual CPU Pentium 133mhz! This was almost 30 years ago. I enjoy using and learning Linux so I would have no issues with putting a server together with that. Just need a starting point on things to research. There are so many options out there and would like to do this 1 time and not again until I would need an upgrade. I do have a few mini pc's laying around. The one I have plex currently running on is a i5-4570T @ 2.9ghz with 8gb of ram. Would this be enough to do what I want?

Thanks for reading and all the help!!

Andy

So my server has been running for years on Celerson j1900 (baytrail) on a ASRocks Q1900-itx , And well it's on legacy support and support for it's transcoding hardware is getting deprecated, and otherwise showing all the signs that I should have upgraded last year.

What is the best Embedded SOC archtectures these days for low power transcoding? And is there a make an model of motherboard that is popular with with the community?

https://preview.redd.it/7gzoxb0tbdge1.png?width=371&format=png&auto=webp&s=dc8f9d950b886a5557582cfc3bac31ee1987f6db

Hello fellow HomeServer enthusiasts.

I am writing this post as memento for myself.

I was happy owner of my first home server for cca 2.5 years. It was TrueNAS Scale (TNS) server with 2 mirrored disk, some app pool and some weird boot pool.

I also purchased Dell Optiplex 7060 with 64G RAM and boot disk + 2.5" SSD. My plan was to slowly migrate docker containers and 2 VMs - HomeAssistant and Ubuntu - from my TNS to new Optiplex running Proxmox. However, i was not patient enough and started with upgrade of my TNS. As i mentioned above, i ve had some weird boot pool option (boot pool on same SSD as AppPool) and this was rejecting the update, as boot pool has not enough space. Despite some advices from Discord, i decided to add mSata disk to my TNS and use Replace boot pool feature. This was success, i was able to upgrade my TNS, but after reboot, my TNS never came back alive again. I ve paniced so much, conect monitor and keybord to server and start troubleshooting. Basically, TNS was still trying to boot from old boot pool instead the new one. (I realized very late, that maybe disconnecting the old SSD with boot and app pool could help).

I have then tried few things and in the final, i decided to manually install TNS Electric eel. This was complete failure, and i was not able to do this. Basically installation failed in the very begining. Luckily, i was able to install Proxmox. Now, i had 2 servers, both with Proxmox installed. I spent then cca 1.5 hour messing with virtualizing TNS and passthrough. I was able to do this and also import DataPool,but VMs and docker containers were gone.

Now, backup part come to play. Despite i am not following 3:2:1 backup rule, my HomeAssistant was backed up to both DataPool of my TNS and also to gDrive, so i was then able to fully restore my HA with all the data, custom dashboard, automations etc. Second thing is Docker. My docker volumes were all on AppPool, which was gone as well. Luckily, my backup strategy to copy all volumes from AppPool to data pool gain me the victory. I am slowly restoring my docker containers, but now i am building Ansible playbooks to have this fully automated. It will took me some more time to be back 100% online, but my main production is up and running.

So really, do the, at least some kind of backups and do things slowly and one by one.

----------------

Fun story to the end: Our government office responsible for knowing who is owning what etc was under cyber attack and their backups were much more sh*tty than mine, so my outtage was much much shorter and only one person was working on get my stuff back online.

Hi,

I will be building a home media server running Linux with Plex and all the usual supporting software. I don't want to use UnRaid since I want the challenge of doing everything from the ground up. I will be starting out with 2-3 16 TB drives but want to be able to expand with a new drive every few months or so. Since most of what I store will be replacable, I don't need a lot of redundancy. I was thinking something like RAID 5. Performance and extensibility are higher on my list of priority.

How should I set this up? I've read that rebuilding a RAID 5 array over and over is risky and can lead to losing the entire array. Is it still the best way to go?

I recently transplanted my file server into a new case, and part of that transplant was me upgrading from a cheap SATA controller to an Adaptec SAS controller. Since then, my system has been prone to random lockups. I think it's the Adaptec card as the system locks up if I try to access the configuration menu on boot.

I do suspect the card is overheating under load and locking the system up, so I have a fan on it

A hard drive went down right after I posted this. I pulled that drive and suddenly I could access the configuration menu. I am rebuilding the Unraid Array right now with a new disk.

I'm planning to build a dedicated server primarily for modded Minecraft, along with hosting other multiplayer games for my friends. After researching components, I'm considering an Intel i3-12100F for the CPU and 16GB of 3200MHz RAM. My main goal is to ensure smooth performance for modded Minecraft.

I haven’t finalized the rest of the build yet, so I’d love recommendations on storage (SSD vs. NVMe), a reliable motherboard, and whether 16GB RAM will be enough for running multiple game servers simultaneously. Additionally, I’m still deciding on an OS—whether to go with Windows Server, a Linux distribution like Ubuntu, or something else.

My budget is flexible, but I’d like to keep costs reasonable while ensuring stable performance. Are these specs ok, or would you suggest a different CPU or more RAM for better future-proofing? Any insights on networking and server management tools would also be appreciated!

Before starting I am very new and tried to make this list based on surface level research, if there are any better hardware choices feel free to mention them.

I want it to be fairly power efficient and not overly expensive preferable around 500 for mobo, CPU, ram, cooler, boot drive

My uses will be running plex or jellyfin, steam library for my PC, the ability to run a server most likely being Minecraft, and then just storage for photos, videos, etc

This is the current list that I have made https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bjLJmC

The case will be a rosewill 4u 15 hdd, I have an extra psu, and I will be filling it with 10 tb recertified drives as more storage is needed

I plan on buying most of these parts used just for a little more savings

question

-can I use a PCIe sas card with this mobo because it only has 4 Sata ports. Does it even make sense to use a sas card instead of just a sata card.

I was wondering if it is possible to distribute a workload across multiple systems and effectively pool the compute power of multiple servers. My workload would be a docker container. I am aware of K8's, but I don't believe this can pool resources, only distribute containers. Any advice would be appreciated!

I'm looking to set up a small-form-factor server at home. Currently we all have laptops, but the only always-on machine I have is my work-owned workstation. I miss having a dedicated machine that I can have as a central place to store things like my music and stuff that currently just live in Google Drive.

Years ago I had a mac mini for this, and I've had windows desktops before, but I'd rather run Linux. However, I haven't managed a linux machine in longer than I want to think about, so I'm not very familiar with the current state of compatibility and such.

I looked at https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-mini-pc.html for some ideas of what small-form-factor devices exist, but I'm not sure which to expect to have good Linux support. I'm also not sure if I'm even looking at reasonable options though.

I'm hoping for something that's easy to set up and forget about, but flexible enough that I can use it for more than just storage in the future (like running a Minecraft server for my kids, 3d printing stuff, etc). Any suggestions would be appreciated (even if it's just "you're asking in the wrong place, go ask over there").

Ok. I know this is near impossible to truly answer. What I am looking to do is build a system that will serve as not only a home server for running Homeassist,plex,jellyfin , personal cloud backup, but the icing on the cake is we want it to be able to at the same time use like a CHEAP chromebook or tablet and play AAA games off of this thing. The wife has green light me to start looking into my dream personal server. We have a teenaged son who loves gaming as much as I do. The types of games range HUGE. I have seen it done on like youtube and stuff like that. Hell I seen a guy buying old CHEAP used dells to remote in and playing Cyberpunk on 4k. This is what I would love. Do not want to build 3 systems to cover everyone/everything. Perfect world is just one system that does all the lifting for all the above. Anyone able to piece out something that can do all the above. And I am not NEEDING to upgrade every 2 months lol. Yes I know the new nvidia is coming out and I am going to be using one. Just dont know if I would need 2 for this system? or what one? CPU??? Storage I know I can use a DAS along with internal (currently using a i7 32gig system for my cloud and plex with DAS 100tb mirror). It is more of what board CPU(s?) ect.

Hi, I'm starting to build my own home server to store my data in a redundant way (Immich photos, nextcloud, jellyfin, ...).

My current setup is using a HP 800 Mini G2 which is quite powerful and I'd like to stick to that. Only issue is there's only one nvme port on board and a sata port. Theoretically I could also add another nvme in the wifi card slot but I'd like to avoid that. I also thought about using that port with an expansion slot but I couldn't find any multi port nvme which could connect to mini pcie

My (crazy) idea would be to use some external nvme to usb3 adapters with some nvme disks (2 or 4) and build a software raid with those.

Would that be feasible? I would of course be limited to usb3 speeds which would be 600MB/S maximum.

Are there any better ideas to that or could I make a better use of the internal pcie slot?

TLDR: How crazy would be to run a software raid on nvme drives connected through a nvme to usb3 adapter?

Hello, I was wondering what I should look into for automatically backing up my Iphone photos to a nas? Right now my process is very manual, I use I cloud app on my windows pc, and most ve those to a folder that gets backed up. Basically trying to find an easy way so that me and my wife can get better at not relying on iCloud for these backups.

Hello fellow enthusiasts,

I’m currently using a Dell Optiplex 7010 Micro with Proxmox installed. I replaced its Wi-Fi adapter with a PCIe-to-SATA expander, giving me two SATA ports. My current setup includes several LXC containers for the complete arr stack, Jellyfin, Jellyseer, OpenWRT, qBittorrent, a Samba server, a Portainer LXC for small Python/RPi0 projects, Nextcloud, WireGuard, etc.

Specs:

• Motherboard: Stock Dell

• Memory: 16 GB (Stock)

• CPU: Intel 13500T

• Boot Disk: 512 GB NVMe SSD (Stock)

• HDDs: 1×2.5” Toshiba 1TB (cache) + 2×3.5” Seagate IronWolf 8TB (almost full)

I’m happy with performance, but I’m running out of drive bays. I can’t add more than 2×3.5” HDDs and a single 2.5” drive without losing the NVMe SSD, and I don’t like having external drives. Hence, I’m planning a custom build that can house everything internally—including an additional pair of 8TB drives.

Here’s the proposed build:

• Case: JONSBO N1 (small footprint)

• Motherboard: ASUS Prime H610I-PLUS D4 (mini-ITX, chosen for size and price)

• CPU: Intel 13500 (I’m currently on a 13500T; this won’t be a downgrade. However, since I usually just stream directly (no heavy transcoding for multiple devices), I could consider a cheaper Intel CPU or even switch to AMD.)

• CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L12S (not entirely sure of the difference between this model and the L12Sx77)

• Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2×8 GB) DDR4 3200 CL16 (spare from my old desktop)

• Boot Disk: 512 GB M.2 SSD (any decent, affordable brand)

• HDDs: 4×8TB Seagate IronWolf + 1×2.5” Toshiba 1TB

Questions:

1. What do you think of this setup?

• I’m looking to consolidate everything into a single compact machine that can handle multiple HDDs internally.

2. Should I consider downgrading the CPU?

• Perhaps an Intel N100 or an older Intel 8th/9th/10th-gen chip if all I need is basic streaming/file serving.

3. What about AMD?

• I have no experience with AMD, but I’m open to suggestions if it offers a better value or more suitable performance for my use case.

I’d sell the Dell (it still has enterprise warranty until 2028) and move on to this new build. Let me know your thoughts—especially on the CPU choice and whether AMD might be a better option for a NAS/home lab setup.

Thanks in advance!

Hello Everyone,

I am wondering if it is possible to implement a file server in my internal LAN network and expose this server to the internet without opening the port on the router?

My requirements:
- buying domain is not required,
- connectivity from the internet goes through something like Cloudflare (Cloudflare has DDoS and other security mechanisms) - just need something which cares for security,
- to connect with my file server outside the LAN network I want to use a VPN.

Has anyone come across a similar challenge?

In the past, I used to use Duck-DNS as a DDNS service, and the port remained open all the time however, I realized this is not a secure approach.
I used Wireguard also as VPN.

Looking for help with building a new server.

At the moment I am using my qnap ts-664-8gb to run my containers and as a plex server, it is also my photo work server. I cant upgrade the ram and all 6 drive bays are full. My ram is always about 80% full.

I would like to build a dedicted server for the containers and media server but not sure where to start. I have a budget of 500€ not including drives. I am looking for help for the right sort of cpu, motherboard, psu and enclosure. I would like the cpu to have an integrated graphics until I buy my new gpu and my 3080 will go to the server. Ideally it will be able to go to 256gb ram for containers and VM's. At the moment my media is up to 50TB and I would like to be able to keep adding drives when needed.

Also suggestions for what OS would be perfect.

Thank you