I have been running Nextcloud Ubuntu with auto snap updates for years on a VM on my Dell PowerEdge T410 Server. Little to effortless use with little to no interaction required except the monthly linux updates, restarts and letsencrypt certificate updates etc.
Anyhow my use is personal home server and with just a few users, I do have domain setup for mobile apps, passwords, and pictures access etc. Talk apps sometimes.
The question is do I really need this giant tower server or can I just put this low use server on a desktop with soft raid and an external backup method etc…
Do I really need hot swap raid, and dual power supplies etc. ? The server is pretty large and do I even need dual processors for what I’m doing ? Why not just a nice small form factor or mini tower desktop with soft raid 1 and external backup to usb ?
With hot swap, RAID is how much down time can you have? If a disk fails, you can hot swap and ideally you have no down time. If you don’t have it, you need to shut the server down, replace the disk and live with a bit less performance until the RAID is re-established. Down time, very little.
If you have neither RAID nor hot swap, a disk breaks, the server is offline, until you have a new disk and you restored a backup.
Dual power supply, that means you need to have two independent power supplies available at home!
Honestly, I’d go rather with that. And perhaps check a bit regarding power consumption when the server is idle (processors, system/db/cache on ssd, …).
Outside of performance requirements, the rest is a matter of personal preferences and priorities.
I’m a big fan of using 1-2 generation back thin clients (e.g. Lenovo ThinkCentre M920q) for home setups. Many are quiet (or even fanless) and they’re nice and compact and use very little power. I go for the highest CPU available at the time that still offers a good value. Lots generally available on the used market since they start are often leased to enterprises then go back out to eBay/etc when the leases are up.
Thanks, I guess I’m just looking to save space. This T410 is not really HUGE but it’s on the floor and not really small either.
Since it’s running linux I don’t really have anything setup for a hard drive notification or any hardware notifications etc. I never set that up.
I would basically have to check status manually by opening the front panel then hot swap the drive when I see the server light indicating it is failing etc.
I see the benefit of a server which I never got around to setting up the most critical benefits which is why I’m thinking of making things smaller since I lived without that already for years anyhow.
Not really sure I should still though.
Maybe a wall mounted U1 or U2 server would be ok instead with dual power supplies still and also hard raid with external backup still all mounted on the wall instead or something.
What about cpu and memory of the desktop though. Any issue running full time nextcloud there ? Other then the pros and cons of server benefits etc. ?
That is what I was thinking it’s more of a file storage for me similar to openmediavault or even just desktop network shares etc. and passwords app and contact sync with dax etc.
I’ve already read people running it no
raspberry pi etc. too.
