Server

Current Hardware

Mathis Adler

• 4 min read
Current Hardware
Photo by Roman Spiridonov / Unsplash

In this post I describe my current hardware setup. It will be constantly updated whenever something changes. The old setup will still be included so you can see the history nicely. As of right now I have two pieces of hardware acting as servers. One is primarily a NAS server while the other runs Home Assistant and some other additional services.

1. NAS Server

This server acts as a NAS. After doing some research in 2022 I decided to go with FreeNAS as it seemed to fit all my requirements. The most important ones were that it is open-source and free. Therefore, it is truly customizable by the user. Based on FreeBSD it also supports a plethora of additional software. Last year I actually upgraded to TrueNAS Scale. It is based on Linux and thus compatible to even more software. The upgrade was smooth and it also runs with much less effort than FreeNAS. More on that later.

As the hardware options are sheer endless I drew inspiration from the FreeNAS community hardware guide. The following is the hardware I went with:

  1. Motherboard: Supermicro X11SSH-F with a 1151 Intel CPU Socket
  2. Processor: Intel Core i3-6100 (2x 3.70GHz)
  3. RAM: Samsung 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR4-2133 ECC PC4-17000E M391A1G43DB0-CPBQ
  4. HDD: Seagate ST4000VN000 4TB (3x)
  5. SSD: Samsung PM961 256GB M.2 2280 SSD
  6. Power Supply: Dell Precision T1650 320 Watt ATX Power Supply
  7. Case: Enermax Staray ATX MidiTower Black

First, let me shortly describe my usage so you can get a feel of what I evaluate the hardware on. My main usage of the NAS is as a media server. For that I use the superb and open source software "JellyFin". I tied in Radarr, Sonarr, Lidarr, Prowlarr, and Overseerr (actually the Jellyseerr fork) for smooth downloading. Next, I run NextCloud as my own personal cloud file server. To this instance I also sync contacts, and calendar. I also run Immich, a nice image gallery, for accessing and organising my images. Additionally I use the server for backups and run some other small stuff. I will also release a post that goes more in-depth. This will also describe which other software I tried out, why I stuck with the one above and what I like and don't like about it. Now, let's continue with an evaluation of my hardware based on my workload.

The Supermicro Motherboard is a sturdy workforce as its intended use is also in servers. I went with an ECC capable motherboard for extra peace of mind. Accordingly I also chose 16GB of ECC RAM. 16GB performs nicely. However, by adding more and more functionality to the server at times the RAM will be completely used. Therefore, I plan to upgrade to 32GB in the forseeable future. The X11SSH-F motherboard luckily provides me with 2 additional RAM slots.

The processor is totally sufficient for my usage. It is able to run all the services with ease and usage is barely maxed out.

The HDD I mainly chose since I had one of these lying around from an old Synology NAS. While Synology software is definitely super nice I wanted more customizability and thus went the route of FreeNAS, and now TrueNAS Scale. I opted for 3 to be able to run RAIDZ so when one of the hard drives fails I still have all the data. Sizewise I completely underestimated what I would need and almost all of it is now used up. As it is not straightforward to add more storage to ZFS RAIDZ I plan on adding 3 4TB HDDs in addition effectively doubling the size. This time probably with a higher RAIDZ level.

I chose an M.2 SSD mainly for the operating system and swap. The capacity is not that big but by far enough for this utility. It is able to boot TrueNAS Scale rapidly and runs efficiently.

The power supply I chose mainly based on its 80+ Gold rating. As the server is intended to be on 24/7 power consumption is actually important. So far I have no complaints. It is able to power my selected hardware nicely.

As I bought a used case I did not care too much about specifics. My demands were mainly that it is a) cheap, and b) able to house all the components. The Enermax case fit that bill nicely. I like the feature of tool-less HDD mounts. I also added 3 additional fans to keep everything nice and cool.

To summarize: I am quite happy with my hardware of choice and would only recommend it. The only thing I should have definitely sized bigger is the amount of storage and possibly RAM. As I built this server myself it is easy to upgrade.

2. Raspberry Pi

I got a Raspberry Pi 4B with 8GB RAM. As this is quite a nice piece of hardware I also use it as a server for home automation mainly. On it I run Home Assistant to control and monitor all my smart home devices as well as my NAS. Furthermore, I run a reverse proxy on this Raspberry Pi to connect to all the services running in my local network through only one open port. I reach my network through a dynamic DNS. I will describe this setup in more detail in a future post as this one focuses on hardware.

I house this Raspberry Pi in a case with an included fan and heatsinks. As this fan got quite loud I usually disconnect it. The Pi still keeps cool enough with the heatsinks alone. With 8GB RAM it is more than enough to run my Home Automation.