So after months of dealing with problems trying to get the stuff I want to host working on my Raspberry Pi and Synology, I've given up and decided I need a real server with an x86_64 processor and a standard Linux distro. So I don't continue to run into problems after spending a bunch more, I want to seriously consider what I need hardware-wise. What considerations do I need to think about in this?
Initially, the main things I want to host are Nextcloud, Immich (or similar), and my own Node bot @DailyGameBot@lemmy.zip (which uses Puppeteer to take screenshots—the big issue that prevents it from running on a Pi or Synology). I'll definitely want to expand to more things eventually, though I don't know what. Probably all/most in Docker.
For now I'm likely to keep using Synology's reverse proxy and built-in Let's Encrypt certificate support, unless there are good reasons to avoid that. And as much as it's possible, I'll want the actual files (used by Nextcloud, Immich, etc.) to be stored on the Synology to take advantage of its large capacity and RAID 5 redundancy.
Is a second-hand Intel-based mini PC likely suitable? I read one thing saying that they can have serious thermal throttling issues because they don't have great airflow. Is that a problem that matters for a home server, or is it more of an issue with desktops where people try to run games? Is there a particular reason to look at Intel vs AMD? Any particular things I should consider when looking at RAM, CPU power, or internal storage, etc. which might not be immediately obvious?
Bonus question: what's a good distro to use? My experience so far has mostly been with desktop distros, primarily Kubuntu/Ubuntu, or with niche distros like Raspbian. But all Debian-based. Any reason to consider something else?
Anything can be a "server" in your use-case. Something low power at idle will not cost an arm and a leg to run, and you can always upgrade later if you need more.
Check the Minisforum refurb store and see what you can get for under $150.
Under $150 might be tricky in Australia, but I had a quick look for "mini PC" from a refurb shop near me and came up with one, two, three for options under $230.
I'm guessing that this might be a typo, but I'm not quite sure what it's meant to read. Or what it means if it's not a typo.
All of those would be perfectly cromulent nodes for small containers. The first issue you'll run into is the low ram. Some homelab projects would cause you to exceed 8gb, but the good news is if you're using an external backend via NFS, you can always scale out (more nodes) or up(more compute per node,) later with minimal headache.
If you're going to be memory constrained, don't waste 1-2gb on a gui, install Ubuntu/Debian/whatever headless
Thanks! I genuinely wasn't sure how much RAM would be necessary, and would have probably seriously considered 8 GB enough if I hadn't gotten the feedback.
That wasn't quite the takeaway I was going for. You can get a lot done on 8gb of ram. I was just trying to point out that it would probably be your first bottleneck as you started to scale out, and that you should consider using the server headless to make the ram you have go that much further.
Oh yeah, the "run headless" tip too was great! I would never have used a desktop environment, and would in effect have been using it headless. But had you and others not specifically suggested running it as headless it would probably not have occurred to me that that's a setting change I'd need to make while installing it.