this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2025
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How to start off small with the intent to expand (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by President@sh.itjust.works to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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A couple of weeks ago I spat the dummy with windows and shifted to Linux. I think I am now ready to drink the coolaid.

What I have available currently is an ISP router and a decade-old gaming PC with a failing hdd that used to host games. I also have some budget to spare so that I can set things up nicely or in a way that I can add on it in the future.

Here are my goals are in order:

  1. Proper onsite and maybe offsite backups - my migration to Linux illustrated gaps and I expect in the future I will run VMs that should be backed up
  2. Home security cameras (Which I don't own yet)
  3. Replacing something like onedrive. I expect this will be NextCloud
  4. Yarr. Sonarr/radarr/jellyfin
  5. Hosting game servers
  6. Block adverts and maintaining privacy
  7. Improve the latency of my steam link to my TV via chromecast
  8. Hosting webscraping and analysis of data off some local websites
  9. Maybe set up some some smart home automation things
  10. I'd like to get solar power and monitor how the whole setup is doing.
  11. Self host my bit warden
  12. I dunno, backup Wikipedia or something. Give me ideas

So where would you recommend I start off with hardware? Simply replace the old pc hdd or look to having a NAS? A better router to handle VLAN? Go all in with Ubiquiti products which I have heard mixed things about? About the only thing I know is that a UPS would be a waste for an aspiring enthusiast like myself.

Any advice or pointing me at wikis or other resources would be greatly appreciated.

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[–] Willdrick@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

If you can overcome the first kinda large step of setting up a basic install of Proxmox + ZFS pool, you'll love it. You can try shit out and nuke it if you don't like it. Helper Scripts from here are also a great way to try stuff without breaking anything you already have. each container gets its own IP so you don't have to juggle stuff with a reverse proxy (which is a PITA to set up properly) and with TailScale on the host, you can pretty much access everything from anywhere, without exposing it to the wider internet.

Creating a ZFS pool is also rather nice, because you can keep adding new disks to the pool when you're running short. Ideally you'd use some mirroring for security. Backups are also nice with proxmox, as long as you don't give every LXC a giant size quota.

Last thing, DO get an UPS, even if it's a small consumer grade one that lasts 5 minutes. Make sure it has some sort of conectivity (network or USB) and it's linux compatible. I've lost a lot of time rebuilding a 2yo NextCloud install that went all wonky after a blackout.

So in a detailed summary from your points:

  1. Proxmox makes it easy to make, test and restore backups, even if it's for a spare drive or across the network. Setting up a /mnt/usb mountpoint for an external USB drive by UUID is one way of having it available when needed, and kept offline for safekeeping
  2. Frigate NVR. Lightweight, can integrate with HomeAssistant for automations and alerts. Try getting "dumb" IP cameras, most of the smart IoT stuff will try to upsell you on crap and might end up bricked by the company down the line.
  3. Nextcloud for your PC backups and Immich for your phone photos. NC also has an android and iOS app that can sync folders you tell it to.
  4. Look up "YAMS". I'd recommend running the whole YAMS stack + portainer on a separate Proxmox LXC so you can easily put the whole thing on a separate VPN instead of relying on the provided gluetun package
  5. For quick One-offs, portainer is more than enough. There's Pterodactyl and Pelican for more in-depth server hosting but I found it too cumbersome
  6. PiHole LXC on a fixed IP and set your devices (or better yet, your router/AP if you can) pointing to it's IP as the primary DNS server
  7. not really sure what you mean here, wired connections tend to be the best, maybe get a Pi or a small android box that supports ethernet.
  8. HomeAssistant (use the VM helper script for full HAOS!)
  9. HomeAssistant again, try getting a smart meter that doesn't rely on shitty APIs like Tuya, unless you're willing to dive into hacking with tasmota.
  10. ProxmoxLXC, there's already a helper script for it.
  11. Kiwix-server has a docker image, easily hostable and it takes Wikipedia's offline archive files.

Good Luck and Have Fun!