Setting up a small Home server

May 6th, 2015 12:24 pm

#1

Dinujan [OP]: Deal Fanatic; Sep 21, 2012; 5065 posts; 586 upvotes; Mississauga

May 6th, 2015 12:24 pm

I want to setup a server for home use.
Just something simple to sync files from my phones, and be able to download/stream those files from other Windows, Linux and Android clients (LAN and WAN).
I'm a little stuck on where to start though.

I'm thinking of setting up a SSH server, but I'm not sure how to start.

All my backups will be stored on a 3TB Seagate Backup+ Drive, and a Banana Pi will be the server.

OS choices are limited to Android, Lubunutu, OpenSUSE, and Debain

I also have several full fledged computers I could use, but it feels wasteful to dedicate powerful machines for such a low power task.

Favourite Games: NieR (PS3), Catherine (PS3), Persona 3 FES/Portable (PS2/PSP), Final Fantasy IX (PSX), Persona 4 Golden (PSV), Witcher 1,2,3 (PC), Skyward Sword (Wii), Pokemon Colosseum (GC), Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS), Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS), Majora's Mask (3DS), Bravely Default (3DS)

May 6th, 2015 12:54 pm

#2

alkizmo: Deal Guru; Oct 24, 2012; 11638 posts; 2615 upvotes; Montreal

May 6th, 2015 12:54 pm

No machine runs 24/7 already?

May 6th, 2015 5:12 pm

#3

death_hawk: Deal Expert; Aug 22, 2006; 29357 posts; 14856 upvotes

May 6th, 2015 5:12 pm

Dinujan wrote: ↑ I also have several full fledged computers I could use, but it feels wasteful to dedicate powerful machines for such a low power task.

Choose whatever the lowest power one is and then let it do other tasks too.
Once you have a dedicated server you open up a world of other things you can run on it.
Hell, having several computers means you probably do some level of diagnostics. PXE alone is worth setting up.
Not that PXE takes a bunch of resources either, but that's an example of things you can do with a server that's around 24/7.

May 6th, 2015 5:48 pm

#4

LeeBear: Deal Addict; May 26, 2002; 1876 posts; 432 upvotes

May 6th, 2015 5:48 pm

Seriously from what you want to do just get a WD MyCloud drive. It will do what you want and setup is a breeze.

-LeeBear

May 6th, 2015 10:53 pm

#5

Dinujan [OP]: Deal Fanatic; Sep 21, 2012; 5065 posts; 586 upvotes; Mississauga

May 6th, 2015 10:53 pm

death_hawk wrote: ↑Choose whatever the lowest power one is and then let it do other tasks too.
Once you have a dedicated server you open up a world of other things you can run on it.
Hell, having several computers means you probably do some level of diagnostics. PXE alone is worth setting up.
Not that PXE takes a bunch of resources either, but that's an example of things you can do with a server that's around 24/7.

What other tasks? I've never really tookeb an in depth look at dedicated server operating systems, but I was under the assumption that they couldn't be used to multi task

alkizmo wrote: ↑No machine runs 24/7 already?

Nope. I switched the HTPC with a Dell Latitude and make it sleep when it's done.

I figured out how to SSH (lan) into my BananaPi, and I can read from the internal storage. However, I can't figure out how to read from the NTFS drive. Pmount SDA complains that the drive isn't a proper NTFS drive even though windows has no problem with it

Favourite Games: NieR (PS3), Catherine (PS3), Persona 3 FES/Portable (PS2/PSP), Final Fantasy IX (PSX), Persona 4 Golden (PSV), Witcher 1,2,3 (PC), Skyward Sword (Wii), Pokemon Colosseum (GC), Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS), Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS), Majora's Mask (3DS), Bravely Default (3DS)

May 7th, 2015 12:25 am

#6

death_hawk: Deal Expert; Aug 22, 2006; 29357 posts; 14856 upvotes

May 7th, 2015 12:25 am

Dinujan wrote: ↑What other tasks? I've never really tookeb an in depth look at dedicated server operating systems, but I was under the assumption that they couldn't be used to multi task

There really isn't an OS today that CAN'T multitask.
As for other tasks, I personally pick hardware that can do virtualization and make separate VMs for each service.
If you have hardware I'd virtualize just because it's awesome. It keeps things clean too so if you crash one service it doesn't affect any others.

Tasks that are popular today: Plex, Usenet/Torrent clients, VPN, pfSense, PBX, PXE.

May 7th, 2015 1:01 am

#7

george__: Deal Expert; Jul 22, 2006; 22335 posts; 2980 upvotes

May 7th, 2015 1:01 am

You shouldn't VM a firewall (i.e pfsense) it's too risky since you're increasing the # of points of entry. For internal use only NP

May 7th, 2015 1:53 am

#8

death_hawk: Deal Expert; Aug 22, 2006; 29357 posts; 14856 upvotes

May 7th, 2015 1:53 am

george__ wrote: ↑You shouldn't VM a firewall (i.e pfsense) it's too risky since you're increasing the # of points of entry. For internal use only NP

If someone is capable enough to hack my firewall to the point of where they can compromise the guest enough to compromise the host, I have FAR bigger issues at hand.
If they can get into my firewall, the rest of my network isn't that much further away.

May 7th, 2015 9:23 am

#9

trane0: Deal Addict; Jun 8, 2005; 3136 posts; 604 upvotes; Toronto

May 7th, 2015 9:23 am

death_hawk wrote: ↑If someone is capable enough to hack my firewall to the point of where they can compromise the guest enough to compromise the host, I have FAR bigger issues at hand.
If they can get into my firewall, the rest of my network isn't that much further away.

Sorry buddy, but your home network is now officially PCI-uncompliant because of this. The internet police are already on their way to take back your sysadmin license.

May 7th, 2015 4:39 pm

#10

death_hawk: Deal Expert; Aug 22, 2006; 29357 posts; 14856 upvotes

May 7th, 2015 4:39 pm

�� wrote: ↑home network

PCI-uncompliant

Yeah... I'm pretty sure my home network is PCI-uncompliant for other reasons.
An example being that most of my internal passwords are "password"

May 7th, 2015 4:44 pm

#11

george__: Deal Expert; Jul 22, 2006; 22335 posts; 2980 upvotes

May 7th, 2015 4:44 pm

death_hawk wrote: ↑Yeah... I'm pretty sure my home network is PCI-uncompliant for other reasons.
An example being that most of my internal passwords are "password"

Security audit fail

May 7th, 2015 5:05 pm

#12

death_hawk: Deal Expert; Aug 22, 2006; 29357 posts; 14856 upvotes

May 7th, 2015 5:05 pm

george__ wrote: ↑Security audit fail

Meh. If someone really wants to hack in and watch my pr0n, please feel free.