I am in the process of setting up a home server, and I am struggling to decide. I have previously used yunohost but in the meantime, freedom box has matured quite a bit. I have also looked at Tipi.

The use case right now is, running a wireguard server and probably some notes of sorts (to be decided). A web GUI for management and updating would be much desired.

Disclaimer: I don’t have too much surplus of energy, due to a hectic life, so I would prefer something easy and without the requirement of docker/kubernettes

I will run on a Gigabyte Brix with:

  • AMD Ryzen 4300U (4 core)
  • 16 maybe 32 GB RAM
  • 512GB SSD

I am open to other suggestions.

P.S. I apologise if this has been debated before, but I have not really found anything.

Thank you in advance

EDIT: I have read your recommendations and arguments, and it is noted, I am watching docker tutorials now :)

  • @[email protected]English
    5•7 months ago

    As everyone else has said, if your time is limited, your best path is docker. You don’t need to learn all of docker, but understanding how docker compose works at a fairly high level will drastically speed up setup as well as administrative tasks like updating and backups

    As for what to run, you mentioned wireguard and a notes app. The notes app could be solved without needing a central server with Obsidian and I’m not seeing the use case here for Wireguard.

    I would start with what problem or pain point are you trying to solve for.

    In my case, I had a bunch of IOT devices all making excessive DNS queries and I wanted a network level ad blocker so I setup PiHole (2 in fact, they run my network’s DNS).

    I had a large music collection and burning mix CDs was no longer practical so I setup Jellyfin (Navidrome might have also worked), and use FinAmp on my phone.

    Google started being a pain in my backside so I setup Nextcloud.

    Someone got me some smart devices so HomeAssistant was setup.

    I needed a way to find these services so I setup Heimdel as a dashboard.

    I wanted some of these publicly available so I setup Caddy as a reverse proxy.

    • @AntaeusOPEnglish
      2•7 months ago

      Thank you for your input. The reason why I want a Wireguard server, is to have a secure tunnel into my growing gadgets, NAS, rpi and now a server. Using a platform would open up options to ease future deployment, or testing of services/applications.

      If all I needed was a Wireguard server, I might have picked up another rpi and USB RJ45 dongle. I just wanted a server so I wasn’t restricting myself, and offering the wireguard some extra power.