Self-Hosting: First experiences

“Self-hosting” seems to be a real topic among IT-savvy people at the moment. Well, to some extent it has certainly been that way for a long time, but I’ve been hearing a lot about it recently. It means setting up and using server hardware at home - from a Raspberry Pi to a full-blown home server with a powerful Intel processor and double-digit gigabytes of RAM. I’ve been getting more and more into this topic recently and have learned a few interesting things, especially about hardware, that I want to share here.

At least a year ago, after my first attempts with Raspberry Pis, I came across the Chinese hardware manufacturer ZIMA / icewhale. I was particularly drawn to the more powerful model of the ZimaBlade. The device is roughly the same size as the Raspberries, but has a few striking advantages over them:

  • Intel instead of ARM processor, which makes it compatible with TrueNAS, for example
  • Up to 16 GB RAM, enough to run multiple containers in parallel
  • Large built-in heatsink for effective passive cooling, which keeps the device very quiet
  • Built-in memory instead of error-prone SD card
  • Two SATA ports for direct connection to multiple hard drives
  • PCIe 2.0 x4 port for expansion

The Intel processor is quite outdated, which makes some picky software such as MongoDB unusable or hardly usable. However, the device is very cheap to buy at around €120. I bought the NAS Kit during the previous crowdfunding because my goal was to set up a large network storage device. In combination with a 12 TB HDD, the small device now performs exactly this task as a TrueNAS host.

As with NAS devices from Synology, TrueNAS can do more than just manage and share storage. It also allows the installation of “apps” that are Kubernetes pods under the hood. These apps are available as a selection of ready-made apps from TrueNAS itself, but it is also possible to connect external repositories. I haven’t gone that far yet, however, and have instead installed the Nextcloud and paperless-ngx apps from the included repository. Both run comfortably in parallel and still have room for improvement, so I will probably install a media server soon.

This self-hosting is particularly convenient when using a VPN via the router. My AVM device enables an extremely simple installation of a Wireguard tunnel, so that I can access both apps even when I’m on the move.

Now all that remains is the not entirely unimportant task of developing and implementing a backup concept for the whole thing. I’ll get back to you when I’ve made progress with it!