Self Hosting: It's like being a prepper for the cloudpocalypse

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Self Hosting: It's like being a prepper for the cloudpocalypse

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Well Played Mauer: Jun 1, 2003; We'll always have Cabo

Has anyone set up a system based on Perfect Media Server? The gist is it recommends proxmox, NixOS (will probably pass on this for Debian or something), and then mergerfs to get a pseudo raid going.

I'm mostly interested in mergerfs. My media drives are in RAID 0 because I didn't know any better when I was setting it up, so I feel like I'm sitting on a time bomb without spare drives handy. Granted mergerfs doesn't solve a parity problem, but if one drive goes now I'm pretty much losing everything since all my HDDs are in storage a country away.

I kinda want to start over and set up the media drives in xfs or ext4, do photos and important docs in a zfs RAID 1 or something, then make it look like one big drive with mergerfs.

# ? May 7, 2025 02:09

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# ? May 23, 2025 00:32

freetrialaccount: Nov 24, 2024

Well Played Mauer posted:

I'm mostly interested in mergerfs. My media drives are in RAID 0 because I didn't know any better when I was setting it up, so I feel like I'm sitting on a time bomb without spare drives handy. Granted mergerfs doesn't solve a parity problem, but if one drive goes now I'm pretty much losing everything since all my HDDs are in storage a country away.

I don't know what perfect media server is but I do use mergerfs on plain ubuntu for my media drives and also manually restic anything important to backup drives. mergerfs works great, never had an issue

# ? May 7, 2025 02:17

Keito: Jul 21, 2005; WHAT DO I CHOOSE ?

Well Played Mauer posted:

Has anyone set up a system based on Perfect Media Server? The gist is it recommends proxmox, NixOS (will probably pass on this for Debian or something), and then mergerfs to get a pseudo raid going.

I'm mostly interested in mergerfs. My media drives are in RAID 0 because I didn't know any better when I was setting it up, so I feel like I'm sitting on a time bomb without spare drives handy. Granted mergerfs doesn't solve a parity problem, but if one drive goes now I'm pretty much losing everything since all my HDDs are in storage a country away.

I kinda want to start over and set up the media drives in xfs or ext4, do photos and important docs in a zfs RAID 1 or something, then make it look like one big drive with mergerfs.

I used reiserfs/ext4 formatted disks with various union file systems (aufs2, overlayfs, unionfs-fuse, mergerfs) for years before finally switching to ZFS (and parity). mergerfs in particular worked quite well, although writes could get annoying/slow when you have disks that are nearing capacity. I remember spending way too much time manually shuffling data around. Losing disks still sucked when more or less random* chunk of my data would just disappear, but surely better than just losing everything to a single disk failure with RAID 0. If you're going to use SnapRAID for parity then maybe this won't be a concern. I started researching it but opted to abandon the whole Frankenstein mess and buy a new disk array instead to start over.

* You have a lot of control over write policies with mergerfs, but deviation will occur as disks near capacity. If you're not as much as a pack rat as I used to be, maybe there's no issue.

# ? May 7, 2025 09:07

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

Whoa, haven't heard ReiserFS mentioned in 15+ years outside the context of true crime podcasts

# ? May 7, 2025 13:44

Accipiter: Jan 24, 2004; SINATRA.

# ? May 7, 2025 13:59

Warbird: May 23, 2012; America's Favorite Dumbass

Is anyone here running a Frigate setup or similar IPCam type stuff? I'm looking into getting an instance going to piddle around with watching for and inventorying the birds that visit our feeders. The Frigate wiki does suggest a few cameras but they're 1) kinda pricey and 2) look to be hardwired only. I'd be curious if anyone here has some suggestions of more economical alternatives that can be reasonably operated over wireless. I've got bandwidth for days, I just don't have a practical means to run PoE to where I'd need it for this. (Or rather I could but I have plans for that already that will be a very long time in coming so I'm planning for now and not later.)

# ? May 10, 2025 18:09

Shalhavet: Dec 10, 2010; This post is terrible; Doctor Rope

Frigate will work with anything. I have a raspberry pi running MotionEyeOS with a USB webcam that provides an mjpeg stream. Frigate converts that to rtsp with go2rtc and then that stream is used as a camera.

# ? May 10, 2025 18:32

freetrialaccount: Nov 24, 2024

I use a thrift store webcam connected to a pi zero that I stuck into a clear weatherproof box and sits next to my bird feeder. the frame rate and bitrate is not very exceptional but that's because the webcam outputs mjpeg and I'm forced to use the Pi's dinky CPU to ffmpeg encode to h264 before streaming to the network

if you use an actually nice h264 camera in a robust network I'm sure it'll work great. sorry that I have no specific recommendations

# ? May 10, 2025 18:36

Warbird: May 23, 2012; America's Favorite Dumbass

Hm, I wonder if that Pi 0W I have lying around with the camera would be sufficient? It would really be a matter hardening it to live outside and sorting out how to get power to it.

# ? May 10, 2025 19:19

csammis: Aug 26, 2003; Mental Institution

I have a Frigate instance with four TP-Link Tapo cameras running - three inside and one outside. They're super cheap because TP-Link subsidizes the hardware with their cloud services, but I've got them talking to Frigate and Home Assistant without leaving my network.

The outside camera is a Tapo C120. It's under cover so it doesn't get wet although at least in theory it's rated for being wet (IP66). It's powered over USB - I've just run a flat USB cable through a doorframe and into a power brick. It blanked out a couple of times last winter when the weather dropped down to the single digits Fahrenheit but otherwise it's been solid. The image quality is actually surprisingly good for a $30 or whatever piece of commodity hardware.

# ? May 10, 2025 23:39

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Does anyone have recommendations for a tiny cheap mini business PC that'll hold exactly one PCIe card (for an LSI external SAS HBA)? I'm currently using a really old full size case with a decade old Gigabyte Ultradurable motherboard that's giving up the ghost - onboard network port died, now one of 4 memory banks is dead. I want just something reasonably cheap with an Intel CPU and moderate transcoding abilities like the HP mini business desktops but I'm just not familiar with the names and lineups. A few years old is A-OK.

It's a shame too, I am overflowing with NUCs and Pis but there seems to be no easy way to connect PCIe devices like this without a gigantic enclosure that would cost more than just rebuilding this old-rear end media server.

# ? May 15, 2025 14:31

SamDabbers: May 26, 2003

I have a similar problem, but would also be happy with a mITX or mATX motherboard with a n100 or similar low power chip that I could drop in my existing case and use with my existing HBA. Bonus points if it's in the ~$200 range.

# ? May 15, 2025 14:42

cruft: Oct 25, 2007

Less Fat Luke posted:

Does anyone have recommendations for a tiny cheap mini business PC that'll hold exactly one PCIe card (for an LSI external SAS HBA)? I'm currently using a really old full size case with a decade old Gigabyte Ultradurable motherboard that's giving up the ghost - onboard network port died, now one of 4 memory banks is dead. I want just something reasonably cheap with an Intel CPU and moderate transcoding abilities like the HP mini business desktops but I'm just not familiar with the names and lineups. A few years old is A-OK.

It's a shame too, I am overflowing with NUCs and Pis but there seems to be no easy way to connect PCIe devices like this without a gigantic enclosure that would cost more than just rebuilding this old-rear end media server.

I think the zimaboard will do this...

# ? May 15, 2025 15:13

Scruff McGruff: Feb 13, 2007; Jesus, kid, you're almost a detective. All you need now is a gun, a gut, and three ex-wives.

Less Fat Luke posted:

Does anyone have recommendations for a tiny cheap mini business PC that'll hold exactly one PCIe card (for an LSI external SAS HBA)? I'm currently using a really old full size case with a decade old Gigabyte Ultradurable motherboard that's giving up the ghost - onboard network port died, now one of 4 memory banks is dead. I want just something reasonably cheap with an Intel CPU and moderate transcoding abilities like the HP mini business desktops but I'm just not familiar with the names and lineups. A few years old is A-OK.

It's a shame too, I am overflowing with NUCs and Pis but there seems to be no easy way to connect PCIe devices like this without a gigantic enclosure that would cost more than just rebuilding this old-rear end media server.

Dell Optiplex and Lenovo Thinkcentre are the other two business lines you'll see most often. Their SFF versions support low profile PCIe. Or a Zimaboard like cruft said.

Speaking of, they just launched pre-orders for the Zimaboard 2. Intel N150, dual 2.5g NICs, and up to 16gb DDR5. Pretty nice package.

Scruff McGruff fucked around with this message at 15:24 on May 15, 2025

# ? May 15, 2025 15:18

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

cruft posted:

I think the zimaboard will do this...

That's neat but it's a little low powered (the transcoding specs even mention only up to 1080P). Plus it seems like nearly everything isn't in stock. I'm more looking for an actual Intel Core system, probably an i5 or even i3.

Scruff McGruff posted:

Dell Optiplex and Lenovo Thinkcentre are the other two business lines you'll see most often. Their SFF versions support low profile PCIe. Or a Zimaboard like cruft said.

Nice I will start scouring eBay + Kijiji, thanks!

# ? May 15, 2025 15:19

Big Mac: Jan 3, 2007

I have an optiplex, I think a 7050. Got 32gig of ram in it, an i5, and a quadro m4000 that can handle a cute amount of transcoding. Had to rig up a PSU out of my parts box that just... sits out on the desk... so I could power the GPU but whatever, it's in my garage and I physically log onto it every other month.

Probably paid $200 for the whole kit and kaboodle.

# ? May 15, 2025 15:24

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

Scruff McGruff posted:

Dell Optiplex and Lenovo Thinkcentre are the other two business lines you'll see most often. Their SFF versions support low profile PCIe. Or a Zimaboard like cruft said.

Speaking of, they just launched pre-orders for the Zimaboard 2. Intel N150, dual 2.5g NICs, and up to 16gb DDR5. Pretty nice package.

I suppose this could make a nice opnsense router?

# ? May 15, 2025 17:34

Doh004: Apr 22, 2007; Mmmmm Donuts...

Anyone have any recommendations for self hosting docker images? Tried out Gitlab briefly and I think it overwhelmed my machine.

# ? May 16, 2025 20:13

cruft: Oct 25, 2007

Doh004 posted:

Anyone have any recommendations for self hosting docker images? Tried out Gitlab briefly and I think it overwhelmed my machine.

forgejo!

# ? May 16, 2025 20:19

Hughlander: May 11, 2005

Doh004 posted:

Anyone have any recommendations for self hosting docker images? Tried out Gitlab briefly and I think it overwhelmed my machine.

I use gitlab since I was already using it for wiki, git, and CI.

# ? May 16, 2025 20:22

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

Does Plexamp work alright with podcasts?

Kind of thinking of locally hosting a bunch of episodes and running it through that to make it easier to sync between different devices I use at home versus on the road, on different operating systems etc.

# ? May 18, 2025 16:13

Nitrousoxide: May 30, 2011; do not buy a oneplus phone

I would personally recommend audiobookshelf. Despite the name, it also supports following podcasts if you setup a "podcast" library. And it has cross-device syncing and allows local downloads (a must for taking a plane ride). I believe it has both android and ios apps that you can point to your self-hosted instance.

# ? May 18, 2025 17:34

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

Nitrousoxide posted:

I would personally recommend audiobookshelf. Despite the name, it also supports following podcasts if you setup a "podcast" library. And it has cross-device syncing and allows local downloads (a must for taking a plane ride). I believe it has both android and ios apps that you can point to your self-hosted instance.

Thanks I will look into it !

# ? May 18, 2025 17:38

Well Played Mauer: Jun 1, 2003; We'll always have Cabo

ABS is great, yeah. The mobile app is solid, too. I believe it supports Car Play and Android Auto.

# ? May 18, 2025 18:35

Warbird: May 23, 2012; America's Favorite Dumbass

Did it go general access or do you still have to hope you can get in the TestFlight? Plappa has been a pretty solid replacement.

# ? May 19, 2025 05:21

brains: May 12, 2004

Less Fat Luke posted:

Does anyone have recommendations for a tiny cheap mini business PC that'll hold exactly one PCIe card (for an LSI external SAS HBA)? I'm currently using a really old full size case with a decade old Gigabyte Ultradurable motherboard that's giving up the ghost - onboard network port died, now one of 4 memory banks is dead. I want just something reasonably cheap with an Intel CPU and moderate transcoding abilities like the HP mini business desktops but I'm just not familiar with the names and lineups. A few years old is A-OK.

It's a shame too, I am overflowing with NUCs and Pis but there seems to be no easy way to connect PCIe devices like this without a gigantic enclosure that would cost more than just rebuilding this old-rear end media server.

along similar lines, any recommendations for the smallest used SFF (or SBC?) that can fit a single small arc or quadro card? looking to build a new server for a light machine learning workload, and would probably move a plex server over as well, but looking for something with the smallest footprint possible.

# ? May 19, 2025 14:36

Kibner: Oct 21, 2008; Acguy Supremacy

brains posted:

along similar lines, any recommendations for the smallest used SFF (or SBC?) that can fit a single small arc or quadro card? looking to build a new server for a light machine learning workload, and would probably move a plex server over as well, but looking for something with the smallest footprint possible.

depending on how many drives you need, one of these is probably the best bet:

https://www.jonsbo.com/en/products/N3.html
https://www.jonsbo.com/en/products/N5Black.html

e: oh, you meant a used system, not just a case. my bad. these are still great cases for lots of storage plus enough room for a small gpu while having a small footprint.

# ? May 19, 2025 15:09

Doh004: Apr 22, 2007; Mmmmm Donuts...

cruft posted:

forgejo!

Will try this out! Easy enough to install as a app.

Hughlander posted:

I use gitlab since I was already using it for wiki, git, and CI.

I ended up giving this another go as it turns out I had over configured the VM it was running on which was causing a whole lot of other issues. Sadly, I don't think this is going to work for me because I run my server behind Cloudflare Tunnels to provide access and it looks like you cannot disable SSL for the registry (and it fails the SSL handshake when tunneled). I did a little bit of investigation and found a newer topic about a request to disable SSL for the registry but no movement on it.

# ? May 19, 2025 16:18

brains: May 12, 2004

Kibner posted:

depending on how many drives you need, one of these is probably the best bet:

https://www.jonsbo.com/en/products/N3.html
https://www.jonsbo.com/en/products/N5Black.html

e: oh, you meant a used system, not just a case. my bad. these are still great cases for lots of storage plus enough room for a small gpu while having a small footprint.

thanks, yeah i should have added that local storage isn't too important, maybe a pair of m.2 drives, as i already have a synology NAS. i already have an old HP 800 g4 mini as a proxmox host but it won't fit a GPU.

# ? May 19, 2025 16:44

RoboBoogie: Sep 18, 2008

Setting up a VPS for a non profit group with a low IT budget.

Cant figure out what to use for file storage and group chat

Nextcloud talk + nextcloud sounds like a winner but its built on ancient technology. is there a benefit to use opencloud or OCIS?

what would we use for group chat? i prefer something with SSO so people can just use one userid/pass for everything.

# ? May 19, 2025 17:37

Shalhavet: Dec 10, 2010; This post is terrible; Doctor Rope

brains posted:

along similar lines, any recommendations for the smallest used SFF (or SBC?) that can fit a single small arc or quadro card? looking to build a new server for a light machine learning workload, and would probably move a plex server over as well, but looking for something with the smallest footprint possible.

Lenovo P-series Tiny are 1L USFF workstations with a PCIe slot.

# ? May 19, 2025 22:36

brains: May 12, 2004

Shalhavet posted:

Lenovo P-series Tiny are 1L USFF workstations with a PCIe slot.

looks perfect, thanks!

# ? May 20, 2025 00:23

~Coxy: Dec 9, 2003; R.I.P. Inter-OS Sass - b.2000AD d.2003AD

Aren't most/all half-height GPUs double-slot width?

# ? May 20, 2025 04:28

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

~Coxy posted:

Aren't most/all half-height GPUs double-slot width?

The only one I know of that isn�t, is a the Sparkle version of the Intel A310.

# ? May 20, 2025 10:17

dabre_aiamim: Oct 23, 2008; Lipstick Apathy

Yeah, they need single-slot height cards like that Sparkle, an AMD 6400/6500, or the Yeston 3050 if you can find one.

If you 3D print a slightly taller case you can fit dual height cards (and get better airflow). ITG Gear on YouTube has some videos on builds of a couple of the models for gaming purposes but also has links to files to print cases.

# ? May 20, 2025 11:30

Shalhavet: Dec 10, 2010; This post is terrible; Doctor Rope

The smaller Quadro cards fit, those mini workstations usually come with a P620 or similar.

# ? May 20, 2025 12:41

cruft: Oct 25, 2007

How is password sharing in Bitwarden these days?

When I was running it at my last job a few years ago, it was kind of cumbersome and confusing. But as my family grows, 1Password is starting to get expensive, and I'm growing wary of gigantic centralized service providers where the basket is big enough for every egg in the world.

# ? May 20, 2025 14:30

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

cruft posted:

How is password sharing in Bitwarden these days?

When I was running it at my last job a few years ago, it was kind of cumbersome and confusing. But as my family grows, 1Password is starting to get expensive, and I'm growing wary of gigantic centralized service providers where the basket is big enough for every egg in the world.

It still does that goofy thing where you set up sharing groups and assign secrets to one or another instead of just being able to share a single secret to an email, but at least they're called Vaults now and you're not calling your family an Organization or whatever

# ? May 20, 2025 14:34

Hughlander: May 11, 2005

Doh004 posted:

Will try this out! Easy enough to install as a app.

I ended up giving this another go as it turns out I had over configured the VM it was running on which was causing a whole lot of other issues. Sadly, I don't think this is going to work for me because I run my server behind Cloudflare Tunnels to provide access and it looks like you cannot disable SSL for the registry (and it fails the SSL handshake when tunneled). I did a little bit of investigation and found a newer topic about a request to disable SSL for the registry but no movement on it.

I have ssl disabled for the registry! It's through docker compose but one sec...

code:

    environment:
      GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
        external_url 'http://gitlab.${DOMAIN}'
        gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2224
        gitlab_rails['registry_enabled'] = true
        registry_external_url "https://registry.${DOMAIN}"
        registry_nginx['listen_port']  = 5001
        registry_nginx['listen_https'] = false

just turn off listen_https for registry_nginx

# ? May 20, 2025 21:29

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# ? May 23, 2025 00:32

Doh004: Apr 22, 2007; Mmmmm Donuts...

Hughlander posted:

I have ssl disabled for the registry! It's through docker compose but one sec...

code:

    environment:
      GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
        external_url 'http://gitlab.${DOMAIN}'
        gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2224
        gitlab_rails['registry_enabled'] = true
        registry_external_url "https://registry.${DOMAIN}"
        registry_nginx['listen_port']  = 5001
        registry_nginx['listen_https'] = false

just turn off listen_https for registry_nginx

Hey thank you so much for that, I got the login to work! Now if only I did things in my free time to actually use anything I self host...

# ? May 21, 2025 00:35

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