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This is a running log of my adventures in technology and the challenges I’ve faced.

I’ve been working on getting a home server up and running. Let’s talk a little bit about that.

HP Z420 That’s the computer I chose to get this adventure off the ground. Shortly after learning about such a machine from my coworkers, I grabbed it off eBay. It’s a pretty decent machine, albeit older.

Specs

E5-1650 V2
64 GB ECC DDR3 1333 MHz
1x8 TB HDD + 1x3 TB HDD and a 128 GB SSD as a boot drive

Configuring the machine

The first big choice I had to make was what operating system to run. Originally I was thinking Ubuntu as I have some experience with it, but due to the machines I interact with at work, I chose Windows Server 2012. Funnily enough, after about a day of tinkering with Windows Server 2012 I did switch over to Ubuntu as I was having issues configuring user permissions.

But about a day after using Ubuntu, I encountered more problems and, rather than resolve them, opted to switch yet again and went to Windows 10 Pro. I don’t really know why I chose a non-server OS to host a server on, but I had most of my desired applications set up properly. We’ll get into that later.

But (yep, there’s another but) I plan on going back to Windows Server 2012 as it can do things that I’ll need down the road. So, now that that whole saga has been explained, let’s move on.

Desired applications

“What do I even want a home server for?” is what I asked myself when the topic came up at work. So far this is what I’ve come up with.

I wanted a place to store all of my photos, documents, videos, music, and random other things.
The big draw for me here is access to all of my stuff without needing the internet. It’s faster and I own the data.

TV and movie streaming

With movies and TV shows becoming increasingly hard to find all in one place, having it all in one spot for personal access is a super nice feature.
Sometimes you can’t even find a piece of media online due to owners deciding to not make it available in my country.
Plex lets me send content straight to any TV and phone in my home. This means my family can watch their shows at any time, ad-free and buffer-free.

Game servers

Something I’m really looking forward to is playing video games with my son once he’s older.
I got the jump on it and started hosting a Minecraft server for friends to join. One day my son will join me in one of my favorite games of all time.
I’d also like to set up a Project Zomboid server too. Really whatever game I can host, I want to host.

Home automation

Currently I don’t have any smart devices to control, but I know eventually I will.
It would be nice to have a dashboard of modifiable controls for home appliances.

The learning opportunities

I enjoy acquiring new skills and learn most effectively when I can actually apply those skills.
Since I work in an environment dealing with server-related tasks and plan on continuing along this path, it only makes sense to practice those skills at home as a hobby.