LIGISTX

Also to note… it won’t provide any additional speed either. There is literally no advantage, only disadvantages due to complicated routing and potential packets not knowing where to go…. Which will literally just reduce performance.

Just use one router. There is 0 reason to separate this into two subnets. Only use 1 router, plug everything into it, and use switches where required if you need more ports for more devices.

They are very expensive, but they are expensive for a reason... they are actually good. Level1techs will support any resolution you have, variable refresh for Gsync or freesync, HDR (as far as I know), and do not add any input lag. I wouldn't run a gaming machine through a KVM unless it was one of these... but they do cost quite a bit. But, again, they cost a lot because they are not cheap to manufacture - quality stuff is expensive.

If you don’t trust them…. Just use wireguard. The only data those other options can collect would potentially be IP’s and usage amount, but they wouldn’t know what your data is since they are using WireGuard as the transport mechanism anyways. But if you don’t trust them, cut them out entirely and run WireGuard.

Ya I just googled it, it doesn’t have graphics. You will need something to set up the system regardless of what OS you pick. So if you have a GPU in a different PC, you will need to borrow it for initial setup. Unraid is a good option.

Does that happen often enough to warrant this? My home internet goes down maybe 4-5 time a year…

I forget, does the 3600x have a built in igpu? You only need a GPU to set up the OS… so if it has one, you’re good to go. If not, you need some way to get display out at least to instal the OS. What OS do you plan to use..?

Wow, nothing is only 1 dollar a month these days, that’s incredible.

That CPU is totally fine. I’d pick up some RAM, a case and good quality PSU and run it.

Don't add the SSD, it won’t help anything. Your system can already easily saturate a gigabit network link… Definitely do not add is as a metadata vdev. If your metadata vdev dies, all data is lost… so if you did want to add a metadata vdev it needs its own redundancy at at least the same level as the pool. But, again, for a gigabit network doing standard NAS duty, the speed gains are just not relevant anyways. Keep things simple, simple is almost always better for 24/7/365 applications like a NAS.

Will you be able to have them put the router in bridge/DMZ mode if you get your own router behind it? You will need this unless you don’t mind being double NATed. I run pfsense as my edge router (don’t use pfsense as a switch, even if you buy a 4 port NIC, use one port for WAN and one for LAN…. Use switches as switches, pfsense is not a switch, it’s a firewall), and then I run UniFi switches and AP’s. Vlans all play perfectly nicely, and I run pfblockerNG on the firewall instead of pihole… so I can fully block garbage at the edge of my network. I believe the newer UniFi firewall/routers are decent options as well, I just personally don’t know much about them.

I have no idea how to file brows on a phone in a way that doesn’t suck… I never need to tho. I'd always use my laptop if I need to access SMB shares. I do have nextcloud running so I can access stuff via that is needed, but I rarely do.

Why not just connect to your home for this? It isn’t the fastest, but for DNS it should be fine. I run a split tunnel for my devices when I am out and about, spaniels going to a full tunnel depending on where and what network, and it’s always a fine experience.

You set up a dynamic DNS (their example shows duckDNS)? Opened the port in your router?

Why do you think that? PiVPN is just a simple and easy way to instal either openvpn or wireguard... I have used it many times. Once you instal wireguard, you need to open a port to allow the connection through your router/firewall, then once you are VPNed in, its as if you are at your home on your wifi. You access your NAS exactly as you would when you are home.

HBA: https://www.ebay.com/itm/133485835643?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=OwHu05S9RzG&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=B1xTkXm_Qfe&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY It comes with SAS to SATA adapters, and it’ll do 8 drives out of the box. If you ever need more, you can just buy a SAS expander. How many drives are you planning on needing?

This. I forgot to put that in my reply… Don’t even consider using a “cache” device with ZFS… there is no need for this in a home NAS unless you know exactly why you need it and have a good understand of ZFS to explain why. If you don’t, you don’t need it and it will just make things 1) cost more 2) potentially more susceptible to data loss. I suggest doing more homework on the truenas forums, read all of their posts which explain all of this in detail, then ask questions. They have so much literature on these topics you can spend days reading and learning, then you will have a much better idea what your talking about (ZFS doesn’t really have “cache drives”, you’d either be referring to L2ARC or a SLOG, neither of which you need, trust me).

For backing up iPhone, the sad but true reality is… just pay for iCloud. It’s the only solution that really works, besides back it up to a pc/mac and then backing up that machine. The only seamless way to backup an iPhone is via iCloud, which is one of the reasons Apple is getting sued right now by the US. As far as checksumming, yes. ZFS scrubs are what will check for and correct and big flips, and it’s easy to set up in truenas. I have mine run every 2 weeks, Wednesday night at like 1am. You should also schedule SMART checks, I think I do smart checks once or twice a week.

I suggest you take a step back and actually try to understand what the community is trying to explain to you in all of their posts. I understand you are young and just trying to learn, that is a really good thing! But you need to take a step back and internalize what folks are telling you... since they are all correct. Speedtest is not "lying", the numbers it is giving you are correct; speedtest.net is, without a doubt, able to give you 100mbps results. But the question is why, and that question has been answered by 3 or 4 people... There are really only 2 possible explinations, neither of which you will easily be able to determine, with a potential but unnlikely 3rd option. Option 1: your ISP is seeing you are trying to hit a speedtest.net server, and they are artificually lifting the 50mbps limit on your connection to that server, and that server only. This is not difficult for them to do... but they will almost certainly never admit to doing it. They do this to try and make people beleive they are getting more then they pay for, but in reality, they are only lifiting limits to certain speed testing sites. Option 2: your ISP hosts a speedtest.net server on its own infrastrucutre. Your ISP may be able to route your traffic within its own network at 100 mbps even if you are paying for a slower speed, but once you exit the ISP's network that is where it puts the brakes on and slows things down. Potential option 3, but not very likely - the burst idea. In certain bursts, if the network isn't overloaded, they may provide a little more than you are paying for. I pay for 500/25, and I almost always get 600/25. They don't guarantee 600, but I typically do get 600-625 ish. I am sure if I try and download something when everyone else is trying to download something (I have cable, so it is impacted by how everyone else in your local area is hitting the network) it will likley struggle to keep me at 500, but itll certainly try to (and usually does, I rarely see anything under 500). These are really your only options. And if you are paying for 48... you have no leg to stand on, and have almost 0 chance of making any other connection exceed 50mbps, its being limited by your ISP... they own the pipes, and they get to put speed limits on them based on what tier of service you pay for.

I run my homelab on a pair of 980 (non pro’s) and it has been fine. Looking up benchmarks helped me prove to myself this was a fine plan prior to purchase as I had the same questions.

Without reading this thread, I’ll just say, SSD’s last an obscenely long time. I wouldn’t even worry about this at all. I have never had an SSD die from old age, and I still have some SSD’s from 2014…. I really wouldn’t worry about this too much. Windows enables TRIM by default on SSD’s, that plus internal wear leveling will keep the drive healthy for a very long time. Your PC will be obsolete before your SSD dies in any normal use case.

Backblaze B2 user here - highly recomend. And its built into truenas so it works seemlessly.

I know game servers typically like a lot of GHz, but it also really depends on the game. FWIW, I run a e5 2660 v4 and it idles at about 2% usage... I have VM''s consisting of: pfsense truenas multiple ubuntu server home assistant windows over a dozen docker contaienrs unfi controller probably a few things I am missing, and even when doing some plex transcoding I never see it over 10%. I actually recently turned some of the cores off in a likely vein attmept to save a few watts of power and heat, but I just don't need all these threads... I only went Xeon on socket 2011 for the RAM and PCIe, that was the main reason I upgraded from my i3 6100 I previously had for my homelab. I can't speak to the game servers though, those may hit the server harder, but I still don't imagine you need all of that power for a home server.

What are you intending to actually do on the machine..? What will the VM's be doing?

If you need to transcode down from 4k to 1080p, the best option is a GPU. But... I bet a current gen i3 would be sufficient to transcode 4k to 1080p. I can do it on 6 threads of my Xeon which is way, way, WAY slower than a current gen intel chip (I only give my plex VM 6 cores of the 28 my server actually has, but those 28 are very slow compared to what modern chips can do).