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Noob Needs help

Cwizi
By Cwizi
in Servers, NAS, and Home Lab
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Hello!

I am currently wanting to get into homelabbing/server management. So starting off I want to be able to run multiple Minecraft servers, set up a PLEX server, maybe my own email server among other things cause all of them sound so interesting.

I am looking for what hardware is needed. I have a pretty high budget so I would like to get some items that are pretty future proof if you know what I mean. I have enough space in my house so size is not really an issue as well.

Also, what is the best like server software? I have heard some names but it all sounds like it comes down to personal preference. I really want to learn Linux so something with that base would be cool. What do you all recommend?

 

Thank you very much for helping start this journey!

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15 minutes ago, Cwizi said:

Hello!

I am currently wanting to get into homelabbing/server management. So starting off I want to be able to run multiple Minecraft servers, set up a PLEX server, maybe my own email server among other things cause all of them sound so interesting.

I am looking for what hardware is needed. I have a pretty high budget so I would like to get some items that are pretty future proof if you know what I mean. I have enough space in my house so size is not really an issue as well.

Also, what is the best like server software? I have heard some names but it all sounds like it comes down to personal preference. I really want to learn Linux so something with that base would be cool. What do you all recommend?

 

Thank you very much for helping start this journey!

Please define "pretty high budget". Setting up a mail server at home that connects to the outside is risky because you need to transmit your ip address to the public and open ports to make that happen. 

If you are new to Linux in general, I would wait with that idea for now. 

Before you buy and setup a server, maybe try to learn Linux first by getting using a spare HDD in your current PC or adding one to install Linux onto. If you really want to learn, use something like Debian Mint (my preference) or Ubuntu. Those are really easy to use for beginners and will provide a desktop like on windows to make it easier to begin with. You then have the ability to setup a server-like environment on your computer and tinker with it.

There are several ways on how to setup minecraft and plex servers. Depending on how skilled you are by then, they vary in difficulty. Using virtual machines would be the obvious choice but you will reserve resources you may need somewhere else, then there is docker, using containers to isolate the games and the plex server. Those are topics you need to tinker in first an get a picture of what best fits your needs and budget. 

I mean if you really want to spend money, getting an AMD Epic based server is not a bad investment but probably total overkill for whatever you want to setup at home. Also consider by running multiple minecraft servers that can are accessible outside your home, you need a really stable internet connection with low latency and a decent upload speed (10 mbit/s or higher if you run 2 servers and want to use the same connection yourself as well).

With servers it is easy to overspend so make a plan on how many instances (games and other stuff) need to run 24/7. and try to get familiar with Linux first. You can see what kind of resources each applications will draw from your current system to get a picture of what you might need. Also setting them up will require a lot of console work (no clicking for the most part, command-line only)

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35 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

Please define "pretty high budget". I would say just about 500 ish. 

 

I really like the idea of just running it on another hard drive and using that to learn Linux. I really do want it to be a separate PC though because then I would not have to use my hardware in order to run the minecraft server. I also am completely fine with using command line items. I want to learn it! 

I also have wonderful internet. Lucky to have gigabit in my area. 

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