home mail/file server for under ....$300?

[JCBiggs]

That's the the goal... first and foremost.  yes i know the IP's block the ports you need, but thats ok. I can work around it one way or another. (there is multiple options)

 

secondly... why.... well... services like protonmail offer great security (if you trust them), but I don't fully trust them for a couple of reasons.  mainly they haven't open-sourced the back end (which most likely means they are scanning all your email..though they claim its for "spam reasons) and number two, they now maintain openpgp... i haven't seen any independent reviews for either of these in the last few months even though they have it posted on the site they are looking for independent security audits.  Not a fan of the person selling the keys, also controlling how the lock works. 

 

disregarding whether you trust them or not, its still not YOUR server... if the government wants to search a server that you own, and is on your premises...well.. now you have a lot of options.  they HAVE to give you a warrant, and you can plead the 5th to stop from giving them any encryption keys... so,,, from a legal standpoint...also more secure.

 

 

That all said,  I'm going to be setting up a machine to run 2 virtual  instances of ubuntu 14.04.  one only for the mail server, and the other to host samba shares.  (i may add other virtual machines later)

 

 

Lets talk hardware. right now im leaning towards something like this...

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R710-Virtualization-Server-E5620-2-4GHz-8-CORES-32GB-2x-146GB-/232121240485

 

 

 

what say you?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Server looks good if you don't care about noise or power. If you want it quiet, get something like a dell t20 or t110.

 

4 minutes ago, JCBiggs said:

host samba shares.

Id suggest you do files sharing on metal. File sharing in vm's always seems to cause issues for me.

[MedievalMatt]

Im actually attempting to do this using a raspberry pi... which you could pickup for ~40 USD.

[JCBiggs]

purchasing multiple servers is out of the question for now.  maybe in the future.. im really only going to be using the file server to store all the extra data from our phones and cameras...not for day to day hammering on it like a business class machine. 

[JCBiggs]

11 minutes ago, MedievalMatt said:

Im actually attempting to do this using a raspberry pi... which you could pickup for ~40 USD.

that would be interesting..for now though.. i think i would like to stick with more standard hardware.. i need to get it working asap.