home server How to make a home server? (Kinda like the one Linus uses)

[Shads]

I was wondering if anyone could help me plan out a home server. I'm no stranger to PC building, but networking isn't something I work with often. I was looking for something I can access via any device connected to my home WiFi and Ethernet, and also when I'm not at home for streaming movies, accessing files, etc, much like Linus has shown in videos that his home server is capable of.

 

My basic needs/info:
- Stream and access files from any connected device in home

- Stream and access from my phone and laptop when I'm not at home

- Simplicity and size, if I have to start messing with rack mounts and LSI controllers and all that, I'm gonna be a little frustrated  
- Cost: My budget is about $700 USD, but slightly over is fine, and I'm very open to upgrade paths of roughly $800 each year

So yeah. That's the info I have, and I have no idea where else to start. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

7 minutes ago, Shads said:

I was wondering if anyone could help me plan out a home server. I'm no stranger to PC building, but networking isn't something I work with often. I was looking for something I can access via any device connected to my home WiFi and Ethernet, and also when I'm not at home for streaming movies, accessing files, etc, much like Linus has shown in videos that his home server is capable of.

 

My basic needs/info:
- Stream and access files from any connected device in home

- Stream and access from my phone and laptop when I'm not at home

- Simplicity and size, if I have to start messing with rack mounts and LSI controllers and all that, I'm gonna be a little frustrated  
- Cost: My budget is about $700 USD, but slightly over is fine, and I'm very open to upgrade paths of roughly $800 each year

So yeah. That's the info I have, and I have no idea where else to start. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

You can probably make do with an older OEM system and just throw a couple of new HDDS in there. I would personally do that as it's the cheapest and simplest way for tasks that  shouldn't be too demanding. That being said, that's where my expertise ends because I've haven't experimented with home streaming, someone probably knows a good all in one solution for the software side.

[ignaloidas]

you mean Plex? for that you get maybye 2 good hard drives, pentium should be enough, just need enough networking speed.

[Totalschaden1997]

I'd personally go for a FreeNAS powered box with the plex plugin for video streaming.

Power mainly depends on usage, so how many steams you're running/transcoding at once

[TheKDub]

What I did was took a old laptop with a 500GB hard drive, slapped Ubuntu Server on it, then set up a nextcloud server. Now I have essentially a 500GB dropbox. (With some extra features, including extra bugs, but it works the majority of the time, and it's free).

 

You don't need a expensive server to do something like what Linus did, as long as the CPU is capable of what you need, and there is enough RAM and storage, you should be fine.

[heimdali]

There´s an ML350 g8 for about 450 on ebay here.  If you want a server, I´d look for one.

 

Of course, you don´t necessarily need server hardware.  It´s way more fun, though.

 

19" inch cases are the best; anything else is much more likely to be frustrating.  It doesn´t mean that you need a rack, and there are some that can be used as stand alone or rack mounted, just as you like.