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Self-Hosting on a Raspberry Pi, Proxmox, Homelabs, and Home Servers
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HowTo Geek ☛ 5 Lightweight Services You Can Self-Host on a Raspberry Pi
If you have a spare Raspberry Pi sitting around unused, it’s time to put it to work. While you can go all-out and build elaborate contraptions with Pis, here are five lightweight services that you can self-host on your spare (or aging) Pi without spending any extra cash on accessories.
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XDA ☛ This Proxmox feature changed how I manage my backups
Ask any computing enthusiast for some words of wisdom, and you’ll probably hear them talk about backups at some point. While it may seem like an overrated piece of advice in the tech community, frequently backing up data is one of the most essential maintenance tasks for your devices – even more so when you’ve got experimental home labs that can break with the slightest mistake.
Luckily, most virtualization platforms include some backup utility to help you recover your virtual guests from a botched experiment. Proxmox, in particular, offers a bunch of ways to back up your data, and you can’t go wrong with any of them. However, I consider Proxmox Backup Server the best utility to save LXC and VM files, even though it requires extra time and monetary investment than other methods.
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XDA ☛ I switched from Proxmox to XCP-ng for my home lab, but I'd rather go back to PVE
Even with the free version of ESXi reinstated earlier this year, Proxmox is one of the most popular options for home labbers. However, it’s far from the only option, and you can build a reliable server with TrueNAS, Unraid, Harvester, and a bunch of other alternatives. Powered by the Xen hypervisor, XCP-ng is another Proxmox rival that has been making the rounds for a while now.
So, I figured I could try rebuilding my home lab by centering it around XCP-ng instead of Proxmox as my next project. And now that I’ve finished the experiment, I’ll probably move back to Proxmox. It’s not that XCP-ng isn’t good enough, but PVE simply ships with a ton of features and massive community support that are borderline essential for my home lab. If you’re curious, here’s my detailed log for the experiment.
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XDA ☛ 5 things I do to protect my home lab from potentially malicious services
I built my home lab solely to embark on distro-hopping (mis)adventures. But over time, I began using my server nodes for other purposes, including building wacky computing projects and sharpening my DevOps skills. Running FOSS apps is also one of them, and since I often encounter new self-hosted services while researching for new articles, my application stack tends to grow with each passing week.
Besides the extra power consumption of my nodes, a major drawback of hosting every cool-looking service I come across is that a malicious app can sneak its way into my arsenal and wreak havoc. As such, my paranoid self relies on several preventive measures to save my precious servers from potentially harmful services.
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XDA ☛ My home server goes to sleep when I don't need it, and instantly wakes up when I do
Having your network-attached storage (NAS) with spinning disks — or any device with hard drives — spin down regularly isn't a great idea in the grand scheme of storage performance and reliability. Having these motors stop and start causes increased wear on the internal parts, which can lead to potential data-related issues. The same goes for your home lab servers, but what if you make the switch to SSDs? That's precisely what I pondered with my latest system build, rocking an AMD Ryzen Threadripper and a few NVMe PCIe solid-state storage drives. So, armed with a UPS, smart plug, and a few minutes, I configured this server to shut down when not needed.
This doesn't apply to every server since it depends on what the system is used for, but for this machine specifically, having it halt through the night doesn't impact smart home or home lab functionality. What it does do is save me a considerable sum since the system is otherwise running idle for around eight hours or so. It's possible to take this one step further and have the server gracefully shut down when not needed, even through the day, firing back up without sacrificing instant availability. Proxmox, Home Assistant, and a $12 smart plug are all I require to get the job done, making this a great, affordable addition to your server infrastructure.