this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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The amount of servers running Windows out there is depressing to me
I've had my PC shut down for updates three times now, while using it as a Jellyfin server from another room. And I've only been using it for this purpose for six months or so.
I can't imagine running anything critical on it.
Windows server, the OS, runs differently from desktop windows. So if you're using desktop windows and expecting it to run like a server, well, that's on you. However, I ran windows server 2016 and then 2019 for quite a few years just doing general homelab stuff and it is really a pain compared to Linux which I switched to on my server about a year ago. Server stuff is just way easier on Linux in my experience.
It doesn't have to, though. Linux manages to do both just fine, with relatively minor compromises.
Expecting an OS to handle keeping software running is not a big ask.
Yup, I use Linux to run a Jellyfin server, as well as a few others things. The only problem is that the CPU I'm using (Ryzen 1st gen) will crash every couple weeks or so (known hardware fault, I never bothered to RMA), but that's honestly not that bad since I can just walk over and restart it. Before that, it ran happily on an old Phenom II from 2009 for something like 10 years (old PC), and I mostly replaced it because the Ryzen uses a bit less electricity (enough that I used to turn the old PC off at night; this one runs 24/7 as is way more convenient).
So aside from this hardware issue, Linux has been extremely solid. I have a VPS that tunnels traffic into my Jellyfin and other services from outside, and it pretty much never goes down (I guess the host reboots it once a year or something for hardware maintenance). I run updates when I want to (when I remember, which is about monthly), and it only goes down for like 30 sec to reboot after updates are applied.
So yeah, Linux FTW, once it's set up, it just runs.
You can try to use watchdog to automatically restart on crashes. Or go through RMA.
I could, but it's a pretty rare nuisance. I'd rather just replace the CPU than go through RMA, a newer gen CPU is quite inexpensive, I could probably get by with a <$100 CPU since anything AM4 should work (I have an X370 with support for 5XXX series CPUs).
I'm personally looking at replacing it with a much lower power chip, like maybe something ARM. I just haven't found something that would fit well since I need 2-4 SATA (PCIe card could work), 16GB+ RAM, and a relatively strong CPU. I'm hopeful that with ARM Snapdragon chips making their way to laptops and RISC-V getting more available, I'll find something that'll fit that niche well. Otherwise, I'll just upgrade when my wife or I upgrade, which is what I usually do.
4 SATA, 8GB RAM is easy to find. What do you need 16 gigs for? Compiling Gentoo?
Star64 for ARM and Quartz64 for RV.
Running a few services:
You got those backwards.
But yeah, I've had my eye on those, but I think 8GB will be a bit limiting, and the CPU in both the Star64 and Quartz64 may be a bit weak. I was about to buy one, then decided to upgrade my desktop PC to a SFF PC, which meant I had some decent hardware lying around. It's mostly up and running now (still working on Collabora/Only Office), so I'll be monitoring RAM usage to see if I really need 16GB or if I can get away with 8GB instead, but I have a feeling something like either of those two SBCs will be a bit limiting.
I don't need all of those services, but I definitely want the first two, and they wouldn't need to be used at the same time (e.g. if I'm watching a movie, I'm probably not messing with big docs in NextCloud). The last one is very nice to have, but it could be a separate box (I'm gusesing Quartz64 would be plenty, though I may want to play with object detection).
At 8GB it won't matter going for 16. Even 4 is a lot. It's not like you watch same video many times.
Wierd. Is it not rsync? I ran mirror for my local network on 1GB SBC.
I was joking about compiling Gentoo. Might need that much RAM here.
So, powerful CPU or hardware encoder.
My brain got SIGBUS.
Not bad decision. Why buy something new, when something old works too.
Maybe. I wish I knew PC-style computers on ARM or RV with upgradable memory. Maybe something from SiFive? Dunno.
I can probably run the CI/CD on my desktop, so if that's the only bottleneck, I can work around it. Or I can spin up a temporary VPS to handle it. I'll have a VPS always running to traffic over my VPN, so it could also manage orchestration (sounds like a fun project imo).
It's just one more thing running. It's not a ton of resources, but it runs an HTTPS server and more RAM means faster updates. Since I run Tumbleweed, an update could be 1-2GB (everything gets rebuilt when a core dependency gets updated).
I could probably run it on a Raspberry Pi (have one for RetroPie), so I'm not too worried about it.
I probably won't need that, I'd just store the video in whatever format the cameras send in. I do have a GPU on this PC (nothing special, just a GTX 750ti), but I think I could live without that if I moved to an SBC.
The main thing I'm concerned about it Collabora/OnlyOffice, which is really RAM heavy. I'll probably only have 1-2 users at a time (me or my wife), and I just think 8GB will be a little lean.
I was super close to getting a Quartz64, but realized upgrading the motherboard and case on my desktop would be about the same price (as Quartz64 + case + PCIe SATA card) and the Quartz64 only has 1x PCIe, so I went for the upgrade (had a Ryzen 1700 w/o motherboard and a couple cases just sitting around). I'd love to go ARM, and a 16GB RAM SBC would probably convince me to switch.
Or motherboards with replacable RAM
Off the car lot, we say 'request'. But good on you for changing careers.
I really have no idea why you think your choice of wording would be relevant to the discussion in any way, but OK...