I’m looking to re-purpose an old desktop into a multi-purpose home server. I’m looking for some advise on how to set things up in a way that won’t bite me in the ass later. I’m a confident Linux user, but have limited docker experience. I’m looking at using TrueNAS scale for: straight cloud storage, syncthings, home assistant, and tailscale to access it. If things go swimmingly, I might add jellyfin or *arr apps.
Here’s the hardware I already have:
- i7 6700
- 32 GB DDR4 (non-ECC)
- GTX 1060
- Storage:
- 1 TB NVME SSD
- 250 GB SATA SSD
- 4x 4 TB WD Black HDD
So, here are my noob questions:
- Is this system capable enough to handle the things I want to do?
- My first pass at research says I should use TrueCharts for Tailscale. For Home Assistant, should I also install through TrueCharts? I was reading that you can’t install community docker plugins for home assistant, but I’m not sure if that’s something I’ll need. I also don’t know if I that’s something I need. The alternative is a separate VM, but that seems a lot more complicated.
- How should I set up my drives? Should the 1 TB NVME drive be the boot drive, is that better used for something else. I’ve done some basic reading on vdevs/pools, but I’m not sure how syncthings/home assistant/other apps fit into the picture. Any good resources you could point me to for understanding this better?
My older sibling did something similar - getting Ubuntu installed on my very first laptop (a 9" netbook) back in 2008 and replacing windows XP. But be warned: it is a slippery slope. At the time , I just wanted a computer that I could take class notes on (high school), and never wanted to touch programming or the terminal. Now I have a PhD in computer science. I still don't use Arch though.