Is this a realistic approach?

[grosmo]

Context: I just wanted an old pc to watch stuff online in bed, got sucked into the home server mindset and am overwhelmed with the options.
So, now I'm looking for something that would allow me that and also serve as a jellyfin server (and possibly more) I could wake on lan if needed (by me or the 1 client I would have).

Hardware: fujitsu q556, i7 6700t, 1tb ssd, 2 1tb hhd and whatever ram you think is optimal

Summary: Is this viable? What OS would work best for my setup? Podman or bare metal? Security recommendations? (Wireguard, caddy, fail2ban, etc)

[jellynoob1994]

Context: I just wanted an old pc to watch stuff online in bed, got sucked into the home server mindset and am overwhelmed with the options.
So, now I'm looking for something that would allow me that and also serve as a jellyfin server (and possibly more) I could wake on lan if needed (by me or the 1 client I would have).

Hardware: fujitsu q556, i7 6700t, 1tb ssd, 2 1tb hhd and whatever ram you think is optimal

Summary: Is this viable? What OS would work best for my setup? Podman or bare metal? Security recommendations? (Wireguard, caddy, fail2ban, etc)

Greetings fellow future home lab'er 

Tbh start small if you are running just locally dont bother with caddy fail2ban etc just yet


Os wise thats another Rabbit Hole
If you are used  windows use windows 

If you are feeling bold go Linux
 That step isnt that deep that it used to be

If you want easy go proxmoxx
( In my opinion dont shoot me)

Hardware wise 

Every "modern" cpu ram should be good enough to start invest in an intel based gpu for transcoding the a380 cards are solid and low wattage and dirt cheap

And just start fuck around and find out

Do things try things break things and fix things

Good luck and may the force be with you

[mudiwudi]

Context: I just wanted an old pc to watch stuff online in bed, got sucked into the home server mindset and am overwhelmed with the options.
So, now I'm looking for something that would allow me that and also serve as a jellyfin server (and possibly more) I could wake on lan if needed (by me or the 1 client I would have).

Hardware: fujitsu q556, i7 6700t, 1tb ssd, 2 1tb hhd and whatever ram you think is optimal

Summary: Is this viable? What OS would work best for my setup? Podman or bare metal? Security recommendations? (Wireguard, caddy, fail2ban, etc)

The complexity of this topic is much higher then the context you're giving.
Also, because of the high amount of possibilities you/we have, the objective should be absolutely clear ("possibly more" -> there is a huge difference between "more" and "not more"  ).

Anyway, my thoughts/suggestions:
- WakeOnLan is possible (depends on the BIOS/UEFI options yo have), but it's time is over. Today usually a server is "always on" and if you care about power consumption buy components with a low power consumption and try getting unused hardware to sleep (which sometimes also causes problems). If you go for WOL, keep in mind a WOL request is a broadcast which can't be routed without helper. Also, think about how you shutdown the compute after you used it's services.
- As long as you're just locally connected (it sounds like), you do not have to care about wireguard, caddy and other security topics related to "internet-problems".

An easy approach for ramping up a homelab could be:
- linux on baremetal
- docker and docker-compose
- run jellyfin as docker container

This way it would be easy to move to another server (by copying the docker mapped directories) as long as you're using docker.
And it's also possible to extend your server with additional services by adding more docker containers as well as installing applications on the host os.

For more flexibility/virtualization, use a hypervisor like proxmox. But as this gives you more complexity, you should have a usecase for it (for me theoretical "play around" is boring).

[cyberb]

that fujitsu is totally fine for this. i7-6700T has quicksync which handles jellyfin transcoding really well, you wont need a dedicated GPU. 8gb RAM is plenty if youre just running jellyfin and a few other things.

for OS honestly just go with Debian stable. its boring in the best way, you set it up and it just runs. updates dont break stuff. if you go bare metal jellyfin installs directly on debian in like 5 minutes with their apt repo, no containers needed.

if you want to add more services later without the complexity of managing docker and reverse proxies yourself, I built a project called Syncloud that has jellyfin and a bunch of other apps as one-click installs. it handles the https and security stuff automatically so you dont have to mess with caddy and fail2ban configs. runs on any x64 hardware so your fujitsu would work great.

for remote access Tailscale is the easiest option, free for personal use. way simpler than setting up wireguard manually and you get the same result. your 1tb SSD for the OS and apps, then the 2 HDDs for media storage is a solid layout

[quarkle]

Context: I just wanted an old pc to watch stuff online in bed, got sucked into the home server mindset and am overwhelmed with the options.
So, now I'm looking for something that would allow me that and also serve as a jellyfin server (and possibly more) I could wake on lan if needed (by me or the 1 client I would have).

Hardware: fujitsu q556, i7 6700t, 1tb ssd, 2 1tb hhd and whatever ram you think is optimal

Summary: Is this viable? What OS would work best for my setup? Podman or bare metal? Security recommendations? (Wireguard, caddy, fail2ban, etc)

Greetings fellow future home lab'er 

Tbh start small if you are running just locally dont bother with caddy fail2ban etc just yet


Os wise thats another Rabbit Hole
If you are used  windows use windows 

If you are feeling bold go Linux
 That step isnt that deep that it used to be

If you want easy go proxmoxx
( In my opinion dont shoot me)

Hardware wise 

Every "modern" cpu ram should be good enough to start invest in an intel based gpu for transcoding the a380 cards are solid and low wattage and dirt cheap

And just start fuck around and find out

Do things try things break things and fix things

Good luck and may the force be with you

I don't really think proxmox is a good starting point, its got its uses but it requires a lot of extra thought to use. which isn't to say the features aren't good... 

personally, i recommend OpenMediaVault, its basically debian with a network UI for management. debian despite its issues is stable enough for most people and if its not use docker or something 

use the pihole project for VPN access because its beginner friendly and is all you'll probably need

[TIMFLIX1138]

My 2 cents for newbies, export your metadata to local files. Saves you TONS of time when you need to rebuild, and you will need to rebuild. Plus you can manually make edits to currate things the way you really want.

Have fun and remember to actually enjoy your content. Don't just spend all your waking hours collectiong and currating. It's easy to get lost in that at times.