One thing i’ve learned over the years is the way I did something when I was learning is usually not the best way of doing it, and I later go back and redo everything now that I have gained experience and knowledge. I have decided to ditch google photos, and was lucky enough to snag a free rackmount 2017 server from work with an i7 installed and 2 6tb drives on the way. But now comes the hard part of deciding what software I am going to end up learning on and hopefully living with. First and foremost I want a photo backup service, and I have debated between immich and xpenology, I also know that I want to run Pihole and would really like to self host my own website documenting my projects, even if no one will ever look at it.
If you had to start from the beginning, which OS, which container manager and which containers would you build. I would love the recommendations from those who walked so that I can run
I’ve used Windows, OpenMedia, Synology, Virtual Machines, Rancher, Truenas Scale, but Unraid is by far the best.
For me here are the benefits;
Hardware compatibility is awesome. It works well with my Dell Server and even picks up on thermal/bios status. It boots from a thumb drive so your 2 disks will be dedicated to your data. Simple to backup config to zip file.
Software is awesome. It treats docker containers like apps so you just install it, config storage/networking, and it just works.
Updates are simple. Update containers with new images with a single click.
Bonus: It works well with NUT (UPS monitor) so my NAS shuts down automagically on power outage. The UPS is connected to a different host :D
Good luck!