They’re basically the same as regular, but the wattage rating (usually called tdp) is lower.

Correct. Micro-ATX is the smaller version of the larger ATX and still larger EATX (extended atx). Your old case probably fits micro atx if it’s not OEM. You can populate it with a mb, cpu, ram, ssd, and power supply (don’t need more than 500w for your use case) and eventually move to a nicer case like that Node if/when you fall in love with the hobby. My Rpis are collecting dust since switching to a low power server.

It’s a whole different experience when general advice applies to your hardware vs the Rpi ecosystem. Many more options. In 2024, ATX offers no real benefit over the smaller form factor beyond better heat management for high power builds with spaced out components.

And a correction: node 304 supports 6HD, the 804 supports 8

I would recommend getting a “forever” case like the Node 304. You won’t regret the purchase and you can use for any future upgrades. It stores 8 (correction, 6) 3.5 drives, so you can add on as you grow.

Find a used a motherboard like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/235546915389?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=GP45S9r5R6-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=uaLd2h3oTQO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

With a cheap GE (low power version) AMD processor and 16/32gb ram and whatever nvme ssd you can scrounge.

It will cost you maybe $100 over some alternatives, but you can use it for years and keep upgrading as you go.

Most Dell and OEM parts won’t work on standard cases, FYI.

I’m isolated from this I suppose as I still use a separate line for upload. PD delegates and opens ports. What CIDR ranges do you use?

To add to this, here is a tutorial with video that goes into the permissions. One of the cockpit modules has had an update, so make sure you bump the version number.

• I had to make it a privileged container to get NFS working. If you only need SMB, unprivileged is fine. There’s nfs-utils for userspace nfs setups, but I haven’t futz with it yet.

https://www.apalrd.net/posts/2023/ultimate_nas/

I replaced a TrueNAS install with this and haven’t been happier. It was such a bloated resource hog for what an LXC and a podman/dockge install can do.

Learning.

Run SCAP tool with a STIG baseline.

Just be careful as DNS and federated requests can leak your real ip even through the CF proxy.

How do you mean? IPv6 in OPNsense is working fine.

You don’t need to delve into networking too heavily at first. I recommend ProxMox as the most beginner friendly platform. It’s open source and based on Debian 12 underneath. That means that updates won’t hit you until they’ve been run in the wild for a while. This is what you want for a server.

It has a free backup server you can use to take automatic backups, and it can run virtual machines, lxc containers, and docker can be installed on an lxc or vm and you’re golden. If you install docker bare metal you limit yourself to docker.

The new SDN functionality also lets you make self-contained networks that isolate your vms. Couple with this opnsense eventually, and you can make a nice public setup and not worry too much about east west security.

Racknerd has some pretty good discounts here and there.

I’m running this way on one of my servers. It’s fine if you pass the entire HBA over (make sure it’s in IT mode for Proxmox).

Alternatively you can map each drive over by disk-by-id mappings as I’m doing on this one. I haven’t dealt with a drive failure yet, but from what I read it’s just a little bit of a headache to re-add the drives later. “Not recommended”, but ok if you know what you’re doing.

That’s the 24 port version.

I started with some firewall boxes and they’re still pumping years later as advertised.

I’m reminded of my friend coming back from China with suitcases of name brand clothing from the same factories the originals come from. All super cheap.

This stuff doesn’t necessarily cost a lot to produce, it’s just marked up to high hell around the world.

I won’t murder you if that’s what you’re asking. You can always monitor your egress traffic if you’re concerned. Ultimately, for home use it likely doesn’t matter.

Spying today takes the form of custom silicon branded as the original with extra transistors added before fabbing. Usually higher nm processes since they can’t fab on the latest nodes.

Knowing this, the chance of getting a counterfeit chip on a name brand switch is non-negligible as it is, and those parts come from China too.

The firmware might be a concern, but again, you need to be a valuable target.

These mini pcs are a godsend: 12th Gen Intel N100 Firewall Computer Soft Router 4x 2.5G i226 i225 LAN NVMe Industrial Fanless Mini PC https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPBQflM

Cheap and more than powerful for opnsense and adguard on top (recommend over pi-hole).

Home assistant just run the new install script on proxmox to setup a vm. Copy your data over, usb pass through your radio hw and good to go.

Docker on lxc also works and you can probably swarm your containers over.

TP-Link Omada EAP line is rock solid for cheap managed access points. You can even run the controller in an lxc full local.

I’m with you for the most part, but I’m slowly moving over to podman over docker for security and simplicity. LXC is convenient for proxmox, and you can make a golden snapshot, store your data and config in a bind mount, and replicate some of docker’s features. Lately, I run a privileged lxc with rootless podman running dockge. Seems to work well for now.

I’ve just learned about converting docker containers to lxc natively, so that’s my next project.

LXC with cloud-init and ansible on proxmox gives you docker features without the docker headache.

I have TrueNAS Scale running inside of ProxMox, but I plan to replace it with a Turnkey system on top of an LXC instead.

For as convenient as TrueNAS is, it is not a replacement for ProxMox. ProxMox is designed for business, and it shows in comparison. The logical layout, the backup options, the storage flexibility, etc.

In comparison, TrueNAS feels more homelab hobby. For reference, I could see ProxMox on a business install with enterprise support. TrueNAS, I’m not so sure.