Home Server

One of my most recent projects, an unwanted Optiplex 3060 transformed into a fully functional home server, dubbed "Little Guy".

This home server became my logical next step for hosting my own Discord Bot, but also creating my own Home Assistant setup using Zigbee, a storage solution and hosting servers for my favourite games without needing to pay for server hosting provider's services.

How Does It Work?

You can turn almost any computer into a home server, if you're using it for media streaming like Plex it's advised to get a decently good computer with a graphics card for video encoding. However for a solution like mine you can get away with a £40 cheap optiplex you can find on Facebook Marketplace. As for OS on the device I use ubuntu and docker to contain Home Assistant.

Project Reflection

This project taught me a lot, safe networking and general server solutions. Overall it's been a really fun adventure, and will probably save me a lot of money down the line whenever I want to play some games with my friends.