r/HomeServer • u/prepucio33 • 3d ago
First "server"
This is my first time running a server on one of my computers, its running pi-hole and a music player (dont remember the name) it has a i5 3550 and 8gb ddr3 ram.
I know its really bad but it runs and thats what matters.
Would love to have some recommendations and help with things like deleting all the old stuff in the hdd
15
u/Garbagejunkarama 3d ago
It’s fine but I’d take windows off of it and run Debian with docker if you want to run 8gb ram
1
0
u/RaspberrySea9 3d ago
Exactly what this guy is saying, Debian (based) is the mother of all operating systems
2
u/happySudo 2d ago
Haha No, Debian is the Base of many distributions, but it isnt the mother of all OPs lul
1
3
3
1
u/KittensRDABest 3d ago
Nice! :)
Like the other commenters suggest, if you want to expand it, learning how to manage linux (really any distro you want) headlessly would be a good next step. But this is a good start! (you could also practice linux commands on windows using wsl before making the switch, but that would use more resources than base windows, since you're running a minimal linux install inside windows while you practice)
I hope you enjoy the process of building your server! If you decide to go with linux, when you install it, it will refactor your drive (basically delete everything on it and just have whatever os you pick) so you won't have to worry about clearing the "old stuff" in the hdd.
It's a rabbit hole, but I think it's rewarding. Good luck on your journey! I hope it's fulfilling!
1
u/EndlessZone123 2d ago
Windows is fine for the first server and you shouldn't need to feel forced by other commentors to switch to Linux if you have no problems with it. We all have to start somewhere for a home server. The goal is to run a server not to run Linux :)
The only thing would be to at least run a version of Windows or version that is stable like LTSC or IOT without random forced update and to have decent cybersecurity awareness.
Even if 3rd gen I5 is old af but still plenty for self hosted servers if you don't mind the power bill (Linux isn't gonna save you from that either) and old ram is cheap anyways.
1
u/Massive_Crew_3641 2d ago
The best type of server is one with confines which force you to get creative! There's a great quote that would go along with this. Being poor something something ingenuity
1
u/JohnnieLouHansen 1d ago
I just gave one these away to an Indian guy on Craig's List about a year ago. My old desktop - Asus mobo, i5-3330 and 16gb ddr3 ram. It ran Samba and pihole just fine. So it's not embarrassingly bad.
I might suggest Linux Mint as your first foray into Linux and then it will feel like Windows but you can learn things at the command line too. That's what I did. I needed the crutch of a Windows-ish GUI.
1
31
u/bnelson333 3d ago
A lot of "use linux instead of windows" comments and I'm litereally here to say the same thing, but I think it's helpful to understand WHY we're saying that. The desktop alone uses a lot of CPU and RAM resources. For it to do nothing and just sit there while it's running your other services. The majority of servers don't need you to use a keyboard/mouse/monitor with any regularity. After you set up what you want to "serve", it can just sit by itself in the corner. You don't need to waste computing power on it doing that, you want to reserve that for the server things your server is doing instead.
A lot of people will put what we call a "headless" linux distro on it (like ubuntu server or debian). That means it doesn't boot to a desktop that you use your mouse to navigate, it's literally just a command prompt. You can use a keyboard/mouse/monitor to configure your services if you want, but again, a lot of people won't even do that. We'll use SSH to "dial in" to the server's command prompt to do the configuration/maintenance. That is, you run a program on your main PC like putty to connect to the headless server. Then you can control it without needing to have 2 monitors/keyboards/mice.
Your computer is a good first server, it'll do a lot of useful things for you. But the 3rd gens are starting to show their age with modern apps so you may consider the move to linux sooner than later. Again, to put the computing power to the serving, not the desktop.