Hi, I wanted to start selfhosting and I’d like to have your opinion on something that I’m struggling to decide.

I don’t plan to tinker too much with my system, I’ve been a Linux tinkerer myself some time ago but now I’d like to setup something that’s really bulletproof and then leave it running (ofc I know I’ll have to do a bit of bugfixing now and then), not replacing hardware ideally for >= 10 years.

This is why I’m planning to use TrueNAS, and that’s why I’m planning to buy a UGREEN DXP2800: has two 3,5" HDD bays (4TB should be enough for me for the next 8-10 years, so I’ll have two 4TB disks in RAID1 or mirror or whatever is recommended). Only problem I have with this machine is that it only has 1 RAM slot, and I guess 8 GB isn’t enough if I use zfs. So I’ll have to upgrade to either 16 or 32 GB. Now I did my research and from my understanding 16GB seems to be enough, but it would be such a waste having to replace the whole RAM if it turns out it isn’t enough.

For reference, I don’t plan on having more than 7-8 services running: Immich, Nextcloud+office, firefly, audiobookshelf, paperless and a maybe few more if they’re useful. I value responsiveness but it’s ok if some things take longer to process (thinking immich ML, or stuff like transcoding)

I’m very interested to know your opinion:

  • is the dxp2800 a good choice?
  • should I go with 16 or 32 GB RAM?

And a little extra

  • how much ssd space do you recommend for high speed data? is 500gb enough?

Thank you so much!

  • o/1MS\o ⌨️🐧 | #WeAreNatenom@norden.social
    1·
    9 hours ago

    @bordam Personally I would suggest, take so much Ram as you have money available.
    If you have services relying on databases like Nextcloud (Valkey / Redis, MariaDB / PostgreSQL) more RAM could be helpful.
    My current not finished setup with podman containers already takes 2 GB Ram.
    Also prices for Ram and SSDs are predicted to rise or are already rising, so if you buy now, I would suggest to buy maximal large hardware parts.

    • bordam@feddit.itOPEnglish
      11·
      9 hours ago

      Thank you! Noted.

      I have been waiting for the black friday hoping to find a good deal, anyway I plan to buy in by december, but I found a 16GB RAM for a good price that’s tempting me, although it may not be enough. I head that RAM prices are currently very high, so maybe wouldn’t it be better to wait for a better price?

      • o/1MS\o ⌨️🐧 | #WeAreNatenom@norden.social
        0·
        8 hours ago

        @bordam As far as I noticed, related to AI boom the prices for RAM and SSDs could be get more higher.
        Also, the end of Windows 10 could also trigger more selling of PCs and Notebooks, which also would make pressure on RAM prices.

        So I think, it is better not to wait and to buy, when it is possible.

        There are some articles from a german computer publication about RAM and Flash prices, unfortunately in german only.
        https://heise.de/-11066715
        https://heise.de/-11073558

        • bordam@feddit.itOPEnglish
          1·
          6 hours ago

          Makes sense. Once I understand how much RAM I really need and what build I’m gonna go with, I’ll hurry up to get my hands on a RAM. Thanks :)