I Finally Documented My Server + RAID Setup Questions

I spent a good week finally mustering up the courage to document my server, looking back at everything I've done on it was super fun, but left me questions about where to go next. So I will share its structure in this post, and hopefully get some suggestions from the internet! For context I began this server setup a bit over 4 years ago (though this iteration of the server started 2 years ago), and it has led me deeper and deeper into the Linux rabbithole. So some of the design decision are a bit goofy (ones I need some suggestions on) since I didn't know as much then, so please excuse me. The questions I have are at the end Hardware The "Server" is actually composed of 3 individual hardware pieces: • Main Home Server 'casa': This is an old laptop of mine, and frankly still the strongest piece of hardware in the group (i5 10th gen, 128 gigs of SSD as system drive, 1TB of HDD as storage). It handles the heavier containers, like Immich due to its ML. And yes, it is called Casa because it used to run CasaOS and that is what it got named as. • Remote VPS 'vps': A budget VPS I am paying for yearly. It handles the lighter containers. Initially I bought it because back in the days the main server would often have problems due to bad configs. But that mostly gone now, so it serves a new position, that is being a proxy. More on that later. • 12TB of External HDD: As the name implies, it is a Ultrastar HDD that I bought because the home server lacked serious storage, especially given its HDD is only 1TB and quite slow. It is connected via an USB A bridge. As you would expect on a software front: • Casa and VPS both runs Ubuntu • Most services they actually host are via docker • Both computer runs Cockpit for remote management Left: External Storage, Right: Casa (https://preview.redd.it/jk1z4tusxlmh1.png?width=1341&format=png&auto=webp&s=15c7ce354b83bcba6102dbfd2960923e863b91c2) Functionality / Hosted Services The main purpose of this server is to host services (well alternatives to them) that those around me and myself use. Of course there are also some maintenance software on there. Most of them are on docker, so I organize all of my compose files in a folder under /home (are there compose file managers? I haven't looked into them but if you have a suggestion please let me know). I divided the software I have into 2 categories: "Hosted Services" being services that users directly use. "Backend Services" being services that are used for maintenance and operational purposes. (oh looks like my icons and structure doesn't work, oh well, if you want to click on the links, see Github (https://github.com/Peteryhs/Server)) https://preview.redd.it/hrky22pxxlmh1.png?width=764&format=png&auto=webp&s=aeec3bbd0a621c469c5623b19ddc567d6e21d4c4 https://preview.redd.it/ekzlp83zxlmh1.png?width=766&format=png&auto=webp&s=e81ded770d3faa42005db09fc919915709b1a872 Overall I am pretty happy with the collection of software I have going on here. The most popular set among my family and friends are probably Immich and Nextcloud, since they have virtually unlimited storage to store as much files as we want (we don't have to worry about deduping or cleaning up). Combined with the "delete backed up" function on the Immich app it also liberates the phone storage. We also get to find and use unique FOSS like Memos and Obsidian Live sync, which provide much more choice and flexibility when choosing what software to use. They are also highly customizable such that I can make MCP servers for them. LOGO! I forget to talk about it but I also made a word mark + Logo for this because why not, it has been an important setup for me. Yay logo I made in 15 min (https://preview.redd.it/c8d1oso1ylmh1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=77f23938dc68df75086b4d315c2473c743ef8ff8) The actual logo represent the following: Blue = The software Red = The hardware Green = The users / usefulness it provides To make up the "sun", why is it called Sun Systems, I have no idea. Network I think this is the most complex part for me, because for the longest time I have been fully relying on Cloudflare Tunnels and didn't really manage the networking aspect. This worked until I got the 12TB expansion, and started uploading my drone footage, when I realized CF tunnels has a transfer limit of 100 MB. So any file larger than that going to Nextcloud will fail. So I looked for a way out, and eventually designed the 3 routes of traffic. Yes, with some help of AI, but I am still proud of it. Topology diagram: Look me wayy to long to draw this (https://preview.redd.it/gd7qucr3ylmh1.png?width=1983&format=png&auto=webp&s=a84b45e2da7ec290f48e4601e48f70c22e66da0d) Now, there are 3 pathways for services in this system to reach the wider internet. • Cloudflare Tunnel on Casa: The easiest way, get the service up locally, point subdomain to the port on CF dash, done. Cloudflare also handles most of the security and analytics. Plus features like Cloudflare Access to secure important stuff like Vaultwarden Admin Panels so even if they have my key it doesn't work. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THE UPLOAD CAP, which makes storage services useless. • The best solution for it would just be a port forward, then it will be no middle man. However, I had strange internet problems when I opened ports, so going to keep it closed just in case. • VPS Blind Proxy Gateway w/ CrowdSec: So this is the solution I adopted. Instead of opening a port on the local network, data will be encrypted with Caddy on Casa and sent to the VPS (This goes through the Tailnet they established). On the VPS is a blind proxy based on nginx, it will then forward that encrypted traffic to the internet. • This approach solves the port forwarding problem, and actually improves the privacy of the data transferred. Since on the free tier Cloudflare plans, TLS for tunnel traffic terminates at Cloudflare, meaning CF technically have access to that traffic data. Whereas in this case, neither CF or the VPS can see the unencrypted data as TLS terminates on Casa. • I also deployed CrowdSec on Casa and the VPS, with CS on Casa being responsible of flagging IP addresses that attempts attacks, and the CS Agent on the VPS responsible for blocking known and detected malicious IPs from entering the blind proxy. • Cloudflare Tunnel on VPS: Same story as the one on Casa. https://preview.redd.it/geojrryqzlmh1.png?width=2000&format=png&auto=webp&s=fe75bc44e2b5c9cb3e80c93a4827b80b45e2d687 Storage & Redundancy This is where the server is the least mature. Currently it uses a quite rudimentary backup system via Borg Backups, where data directories of certain services are just backed up periodically. This is due to all of the drives being in ext4, I am looking to convert the setup into RAID setup soon though. Layout: https://preview.redd.it/dn54ccqw0mmh1.png?width=708&format=png&auto=webp&s=f1595df1507e65644405bf9a56c48f2b7e222da2 Backup schedules: Nextcloud: • Interval: Every 4 Weeks • Origin: The Nextcloud data dir located on the Seagate HDD • Target: Repo on the WD HDD Immich: • Interval: Every 4 Weeks • Origin: The Immich data dir on the Seagate HDD • Target: Repo on the WD HDD Vaultwarden: • Interval: Daily • Origin: The Vaultwarden data dir on the SSD • Target: Encrypted repo on the WD HDD ------------------------- Questions Alright, hopefully, this provides a bit of insight into my setup, now I have a few questions/concerns regarding it. A: How would a RAID setup work on this hardware? To my knowledge, in order to have RAID, you need at least two drives that mirror each other's changes. Given that the storage devices I have are EXTREMELY unbalanced, the WD HDD can't even mirror 10% of what could be stored on the Ultrastar. Is buying a larger drive the only way out? Given how insane the storage situation is right now, I am unsure if I can buy a drive of that capacity right away. Are there any alternatives to this approach? Is RAID even necessary for my setup? B: Let's assume somehow the RAID setup works out, and I am starting the server afresh with the RAID drives, would you recommend using Proxmox for my setup? I have heard a lot of talk about it but I don't see the point of having VMs for my setup, but perhaps that is because I have not fully understood its usefulness. C: Do you see any questions/problems with the current way everything is arranged? e.g. Problems with networking? containers? I have never done a detailed documentation of my server, so it would be very helpful to see what i did right/wrong in the entire process. ------------------------- This is the Github repo with the full documentation (I have not added documentation for its operations so hopefully that will be done soon): https://github.com/Peteryhs/Server Thank you for reading this and any comments you may have!