Mac Mini Server?

[monopoly]

Hi,

Had a chat with quite a few people now and had a host of replies, some saying yes and some saying no. This is what I want to achieve…

1:Mac Mini (intel probably 2024/2015 edition).
2:Replace the internal hard drive for something big.
3: Have it connected to my home broadband permanently and always on.
4: Be able to host and run my own website from the Mac (a forum)
5: Be able to configure it so it is really hard/impossible to hack.

That way I’m platform independent, can avoid the hosting fees etc.

Cheers

 

[BrianBaughn]

Did you have a chat with your ISP about hosting a website? Do they include a static IP address in your current package?

You can get hosting pretty cheap, you know. I pay $11.40 per year for one domain.

 

[monopoly]

Did you have a chat with your ISP about hosting a website? Do they include a static IP address in your current package?

You can get hosting pretty cheap, you know. I pay $11.40 per year for one domain.

Yeah my ip can be static. It’s more of a total control thing with zero cost that I seek.

 

[BrianBaughn]

First question was implying that your ISP may forbid running a web server.

 

[monopoly]

First question was implying that your ISP may forbid running a web server.

Yeah I’ve already asked them and they’ve said it’s fine. All I have to pay is a one off £5 to setup the static ip.

 

[velocityg4]

While you can do that. I'd want to run Linux for a web server.

Security is the biggest issue for a small website. That'll require you keep everything up to date and take a lot of care in your settings. I also probably wouldn't want to trust a consumer router to protect my home network in this instance. As depending on your website. You could get a lot more attention than your regular home network attracts.

For security alone. Not dealing with all the hassle of keeping my network and server up to date. A third party host is worth it. They're going to do a better job. They have better equipment for dealing with it. Any small amount of money you save in fees. Will be lost in all the extra hours you're going to put in. Unless you're making something like ten cents an hour.

You're going to want an enterprise router with a security plan or DIY it with PFSense or Opnsense. Maybe you could run some VM's on the mini. Having it act as your web server and router/firewall. Although I'd rather a cheap old server with tons of RAM and CPU cores. So, you can spin up multiple VMs. Having it act as you web server, firewall/router, file server, mail server, cloud storage and maybe some more roles. Such as DVR for security cameras or home automation. May as well go whole hog with it.

If this is the only use for the computer. Any money you save will be lost in paying for electricity vs a cheap host.

Really, with how cheap some hosts are. There aren't really much in the way of cost reasons to justify hosting yourself nowadays. If you want to do this because it interests you. Go for it. Cost wise you probably aren't going to save anything. When you look at time, electricity and equipment costs. But it's a pretty cool project to do.

 

[monopoly]

Cheers for the reply. I probably
Should have made my intentions more clear in the op.

Here they are..

I want my own server for the following..

1: For the subject I want my forum to be about, I see people almost daily getting cancelled on the internet for going against the mainstream views. (Nothing illegal or porn etc)
2: I actually want to learn about all of this as would be a cool hobby.
3: I know somebody who had his home internet cancelled as somebody high up made a complaint to the isp for what he was talking about and he got cancelled.
4: Due to the above, I would want my web server to be totally stored at home and be free from this possible cancel culture. Don’t know too much about all of this but surely I could have it that my isp can’t even see what I am hosting and also people on the internet can’t see where my server is located.

This is nothing illegal, just opinionated and that often causes issues.

 

[richmlow]

Hello Monopoly,


That sounds like a cool project that you have in mind!

However, I agree with velocityg4's advice (see above). I think that a good quality third-party host is the way to go, as opposed to trying to set everything up yourself. Unless you plan to be IT Support to keep your server secured and running over the long-term, there's no point in embarking on your project.

Sustained security will be the big point to consider. It's much more than just "set up" the server and you're good to go. There are a lot of bad actors out on the internet, searching and hacking into vulnerable servers (pro servers, all the way down to mom-and-pop servers).

I personally wouldn't risk my home network in this manner.

Good luck on your decisions.


richmlow

 

[aurora72]

While you can do that. I'd want to run Linux for a web server.

Security is the biggest issue for a small website.

The macOS (at least in version 10.7 Lion) the build-in Packet Filter (PF) does a good job of security as long as you keep the /etc/emerging-block-ips.txt up-to-date. I've once run a Mac mini as a web server (10.7.5) and eliminated all sorts of network attacks using the PF alone.

 

[Boyd01]

I personally wouldn't risk my home network in this manner.

I completely agree, I don't want to invite the whole world into my home network.

Managed my own server for a small company with Linux back in the 90's, I remember one day when hackers got in and it was cat-and-mouse for hours as I locked them out, they got back in, etc. Shortly afterwards we outsourced our IT and it was a big relief. Things have gotten MUCH worse since then. As soon as you start it up, it will be constantly under attack.

I have leased servers ever since then and never looked back. For what you describe, this can be very inexpensive. Have had one small site for about 16 years and pay about $100/year for hosting and domain registration. I don't run a forum there, but I could.

I have another more expensive cloud server for hosting a complex web app that I'm developing. I have full root access, can host as many sites as I want, it's fast, has virtually 100% uptime and I don't have to worry about security.

I know somebody who had his home internet cancelled as somebody high up made a complaint to the isp for what he was talking about and he got cancelled.

Sorry, this part makes no sense to me. If you're worried about being "cancelled" for posting on a forum, just imagine the trouble you could get into for HOSTING a site with offensive content. You could get sued AND cancelled.

 

[monopoly]

I completely agree, I don't want to invite the whole world into my home network.

Managed my own server for a small company with Linux back in the 90's, I remember one day when hackers got in and it was cat-and-mouse for hours as I locked them out, they got back in, etc. Shortly afterwards we outsourced our IT and it was a big relief. Things have gotten MUCH worse since then. As soon as you start it up, it will be constantly under attack.

I have leased servers ever since then and never looked back. For what you describe, this can be very inexpensive. Have had one small site for about 16 years and pay about $100/year for hosting and domain registration. I don't run a forum there, but I could.

I have another more expensive cloud server for hosting a complex web app that I'm developing. I have full root access, can host as many sites as I want, it's fast, has virtually 100% uptime and I don't have to worry about security.



Sorry, this part makes no sense to me. If you're worried about being "cancelled" for posting on a forum, just imagine the trouble you could get into for HOSTING a site with offensive content. You could get sued AND cancelled.

It’s not offensive content. It’s a forum for a group of people that have the same view. Nothing illegal. Nothing wrong. It’s mainly exposing government corruption. Just doesn’t fit with mainstream media.

 

[Freeangel1]

Just be good at backing up everything so if you do get hacked you can be back up and running in no time.

Try Lion. Experiment with different versions of macOS and macOS server.

If hacking gets bad run Linux off your Mac mini.

Currently there are hardly any flavors of linux that run on M1 Mac mini CPU's. maybe in the future. So choose Intel.

 

[aurora72]

I completely agree, I don't want to invite the whole world into my home network.

Managed my own server for a small company with Linux back in the 90's, I remember one day when hackers got in and it was cat-and-mouse for hours as I locked them out, they got back in, etc. Shortly afterwards we outsourced our IT and it was a big relief. Things have gotten MUCH worse since then. As soon as you start it up, it will be constantly under attack.

I have leased servers ever since then and never looked back. For what you describe, this can be very inexpensive. Have had one small site for about 16 years and pay about $100/year for hosting and domain registration. I don't run a forum there, but I could.

Have you tried PF (Packet Filter) on Mac OS X ? I once ran web server (between 2013-2016) on my home network and soon met fierce network attacks. I recall most of the attacks were coming from a certain region in China and they seemed to hack even the SSH passwords! So I disabled SSH logins by password (I arranged a .pem file for SSH login) but they were still attempting to breach keeping the network and the server busy for nothing. The problem was my IP was static and visible to those nagging worms. The best way to eliminate them was running PF configured with an updated emerging-block-ips.txt file. After I started to run PF all those insisting wannabe hackers instantly swarmed out of my server. It was a big relief moment. Of course I had to update the block-ips file but that necessity was getting easier by each update.

The reason I stopped using the Mac mini as a server was my limited upload speeds. At home I have to use VDSL which is about 20 Mbps download and 1-2 Mbps upload. I was running several websites I made for my customers and hosting it from my homeserver. The Mac mini (Late 2009) is quite capable of running several web applications and the security problem was solved by PF but the upload speed was the bottleneck. If I had a Fiber Internet I would keep on using Mac mini as a server.

 

[Freeangel1]

this is a nice version of Linux you can run on your Mac mini.

I have 2 2012 Mac mini with the 4 core i7. so I can run many flavors of macOS and linux. ram and SSD are user replaceable.

 

[Boyd01]

Have you tried PF (Packet Filter) on Mac OS X ?

No, and my whole point was that I prefer to pay a lease and have the hosting compay actively manage and monitor security for my server, which is on their network and not mine. I want to spend my time writing code.

I use a mini as a fileserver and another mini as media server on my home network where they are not accessible to the outside world. But I do "get" the appeal of having "your own" server right in your home or office, I did it 25 years ago, but the world was very different then - and I am much older now. ?

 

[ddhhddhh2]

Slightly off topic, but I totally agree that the so-called 'speech control tactics of the world's mainstream media' are extremely bad, I just recently deleted my FB account, cheers.
About setting up your own system or forum, I hope you succeed and have fun.

 

[monopoly]

Slightly off topic, but I totally agree that the so-called 'speech control tactics of the world's mainstream media' are extremely bad, I just recently deleted my FB account, cheers.
About setting up your own system or forum, I hope you succeed and have fun.

Yeah I don’t have Facebook, Instagram, twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, WhatsApp etc etc at all. Just all a bunch of thieving scum. Macrumors is no better in ways. The unreal amount of unticking you have to do in the tracking/cookies prompt is just unbelievable. The law should be totally changed to just offer a YES or NO to any tracking, data thieving and come up with life changing fines for companies/sites that don’t adhere.