Someone using a server today?

[boppin]

Hello everyone,

There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you all: do you actually run any servers at home or elsewhere? If so, for what purpose?

We don’t have any need for them anymore, since we got fiber-optic internet and our current Wi-Fi is more than fast enough. Apart from that, the only other thing I can mention is that a cousin of mine once wanted to set up a Mac server as an update server for his fleet of devices.

Thanks!

 

[drrich2]

The line between 'storage' and 'server' with NAS (network-attached storage) has gotten muddied quite a bit over time. I have a Terramaster F8 NAS with 2 4-terabyte NVME SSDs in a RAID I type array so effectively 4-terabytes actual storage. Bought this holiday shopping season 2025 before NVME prices over doubled. Picked it up not out of 'need,' so much as a desire to learn about and experience having a NAS and seeing what useful things I could do with it.

One thing I did was cherry pick several thousand photos out of my long-term digital snapshot collection and put them in a photos folder on the NAS that can be accessed via an iPhone app. from my phone or my wife or kid's phone (not that they care or ever have, but they could!). I also set it to backup my kid's iPhone photos.

I don't know if that rises to the level of acting as a 'server,' but it lets multiple devices access content without tying up a large amount of storage on each individual device.

I think I've also got the PDF versions of some family photo books on there.

It lets me arrange online access for files I wish to have accessible remotely, without having to make my Mac's SSD accessible online (or bother figuring out how to designate what's accessible and what's not).

If I were a home movie enthusiast instead of a snap shooter, I'd consider hosting personal videos.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I run a server for backup storage and for Jellyfin / Plex.

 

[Basic75]

What's your definition of a server? Many home routers have a USB port, you attach a hard drive and it serves the files.

 

[bapegg]

Modern NAS devices have taken over the role of home server compared to using a dedicated server computer years ago. One can do a lot with modern NAS operating systems.

I have a Terra Master F4 SSD NAS and it does more than I actually use. One of the few things that it does not do that a dedicated Linux or Windows server can do is DNS/Name server functions. But I bet there are third party apps that will do that if I needed to.

 

[Allyance]

I use a hosting company (Green Geeks) for domain and email services. I have my own domains for my email accounts with an excellent third party spam filtering service (MX Guardian) and have a couple one main client left from the old days when I managed 40 or more domains. Do not use my shared server for personal storage.

 

[Black_Mage]

I really wanted to get a Drobo. They simplified RAID, and I was going to use that storage device for storing all my ripped DVD and Blu-rays. I'm still upset that they went out of business because I don't know of any other company that made complex storage so user friendly.

 

[drrich2]

I'm still upset that they went out of business because I don't know of any other company that made complex storage so user friendly.

What about something like an OWC Thunderbay direct attached storage device if you don’t need a NAS and want simple? I read Dropbox had both NAS and DAS options; which did you want?

 

[gilby101]

Any always on computer (from the smallest Pi to the most powerful Mac) is likely being used as a server. On this basis I have two (Pi and iMac) serving network monitor (Cacti), Plex server, DNS server, Wireguard, Tailscale exit node, file server.

 

[MacBH928]

I don't but there is a world of apps that run on a home server now. You can check on Docker Hub or reddit.com/selfhosting . File hosting, adblockers, image hosting (immich), vaultwarden (password manager).

One main reason is people can buy their hardware and store on their device instead of uploading to a company's server which has a lot of privacy issues. Also no subscription.

 

[boppin]

What's your definition of a server? Many home routers have a USB port, you attach a hard drive and it serves the files.

Well, mean something like this:

Traditional log on to a domain.

 

[Powerbooky]

There's wide definition in the public of what a "server" is. 🤔

In the past I used a Mac mini 2009 with a Drobo S, mainly as a file server. TimeMachine, archiving, caching iCloud content and Software Update Server (Apple SUS). Occasionally I used it to download or upload very large project files over the slow DSL at the time.

A couple of years ago I replaced it with a full size NAS that basically does the same, but the storage is way faster and much bigger now. Even though we also have access to fibre for a while now, it isn't as fast as a local server.

 

[boppin]

There's wide definition in the public of what a "server" is. 🤔

Nah, I meant the classical Windows domain logon. Does this someone still use?

The only server, so to speak, would be the servers of the cloud like Microsoft OneDrive and Google Photos.

My cousin wanted to build a specific Mac Server to provide software updates for all of his and guest devices but I think that this is obsolete today. Internet got really fast in the mean time.

 

[Powerbooky]

Nah, I meant the classical Windows domain logon. Does this someone still use?

The only server, so to speak, would be the servers of the cloud like Microsoft OneDrive and Google Photos.

My cousin wanted to build a specific Mac Server to provide software updates for all of his and guest devices but I think that this is obsolete today. Internet got really fast in the mean time.

Apple used to have MacOS Server, but almost every important function it used have, including a domain server (the logon). I used to run this with netbooting combined with Deploy Studio and the local Software Update server. It made reinstalling Mac’s a fully automated job (including apps and user accounts). And the Software Update Server could download any update from Apple overnight over the then slow DSL, to offer it next day fast over the local network. Unfortunately SUS isn’t supported since macOS Catalina.

SUS got replaced with “content caching”. This can make any Mac a cache that stores any update requested by any connected Mac, iPad, iPhone, HomePod or AppleTv. The extra benefit of this caching is that things like iCloud drive and iCloud Photos are cached too so they can respond faster. But in my experience it needs a lot of storage when users use iCloud a lot. Unlike the original SUS there’s no option to keep downloaded updates and doesn’t download released updates in advance.

 

[bapegg]

The most common types of servers that home users will use are file servers, backup servers, and media servers. Most modern NAS devices will do all of that with ease.

Domain, email servers, etc are not going to be used by the average home user. It's been a while since I have messed with those types of servers but I would run dedicated machines for each.

Home web servers use to be ran on either standard PC's or dedicated computers setup solely as a web server. I can remember setting up Windows Server 2000/2003 and linux servers for domain, email, and web servers. Mine can easily run a web server on modern NAS's. I don't think I wood try to run an email server on a NAS depending on the specs.