Hardware - I have censored this for the time being….
A special mention goes to the Opensprinkler sprinkler controller, that is probably the best network interfaced sprinkler controller available, both for home and some commercial use. See separate section on my home sprinkler setup Home Sprinkler Setup Notes. I have been using the version 2 of the Opensprinkler for over 9 years now (Nov 2023). I recently had to upgrade all the underground wiring again, as the first attempt I used sub-standard wiring. I placed the controller into a weather proofing panel. Upon inspection I found that 9+ years in the open, but not subject to rain had corroded some of the controller contacts, particularly the RJ45 network ones. I cleaned the unit up and it is still in service.
Another special mention is Snapraid. I believe this to be the best solution for a modern home server solution, giving the best compromise between performance, reliability and power saving. It should be considered that traditional full time raid systems require all hard disks spinning when in use, compromising long term reliably of all the included disks and increased power consumption. A key benefit of many traditional raid systems, is increase bandwidth (speed) due to use of simultaneous disks, however a modern 3.5“ hard disk has a data bandwidth similar to a 1Gb/s Ethernet, so the tradition raid speed benefits are of little value unless a more exotic network arrangement is used. I use an SSD for my main system drive, a NVM SSD for my system main data drive and 6TB and 10T hard disks for main data storage + 1 extra 10TB HD for a parity hard disk with Snapraid. All the spinning data hard disks are programmed to spin down after 20 minute of no access use (This does not seem to work…..). Further to this I back up the data drive to external drives intermittently and have addition 2.5” portable drive with regularly used data and irreplaceable personal data. Some photos, the main irreplaceable data are with other family members, giving some limited effective offsite data backup. I should consider off site backup of the irreplaceable data; to be sure, to be sure.