Home Server Notes
The main reason for these notes is a reference to assist me with maintaining my home server. This includes upgrading the existing or setting up a new server in the future.
There are many reasons to setup a home server and many different options available. For me one of the big reasons is the tinkering and learning associated with such a set up. There are many other benefits. Perhaps also one of the largest negatives is also the time invested in this endeavour, it will certainly not be for everyone!
I have published these notes on my public wiki website https://wiki.kptree.net/, for my own access and also and possible benefit to others. I am not interested in advertising on this site. As these are my personal notes, provided without cost, I assume no obligations in anyway should anyone in anyway use them in full or part. YOU USE THESE NOTES AT YOUR OWN RISK!
I have used many references from the Internet to assist me with the development of my home server and these notes. In general these referenced links are provided in the relevant section of the notes. Historically I used for information and inspiration Havetheknowhow.com, however I find whilst this is still a good resource, I have moved away from Ubuntu and am now using Debian. On my containers I use either Alpine or Debian.
The following site also has some info on How to Install and Configure KVM on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Server.
| Page | Date | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| Home Server Notes | 2020-07-26 Sun wk30 20:18 | linux, server, setup, summary, index |
| My Home IT Setup | 2019-11-18 Mon wk47 19:41 | havetheknowhow, snapraid, opensprinkler, personal, background, setup, home, server, linux, command |
| Network Setup | 2019-11-16 Sat wk46 07:53 | network, interface, netplan, nic, setup, loopback, eth, ethernet, bridge, bond, networkd, linux, debian, command |
| KVM Setup | 2019-11-18 Mon wk47 19:52 | server, kvm, virtual, command, debian, machine, qemu, virsh, qcow, linux, setup, nbd, network, block, device |
| VNC Server | 2019-12-08 Sun wk49 10:42 | linux, server, debian, vnc, setup, vncserver, tigervnc, gnome, xfce |
| fsck - file system check | 2019-11-20 Wed wk47 18:22 | linux, fsck, format, partition, boot, corrupt, parted |
| Home Server Index | 2019-12-08 Sun wk49 14:49 |
Supermicro Computers with BMC and IPMI
I have 3 computers from Supermicro with BMC and IPMI. The Supermicro provided utility program IPMIView is good, but the iKVM console redirection facility is woefully unreliable and also seems to be poorly documented! For more details on this refer to IPMI Console Setup. The 3 computers I have are:
- Supermicro A1SAi-2750F that is based upon the Intel C2750 SoC Atom server processor (8 core), which has 32GB RAM and I now use as my back-up server
- Supermicro A2SDi-8C-HLN4F that is based upon the Intel C3750 SoC Atom server processor (8 core), which has 32GB RAM and I now use as my primary server
- Supermicro X11SBA-LN4F/F that is based upon the Intel Pentium N3700 a low power processor (4 core), which has 8GB RAM and I use as my router, with NFtables firewall stateful router, Bind9 DNS and ISC-DHCP and with my VDSL modem placed into by-pass mode (modem only operation)
- All these units are supplied with 4 Intel based NIC + 1 BMC NIC with the ASpeed 2400 BMC controller
On occasion I have had problems with the operations of these machines. The computer would just halt, however the BMC / IPMI still seemed to operate. This has happened now 2 times that I can remember in the past 7 years with 3 such computer setups, so it is very infrequent. I hope the frequency does not increase!. The solution to fix was very simple. A cold reset of the BMC! This is most effectively achieved by turning off the computer power supply! I had a similar problem with my first 5 port unmanaged 2.5GB/s switch, again I simply need to cold reset about once every 6 months or so. My new current 8 port unmanaged 2.5GB/s switch seems more reliable.