I want a server running nextcloud, immich and others.

I have a N100 mini server with a 2TB external HDD. I want to secure the system against data loss. Hence, I want a backup and redundancy.

  1. Most important question: How do I build everything? Is this a NAS? My naive approach is to buy 3 external HDDs and connect them to the N100 with a USB hub. I assume this is not “the right way” but to use/build a NAS. Do I have to build a separate NAS computer? When I lookup NAS buying, it is a computer with a case for 4 drives, excluding the drives and costs 400 bucks. I am confused because this is incredibly expensive compared to what I already have. What is the additional benefit compared to my setup? Am I cheap?

  2. Regarding redundancy, is RAID still the way to go? At 2 TB, using RAID 5 with 3 drives sounds good. I’d have 4 TB of usable space, much more than I intend to use in the next years, and adding a drive increases the storage by 2 TB, effectively increasing space by 50%.

  3. I have 4 TB usable space, but I won’t reach 2 TB in the next one or two years. I’d use a 2 TB HDD for a local backup via borg. Once my hot storage needs to increase, I replace the backup drive with a larger one and use it to increase the RAID storage. Is one backup sufficient? Or should I keeping multiple versions of the data. Daily, weekly, monthly backups? What is your experience with it?

  4. Another 2 TB HDD for an offsite backup, LUKS encrypted, backed up once a year (that’s the goal for now).

Does that sound good?

  • selfmate@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    I can’t find anything related to systemd or cron. Does it have its own scheduler? I already set policies. I’m just wondering if I forgot something to setup.

    • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      Depends. If you are running it as a service that starts with the system (sudo sysemctl enable kopia should work with most install methods, as kopia comes with a systemd service you only need to enable) then yes, it will use its own scheduler.

      If you want to use your own scheduling, you’d use anything that can execute a command on a schedule.

      • selfmate@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
        1·
        20 hours ago

        I couldn’t find a systemd unit or service.

        Kopia will then automatically begin taking the snapshot following the settings you set for the policy. link

        I’m not yet sure about that

        • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          1·
          20 hours ago

          How did you install kopia? What system are you on?

          I’m not yet sure about that

          It needs to be running, if it is, it will follow the policy. Systemd can start it with the system, but you can also start it some other way. Or you can execute snapshots without it constantly running, via cron/script. It’s up to you.