Configure and build a smarthome server

Deutsch

If configure a smarthome server which should run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the question often arises if it does not need a lot of power. My goal was therefore to build a server with a particularly low-power components. The current configuration needs about 25 watts and is therefore acceptable in my opinion for a ²⁴⁄₇ operation.

Hardware

It is running with a Quad Core Atom J5005 and 32GB DDR4-2400. As a harddrive there are one 256GB SSD and one 3TB raid 1. The server case itself features 4 HotPlug slots for easy changing harddisks. This setup will give me some flexibility for the future :-)

Mini ITX Server View at the 4 RAID slots

Operatingsystem

I use openSUSE as my operating system. The reason is my personal preference and habit. I use SuSE since version 4.3. I changed almost directly from my formerly used Amiga OS. :-)

Hardwaredetails

The hardware cost about 570 € and the parts list is as follows.

Hardware - Version 2

After running my previous server for years and being very happy with it, the requirements for the system gradually changed and I had to soften my requirements for low power consumption a little. I wanted a slightly more powerful CPU to run my daily CI deployment tests faster and a GPU to be able to run Nextcloud AI jobs like the app recognize with hardware acceleration. Nevertheless, the system should consume as little power as possible.

The result is a system that consumes 40-45W in idle mode and goes up to 60W (100% CPU load) or 120W (100% CPU & 100% GPU load) when needed. These are values that I think are acceptable for a ²⁴⁄₇ system.
Micro ATX Server

Hardwaredetails - Version 2

The hardware cost about 1500 € and consists of the following components.

This time I also connected a small KVM box, which allows me to operate the server completely headless and still initiate a hardware restart or access the computer’s BIOS. The hardware for this consists of the following components.