The $0 Home Server

Huge thanks to ISL Online for sponsoring this video! Try ISL Light now and get 15 days free!

You know that old laptop you have lying around that you don’t know what to do with, but nobody would buy it if you tried to sell it, but you don’t wanna throw it away at the same time? What if I told you that you could not only find a new use for it, but that you’ll be using it for all sorts of tasks, no matter how weak it is. Want a personal media server to host movies and shows? You got it. Want network storage for your whole house? That too. Want a VPN to your home network? You’re not gonna believe this… I’m Chris Kalos, I like computers, and today I’ll be showing you how to set up The $0 Home Server, a home server with the ESSENTIALS for the average user. (Jellyfin Media Server, Samba network storage, Wireguard VPN, Wake-on-LAN)

====Alternative titles====

EASY Home Server from E-Waste!
The ESSENTIAL Home Server Setup
Turn Any Old Computer into a Useful Home Server
The $0 Home Server
Easy home server for the average user

====Links====

GUIDE:

We finally have a Discord server:

Keep your laptop lid closing from putting your computer to sleep:

LVM clarification:

Port forward:

Ubuntu Server LTS:

Samba:

Jellyfin:

Wireguard:

Etherwake:

====Credits====

====Timestamps====
0:00 - Introduction
0:34 - ISL Online Sponsor
1:24 - The Basics
3:26 - Utilities & Use Cases
3:50 - Reserving Your Local IP Address
4:17 - ssh
4:44 - Network Storage (Samba)
7:04 - Media Server (Jellyfin)
8:28 - VPN (Wireguard & DuckDNS using PiVPN)
13:12 - Wake-on-LAN (etherwake)
15:57 - Recap

[miguelovila]

This is a SCAM because if you start your cheap homelab, you'll be hooked and find yourself with a rack full of gear right next to your couch in the living room. You'll go quickly from an old laptop, to a desktop, and then then just one server, but before you know it, you'll be planning network upgrades, buying SSDs for your storage, and debating the merits of different operating systems over dinner with your wife that doesn't care about it at all (only cares about the electricity bill). Your living room might start looking more like a mini data center, and you'll be the proud admin of your very own homelab empire. Consider yourself warned: there's no turning back.

[Mpcs]

From someone that has been been building home servers for over 20 years I gotta say this is well put together, informative, and concise while not being too dry. Good video.

[earthling_parth]

This! This is the type of stuff most normal people even with some basic IT knowledge can easily follow and get an actual usable home server out of! Amazing stuff!

[hondokenway]

Two weeks after watching this I've been pretty deep into making a home server. Thank you for making such an easy to follow start guide

[rafita_san]

- How did you ended up with a closet full of old laptops?
- Kalos said "Dale" y yo le dí 🤷🏼‍♂️

[smallpeople]

I’m surprised Paul Dano was able to take a break from his stellar career to teach us about home servers

[pbinnj]

I have no intention of creating a home server and yet, I loved watching this.

[leocm]

Finally a youtuber that doesn't blur private addresses.

[ntppxjk]

outta no where I just got a random side quest

[skyde]

I remember when I was 10 my dad gave me an HP laptop motherboard from which I hosted Minecraft servers. We even upgraded the CPU from a low end c2d to a higher end c2d. Good times!

[Splarkszter]

Everyone benefits from learning to self-host their stuff.

People must be educated to own their services and devices.

I thank you a lot for this, really, you make the world a better place.

[morenonT]

Something that wasn't mentioned here is about direct costs of a home server, as of electric bill, if you run it 24/7. The laptop is the best choice here since you get lower consumption CPUs by design and an integrated UPS!

As a final tip, if you need extra storage and your laptop had a CD reader, you can find hdd/ssd caddy for the CD tray!

If you need to backup stuff, also syncthing is a must have!

[briholland]

Wow, what a brilliant video! Easy to follow, content was well organised and your presentation was consistent and spot on… especially the jokes. You even reminded me that I have an old laptop doing nothing so that’s a prime candidate for becoming useful again. Well done, Chris! Looking forward to watching more 😊

[kevvyg]

Finally found a channel that explains things correctly and easy to follow- Ive been using an ssd attached to my home router and it always takes 3 or 4 attempts just to load a movie !new sub from the UK

[third-partysites]

Nice to see some people making the path easier for beginners, Keep it up

[TheAtticus]

Dude, this is a killer, practical video on getting into home servers. Awesome work! Just gained a new sub.

[KTSpeedruns]

I've watched so many home server videos. This is by far the best one. The others made me not want to touch it. This made me want to finally set one up.

[StevenHarmonGames]

My friend and I just followed this guide and now have our own home servers with our old laptops, so cool! Thanks a ton!

[jethrovic]

This is so beautiful because I just ordered a raspberry pi 4 to use as a server but it felt like an overkill and now I get to use my old laptop for the server and still have a fresh raspberry pi for loads of experimentation. God bless Kalos.

[EmmaBelotti]

This is probably my fav. Video on the platform, so useful and well made! With some trials and errors i turned a shitty laptop from 2010 (1gb of ram, couldnt handle it's own os / ram upgrades) into a "free" cloud, then spent a day automating remote on/off with my phone to save on the electricity bill. Now i plan to add bitwarden, an image viewer and other cool stuff, cant wait for a part 2!