How My Self-Hosted Server Fits My Mac Life
When I retired in February, one of the first things I did was set
up a home lab using the various components that I've been socking away
for years. For me, 2025 has been the year that I've left the tech giants
in my rearview mirror. To that end, I wanted to experiment with Linux,
even though I don't plan to abandon the Mac or iOS as platforms. After a
couple of months fooling around with Ubuntu on an old Lenovo ThinkPad, I
decided to build a self-hosted server using the same computer and a bevy
of external hard drives that I had accumulated.
I solicited advice on Mastodon and ended up going with Unraid, a NAS-based operating system based on Ubuntu. I know someone who has an Unraid server, and that played a part in my decision. Unraid is not free. I spent $49 for a license that allowed me to use six connected hard drives, and after three months, I upgraded the license so that I can use an unlimited amount of hard drives. Shortly after that, I ditched the old ThinkPad in favor of a new mini PC with USB 3.2 and a faster CPU. It was $150 for a machine with 16GB of RAM, a 512 GB HD, dual ethernet ports, 2 HDMI ports (although I run it headless) and four USB 3.2 ports. I oped to immediately replace the hard drive with a 2 TB model. Much to my surprise, the computer had space and a connection for a 2.5 inch SATA drive, so I threw in a 1 TB model I had laying around in there.
My external storage consists of three 8 TB drives (all purchased since I started self-hosting), a 1 TB and 4TB SSDs, a 3 TB drive left over from the days when I took a thousand shots a day on my DSLR and a lonely old 2 TB external drive that lived most of it's life as a Time Machine drive. My future plans involved larger drives, housed in four drive bays with USB 3.2 connectivity. I've become an expert in finding good deals on hard drives.
I didn't have to buy a new domain name for my server. I just use subdomains from one I already won. Cloudflare takes care of all the networking and routing under their generous free program. I set up a tunnel to my server and now adding access to a new self hosted dervice takes about two minutes to make live.
Another free service that's proven invaluable is Tailscale, which allows you to create a private mesh network, assigning an IP address to your devices in a way so that even your hundreds of miles away, you can still make connections and use resources as if your two devices were sitting on the same desk.
My Services
Immich - Since I removed my photos from Apple, Google and Amazon, I needed a way to share them with my family over the Internet. I also needed a system that my wife and I could use together. Immich is a powerful photo management solution with excellent facial recognition and object identification when searching and it all lives on your computer. I have back up copies of my photos on a cloud server from a European company. Koofr. Immich has iOS and Mac app, although the latter only works on Apple silicon.
Audiobookshelf - Although I am no longer contributing to the enrichment of Jeff Bezos, I do want to have access to the audiobooks I purchased from Audible. I used the free app, Libation to liberate my library. It downloads all your books and removes the DRM that prevents you from with Amazon's hand in your pocket. Now I have a self hosted audiobook library, complete with metadata where I can stream of download books. If I want to gives access to antone else, it's easy to create an account to give them access too. There are various iOS apps compatible with Audiobookshelf.
Calibre-Web - Although you can no longer download the books you've purchased for your Kindle, if you have copies you saved befor April, 2025, you can strip the DRM from them tooand make your whole library available to you from any Internet connected reading device from your own server, wherever you are. You can use the Mac or iOS version of Calibre, or you can import books into the Mac and iOS program.
Plex - If you've obtained movies and TV shows from various sources (no judgement zone), you can create a media server on your computer than you can access from your SmartTV, streaming device, iPad or computer. You don't even have to be at home. If you want to give access to those resources to other people, you can do that as well. Plex works best when you buy the $40 a year Plex pass.Oh, and Plex also can display your photos and give you access to your music collection. If you still have all those ripped CDs and the spoils of the Napster days, you can ditch Apple Music and Spotify.
Copyparty - Although i still use (European based) cloud storgae, it serves primarily as an offsite backup. My day to day work is done on files that live on my self hosted server. Copyparty is an app that runs on my server and is accessible through any browser or file manager you can think of. It handle uploads and downloads, plays music and displays videos to boot.
The ARR Stack - For those sailing the high seas to obtain their media, there are self hosted apps like Radarr, Sonarr, Prowlarr, Huntarr and many more. The ARR stack automatically searches for titles you want, downloads them, adds metadata, subtitles and trailers and makes them available in Plex or Jellyfin. I'm so tired of contributing the the enrichment of billionaires, that after a more than 20-year absence, I have unashamedly returned to the seas myself. Arghhh!!