Comment by leonroy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by leonroy | Hacker News Reader

Over time I've tried to whittle down my homelab and move more of it to Microsoft 365/Google Suite/iTunes Store with mixed results.

Currently my must haves are:

* Router - pfSense - https://www.pfsense.org/

* Movies/TV/Home Videos - Plex

* Minecraft Server - AMP - https://cubecoders.com/AMPInstall

* Music - Roon - https://roonlabs.com/

* Automation - HomeAssistant - https://www.home-assistant.io/

* Unifi Controller

* Email - Zimbra - https://www.zimbra.com/downloads/

* Files - Synology

My experience:

* I can't recommend AMP enough for gamers

* Roon is £££ but if you like music it's such a unique piece of software

* Zimbra isn't what it used to be alas and I've been moving this to Microsoft 365

* HomeAssistant is fantastic and allows me to use pretty much any IoT device whether it has HomeBridge capability or not

* Synology - again expensive but after years of using Debian with my own custom setup, then OMV, then Unraid (briefly) then FreeNAS - Synology's DSM offers a level of capability and zero touch that none of the home rolled solutions match

* Plex - I really hope they never mess with this product, I find it super good although I need to check out Jellyfin

* pfSense - again, a top quality product - I'd love to use Unifi's offering but nothing I've seen (apart from OPNSense) competes feature wise

Something to be aware of w/r/t pfSense: https://opnsense.org/opnsense-com/

I only just migrated to OPNSense from pfSense. I feel cleaner. It was a relatively smooth and painless migration.

I used Plex a number of years ago. In comparison with (whenever it was) they messed it up trying to monetize it.

Unfortunately it's the better option in that space.

Jellyfin is ok. Plex several years ago was much better.

I'm also on self-hosted Zimbra and looking to move away from it, but I just can't bring myself to go to google or microsoft for something like that.

I'll probably end up with Roundcube or something similar.

Have a look at mailcow (https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized). Basically Docker images for Sogo and everything else (postfix, dspam, dovecot, etc).

I'm also stuck on Zimbra, but planning a move for me and my dozen users. I really like Zimbra's calendar sharing features, but Sogo seems to have a good implementation too.

I really really loved Plex, then suddenly my networks internet connection went down, no biggie I thought, I have my collection on Plex. Plex no longer worked offline at all. Not sure if that’s fixed, but I always saw it as a file server with a UI and webplayer.

Plex also doesn’t let me pay for one premium subscription for the server so my family can watch old family guy episodes longer than 30 seconds on a phone. They each have to buy a subscription.

I still use Plex because so much infrastructure investment to get my parents to use it but honesty I’m not sure I’d recommend it anymore.

It seems someone at Plex decided they wanted the project to finally make some serious cash and started removing functions and moved them behind a paywall (like basic analytics of if someone is currently using it or what they have watched) while shoehorning in bizarre not even B-Movies.

For offline access, you just need to configure that once with the CIDR of your local network(s), and then the next time you're offline the server will allow auth-less use: you'll still be you, but the server itself won't attempt to authenticate you through the internet.

Settings -> <server name> -> Network -> Show Advanced -> List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth

You can also toggle off some of the extra crap they are pushing:

Settings -> <your username> -> Online Media Sources

> Plex no longer worked offline at all.

In Plex settings you need to the IP addresses of devices you will allow to connect to your server without authentication. The setting is listed as "List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth". That way, if Plex or your internet is down, those devices will bypass a check for credentials and have access.

>Plex also doesn’t let me pay for one premium subscription for the server so my family can watch old family guy episodes

Set them up as managed accounts. You can have 15 users on one Plex pass subscription.

I had a somewhat similar experience.

I moved to a new server, installed plex, tried to set everything up under my existing account. It was impossible to move my account to a new server, it seemed to just expect my old one to still be there.

After creating new accounts, removing the old server, etcetc. I just gave up and moved to Jellyfin. It’s been mostly equally good. Better in the sense that it stutters less on my TV (Could be TV app too). Worse in the sense that my parent cannot figure it out.

I hit that the first time I moved servers. Turns out you need to backup and restore the configs on disk for there to be continuation. Doesn't make much sense honestly but whatever.

I have a plex server with plexpass and not a single person user my server has ever seen ads streaming my content.

I’ve never seen ads thank god, I sincerely hope they never take that step.

Plex free + Tailscale is a surprisingly good solid solution.

I have tails ale with jellyfin only problem I have is I can't cast to Chromecast caus of no https (no domain other then name resolving by tailscale) tailscale recently came out with auto https on reverse proxy with caddy but haven't been able to get it running

You can share the Plex Pass benefit of the mobile apps by adding those users to your Plex Home. The apps also have a one-time purchase option that's like $5, they don't need the full Plex Pass subscription.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/203815766-what-is-plex-home...

Well nevermind! The HN community just literally solved my complaints!

I’ll set up my users as managed and pay for them, that’s really perfect. Since all users are accessing via a vps I control I can just whitelist that and my home networks CIDR and might be back in business!

Thanks for the help folks!

I second the recommendation for Synology DSM. The setup process is remarkably painless.

It's the only proprietary equipment I've got in my homelab, and I concur, it's great.

Is Amp closed source and/or require a license or payment?

AFAIK it's closed source, it's a perpetual license for $10. You can run it on 5 servers and it offers unlimited updates. I was wary initially but it's a solid, very well made and reliable product.

Surprising how much functionality and configurability it offers via a Web UI and it's all written by one person. They did a Q&A last year to discuss the product:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThigYganx1Y

They also used to be called McMyAdmin for anyone who remembers them from the older days. Was a pretty popular admin panel for Minecraft servers and is where they started. Then they eventually expanded into other server types as well and basically put McMyAdmin under the AMP umbrella. AMP is definitely a good option for a Minecraft server, but is also a good option for many types of servers out there. It's still actively developed and they add support for new types of servers all the time!

Personally I've always been happy with the McMyAdmin license I had, and ended up also getting an AMP license later.

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