!!! The translation was made using Google Translate without editing and may contain inaccuracies in the translation. !!!

Choosing Hardware for a New Server

Since the first main task was to buy a much more powerful NAS server than I currently have, here's my rough outline of what I need for a new server:

• Powerful – The server should definitely be more powerful than the Celeron J4125 I have in my Synology DS720+ server. I can't say exactly how much more powerful.
• More RAM – I needed more RAM to run more demanding Docker containers. It would have been illogical and unreasonable to have a more powerful processor and roughly the same amount of RAM.
• Quiet – The server shouldn't be significantly noisier than my current server. I'll still be placing it at home.
• More drives – Since I planned to move all the most demanding tasks to the new server, namely at least everything related to video hosting, automated media libraries, and game servers, it's logical that I'll need more space, and therefore I'd like to be able to install more than two HDDs in my server.
• A NAS server enclosure – I'd be reluctant to buy anything other than a small NAS server, because I believe these small NAS server options are ideal for home use. They take up minimal space and have enough power for any home lab or any other needs you may have (my thoughts based on my experience with the Synology DS720+).

The first extreme I encountered in the advice I received was buying a full-fledged rackmount dual-processor server. Yes, such a server would last me a very, very long time, but the point of placing such a server at home in my conditions would be zero due to its bulkiness and incredible noise. I don't know if this was a joke in response to my vague request for power, but the fact of an inappropriate extreme is present here.

As always, I first tried choosing from the most common and popular options available online, using the first links I found, namely Synology, QNAP, Asustor, and TerraMaster. They all have the same drawback. They are literally identical in terms of hardware, and in this regard, in my opinion, there is no competition between these companies. The maximum performance increase will be double that of the Celeron J4125, based on synthetic benchmarks, and the maximum RAM will be 32 GB, based on the specifications offered by companies. Yes, the increase in performance would be insignificant, but NAS devices themselves are designed primarily for file storage and nothing more. I wanted something more from this form factor. In a pinch, you can always build your own server as small as possible, but I wanted to keep searching.

After six months of searching, I learned that the Minisforum N5 Pro server has been released. The specs are simply outstanding:

• Processor: Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 370
• RAM: Up to 96 GB
• Drive Bays: 5
• M.2 Drive Slots: 3 (with an adapter for two U.2)

The only thing that put me off this server was that it was from a Chinese company, Minisforum, and from my personal experience, the quality and support of Chinese hardware left much to be desired. But I still took the risk and so far everything is fine with this server. I was even able to update its UEFI via EFI-Shell. This server's performance is several times greater than anything else currently available on the NAS server market, and the supported RAM capacity is sufficient for the long term. Considering the processor has an integrated NPU and that Linux will soon (unknown at the time of purchase) add support for these NPUs and AMD graphics cards directly into the Linux kernel, it gave me many new possibilities that I will gradually implement for myself in the future. And so, after purchasing a new server with the risk of possible poor support and a Chinese manufacturer, it was time to choose an operating system for it.

Choosing an operating system for a new powerful server

The second main issue I spent a long time pondering (and am still unsure of my choice) was the question, “Which operating system should I install from the many available that would satisfy me as well as Synology's?” Yes, I adore the features of Synology's web interface, and after a long search, I could only find one project that was 99% as user-friendly as Synology's, but more on that later. While I was pondering it, I considered various options for how I could organize a convenient workflow with my new powerful server. In the end, I decided that I would leave Synology for better file interaction and storage, even if that meant completely tying myself to the company and purchasing their servers in the future. I would relegate the powerful server to a full-fledged secondary server for running demanding tasks.

Searching for a system with a browser-based desktop

The very first operating system I tried on the new server was their original Minisforum operating system, which they released as a beta version. Their operating system literally felt like a typical Chinese hack, thrown together without a clear development plan, with rigorous experimentation and strange ideas about how to use their operating system. While the installation went smoothly, the typical Chinese quirks begin. Instead of the classic browser-based web interface, this operating system requires downloading and installing their clunky application on your computer, then going through the process of creating an administrator account and logging into the operating system. Their application itself opens the classic desktop interface, similar to what you'd see with other companies, but that's where the classic server management system ends, and a uniquely Chinese approach begins. There are almost no settings, even basic ones. The only security system is their unique way of interacting with the server. Classic file management approaches consist of pre-assigned locations where you can't put other types of files. As a system administrator, you literally can't do anything related to viewing all user files. There's a Docker app, but it's useless due to the lack of even the most basic container configuration options (you can only allocate one volume to a container, but no more). After trying to play around with all of this, I completely abandoned the idea of ​​ever trying to use their original operating system and began considering other operating systems.

After becoming completely disillusioned with the Minisforum operating system, I returned to the idea of ​​installing an operating system specialized for NAS servers or home labs. I considered options such as OpenMediaVault, TrueNAS, Proxmox, UnRAID, Casa OS, Xpenology, YunoHost, ArozOS, and others. Of all the options, I was most drawn to ArozOS, as it literally satisfied me more than all the others (with a couple of exceptions) and was the most similar to the Synology operating system. The other options didn't suit me for many reasons, ranging from the most significant, such as the complete lack of a browser-based desktop, to minor ones, such as the complete lack of built-in file management, which required workarounds in the form of third-party projects that forced the use of their own file management paradigm in their own closed and/or completely isolated environments.

Continuing to explore all the options I found and various online recommendations, I first took a closer look at operating systems such as YunoHost or Casa OS. While reviewing solutions for issues that bothered me, I increasingly realized that all these people who suggested installing Nextcloud for files either had absolutely no idea how to read the questions and what exactly they were being asked to recommend, or they completely lacked the logic to come up with a solution that wasn't a hack. Every time you ask these people for clarification or direct them to the right advice, more and more hacks for seemingly simple problems start popping up. What's most terrifying is that these people work for IT companies and most likely act in exactly the same way, implementing a plethora of unnecessary hacks that complicate processes and system maintenance instead of spending more time searching for something simpler and more suitable. So, options like installing a base operating system (such as Debian) or installing operating systems like Casa OS, which I believe are more focused on service interaction, were completely out of the question for me. However, I still kept these options as a last resort, in case I couldn't find anything more suitable or convenient for attempting to replicate the interactions offered by Synology.

The next operating systems I considered and considered were Proxmox, Xpenology, TrueNAS, and the like. Xpenology was immediately ruled out as a primary operating system because it's literally Synology's operating system, and it had the same fairly old Linux kernel, which would have limited me in some tasks and experiments just as much as the original Synology system (I tried playing around with running Steam games through a browser inside a Docker container, but the Linux kernel was too old for that, and 99% of the time, it didn't work for me). However, I did consider installing it inside a Proxmox virtual machine.

The idea of ​​Proxmox was obvious. The virtualization feature would offer huge advantages, and it's a suitable scenario for most people. Proxmox could have been a good fit for me, if not for one thing. Proxmox doesn't natively support Docker containers. This operating system can only interact with LXC containers. I absolutely didn't want to create a separate virtual machine specifically for Docker containers. Firstly, it would be a clear hurdle, requiring a layer of complexity between Docker containers and the rest of the system. Secondly, I'd have to think about allocating resources to a virtual machine running Docker containers every time. Also, planning ahead for who, how much, and what to allocate to virtual machines and how they interacted would have become a separate task and even more hurdles, so I put that option aside, but I haven't forgotten about it, as it's another viable option for me.

TrueNAS, UnRAID, and similar operating systems (including Xpenology) as primary server operating systems are also a completely separate set of tasks and require a separate consideration of capabilities and interactions with the server. If you've already noticed that I've divided the various operating systems into separate groups, you might also have noticed that these separate groups create distinctly different server setup and usage scenarios, not to mention the vastly different capabilities I'd have for the present and future. In this particular situation, all of these options, with the exception of Xpenology (remember, the kernel is outdated and unsuitable for future use), offer all the necessary capabilities I need, with the exception of file interaction via a web interface and a browser-based desktop in general. However, by this point, I've somewhat resigned myself to trying to find at least some solution that would provide me with the same convenient browser-based server interaction as Synology DSM.

The last thing I could find online weren't full-fledged operating systems, but rather layers between full-fledged operating systems and a browser. These were designed as full-fledged browser-based operating systems that you could access from any browser and get a graphical interface for managing your server with normal, classic file interactions, just like you would with a regular graphical shell. This is exactly what I was looking for! Such projects include EyeOS, Oneye, FriendOS, and Doky. It's incredibly difficult to find such projects, especially just to stumble upon them, especially if they're not archived. Among all the old, forgotten, and archived projects, I stumbled upon a truly brilliant project that has been in development for many years and which is not at all embarrassing to have as a browser interface. This is ArozOS. This project is exactly what I expect from all the advice and posts online when I ask about alternatives to the Synology DSM operating system. This combines a browser-based desktop, convenient file interaction, and most (if not all) of the basic features I expect from operating systems similar to Synology DSM. Yes, this project has its drawbacks and pitfalls, but it's literally the closest I've come to meeting all my needs in a browser-based desktop for my new NAS server!

Final Operating System Selection

It took me quite a while to find the ArozOS project. I'd already been disappointed with everything I'd found during my extensive search, and finally decided to give in and accept the fact that I wouldn't see a browser-based system similar to Synology DSM. I decided to think about it, study the existing options in more detail, and just start trying things out. After some thought, I settled on the TrueNAS operating system. Yes, this system has absolutely no adequate file interaction via its web interface, but since I already had a Synology DS720+ server and it worked perfectly, I decided, instead of completely migrating everything, to stick with what I had and simply repurpose my new, powerful server from a general-purpose one to one designed for demanding tasks only. I'd agree that I wouldn't frequently access its settings and would rarely interact with the server except for service updates (the logic of ironclad operation of services configured perfectly the first time). And I can say that I managed to accomplish my goal well enough that I can call my long journey from lengthy theory to rapid practice a complete success. The only drawback I still have is a residual, complete dependence on Synology servers and services, but it's worth it. It's not for nothing that their Synology DSM operating system is the benchmark and literally the best solution for people who prefer the “plug and play” approach without any unnecessary configuration. And just in case something happens to the Synology company itself, thanks to my long and fascinating search, I will always have the option of ArozOS.

Here's where we draw the line, as this is sort of the end of my post, and I can conclude with the following afterword.

As a result, I have a second powerful (for home use) Minisforum N5 Pro server with two 8 terabyte HDDs, running the TrueNAS operating system and deploying Portainer for Docker containers, where I run demanding services like PeerTube and Automediacenter (Jellyfin, Sonarr, Radarr, etc.). I was finally able to launch games through a browser inside a Steam-headless Docker container (there are some nuances like TinyVNC that make it impossible to play in real life, but the FPS in games is finally adequate), and now I have plenty of space for game servers. I still can't use the AMD NPU, but I hope this feature will become available soon. Thanks to AMD pushing its graphics card drivers and amdxdna into the Linux kernel, when the new global TrueNAS version was released, they updated the Linux kernel to version 6.18, which already includes the graphics card drivers. Unfortunately, the amdxdna version is from an alpha or beta release, so we're stuck with version 0.1.0 in the kernel instead of the required 1.1.0.0 to use the NPU in the processor. I've been disappointed more than once with the TrueNAS system itself and the developers of this operating system since I've used it. Yes, I understand this is a very, very difficult task, but TrueNAS lacks a significant number of features, such as convenient firewall configuration, and numerous aspects of the web interface make the TrueNAS operating system itself directly dependent on external firewalls, NAT, and other dependencies that prevent the TrueNAS server from being placed directly in the router's DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). I'll be disappointed with this operating system many times over, but for my specific situation, I can't think of a better solution that I've been able to achieve at this time.

Job

Naturally, as soon as I got the job, I had to make every effort to learn how to work in a new company with new colleagues, a job I'd never done before. I got a job as a “server and storage system tester and repairman.” I'll say right away that asking me how it compares to my old job is completely pointless, because the new company doesn't compare at all to my old job. It's simply ten times better in absolutely every way.

At my new job, I spent most of my energy for the first six months getting to know my coworkers (even those from other related departments), learning how to work in a new environment, and adjusting to a new work schedule. I still sometimes struggle with it due to my own lack of sleep and wasted time, but I'm still struggling with it, and quite successfully. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by stress (from my observations and feelings), and I simply want to relieve it by playing games with friends until late. This is my main problem, which sometimes leads to severe sleep deprivation, which can make me a few minutes late for work.

After working for the new company for so long, I've noticed many classic stereotypes about various jobs (I won't mention these stereotypes, but stereotypes are always there for a reason), which generally prevent any company from producing products more efficiently than they currently do. However, I think these situations exist in the vast majority of companies. Again, I'll remind you that I still have nothing to compare it to. The main thing is that my new job is much better than my old one.

Hardware upgrade for my local services

Somewhere around the beginning of September 2025, I had already saved up enough money to feel confident, and despite how much I like the Synology web interface, I still want a lot more power for some of my services, like PeerTube. Around the beginning of September 2025, I had already saved enough money to feel confident, and despite how much I like Synology's web interface, I still wanted significantly more power for some of my services, like PeerTube. Around the same time, the Chinese company Minisforum released a 5-bay NAS server with very powerful hardware for such a small device, especially for a NAS device. Considering that it was a Chinese company (China, in my personal opinion, still isn't renowned for the quality and support of its devices compared to almost any other company), buying a new, more powerful server from a Chinese company was quite a risky decision for me, but I decided to buy it anyway, and now I have two servers at home.

Synology: – Processor: Celeron J4125 – RAM: 10GB – SATA slots: 2 slots – M.2 slots: 2 slots

Minisforum N5 Pro: – Processor: Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 370 – RAM: 96GB – SATA slots: 5 slots – M.2 slots: 3 slots

Yes, compared to the Synology, the new server's power is impressive! After I got the new server, installed the operating system (the details of choosing an operating system for a server are worth a separate post), and configured it, I successfully migrated some of my services to this new server, which had enough power and RAM to speed up my services. At first, I moved PeerTube and my automatic media center to the new server, but as my desires grew with the new features (of which the new server had plenty and even more), I eventually added a couple of game servers for myself, Owncast, and even deployed koboldai with a local Behemoth-123V-v2.2-GGUF AI. Yes, the speed still leaves much to be desired, but this proves that I have the opportunity to be less dependent on services blocked in my country these days. I even finally got to play Steam games on the new server with the ability to play through the browser!

Live Streams

Another activity that has gradually begun to consume almost all my remaining free time is live streaming, where I stream various games. I've been trying to develop this for a very long time and have given up many times for various reasons, but this time everything is working out very well. Initially, I streamed exclusively on my PeerTube instance because we all know Twitch's incredibly hypocritical policies, and I absolutely didn't want to go back there. People even started watching me on my server, and I received my first donation for streaming development from a stream on my PeerTube instance!

Eventually, closer to 2026, my viewers finally convinced me to return to Twitch, and I think it was worth it. I started streaming on Twitch and PeerTube simultaneously, and I was watched by both people who were into Fediverse and regular people who didn't care about all the hassle that surrounds Fediverse. Regular people started finding me over time, and I even developed a loyal audience, which after so many years, is a wonderful feeling. And from that moment on, I decided to take on the additional challenge of developing my streaming business on top of everything I already had, and from that point on, I had little or no time left for myself. While exploring streaming development opportunities that I could easily handle on my own, I accumulated a rather massive to-do list, which, as it turned out, included not just stream development but even trying to figure out how to independently host the services that support my socialstream.ninja chat aggregator. All of these tasks required so much time and effort that for a while, I was unable to even manage simple tasks like adding the “!—more—” tag to tidy up some super-long posts like this one. But eventually, I overcame a moment of procrastination, dealt with the accumulated household chores, structured my list, making it step-by-step, and this gave me the strength to continue developing, albeit at a very slow pace (I'm still the only one handling such a huge amount of work).

Time passed, I deployed more and more services for myself, since I found out that these services would be really convenient for me and I would use them 100%, the cache filled up more and more in terms of the required amount of requested data, and at some point I began to notice rare slowdowns of the entire system during writing to the HDD disk. The writing itself with a read-only cache hit the overall performance of the server, which was quite noticeable and during another power surge, when my server decided to turn off and turn on, I decided to monitor the cache. Literally in 24 hours my cache was filled to 100% and the filling values ​​almost never dropped below 100%. (yes, I understand that the cache should be filled, but if you have ever monitored its operation, then this is one of the clear signs of its insufficient). If we compare it with the moment when I just bought the cache and the values ​​after its first installation and what was happening now, I concluded that the cache was clearly not enough and I decided to immediately buy a larger M.2 SSD of 512 GB (this time 5% of the volume) and immediately organize a read/write cache.

While installing new M.2 SSD disks for the cache, I disconnected the old read-only cache from the volume and almost instantly my server almost completely lost responsiveness, since all the existing load hit the HDD disks and the server thought for a very long time even about my every action in the web interface. After turning off the server and replacing the disks for the cache, there was also a noticeable slowdown in turning on the server and its services with the same depressing responsiveness. When everything started an hour later, I organized a read/write cache for the volume along with the transfer of all Btrfs metadata to the cache. Almost immediately, the server's performance increased to new heights and the speeds for the HDD disk returned to the speeds stated in the characteristics for the HDD disk. I began to monitor the new cache. After one night (8-12 hours passed), the cache filled up to 250 GB, which made it clear that I was right about the lack of cache. Then, after two days, the cache filling stabilized at 67% of re-requested data and 83% together with the written data.

Based on my observations, I think we can draw the following conclusions:

1. Track how much the cache fills up in a day. If the cache literally fills up to 100% in the first day, this may clearly indicate a shortage.
2. Read/write cache is much faster than read-only cache, and read-only cache unloads the disk for writing. If read-only cache is not enough, you will start to notice occasional performance drops.
3. Do not compress files at the file system level if you have read-only cache. It may save some space, but it will slow down file handling (I have already tested it).
4. Move file system metadata to read/write cache, it speeds up file searches a lot.

During this very interesting study of this topic, I have found out for myself a number of the following statements: 1) Yes, recruiting is really broken and broken on both sides 2) Yes, there is still a problem of absolutely inadequate vacancies with +100500 knowledge of future employees and +100500 responsibilities of employees, who are the majority in the labor market and the situation is only getting worse 3) HR managers also quite often lie about employers and working conditions 4) HR managers and employers greatly inflate their expectations from future employees (especially newcomers) 5) Job seekers in huge numbers send out their vacancies everywhere, which also multiplies the workload of all HR managers and this is a very bad practice 6) Due to points 2 and 4, employees increasingly lie about their capabilities and work experience, which only worsens the possibility of hiring more qualified employees into the company 7) The labor market is flooded with fraudulent vacancies with high salaries, which only benefits job search sites like headhunter 8) Generation Z has truly stopped tolerating the brutal attitude of employers that their parents had 9) Generation Z actually has a relatively large number of people who do not want to work or develop professionally 10) Something else, but I forgot 11) ...

Yes, there are problems on all three sides. Yes, the hiring methods are broken, no one wants to do anything about it and the problems are growing like a snowball rolling down a mountain. Yes, adequate employers with better working conditions prefer to look for people on social networks or through acquaintances, because the usual methods of hiring employees are broken, including due to the behavior of online recruitment platforms. Yes, the new generation will not tolerate bad attitudes towards themselves and the easy time for employers is ending faster and faster. And yes, the demographic crisis in the form of a huge number of newcomers is becoming more and more serious.

Having analyzed my previous job, I think that in the future I will also not tolerate 2 whole years of problems at work. To give you an idea, the problems were as follows: 1) Outdated hardware 10+ years old or 20+ years old that really needs to be replaced 2) Complete lack of software and operating system updates (which is why the problems are still getting worse) 3) A huge number of workarounds due to untimely updates, software that is not suitable for the needs, temporary solutions or saving on software that no one wants to fix even after a long time 4) The work of 3 full-fledged departments 5) The task is distributed between several completely unrelated departments (meaning that it started as help, but turned into a permanent job) 6) The philosophy of “if it works, don't touch it” (right now at my previous job the problems are getting worse due to this philosophy) 7) Colleagues do not want to work and constantly push tasks onto each other 8) No one undertakes to do dangerous work on updating systems 9) Complete lack of documentation even on the installed server hardware

Today, I believe that if I encounter at least two problems from this list of problems that I have encountered, I will need to immediately notify my employer of my dismissal and immediately quit even if I do not work in this company for even a month. My experience, which I have gained in all my previous jobs, shows that any of the points on my list will not change in any company and, just like the entire Z generation (regardless of what all people from 30 to 50 years old say), I no longer intend to tolerate such working conditions. I think I will end my post here, since this post has already turned out to be incredibly long and I myself did not plan to write so much text. Anyone interested in my thoughts on self-analysis is welcome below in this post.

What I think about my thinking and behavior, if anyone is interested

About my thinking and behavior. For me, worrying and caring about others is a very weak point and I very often, if not always, try to please people around me even to my own detriment. Attempts to restructure my thinking towards greater egoism towards others come from both the analysis of what happened at my previous job, and from the fact that from the analysis of my previous job I began to notice in my environment that absolutely no one spends more time on someone than necessary, and if people consider it necessary to take an extra rest or do their chores around the house, then they do it without chasing after communication, which, by the way, I respect very much. Over time, I have a fairly small number of people left with whom I can really talk, and for me it is a huge problem to find a suitable circle of people with whom I can just sit and talk in the company of people, since it is my habit to almost immediately break off communication with people I do not like (too much swearing, insults, constant whining about their life, insults to people behind their backs, outright ignoring, etc.). All these actions of people listed in brackets hit me quite hard even if all this is not directed at me (mostly outright ignoring is directed at me). All this makes me think about restructuring my behavior towards selfishness, because being kind to others works less and less. And all this environment makes me look at all sorts of bloggers, streamers and Vitubers from the side of selling myself as a person in order to build the environment around me that I want to see and with whom I will really want to communicate without any pretentious nicknames or insults behind other people's backs and from time to time (while I am still unemployed and while I have all the strength for this) I think about returning to creating videos and streaming. Yes, I have already tried to do this more than once, but the main problem of failure here is the lack of time to create at least some activity around myself and this put a lot of pressure on me from time to time, forcing me to stop doing all this. In general, I will most likely soon try to stream simply and without pretentiousness once again, but this time I will try to stream everything in a row.