If you are after a Debian based system, with an interface for file server/backups/network storage, with a (web) interface, you are pretty much describing www.openmediavault.org . Decent plugin ecosystem to set up Wireguard, as well as a web interface to set up docker based containers for anything.

I did look at that. Between the giant popup ads and at the time 403 forum I couldn’t tell if it was legit or not. Would you say it is trustworthy and long term?

I don’t know about long term, but it’s running on my pile of virtual servers and does it’s job just fine. The openmediavault itself is a pretty good web-interface on top of Debian and it’s just configuring the underlying operating system so you can get exactly the same setup by writing configurations manually for the services. OMV is just a convenient tool to manage simple fileshares.

I use it only for samba and wireguard, so can’t really say if it’s as solid with other extensions, but for me it’s been a decent tool for the job.

Long-term cause it has at this point been around for actual decades.

Its not clear exactly what you’re asking for?

Maybe I don’t know myself! I suppose it boils down to understanding the whole stack. Too many times I’ve decided ”im gonna do distro A! And Y program. Great. Lets add Z. Oh. Outdated or incompatible without ninja moves. But flawless on distro B” Do i then virtualise, make ninja moves or swap distro? This makes me abandon it again.

For context I’ve gone from being the early linux adopter self hosting game servers on centos but I’m fairly stagnant since 10 years. I deegoogled but never replaced the infra. These days I barely open my laptop except for chores and work. Im back to using gmail for official purposes. But I also desperately want to break out of the phone/surveillance eco system

Now when I’ve been trying to look for solutions theres the added AI jungle. I was reading up on easyNas which seemed to tick all my boxes but it appears new and reliant on claude… so that would require me to look into how they handle that. Which feels insurmountable.

Im looking for the ”simple recommendation for grandparents” but for me, linux knowledgable but information overloaded. Ideally I can support my partner in a gui over the phone, should the need arise.

How did you make your stack and how easy to manage is it? Whats your favourite server distro and do you use any interface for it?

Would you make someone you love a home server?

Hell no. I have one because I like tinkering and don’t mind maintaining it. My loved ones are not those kinds of people. So then it becomes more of a chore for me and less of a fun personal project.

you want the equiv of a manic pixie dream server

must be free, and have all the options, and be easy!

also, servers are terrible gifts unless the person is expecting to be responsible for a server. kinda lika a dog.

Definitely check out yunohost. No containers, but roughly what you’re asking for imo.

1. Use whatever Linux Distro you want.
2. Install Docker to run containers.
3. Install Portainer for Container Management
4. I am a big fan of NextExplorer as a file server.

Important: Have fun. I feel like you are overthinking this. It’s very easy to remove a service and install a new one if you don’t like it. 😀