Server is meant for all users of a single server.

So, you could buy 1-3 individual licenses or the server license for 4+ users.

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I would go with 16GB for the kinds of things you listed.

If you don’t need a 3.5in drive then I would go even smaller to a mini form factor. It will definitely save you money on electricity. I think it’s the main choice here.

Key-only SSH with fail2ban and I sleep easy a night.

I would go for refurb, business line SFF machines. Something like ThinkCentre or Optiplex. Specific form factor based on drive needs but the smaller you go the more power efficient. I have one on the bigger side (internal psu) that runs about 12W idle.

Just double check that it can handle hardware transcoding. Should fit right in your budget!

I use Immich for sharing. Get some accounts set up for closest family so you can easily add them to albums. For others you can just share a link to each album, password protected or simply unlisted.

Personally, I run my internet accessible apps on my Hetzner VM behind a reverse proxy, whereas things like home automation, DNS and Octoprint I prefer to serve on my local network.

Same as any piece of software you’re hosting, it’s up to you to decide. I run my instance on my Hetzner vm.

Ansible is so simple yet so elegant.

Righteous!

This is not a subscription but a perpetual license and for my needs it’s already well worth the price they are asking. Using this actively with my wife but also sharing albums with about 8 other family members.

I find the no-subscription model very attractive and I’m open minded to companies trying out new software licensing approaches. I like the idea of the developers getting paid for their good work and being able to do it full time.

This just means that this project is still too early in development for you. The breaking changes happening in this phase are going to pay off in the long run and prevent the project from getting bogged down.

I would give it another shot when they release v2

Did you ever find the missing packets?

If the open source release is adequate then you can just continue using it… Or fork for your needs.

You can always set watchtower to blindly pull for you. If it’s going to be broken anyways, might as well automate the process.