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Anyone self hosting on Mac mini M1/M2? (programming.dev)

submitted 3 months ago by SuperFola@programming.dev to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

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I currently have a server, a Dell T310 with an SSD in it and 12Gig of ram (weird config, I know I messed up but it works fine so I can’t be bothered to change that for now), with all my dockers running in it.

It runs mostly fine, with Debian 11, a VPN so that I can block public ssh and allow it only on the VPN network, an nginx proxy to have services like a forgejo and a music library (ampache).

However it can’t run a Minecraft server with more than a single person on it without stuttering ; so I was considering changing it maybe next year, after more than 3 years of services, for something beefier but also consuming less W/h (current consumption is 80W), and since I already have a Mac for work I was wondering how suitable a Mac Mini M1/M2 would be for a homelab?

Does anyone have such a configuration and how does it work for you? Any hurdle that you should be aware of?

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[–] TCB13@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

since I already have a Mac for work I was wondering how suitable a Mac Mini M1/M2 would be for a homelab?

Suitable yes, if you want to do it... maybe or maybe not. Here's a few pointers:

Debian can be installed on those machines, however I'm not sure how power management works properly:
Installation isn't as straightforward and as easy as in another systems because Apple decided to keep pushing the usual ARM bullshit of not including a proper UEFI with the system;
Some stuff will be broker, but you most likely don't need it for self-hosting;
If you keep macOS around you may have good luck with virtualizing Debian using UTM or VMware. Debian's arm64 images will run at optimal performance on that hardware.

If you're about to spend money I would grab an HP Mini unit with a "T" CPU, those will downclock really hard and you can get a i5-10500T (on ebay) for around 250€... and everything will work fine out of the box. An i7-8500T model also sells for 150€ or something like that.

Have a look at those CPU benchmarks (last one is probably yours):

If you're looking for power efficiency the newer CPUs are always better. Those mini units will downclock and idle at around 9-12W depending on hardware configuration but Apple should be able to do better - at least assuming you've power management working.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/4104vs4922vs3768vs3231vs1287/Apple-M1-8-Core-3200-MHz-vs-Apple-M2-8-Core-3500-MHz-vs-Intel-i5-10500T-vs-Intel-i5-8500T-vs-Intel-Xeon-X3430