Did I need a new server? Absolutely not. So here we are.

My existing Leaseweb server (provided via Hosting By Design) is a fairly capable machine:

  • CPU: Xeon E3-1230
  • RAM: 32GB
  • Storage: 4 x 8 TB HDDs, configured in a RAID 5 array
  • Connection: Dedicated 1GBps line, 100TB monthly traffic cap

However I want to make a few improvements.

First, and most importantly, I'm fucking itchy and just love trying new shit out.

Otherwise, I was eager to try different RAID configurations to see what could speed up my seedbox. Price wasn't a major concern, but I felt I wasn't utilising parts of my existing setup, mostly with the HDD configuration.

Hetzner and OVH were my main alternative choices, however I couldn't justify the cost of the OVH servers. They were too over-specced on non-HDD elements, which I don't need as much right now. Therefore I waited for a decent price on a Hetzner server auction, and snapped this up:

  • CPU: Xeon E3-1271
  • RAM: 32GB
  • Storage: 4 x 10 TB HDDs, configured in a RAID 10 array
  • Connection: Dedicated 1GBps line, unlimited traffic cap

Not exactly an earth-shattering change. The CPU upgrade isn't noteworthy. The monthly traffic cap likely won't exceed 50TB with my existing setup. So the major gains came from the RAID 10 configuration, which I am still exploring the optimisation side of.

Here have been my adventures so far in getting it set up and replacing my old server:

Rescue system + Linux install: Easy af, same as Leaseweb. RAID configuration was configured via the Hetzner rescue system rather than during setup with Hosting By Design, which was a neat change.

Swizzin install: Same setup, just run 

bash <(curl -sL s5n.sh) && . ~/.bashrc
then stare at the Advanced Options while touching none of them, wait a few mins, and done.

Application install: A bit trickier this time. All installs were done through Swizzin's Box system, same as last time - Nginx, File Browser, Jellyfin, Panel, QBitTorrent, Plex, Vsftpd. However, a huge roadblock was Hetzner server IP addresses being blocked by Plex. I tried working around this, but couldn't find a usable solution.

Therefore I had to find a new media server, and Jellyfin (my preferred client) was notoriously difficult working with IP addresses with self-signed SSL certificates. This is fine when connecting via PCs and other tech you actually control, much less so on a Smart TV. They simply don't let the user override the security warning. The main solution to this seems to be buying a cheap domain name annually, getting an independent SSL certificate issued for it, then connecting your media server to it. However, I'm a lazy cheapskate :3

Enter Emby, the semi-closed-source client that Jellyfin forked away from. Same as Plex, the Quick Connect feature is what let me circumvent the SSL self-signed certificate issue. Functionally it's 95% similar to Jellyfin, but I'm not as smug when using it. However, a huge advantage is that it can be located easily on Smart TV's app stores, making it much more straightforward to install versus Jellyfin, which required root/dev access.

Porting old server files: Still ongoing. Most files are permanently seeded on QBitTorrent, so I just mass copied the Magnet IDs of the torrents to re-download them on the new server. Which has the additional bonus of letting the other seeds in the network share the network load :3

For any files I wasn't torrenting, running 

scp -r /directory_to_copy root@XXX.XXX.XXX.XX:/directory_to_copy_to
is sufficient. Probably. Still ongoing.

Once fully ported, I plan to run some speed comparisons, test the performance gain of the RAID 10 configuration, then drop the slower server.

20th Feb Update: I have decided that Hetzner actually sucks