home server spin-off: Plannings

pboy commented

2026-02-20 14:05:38 +00:00

Owner

Goal is to detail the objectives of the project:

Agree upon the basic concept
Clarify terminology and project title: home server and/or homelab
Determine the basic software portfolio

Modification are possible any time when experiences require an adaptation.

Goal is to detail the objectives of the project: * Agree upon the basic concept * Clarify terminology and project title: home server and/or homelab * Determine the basic software portfolio Modification are possible any time when experiences require an adaptation.

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2026-02-20 14:06:01 +00:00

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ngompa commented

2026-02-20 14:12:11 +00:00

Member

Probably the starting point would be the expected user experience. For a lot of SOHO setups, you're not really going to use things like Ansible, and are likely to do things interactively.

That also probably means Cockpit and other web UI based applications needs to be a bigger part of the focus.

Probably the starting point would be the expected user experience. For a lot of SOHO setups, you're not really going to use things like Ansible, and are likely to do things interactively. That also probably means Cockpit and other web UI based applications needs to be a bigger part of the focus.

korora commented

2026-02-20 14:30:53 +00:00

Member

I agree, I'm comfortable on the command line, but someone new to using Fedora is probably not going to be.

I still only have limited knowledge of ansible and prefer to do most things via the CLI. It's comfortable for me. (20 years ago, not so much...)

I agree, I'm comfortable on the command line, but someone new to using Fedora is probably not going to be. I still only have limited knowledge of ansible and prefer to do most things via the CLI. It's comfortable for me. (20 years ago, not so much...)

mowest commented

2026-02-24 15:51:29 +00:00

Member

I'm hopeful that our home server spin could achieve the following:

Adopt some of newer technologies and software stacks that may not make as much sense in a enterprise environment. (ie adopt btrfs which most of the editions has moved to as the default file system, and use btrfs to set up a software RAID configuration, and there might be other technologies and software stacks that would serve the home server environment well)
Showcase web UI technologies like Cockpit with all of its current plugins. I would love to see installed a web UI that makes docker or podman containers easy to administrate, so that users could get up and running with locally served apps quickly and easily after install. I don't know if we have something like that packaged for Fedora yet, but this would help to create a great user experience.

At Flock in Rochester, I helped host a discussion session on Fedora Server. One participant asked a lot of questions about using "bootc" because it was the new hot thing announced at Flock that year. I, personally, don't see this as a main focus for the home server spin. Another participant really wanted to see a Fedora based "PFsense" for the home lab. Although I too would love a Fedora based router for my home lab, I currently am using OpenWRT on a Zimaboard, I don't see this as a realistic goal for the home server spin either because of the lack of a web UI interface that could be installed on top of Fedora and our firewall.

Perhaps our home server spin could be a little more user friendly than our stock enterprise ready Fedora Server, but may not have the simplicity that you see with a distro or project like Freedombox or ZimaOS.

I'm hopeful that our home server spin could achieve the following: 1. Adopt some of newer technologies and software stacks that may not make as much sense in a enterprise environment. (ie adopt btrfs which most of the editions has moved to as the default file system, and use btrfs to set up a software RAID configuration, and there might be other technologies and software stacks that would serve the home server environment well) 2. Showcase web UI technologies like Cockpit with all of its current plugins. I would love to see installed a web UI that makes docker or podman containers easy to administrate, so that users could get up and running with locally served apps quickly and easily after install. I don't know if we have something like that packaged for Fedora yet, but this would help to create a great user experience. - At Flock in Rochester, I helped host a discussion session on Fedora Server. One participant asked a lot of questions about using "bootc" because it was the new hot thing announced at Flock that year. I, personally, don't see this as a main focus for the home server spin. Another participant really wanted to see a Fedora based "PFsense" for the home lab. Although I too would love a Fedora based router for my home lab, I currently am using OpenWRT on a Zimaboard, I don't see this as a realistic goal for the home server spin either because of the lack of a web UI interface that could be installed on top of Fedora and our firewall. Perhaps our home server spin could be a little more user friendly than our stock enterprise ready Fedora Server, but may not have the simplicity that you see with a distro or project like Freedombox or ZimaOS.

eseyman commented

2026-02-25 18:55:41 +00:00

Member

I don't know that we aim to be the next PFsense, ZimaOS, or Freedombox. I suspect we aim to be the OS they would consider being based on if they had to drop the one they currently use (FreeBSD, CasaOS and Debian, respectively).

mowest commented

2026-02-25 19:18:56 +00:00

Member

100% agree with @eseyman. I don't envision our home server spin being anything like those examples either. I really see it as the next level up in the home lab experience. You have some experience with a "fully curated" experience like ZimaOS or Freedombox, and now you would like to have the flexibility to run your own self-hosted apps that you find, but can't install on the "fully curated" because those apps are not in their respective "stores" or list of "approved apps". This was my and my son's experience. First we used "Freedombox" where we started to see the power of having our own self-hosted apps on our network, then he wanted to be able to have a place where he could host his own personally developed web apps, so we moved to Fedora Server, and now I would love it if we could have a "home lab spin" that provides the sane defaults that would benefit the intermediate home lab user.

At the same time if we can make the "on ramp" to self-hosting easier than knowing everything that is to be known about container technologies or everything that needs to be known about running docker or podman from the command line and can give a "configured, secure" experience to home lab enthusiasts I think that would be an exciting Fedora spin.

100% agree with @eseyman. I don't envision our home server spin being anything like those examples either. I really see it as the next level up in the home lab experience. You have some experience with a "fully curated" experience like ZimaOS or Freedombox, and now you would like to have the flexibility to run your own self-hosted apps that you find, but can't install on the "fully curated" because those apps are not in their respective "stores" or list of "approved apps". This was my and my son's experience. First we used "Freedombox" where we started to see the power of having our own self-hosted apps on our network, then he wanted to be able to have a place where he could host his own personally developed web apps, so we moved to Fedora Server, and now I would love it if we could have a "home lab spin" that provides the sane defaults that would benefit the intermediate home lab user. At the same time if we can make the "on ramp" to self-hosting easier than knowing everything that is to be known about container technologies or everything that needs to be known about running docker or podman from the command line and can give a "configured, secure" experience to home lab enthusiasts I think that would be an exciting Fedora spin.

ngompa commented

2026-02-25 19:24:24 +00:00

Member

It would also probably be a better place of focus for ARM, since SBC servers are almost exclusively SOHO servers.

pboy commented

2026-02-25 20:03:26 +00:00

Author

Owner

Yes, as written in the wiki, my original intention was / is to focus on some dedicated properties:
one is environment friendlyness and affordability, which is a pointer to aarch64. According to mytesting, e.g. an Rockship RK3588 consumes less power ans an Intel n100, specifically in a home server profile (with many idle cycles).
Another is to provide a much better configurability as the common NAS etc.
And to make home server as much like the professional variant, with the exception of the file system, where BTRFS makes life for home admin much easier. Ans the intial (pre-) configuration is much easier as well.

Dee the wiki here on forge for Details.

Yes, as written in the wiki, my original intention was / is to focus on some dedicated properties: one is environment friendlyness and affordability, which is a pointer to aarch64. According to mytesting, e.g. an Rockship RK3588 consumes less power ans an Intel n100, specifically in a home server profile (with many idle cycles). Another is to provide a much better configurability as the common NAS etc. And to make home server as much like the professional variant, with the exception of the file system, where BTRFS makes life for home admin much easier. Ans the intial (pre-) configuration is much easier as well. Dee the wiki here on forge for Details.

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