Here we are again — almost a full decade later — with part four of my home server saga!
And yes, unbelievably, it’s still the same server from all those years ago: the ever-reliable HP Microserver Gen8. Quiet, stable, and surprisingly capable after all this time. It hasn’t been running ESXi Free for a while now, and many of the original services have been retired — either because I no longer needed them, or I found better alternatives.
Currently, it’s running TrueNAS Scale (Dragonfish-24.04.2.5) — and the transition was mostly smooth. The only hiccup? I had to wipe out my previous RAID setup. TrueNAS doesn’t play well with hardware RAID, especially with the HP Smart Array P420 Controller I had added years ago. It has its own storage architecture that prefers direct disk access.
What’s Still Running:
- File Sharing – Native SMB shares from TrueNAS. Solid and reliable.
- Backup – Using Bvckup 2 Pro on my PCs, targeting the Gen8 for storage.
- Plex – Long gone. These days, streaming services like Netflix and Prime have taken over.
- Download Management – Also retired.
- SFTP Server – Used to share public files, but no longer needed.
- VPN / Private Cloud – Replaced everything with Tailscale, and it’s been a game-changer. Seriously, one of the best additions I’ve made. If you don’t know Tailscale, it’s a zero-config VPN that uses WireGuard under the hood and creates a private mesh network between your devices — wherever they are. I can now access the TrueNAS dashboard, SMB shares, or SSH into my server from literally anywhere (even my phone), with no firewall tweaks or weird NAT rules. It even supports MagicDNS and exit nodes if you want all your traffic to route securely through your home network. Well… now recalling I had to make a few tweaks, because I installed Taiscale in my EdgeRouter X… but I didn’t had to, I just wanted to play with it a bit more, because, hacking.
The Gen8 is now handling a few extra duties that weren’t part of the original plan:
- UniFi Network Controller – Running on a lightweight Ubuntu VM. TrueNAS’s built-in virtualization makes this easy.
- AdGuard Home – This one has become indispensable in a household with teens, smart TVs, tablets, and IoT clutter. I run AdGuard Home in a container on the Gen8. It acts as a local DNS sinkhole, filtering ads, trackers, and shady domains before they even reach your devices. It also gives me visibility into where traffic is going and what’s being blocked. It has centralized content filtering (for devices that don’t support ad blockers natively), you can set per-device rules (yes, you can “accidentally” block TikTok and other social media sites just for the kids). It has a minimal resource usage as it’s very lightweight and the web interface is clean and simple to use. Total win.
What’s Next?
Unless the Gen8 suffers a critical hardware failure, I plan to keep it running. It’s not the fastest thing in the world, but for what I need, it’s perfectly fine. If something dies, I might go with a newer Mini PC build — compact, silent, low power, and capable of running Proxmox or even TrueNAS Scale with ease.
Funny thing — I’ve already replaced my personal laptop with a Mini PC (but that’s a story for another post).
For now, though?
Ol’ Faithful lives on.
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