Home server

Home Server

An old Lenovo laptop, reborn as an always-on home server. It runs Ubuntu Server, lives on the shelf with the lid closed, and does three jobs: it is reachable from anywhere over SSH, it serves my website over Apache, and it acts as network-attached storage for every device in the house.

What it does

• Remote shell. OpenSSH on a non-default port, so I can administer it from a phone or any laptop without being in the same room.
• Web hosting. Apache serves the production build of a React site straight from the box, so a project can go live without paying for hosting.
• Network storage. Samba shares a folder to every machine on the LAN. It shows up as a normal network drive on Windows, macOS and Linux, which makes it the house's shared disk for files and media.
• Costs nothing. The hardware was already here. A laptop has a built-in battery, a built-in display for emergencies, and idles at a few watts.

Why Ubuntu and SSH

Ubuntu Server is stable, well documented and has a package for everything I wanted to run. SSH gives an encrypted shell from anywhere, so nothing on the box ever needs a keyboard and monitor plugged in after the first boot.

Part 1: Ubuntu and SSH

With Ubuntu installed, the first service to bring up is SSH.

1. Update the package index.

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   sudo apt update

2. Install the OpenSSH server. The service starts on install.

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   sudo apt install openssh-server
   sudo systemctl status ssh

3. Move SSH off the default port. Open the config, find the #Port 22 line, uncomment it and pick a new port.

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   sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

4. Restart the service so the change takes effect.

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   sudo systemctl restart ssh

5. Connect from any other machine with ssh user@<server-ip> -p <port>. For access from outside the house, forward that port on the router to the server.

Part 2: Hosting a React site with Apache

The goal here was to put a static React build on the internet from the server itself.

1. Install Apache.

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   sudo apt install apache2

2. Build the React project on your machine. This produces an optimised build directory.

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   npm run build

3. Copy the build into Apache's document root.

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   sudo cp -r build/* /var/www/html/

4. Create a virtual host for the site.

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   sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/your-website.conf

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   <VirtualHost *:80>
       ServerName your-domain.com
       DocumentRoot /var/www/html
   </VirtualHost>

5. Enable the site and restart Apache.

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   sudo a2ensite your-website.conf
   sudo systemctl restart apache2

The site is now served at the domain or IP in ServerName. From here it is the usual hardening: file permissions, a certificate from Let's Encrypt for HTTPS, and keeping Apache and the build up to date.

Part 3: Network storage with Samba

Samba is what turns the laptop into a NAS. One shared folder, visible to every device on the network.

1. Install Samba.

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   sudo apt install samba

2. Create the folder to share and add a share definition to the end of /etc/samba/smb.conf.

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   mkdir -p ~/share
   sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

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   [share]
       path = /home/<user>/share
       browseable = yes
       read only = no
       valid users = <user>

3. Give the Linux user a Samba password and restart the service.

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   sudo smbpasswd -a <user>
   sudo systemctl restart smbd

4. Mount it from any client: \\<server-ip>\share on Windows, smb://<server-ip>/share on macOS and Linux file managers.

What I learned

• A laptop makes a surprisingly good server: silent, low power, and the battery is a free UPS.
• Putting SSH on a different port keeps the auth log readable. It is not security on its own, but it filters out almost all of the automated noise.
• Apache plus a static build is the simplest possible deploy. There is nothing to keep alive and nothing to crash.

References

• Apache HTTP Server documentation
• Ubuntu Server
• OpenSSH documentation
• Samba documentation