To add yet another advice:

• Get a Lenovo or dell slim client (not a nuc/mini pc but the bigger version with data ports. Roughly same power but more useful hardware)

• get 2*4 tb hdd for mass storage

• a 500gb ssd for the os. If you have the money, maybe even 2 of them and clone them

• the os is tricky. You can use proxmox, which is basically like Linux but as you have multiple vms in there you can have multiple Linux installed to take care of. Another choice would be something like truenas, casaOs, unraid etc. I can’t recommend one there, I use proxmox and its great if you like CLi/sah

• to make it accessible from not home, use tailscale. You can also use a domain/dns to not have to remember ips

• if you have the option, take a mother thin client or pc with same amount of storage to another location and install a backup system, like proxmox backup system. That way your data is safe. Take a look at encryption if you dong trust the other place.

• my backup server draws 15w idle and 40-50w when its working

• my home lab is drawing 30w idle and 60 under load

• its just another factor to be aware of

Have fun!

Isn’t matter just a standard, that runs on multiple Protokolls like ZigBee or wifi?

So I am in a vicious cycle. I start doing something, notice there is a better way, change my setup and restart. So from just Ubuntu server, I developed to proxmox. From documenting everything manuall in joplin, i am now using ansible. I started with wireguard, then tailscale with selfhosted headscale. I try to get my setup right on the first try, which i notice is stupid as I am writing. It just hinders me to make progress. I think I should rather try to get it up and running as fast as possible (and securely of cause) to make progress and fail fast maybe? And I like all the changes I made, I think they were the right choice, but its a bit tiering. And I like ansible, I just have the urge to automate absolutely everything, so I can redeploy everything right after I installed proxmox. Which is not necessary at all at this stage, idk :D Maybe someone has some tips how to overcome perfectionism?

Caddy is nice and super simple. Only issue I had was: it can’t control domains if its behind a VPN. I use hetzner and they have an API, but the feature is not native to caddy so I would have had to rebuild caddy as an docker image. Rather annoying tbh, because everything else is great about it