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Project home server: Part 2

Emil Lykke Grann

Emil Lykke Grann

August 13, 2024

So, after finally discovering what a static IP is, I did a little digging and found out that in order to connect to your personal Wi-Fi from outside your home, you need to have your network set to a static public IP.

And there it was – the thing that had been blocking my progress all this time: a static IP address. Realizing that was the issue was a tough pill to swallow. But fixing it? Way easier than I expected. I just had to call up my ISP (Internet Service Provider) once, and boom, I was good to go. The frustration I’d felt quickly disappeared when I could finally show my friends at school the movie project I’d been working on and the server setup I’d been so excited about.

With the hardware side of the project out of the way, I moved on to the software. I dove into building a full stack project with Node.js, Express, and MySQL – all to bring my movie project to life. This was my first real full stack project, and honestly, it’s still one of my favorites. I poured so much effort into it, and it felt awesome to see it all come together.

But then, disaster struck. My little brother’s old computer, which was the heart of my server, just gave up. One day, it started beeping from the motherboard, and just like that, my dream project seemed to be down the drain. But I wasn’t about to throw in the towel. I took apart my brother’s computer, dug out my old gaming rig, and plugged in the server’s hard drive. I ran some forensic tools on it to make sure my files weren’t lost, and luckily, they were all still there. That gave me a glimmer of hope.

I found some software that let me access the data on the Linux hard drive and transfer it if needed. And then…I did nothing. Life got in the way, and the project went on pause.

That was two years ago. But now, I’m ready to get back at it. My next few projects are going to be all about building a new home server setup, starting from a $6 computer case building my way up to buying and assembling a server from scrap parts. And this time, I’m going to document the whole process on my YouTube channel: @emilhacking1337.

So here’s a sneak peek at what’s coming next:

  1. Going from a $6 Case to a NAS Server
  2. Retrieving My First Full Stack Project from the Old Hard Drive
  3. Rebuilding My First Full Stack Project with My New Startup (Fast Forward Dev)

Stay tuned – things are about to get interesting!