I'm trying to make my first server (Immich + Navidrome + Nextcloud running on Debian, will use WireguardVPN for remote access), but my crappy XFinity router (XB7) just won't port forward at all to my server machine. I've tried so many things to make it work, so the best thing I can do now is buy my own router so that I can just use the Xfinity router as a bridge. Do you guys have recommendations for a secure, customizable enough, and long-distance router good for 6 people?

I've been interested in self hosting a small variety of services yet I'm so confused on where to start. What would you guys recommend for a server machine?

My main uses (and some of the services I think are appropriate for the use case) are:

• 1tb photo, video storage, push/pull (immich)
• 512gb total shared between downloaded music storage (navidrome) and pdf/ebook storage (calibre)—all pull only
• 1tb movies/tv storage on a media server (jellyfin)
• 512gb storage for random junk or whatever, plus a file transfer push/pull (syncthing..? or nextcloud?)
• potential basic bio website hosting (near future)
• potential email hosting (distant future)

anyways with that all said i have a few questions:

• what server should i buy if i want to expand storage in the future? should i just build a pc with like 3x1tb storage, or 6x1tb storage w/ redundancy? totally confused about the concept of redundancy lol
• any thoughts on the services im suggesting? especially for file transfer

edit: im willing to learn anything cli-related, i already daily drive linux on my laptop and code in nvim if that provides any sort of reassurance lol

I used to pray for times like this. For me it totally flew under the radar—apparently details about this go back as far as last November—but hopefully someone here learns about this for the first time :) doubt it works on mobile for obvious reasons