Using an old MacBook Air for a home server

I just assembled this temporary home server “rack” with my 2018 MacBook Air on top.

It does the following things:

General file sharing and project archival

Backups my iCloud Drive and Photos to a Time Capsule

Runs Time Machine server for my M1 MacBook Pro

Tests Rails code against Intel via a local GitHub runner instance

Processes files via DEVONthink smart rules

Schedules some of my RSS feeds which are published via Feeder

Archives my websites using rsync

Filters my email via Mail rules

Keeps my Reeder queue up-to-date

Content caching

Local device backups for my iPad Pro and iPhone

Media server based on the Apple TV app and Home Sharing

I don’t care about Plex.

Torrent server to acquire the latest Linux ISOs

Connects my DYMO labeler, because it caused kernel panics on my M1 MacBook Pro

I plan to get a proper Mac mini after we moved into our new house, but for now, this is more than sufficient.