Is Ubuntu Server and SFTP enough?

I mean if you have enabled ssh then Sftp will be working by default on Ubuntu. Might be easier to access it via samba since the windows file explorer supports it natively but you will need to configure samba

I'm using Ubuntu server for my home lab and it mostly just works. Just make sure you know the difference between setting up docker when it's been installed through snap or through the package manager (synaptic/apt). If you use 22.04, it'll want to install docker during the install, which uses snap. I wasn't sure how permissions work with that setup, so I nuked it, reinstalled through apt, and then added myself to the docker group.

I'm self hosting gitea, Jenkins, registry, and plex atm, but will be adding caddy as well. All of it is containerized and was pretty painless to set up, though I'm still finalizing certain config details (I need a cross-compilation pipeline).

For storage I currently only have the single SSD, and I plan to use an external caddy with four slots (jbod). No RAID, just periodic backups. I have a thinkcentre tiny, so no much room for expansion. If you have the room, I'd suggest using ex-enterprise SAS disks in whatever RAID configuration tickles your fancy, and exposing them as NFS. I only ever use Linux at home, though, so if you have windows machines, others probably have better advice re: making your storage available on the network.

Use Samba.

If you want a GUI for samba on ubuntu checkout

- casaos

- open media vault

samba / smb if your clients are windows/macos

nfs if your clients are linux

with any of those, you dont even need media streamling like plex, you can just use plain old kodi on your devices and add the shares to it