homelab

Contents

• Homelab
  • NAS
  • Proxmox Cluster
  • Networking
  • Rack

Homelab

I’ve been running my homelab since late 2022, where I started on an old Optiplex from my university’s surplus store. I began with little to no Linux knowledge, and my main purpose for getting into it was for Plex.

Several years later, I now run a dedicated NAS and a 3-node Proxmox cluster. Most of my kit lives in a 12U rack in my basement.

NAS

For my NAS, I wanted a custom rackmounted build on a tight budget. I went with used 4TB SAS drives, mainly because they were readily available at aforementioned surplus store, as well as easily obtained off eBay.

I had my old gaming PC lying around, so I repurposed its components to be the brains of the machine. I just needed an HBA to connect my board with the backplane of the chassis I chose.

Speaking of chassis, I went with the Supermicro CSE-835, as it supports standard motherboards out of the box, has 8 hotswap bays, and has room for two 5.25” bays. I liked having the option to add disk drives, since I wanted to get into ripping more physical media. I still have not added disk drives.

This chassis was more work than I originally imagined.

1. I purchased the chassis without the power distributor. +55.
2. I needed to swap out the loud power supply with a quiet variant. +$25.
3. I needed an adapter for the front panel headers. +$10.
4. I needed to swap out the included fans for quieter ones. I went with Arctic P8 Slims (5). +$25.
5. The P8 Slims were not quiet or performant enough. I swapped the 3 for the drives with Noctua NF-A8 PWMs. +$60.
6. I needed rails. Luckily, these were free from a friend. Otherwise it would have been +$50-100.

Overall, what I thought would be a simple $200 case swap plus about $160 in drives and $30 for an HBA turned into a $560+ investment. Was it worth it?

Fuck yeah it was worth it. It’s janky, but I’m a tolerant to janky PC hardware if it means saving a lot of money. Though if I were to start from the beginning, I’d probably just get a UNAS Pro or something. Given that I use it strictly for storage and not hosting, the specs don’t need to be powerful - the i7-7700k from my old rig is pretty overkill.

Proxmox Cluster

I’ll update this later. For now, I run a three node cluster, consisting of:

1. My original custom server build, running an i3-12100 and 32GB DDR4.
2. A Framework 13 7840U mainboard, with 32GB DDR5 RAM.
3. Another Framework 7840U mainboard, with the same amount of RAM.

I know. Damn, that’s a lot of RAM. I bought it before prices skyrocketed.

The Framework mainboards were from the mystery box promotion. I got lucky, I bought three boards. All were 7840U. One was DOA with a blown component.

Storage isn’t all that important to me on these nodes. Pretty much everything that isn’t application configuration is stored on the NAS.

Networking

I’m not big into networking gear. At home I run a TP-Link Deco mesh system. Eventually, I’d like to move to either a custom router solution with opnSense or someting like Ubiquiti or Mikrotik. Until then, I’ll stick with the consumer gear.

I did find a nice managed switch at Goodwill for $12, though. That lives in my rack. It’s not really practial for me, but who would pass up a $12 rackmount gigabit switch?

Outside of physical gear, I do run DNS servers and a FreeIPA realm. I use AdGuard Home as DNS, which resolves my internal domain to FreeIPA’s DNS. All of my clients are Linux, so I don’t care about Windows AD.

If anyone should do anything with a home server, it’s running an ad-blocking DNS. Not having to worry about bullshit slop bogging down my smart devices or running into ads on my phone while at home is a damn good feeling.

Rack

I have a 12U rack where most of my equipment lives. Here’s the breakdown, top to bottom:

My next purchase is probably a UPS. I want one that just works with my setup, so I’m eyeing the Unifi 2U UPS. I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on one with lithium batteries or deal with something old that doesn’t have network connectivity.