HomeLabbing is great. #

I love HomeLabbing, it lets you totally have control over the data you generate, understand free and open source systems and do so without consequences (like breaking something important at work). I think it’s an invaluable tool, and helped me build the knowledge to land my job.

How did I get into it? #

My HomeLab started as a simple Ubuntu box running a SAMBA share, on an old motherboard that would have gone to e-waste, with a crumby i3, 4GB of RAM, but it booted, and that’s just about all the specs you realistically need for a barebones Ubuntu Server install. The need was born out of a terrible DSL internet connection (8mbps down at the best of times, plus being on WiFi and the modem in the opposite corner of the house) and my want to be able to keep a game library (namely GTA V just released on PC at a massive for the time 60GB install size) locally so I could download games in matter of minutes, rather than days. It also helped me consolidate all my files, as my data-hoarding obsession habit started, sharing files between my desktop and laptop, and all the other benefits you’re likely already aware of for a network share.

Upgrades people, upgrades! #

In due course, that hard drive that I had put in that initial system build got filled, so my first upgrade was to buy an 8TB NAS drive and “never worry about storage again”. I was 18 ok give me a break, I was naïve, but enthused at the idea of building up infrastructure at home, it opened so many possibilities!

This upgrade and the process of getting this working was my first real introduction with working with Linux, and once it clicked, I never looked back. I’ve been tinkering with systems and networks ever since. The upgrades since then have been incremental, but my HomeLab is unrecognisable from its shoebox-sized beginnings.

So what’s in my rack up to this point? #

The first thing to change after more storage was a more stable platform, I re-used my i5 4690k CPU, the motherboard & RAM from my first ever gaming PC to go from 2 to 4 cores with hyper threading. I switched that machine over to FreeNAS (now TrueNAS), and put it in a shiny 4U rackmount case, with another 3x 8TB drives, and an external drive for a cold backup. I also added an old enterprise 1U server, for my compute, 16 cores, 64GB of RAM, I wrote my dissertation on the CI/CD setup that was all virtualised on this box. All this is housed in a Ikea Lack-Rack special (thanks r/homelab!) It’s been a tidy little setup for quite a few years now.

I made some mistakes. #

OK so sounds great right? Yeah, it has been, except for one problem, that 1U server. It’s a common tale over in the r/homelab subreddit I mentioned earlier, but older enterprise gear lacks the efficiency of modern silicon, so was expensive, hot, and loud to run 24/7. I had bought some nice Noctua 40mm fans to solve the loud problem, but it’s still too power hungry to leave on 24/7, time for something more efficient. So, this round of upgrades is as follows:

12U Rackmount & Accessories - My servers were still sitting under that IKEA Lack table, on a small bedside table that I cut the legs down on. I picked up some rails for my file server, a 12U rack from StarTech, a patch panel, a cable management finger duct and a few other bits to keep this rack living room approved.

24 Port Switch - I had a cheap 5 port switch that was getting the job done, but I filled it, time for something with a few more ports to enable some more expansion. I know you’re probably screaming out I should I have gone for something from Ubiquiti with a nice management interface and a beutiful little touchscreen on the front. For now this switch is purely utilitarian, so I didn’t need to upgrade to something SME level just yet, though I’m not far off. It’s on my radar.

12th Gen Intel NUC & Rack Mount from MyElectronics - This little box is fantastic. 12 Cores, 4 performance, 8 efficiency, fits in your hand, completely silent, I’m going to put it to work in the next few weeks and I’ll report back how I find it. I also bought a rackmount from MyElectronics in the Netherlands which, when the global supply chain recovers, I’ll be filling up with mostly Raspberry Pis and probably spinning up a couple Kubernetes clusters to tinker with, enabling highly available home services in a small footprint while sipping power. I’m getting all tingly just thinking about the efficiency.

A full list of what’s in my rack is available over in the Homelab Gear section of my site.

Cool, what can I do with this information? #

I encourage you to make your own mistakes, they’re the best lessons. Like I mentioned, I found homelabbing a great introduction to a great many things like Linux Sysadmin practices, Docker containers, configuring hypervisors, flashing HBA cards firmware, so many things that I wouldn’t have otherwise learnt about. Those experiences made me so much more confident in flying around the terminal, which is a daunting thing for most people to get into.

Like me, you’ll find things that you want to investigate and understand, find uses for ideas, or just want to poke around and break things without repurcussions just to see what happens. Everything you learn from that experience has value. If you’re looking for more ideas, I love to parooze the homelab subreddit, particularly the WIYH megaposts is where I find some great little services that people are using or unique hardware combinations that serve a specific purpose for that person, or TechnoTim on YouTube is always putting out excellent guides to follow