I began homelabbing in the spring of 2023. I started (and am currently still labbing) in my university dorm room. Labbing in a dorm has both benefitted and challenged me. I have limited space, but I also have ‘free’ electricity and high-speed internet, with no cap. I get the same speeds at home, but my ISP imposes a limit of 1TB per month. My family doesn’t hit the cap when I’m away, but when I am home, we hit it nearly every month.
Current Homelab
This is my homelab setup as of March 2024. It has been relatively unchanged since the beginning of 2024.
Homelab Hardware
I have two PCs in my homelab.
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an old Dell Optiplex with an i7-3770 running Proxmox. I use this as a playground. Currently, it is running a private network with pfSense and some Linux VMs.
- I got this for $35 from my university’s surplus store because it had no hard drive. I bought it in the spring of 2023.
- This was my main home server until I built the next one. It used to run Ubuntu 22.04.
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a custom-built PC running Ubuntu 22.04 and many Docker containers. I use it as my home media server. I bought and built it in the summer of 2023. View the dropdown for the specs:
- Fractal Design Ridge case
- Intel i3-12100
- ASRock B660M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1700 Motherboard
- Noctua NH-L12S CPU cooler
- TEAMGROUP T-Force 2x8 GB DDR4-3200 CL16
- Cooler Master V750 SFX GOLD 750 W
- Storage:
- TEAMGROUP CX2 1 TB 2.5” SSD
- Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB PCIe 4.0x4 NVME SSD
- Seagate IronWolf 4 TB 3.5” 5400RPM HDD
Homelab Software Highlights
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Docker, Docker-Compose, and Portainer
- I configure run nearly all my containers through Portainer. It makes managing them much easier. I don’t see why anyone would only use the default Docker CLI commands or plain Docker-Compose files.
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Apache Guacamole
- Guacamole enables me to fully cut off my server from the outside world while still being able to access a terminal or GUI through my browser.
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Proxmox
- I found Proxmox to be quite easy to use and configure while also being powerful. I want to plan out switching my main server to run it, but I am concerned about my memory capacity and processor. The i3 has proven to be decent, but I occasionally run into slowdowns and overloads.
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Cloudflare Tunnels
- As my server is running off university internet, I can’t access it from outside the network. Cloudflare tunnels allow me to map my containers to a domain and reach them from anywhere I allow. This replaced my reverse proxy, SWAG. SWAG was great because it was incredibly easy to configure. I only switched for security and for outside access.
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Authentik
- I recently began implementing Authentik to further lock down my server. Combined with Cloudflare Zero Trust, I can set access permissions on a per-service basis. Although I am the only user, it is great practice for managing multiple users and roles.
Homelab Goals
Some goals I have for my homelab:
- Learn Kubernetes and deploy something with it
- Implement high-speed networking
- Build a dedicated NAS with an appropriate, NAS-focused OS
- Manage a system with multiple real users