My Home Lab Experiment: A Sneak Peek into My Crafty Setups
As a crafty individual who's always eager to push the boundaries of what's possible, I'm excited to share my home lab with you. This article will take you on a tour of my inventory, services, and learnings from setting up this impressive setup.
The PowerHouse: PowerEdge T440
At the heart of my home lab is the PowerEdge T440, a beast of a server that's been upgraded to run two Xeon Gold 6138 processors at 2.00Ghz and an Nvidia Tesla P40. With 128GB RAM (split into 8x16GB modules), this powerhouse can handle even the most demanding tasks.
Storage Showdown
My storage setup is a true marvel, featuring:
- A 1TB MNVe drive for quick storage needs
- Two 1TB SSDs in Raid-1 configuration for redundancy and speed (this is where the OS runs from)
- 8GB RAID-5 array on SAS disks
- 5TB SSDs in a RAID-5 setup for maximum storage capacity
The Services Section: A Showcase of Crafty Solutions
This is where things get really interesting! My services section features:
- ntfy: A notification service that keeps me informed about various events and updates
- influxdb: A time-series database for monitoring and analytics
- caddy: A reverse proxy that's perfect for routing traffic for all my VMs and LXCs
- And many more innovative tools, including home assistant, immich, authentik, hoarder, searxng.....
The OptiPlex 7040: A Powerful Companion
While not as powerful as the PowerEdge T440, my OptiPlex 7040 is a reliable companion that serves as a secondary server. Its Core i7-6700 processor at 3.4Ghz and 16GB RAM (split into 2x8GB modules) make it perfect for running lighter services like:
- uptimekuma: A status page service
- homebox: A home automation platform
- And more, including glance, adguard.....
Lessons Learned
As I've set up my home lab, I've learned valuable lessons about the importance of:
- Redundancy: Having multiple systems in place to ensure that critical services remain available even when one fails
- Scalability: Designing my setup with growth in mind, so I can easily add new services and components as needed
- Diversity: Choosing a range of tools and technologies to avoid vendor lock-in and keep my options open
As you can see, my home lab is a true reflection of my passion for crafting innovative solutions. Whether you're an experienced tech enthusiast or just starting out, I hope this tour has inspired you to explore the possibilities of what's possible in your own crafty setup.
Ready to dive deeper into the world of home labs? Reach out to me at [email protected] and let's chat about your own project ideas!