HomeLab Hardware Tour! (Late 2023)

[@TechnoTim]

HomeLab Software & Services Tour coming soon!

[@briti1543]

Hi, I'm definitely looking for a in-rack homelab server to use as my "2" in a 3-2-1 backup setup. Currently I just have one on site and one off. And I'm in the twin cities!

[@BrandonCallifornia]

It’s a private cloud ☁️ if you put your server in a collocation

[@YossiSilberhaft]

The Suspense.....!!!! Would love to hear how you are maximizing your use of Proxmox and if you have any media servers

[@saultube44]

What do you work on with your servers, I mean earning💲

[@abe488]

YESS!

[@RaidOwl]

Perfect, time to feel inferior about my lab! *grabs popcorn*

[@TechnoTim]

😂 Not my intention! Hopefully give some inspiration or ideas!

[@Trains-With-Shane]

Should have waited on those wireless AP's. Then everything would have been fine, lol. Love your channel too!

[@TheJam53ice]

Talk about inferior, my home lab is basically a repurposed chromebox 😅 gotta start somewhere

[@avovk1852]

You can feel inferior about your lab if you havent set it up! Or can you..? (VSause music)

[@Tony-mw-533]

@@TheJam53ice definitely😅

[@TheDillio187]

Hello from a fellow Twin City home labber and network dork. 500 watts, whew, I was mad when mine broke 150 watts 🤣. Xcel energy hates me.

[@kylesibley5993]

Dude you're in the twin cities? Nice to see another Minnesotan on here :) I volunteer to take that server you mentioned giving away lol

[@andresvanvliet3413]

Nice home lab! Nicer than most of my offices (ok, all of them). But that umbilical really needs some ladder rack. If you figure out how to cap the resolution on you KVM please post. My kvm passes on the resolution from what ever monitor is plugged in, but freaks out over 1400x900. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@cheebadigga4092]

Love how the UPSs are setup! I think you can't do any better on powerloss.

[@TechnoTim]

Thank you! It was trial an error and testing in (home) prod! 😅

[@ronm6585]

Nice! Thanks Tim.

[@storyinmemo]

My soul wants you to get 3D printed holders for things like the Unifi Flex Mini instead of zip tying them.

[@TechnoTim]

Great suggestion! I might pick up a 3d printer in 2024!

[@williamp6800]

3M Double sided foam tape sticks very nicely to Unifi plastic. Cut it a little shorter than the device is front to back and it will be invisible. As long as you don’t need to get to the reset button on the underside, you’re all set. But only use the indoor 3M foam tape. Their outdoor/heavy duty stuff sticks so well that you risk breaking the plastic of you need to unmount a device.

[@Trailtraveller]

So whats the electric bill ?

[@droneforfun5384]

It seems to draw 3-400W in total.

[@Bill_the_Red_Lichtie]

That is not just a home lab, it is also a WORK OF ART! 😍

[@TechnoTim]

Form AND function for me. Why not both!

[@glepa]

True, it shows that there is a lot of time gone into this, makes me want to go home and clean up my own homelab lol

[@techaddressed]

I, for one, would be super interested in a video / series about what goes into colocating systems.

[@TechnoTim]

Thank you! Just working out some of the details! Stay tuned!

[@tcasex]

same

[@Trains-With-Shane]

Congratulations on another massively successful year, Tim! You got me started in Docker a few years back and it has been one of my most rewarding home lab endeavors and keeps bearing fruit as such. Think i'm going to have to upgrade my home setup to 2.5gbt at some point soon, though. As 1gbt is starting to take just a little too long for the amounts of data i'm moving these days.

[@dominick253]

I went from no homelab to a pi 4 openwrt router, two node proxmox cluster with 30 services running on it, a device for quorum. Pretty happy with the setup for now. Maybe upgrade to 2.5 or 5g lan network. 3:57 you got to be kidding me 😂😂😂 One of the cleanest setups I've ever seen and you're saying it's out of control.

[@smalltimer4370]

Absolutely brilliant! You are an inspiration to all home-lab enthusiasts. - thanks so much for taking the time and effort in making and sharing this!

[@Dmac4362]

I am interested in your old PC but I'm not in your area. I am will pay for shipping if possible.

[@Kabodanki]

so much equipement would bankrupt a german

[@TheJam53ice]

I love videos like this, could we get a software tour? See what vms you're running and why?

[@TechnoTim]

You surely will! I do it ever year, that's coming soon!

[@TheJam53ice]

@@TechnoTim firstly, thanks for the reply! And secondly, I look forward to it!

[@jeffherdz]

If you could look back to the beginning of your KZbin channel. Did you ever think that you would have a room looking this good ?

[@TechnoTim]

Honestly, no! At first it was a pile of PCs on an IKEA rack, which was great, but limited my cable management and organization. I decided (after a few years) to remodel this old closet into that room and I am glad I did! It's my small (but might) nerd cave! I may not be able to hang out in there, but a lot of great tech does!

[@markhammond6338]

Your homelab is just beautiful, and it gives me something to aspire to! I'm in the Twin Cities, if you're serious about giving away your old backup server😊

[@TechnoTim]

Thank you, and I am! Look for it on twitter! That's usually where I give away my old gear!

[@vex4800]

Wonderful Lab! I recommend maybe switching your rack power to 240v. i’m here in the states and it has massively improved efficiency in the rack! Definitely a fun project

[@TechnoTim]

Thank you! That might be in the cards over the next year depending on price!

[@vex4800]

@@TechnoTim Wonderful!! In closing a PDU it was around a 400 dollar upgrade. THE PDU was around 150. it was a used APC model

[@jasonperry6046]

It is a gorgeous spectacle. This is inspirational. My only suggestion is dry ice creating a magical fog at the beginning of the video.

[@ronniesunshine1163]

Homelab noob here, how does 240v improve efficiency over 120v?

[@syndaquil4838]

​@@ronniesunshine1163I'm no expert, but I think of it similarly to why the grid runs at higher voltage. Everything requires fewer amps at higher voltages, so there's less loss in the cables and stuff.

[@dleer_defi]

I lost it when I saw the signal booster 😂

[@mrudowsky2781]

I didn’t see in the description any hardware you used to mount devices to the wall control board. Are the devices easy to move?

[@TechnoTim]

Generally yes, just like any other pegboard you have to get lucky with the alignment of holes and your devices. I used machine screws and wing nuts otherwise zip ties

[@wontmk]

Hi, fairly new the the channel. Love what your share, thanks for the content. Did I hear you say Twin Cites? MPLS/St.Paul? I'm looking for a server =)

[@alaricmtb5806]

Heyo, local to the TC area. If you are looking for somewhere to land that PC conversion server I'd be willing to take it off your hands. Let me know!

[@Mardeet]

Do you have a video or more information on Net Server running on your Pi? Curious what all it can monitor ?

[@garethcraig8902]

That rack costs more then my house lol

[@SteveOwensRoswell]

Thanks for the video... love watching the evolution of your homelab.

[@zachbrickson489]

I am in the twin cities and definitely could use a rack mount server if you’re serious about giving it away.

[@HuyPhamFly]

Awesome to see your homelab! I am kind of using your setup as a reference to gear I would want in the future! I just started my Homelabs here in the Twin-Cities too! I was itching to learn some more about Linux and HyperVisors, I just bought myself a HPE - ProLiant DL380 G9! We are slowly learning proxmox and ILo and like DHCP. its kinda fun lol

[@TechnoTim]

Sounds like a great homelab and you are going to be learning a lot!

[@jgbenik6281]

Twin Cities fan who would love to upgrade my Dell R700 TrueNas and add something newer to my almost empty rack. Thanks for your content, I wish I could support you more, truly great details for a very novice techie!

[@BPKlink66]

I’m in the TC area (south metro) and would be interested in the server if you want to give away.

[@abe488]

Finally! Love it an actual walkthrough tour of a home lab and the uses for said devices! Keep it up! Please do another video just like this again soon! Really got ALOT of new ideas I can start implementing on my homelab as a low-budget newbie THANK YOU!

[@danrusin]

Saint Paul here, would be very interested in the rack mount server if you end up giving it away!

[@CustomComputing]

Thanks for sharing the update 50% of your rack is unused why are you sending for hosting? 600 watts for everything isn’t even my gaming PC running diablo… you have 48 direct devices of Poe in your home? Probably not but why would you start hosting this stuff in a data center when you don’t have all your devices hardwired? You have so many unused ports in your rack, why send them for hosting?

[@gustcol1]

Very good and thanks for sharing all parts and components, this is very helpful

[@TechnoTim]

You are welcome

[@stevemccluskey7102]

Hey Tim! I live near Powderhorn park and I'll totally take that server off your hands and buy you a beer!

[@FooLProoFMPLS]

Hey! I'm in Minneapolis and would be interested in talking with you about the server if you decide to go that route.

[@TechnoTim]

Watch my Twitter!

[@FooLProoFMPLS]

@@TechnoTim will do!

[@lqqkout8214]

Twin Cities?! Subscribed! My background is in infosec and I've been networking and running various NAS and home automation projets, electronics builds, and other solder-covered geekery for years. My next major project is a DIY smarthome buildout for new a construction home in Mpls based on homeassistant with a ton of integrations. I'm excited to see what you move to for SFF servers and self-hosted cloud services. Thanks for the tour!

[@kingsisidore]

Always a delight to see your videos... Would be thrilled to receive any of your decommissioned server and hardwares to work with.

[@kingsisidore]

Pretty please 🙏🏽

[@wpoole10]

Hello, just started building my TrueNAS server it will have 8 spinning disk in a raidz2. I want that to be my main storage for plex media. I want to have faster storage for everything else (family photos/videos, documents, etc). I also want to buy a Flex 10 GbE for the TrueNAS, TrueNAS backup, and my computer. My question is do I go with four 2TB SSDs in a raid10 or two 4TB NVME drives in a mirror? If the is a waste do I save some more and do four 4TB NVMEs in a raid10?

[@TheMwei]

Thanks for touring your lab every year. I wonder how much you pay for electricity monthly.

[@TechnoTim]

If you check out my wattage in the power section you'd have to do the math for the cost of electricity in your area!

[@RichMantaray]

very nice ,,,, i did it way cheaper ,, i only have my router 1 gig line for internet and 2 8 port switchs :) one down and one up stairs ... and 2tb for storage ,, plus a cctv nvr box ,, job done haha but i guess u move around 8k vidoe footage ? i donno haha

[@marcel151]

Average power consumption about 500W? You can be so glad about your electricity prices. We got around 40 Cents/kWh. Would be too much. I am trying to achieve not more than 50W 24/7. But I also don't need a ton of storage.

[@disabledarmyveteran]

A Bluetti with a solar panel connected for an uninterrupted power supply would work much better and it’s designed for pass through power until the wall power is off then the uninterrupted power supply kicks in. A 100 watt or 200 watt solar panel would work great because most uninterrupted power supply batteries don’t allow for solar power integration like Bluetti does.

[@Dogdrulezz]

Would love to have the old rack PC convert & I am in the MSP area🙋‍♂️

[@jamestiller]

Hey Tim : If I am going to run k3s at home, can I run it with 1 single fairly OP server and not have to use multiple separate machines? My thought is telling me to try Harvester to see if that gives everything needed. Which is some storage, tons of VMs and dockers/containers. I am quite comfy with Proxmox, would that be the better option to go with the Max then deploy kubernetes or being with kubernetes with harvester/rancher ?

[@taylorkosiba1452]

I'm in the Twin Cities area, and would love a rackmount server to get my homelab going

[@theointechs]

This video feels like a christmas gift to me!

[@HM3al]

Nice setup. I'm jealous of the hl-15.i want one so bad, but they're expensive

[@fixplizz]

Came across your channel and liked the videos. very high quality content. It just so happens that there is a cluster of proxmox servers of different configurations at hand. No separate storage. Can you tell me if you have any articles or videos on how to unite different hardware into one convenient interface? How to properly distribute storage and virtual machine management. Thanks in advance!

[@paul3151]

Hi Tim, Which speeds are you reaching with that Setup? I measured with iperf but usually i don't geht over 5gbits

[@FamilyFunTimeTV]

Love your videos. Quick question how to do keep the throughput on your UniFi screens all the time

[@BrianSez]

Hi Tim, I'm looking to set up a server and networking room in my basement and was wondering if you had to dedicate a circuit for your server room. I'm looking to have my basement re-wired and was wondering how many amps I would expect to need for a server room.

[@gregs909]

Hey twin cities neighbor, thanks for the tour. Happy new year! New sub

[@darsparx]

Hahaha with kubernetes i wish there was a k3s guide for fedora based servers....ik I'm overthinking it but yea. Since I wanna do it with ansible somehow 😅

[@CarlosPedroche]

Hello, I want to build a home server, but I don't know how to manage it, do you know any company that offers this kind of service? thanks.

[@robersonsoliveira]

you have homeLab better than some companies around the World, like here in Brazil. What the h** what a lab, do you have man...

[@kingalysterianlion5542]

The m1 Mac mini solution will work well. But go with an m2 chip instead it’s totally worth it. Especially for your use case.

[@khuzad12]

Didn't know you were in the Twin Cities. Let's hope our winter isn't too horrible this year.

[@comp20B]

Tim, is your rack the 35" depth? Do you find it deep enough? I see sysracks has some with 39" depth.

[@Eckx1084]

UDMP not on top, 2/10. Slows down your internet too much by fighting gravity.

[@ryan005869]

beautiful rack sir. Idk why you need so man poe switches though lol I dont have anything PoE and the only thing i can think of that most people use it for its web cams, maybe you can get some waps that will use it to power idk.

[@mircea8342]

Tons of homelabs with unifi. After configure unifi most of them they think they are network engineer😁. I want to see full mikrotik homelab

[@RichardRichyRichington]

Anyone else out there like me that has no idea what any of this stuff is but just likes to look? Like wth is PROX MOX bro must be making up words

[@mrfoodarama]

Beautiful setup man, loved the Tour!

[@Pro-cheeseburger]

I really like the idea of giving away old gear its what I’ve always done as well! Great tour.

[@wiebowesterhof]

Nice setup. One detail. The Enterprise switches do 2.5G, but not PoE++, only PoE+ - you will spot that when you look at the decomissioned switch. Usually not a big deal, but some devices pull more power than the Enterprise one can provide. Keep up the good work :)

[@TechnoTim]

Good call! I forgot about that!

[@nielstaildeman]

A user like you should really look into some more professional firewall! Nice vid btw!

[@loco4375]

45drives really needs to make those cases cheaper, cuz I really need one. Like a C30

[@0xTevan]

Awesome video, super nice rack! Did you end up giving away your old desktop server?

[@strandvaskeren]

I don't get it.. All your servers have their network interfaces at the back, so you mount your switches facing the front?!? All the psu's for your servers have their power plugs at the back, so you mount your pdu facing front?? And then you add patch panels and brush panels to get the wiring to the back where it's actually useful. It's like fitting the seat in your car facing the rear and then adding a bunch of mirrors and pulley arrangement in order to drive the car forwards while facing backwards.

[@TechnoTim]

I cover this in previous videos but I want it to look good and perform. I know that no one would do this in a data center, however this is not in a data center it is in my home. Think of it like a car you've built and customized yourself, with a pretty engine that you've chromed out, with pretty spark plug wires, and a custom paint job on the engine block... You wouldn't leave the hood closed at a car show, would you? 😂. Well that car show is every day that I walk into my server room at home and I love it.

[@antman872]

I aspire to be there with my UDM Pro and synology but ill keep my eyes peeled for this giveaway good sir!

[@TechnicalJello]

Nice video! Have you done any diving into your Nethserver setup? Why do you choose it over other server OSes?

[@404thtrooper]

I'm not a renewable energy nut but just curious if you've considered/done the math on solar power at your home?

[@JosephChambers]

How large is your server room? I'm building a house and would like a reference.

[@emteiks]

would be great to see the 'frontend" of this setup as i wonder what kind of stuff you plug into this monster

[@Pr0toc01]

NUC Cluster? MISSED OPPERTUNITY! Its a Cluster NUC!

[@TempusStar]

How are you not killing your breaker, simply curious because im planning on a similar setup

[@bordersgroup]

Can I have your old switch 😄 I'll trade a copy of my book and some trees kits 😂

[@raymondhalbert2862]

i could really use a sever. I do custom printing i dont have a way save my work

[@owenbearden5769]

I want to learn about this. I have no idea what any of this means but I’m super interested

[@maxime_vhw]

My rails came with an arm but didnt come with the clips to attach the arm. rip

[@BryanSeitz]

Nice video! Fiber doesn't use a modem though....

[@mellquist1]

Can I have your old 48 port poe switch? =]

[@originzz]

Does it cost you loads to run a Homelab in terms of electricity bills?

[@minekey29348]

Nothing "home" about that, that's enterprise grade!

[@Mr7141983]

How much does the electric bill cost for all your gear? ,look cool

[@ggyun]

mmh... okay. I thought it's 2022 version.

[@rkymtnrsx]

Does your WAN support 2.5 Gig? I just added the UDM Pro to my setup so I can now get 1.4GB from my ISP to my router with the RJ45 SFP+ adapter. Before I was only able to pull down a max of 850 Mbps with my old Dream Machine R2D2 router.

[@settlece]

did you add the voice commentary after as canot hear the server's

[@bopal93]

Always love your videos! Keep it going

[@darthkielbasa]

Lab envy, bro. My wife would despise you if she knew that you (and a few others) were indirectly responsible for a massive deduction from our disposable income.

[@TechnoTim]

That media server isn't going to run itself!

[@aricbrown3683]

I bought about 15 Thinkcntr ultra small form factor PCs at an auction, Put m.2 and 16 or 32g memory and 3d printed rackmounts and use them as a proxmox cluster only have 5 installed Thats a good alternative to the NUCS

[@jsclayton]

Soooooo the backup Pi-hole, in case “all this goes down” (Tim gesturing at the rack), is connected to the network via a PoE switch powered from said rack? 🤨 I hope I’m missing something obvious here?

[@CruzMonrreal]

Nice setup, but some advice. As much as I love Wall Control, I steer away from it because the massive sheets of metal wreck HAVOC on wireless signals. Imagine your APs as light bulbs, and those pegboards as walls, and it gets the idea across. It wouldn't surprise me if those panels were attenuating the LTE antenna as well

[@JohnWeland]

Nice tour my dude. If you want to co-locate, I am about 3 -3.5 hours from you, SW Minnesota. I have a 42u rack with 500/500 fiber; I have 2G/2G available. running 2 Dell r620s at the moment running proxmox, thinking of adding a 3rd and maybe run CEPH on them? Maybe then run a kube cluster like you do on your NUCs. The 42u rack is an older one, in the basement. I am considering moving to a 37u or 32u rack and then gifting the 42u to someone who is starting their homelab journey. 42u works but is a bit much for my space.

[@yourpcmd]

Have you looked at the issue of ZFS data corruption for TrueNAS, UnRAID, Proxmox, and Ubuntu?

[@IMABIGKIDNOWW]

is the unifi pdu just a pdu or does it have surge protection too? And if it does have surge protection, do you notice any weird issues with it being plugged into your ups? e.g. incorrect run time estimates. thanks!

[@firestar4430]

How do you handle your patch panel in between your udm and switch? I have a similar setup, and adding a new connection really sucks with only 1U of room to maneuver lol. Do you just unmount the patch panel, or do you have a smarter way?

[@BradleySmith1985]

i would love the PC mount. but im in california