How to start your HomeLab journey?

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In this video, I will be discussing how to start your Homelab journey. Starting a Homelab can be overwhelming, especially with all the expensive gear and confusing technologies. That's why I want to share my best-practices and shed light on how to avoid common mistakes when starting your own Homelab journey. #simplilearn #partner
Hardware recommendations:
- Minisforum BD770i: • This mainboard is PERF...
- ZimaBoard: • This mini PC is perfec...
Software:
- Docker Getting started: • Learning Docker // Get...
- Kubernetes: • Kubernetes explained s...
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Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:32 What is a HomeLab?
03:45 Best HomeLab hardware!
04:37 Desktop PC hardware
05:22 Minis PCs, Raspberry Pi, ZimaBoard, etc.
06:16 Professional server hardware
08:22 Best HomeLab software!
08:57 Hypervisor operating systems
10:38 Virtual machine operating systems
11:16 App deployment in containers
11:54 Container management tools
12:41 Container orchestration
13:42 Best HomeLab networking!
15:02 Set up a firewall at home
16:11 What switch to buy?
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[@christianlempa]

Advance your career as a DevOps Engineer with Simplilearn’s DevOps Engineer Master’s Program: www.simplilearn.com/devops-engineer-masters-program-certification-training?Americas-Tech-DevopsEngineer-christian

[@MuhammadUsman-xx2ef]

Sir just because of your content, I have achieved L2 Cloud System Administrator position in Canada's 2nd largest software company ❤

[@christianlempa]

Wow, that is amazing!!! Congrats :D

[@seaborg9946]

Congratulations! That's awesome! I'm studying CS in college right now, and these videos have been great for learning so much.

[@morsikpl]

I'm just starting my homelab journey... or do I? Funnily enough, I actually had my own home lab when I was 15 or 16 years old (which was actually 16 years ago!). Old Pentium 3 700MHz PC with 256MB RAM. I've had there my own website hosting, 2x OpenArena servers - full ALL THE TIME!!! for some weird reason - becasue it was all running on ADSL internet with 1Mbit/128kbit speeds (yep!). And now I'm discovering people do that stuff nowadays and even do multiple KZbin channels with all of that! Amazing! And I always to do something bigger, so... here I am, waiting for 4x Minisofum MS-01 to be shipped and 2G down/600M up internet. We'll see how that goes... :D And now I'm working as DevOps, previously as Linux SysAdmin since (total 12 years) so I have a lot of knowledge to spare and to share. Planning to do a little overkill and not go with just Proxmox - it's too easy... I wanna do OpenStack since I really liked in in previous company. And yeah, it's totally overkill and totally complicated to manage.

[@uez5730]

Finally, as I have planned to build my first homelab, I've already got 3 mini PCs

[@no0bstyle741]

I wish you a lot of fun with your first homelab and am sure you will have - it is wise spent money and time.

[@boukeelsinghorst4848]

I also plan to buy 3 older NUC's to experiment with a Proxmox cluster. But first I build a more beefy single node Proxmox machine to host TrueNas Core with SAS HBA passthrough as a NAS solution. There are indeed many exciting projects to work on 😃

[@dertermyd]

I use refurbished Lenovo M720q and HP Deskmini 600 with Proxmox for compute and Unraid for storage and it is amazing, what these little units are able to offer while using just round about 6-10 Watt 😀👍.

[@christianlempa]

Nice!

[@ExpressITTechTips]

I started going all enterprise grade then realised the 42u server rack I needed. Just dominated the office I work in. There was also the noise, cooling and power required to drive these. I’ve now started the process of going all desktop of small form factor. I have a 12th gen Nuc running a lot of the heavier elements at present and an AMD variant doing the rest. My final device in the cluster is my Nas which is an old hp desktop. It needs a refresh later this year and will be looking at the new minis forum offerings as well as building my own for some more power hungry scenarios where I may want gpu passthrough. All the advice you give Christian is on point 👍

[@regis9596]

Amazing vid ! keep up the good work Christian

[@christianlempa]

Thank you so much :)

[@marcwesterink7742]

As with many things in life, and a HomeLab journey is no exception, just start small and expand over time. I agree it doesn't make much sense to start with a beefy rack mount server for just a few small VMs or containers. I just have a bunch of mini-pc's. Two a re running as a Proxmox cluster with shared storage over SMB (no high I/O or network requirements). A third one as a standalone Proxmox server running my main stuff including my Qdevice for the cluster. And finally a thin client running Home Assistant. The SMB is hosted on a HP ProLiant ML310e gen8v2 running TrueNAS Scale. All on 1 Gbps connections as I have no extreme requirements. Just for giggles, thin clients may be an awesome choice for just running a few lightweight Docker containers. All these machines are from the used market and there's plenty of supply in such hardware. You nailed it pretty well in this video...

[@nathanielmoore87]

For starters and even experts in Kubernetes, I highly advise using a manager like Portainer or Rancher. It makes life so much easier to have visual representations and a simple GUI to interact with. I learned command line first and bashed my head on the keyboard for weeks. I still recommend learning it, but I still wish I had known about these tools before my deep dive.

[@hotzemusic]

loved my micro PCs but for a while now, I have been running the main part of my lab on 3 x HP Elite Desk SFF PCs. They draw a little more power but the added PCI slots were worth it, as I wanted to add dual SFP+ and Dual 2.5GbE NICs to them. Picked them all up on ebay for about 150 each & they all had intel 6C / 12T processors (intel i7-8700). Spent a little bit more to get them all to 64GB of RAM and give them each 2 extra NVME drives to contribute to the storage pool. Now I have more than enough to play around with and learn / do nearly anything I could imagine in the homelab. I can't recommend enough the Elitedesk w/ the i7-8700. It's the perfect middle ground between micro PCs and a full form-factor server.

[@s.i.m.c.a]

idk - i just bought ryzen based mini pc with dual 2.5Gb lan already onboard. sfp is worst decision ever, as these modules getting pretty much hot.

[@hotzemusic]

@@s.i.m.c.a Different strokes for different folks! I wanted 10 gig for my storage network so PCI SFP+ nics were the move, works like a charm /shrug

[@fousse7]

hi, which generation are your HP EliteDesk?

[@hotzemusic]

@@fousse7 they are g4 believe

[@akaScratch]

Thanks for this. I really think this approach will create subscribers. Simple tutorials with all affordable hardware. I'm starting from what feels like zero...less than zero maybe. There aren't many channels in this space that make stupid question/everyone knows that so why make a video topics but I'd probably benefit. The kind of stuff you can't believe someone doesn't know would probably do well. Thanks for the content and great job.

[@christianlempa]

Thank you! I hope so too :D

[@Felix-ve9hs]

15:31 it can even run in active/passive HA mode with the XG Home license :)

[@nuanda82]

Nice video, thank you!

[@axehead15]

Amazing video as usual!

[@christianlempa]

Thank you!

[@GeekOfAllTrades]

I love the homelab scenario. I have a datacenter worth of gear in my basement, but MAN that power cost is hard to swallow lol. Great vid Christian, thanks again! 🖖

[@christianlempa]

Thank you so much :D

[@rodyyoda]

I am walking this road of homelab for a while, but spending to much time to decide about which machine I should buy. I know I need to start :) My goal is to create a homelab to study networking and cybersecurity stuff by running some services and emulate cisco devices(firewall, ise, switches, wlc) in EVE-NG, not only Cisco devices but the main goal is it. It's because I'm starting study for my CCNP. Really believe I am closer than ever, but still thinking about what's better to buy.. Thinking nowadays about buy a desktop "gamer" 64GB RAM, mother board up to 128GB in case more memory is needed 1TB SSD i5 12th generation, not too cheaper but trying something to start in a good way without put much money right now. Your video brought hope :)

[@lzcpg]

Re: Hypervisors vs a Linux distro as the bare metal OS, there are tools out there that make running VMs on top of say Ubuntu much more easily, like LXD, which can spin up both LXC containers and KVM instances.

[@sking379]

Thanks Christian!!!

[@christianlempa]

You're welcome :D

[@carlitoang9509]

Rocky Linux would be a cool playground for starters as well

[@haraldfielker4635]

Old Ryzen 5700G / AM4 Desktop hardware is still my (personal) sweetspot. You can have 128GB ram. As the GPU has a GPU, you geht your GPU slot free for more m.2 storage. My Servers have 4x m.2 - up to 6 SATAs. What AM4 usually doesn't have 10Gbit NICs on the boards and the RAM you buy is DDR 4 non ECC - but it's cheaper and less powerhungry then any of the ancient servers you can get.

[@peteradshead2383]

I do the same I have a deskmini x300 with the 5700g , plus using my old gaming case with a 5700g , fitted 4 x 4td SSDs ( 6 max ) and the OS on a nvme , which gives me 20 free lines , so I could have a 16 line GPU ( or use it for 4 more nvme drives ) and have the 4 lines free for a 10gbt card , looking to give the deskmini x300 a 10gbt port which someone give me the idea of a nvme to 10gbt .

[@ultra.waffle]

Old? That's literally my main PC build 🥲

[@peteradshead2383]

@@ultra.waffle I think I'm the only person who has a 360mm water cooled 5700g.

[@aarbbee]

Will the M.2 to Sata conversion work? As the BD770 does not support biforcation. Or does that issue only exist for the PCIE slot? BTW, nice content. Thank you.

[@TheShortStory]

Homelab is too fancy a word but I have proxmox running on a NUC with containers for all my services. When I load my homepage now all my APIs time out if they’re loaded at the same time. (Could it be a limit to the NIC’s capacity?) anyway, it’s working ok most of the time and setting it up has been a great learning experience

[@enkoding]

I F love your videos, but this time... your hand going to the keyboard distracted me a lot hahahaha love ya !

[@christianlempa]

It annoys me too! Didn’t realize it when recording but yeah, … things you can’t change afterward 😭

[@PaulKelly1]

I wanted to ask, how does one start out doing homelab/code correctly with git etc? Although I have many years of old-school infra experience I’m getting back into homelab & containers etc, learning git on the way but I’d LIVE to know how to build out a homelab using devops methodology asap in the journey, so I’m guessing building a “build server” with docker & git server tools etc then write the code to build out the rest of the infrastructure from there. I guess I’m saying I’d love to automate from as early in the process as possible but I currently need to manually build my systems to learn the basics. FWIW I’m playing with a bunch of Rpi 5’s with nvme storage but also have a HO T630 I want to play with promox on. I also have a gaggle of synology boxes 🤣 Love your channel, I’m currently soaking it up!

[@nithinrajesh4836]

Hey Christian, could you make a video on connecting a smb share to a docker container. I tried and had a lot of reliability and permission related problems

[@KopfKino901]

Just mount the SMB volume to the host, and then give the docker container access to the mount point

[@thayaganthusiyanthan9708]

You should do a new version of proxmox automation!! please

[@n55lly335]

Can those hypervisors be used on older routers and switches like cisco 2600,871 w, 2950? I have one desktop pc, ryzen 5 5600/rtx 3060ti 2tb Nd a tight budget but would really like to get to get started on networking. Would I be good with this pc and those routers or should I get another pc as well?

[@YannMetalhead]

Good video!

[@christianlempa]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@timothymason5545]

Do you have a video to create a docker server? I would like to do this and get away from using my synology NAS.

[@christianlempa]

There's a docker tutorial on my channel

[@ryanmalone2681]

I just wanted to upgrade my 4-bay Synology NAS to 16 drives and was surprised by how expensive it was and how shit the HW was. I knew it was going to be a huge investment of time, but it was January and I couldn’t ride my motorcycle so I deduced to do it. So I bought a 36-bay storage server, a 10GbE switch, and a 25U rack which I thought would be more than enough. Then I looked at pricing to back up 50TB and decided it would be better to buy the same server and storage. Then I wanted to play around and didn’t want to mess with Plex and all the arrs I was running for the family, so I decided to buy a NUC for homelabbing. I ran out of RAM quickly, so I bought a 2U server and another switch because I ran out of ports. Now, 5 months later, I completely filled the rack and spend all my time working on little projects. It got out of hand quickly. I hate to think how many thousands of dollars I spent too.

[@NiTeHaWKnz]

Yeah, you definitely pay the apple tax with synology.

[@strangetoucane]

I had old hardware which currently turned to small server

[@NNextremNN]

How do you run Docker on Proxmox? VM, LXC or installed directly on the Proxmox OS?

[@christianlempa]

I run a VM with the docker engine installed.

[@my-it..]

Hello and thank you for a great and informative channel you have! 🤩 I've just started my home lab journey and need some good advice on hardware in the first round. - Thinking of building a daily workstation that can handle. proxmox, wm windows 11, my 3D printer, cad software, M office, photo edit. vm ubuntu's, docker, home assistant. -Plex, home cinema, music etc. for everyone in my home. Want an powerful / "silent" / power efficient lab that can be expanded and last a long time. But not high cost project. Do you have any good tips?

[@christianlempa]

That sounds awesome, man! Check out some of my recent videos on ITX mainboards, e.g. Minisforum, they also have Mini PCs as well that have great power-effeciency for a fair price iMo

[@truckerallikatuk]

I wouldn't pick CENTos these days, as it's a dead distro, at least as far as a production server OS. Which is sad, as previously it'd have been a top tier choice.

[@TutoDS2014]

I want to build a media server, what you suggest? Can I use proxmox? I'm thinking in something like Jellyfin and arr stack, can you give me some suggestions please?

[@christianlempa]

It depends if you need more operating systems, or not.

[@TutoDS2014]

@@christianlempa no idea will be my first media server

[@Aruneh]

I feel like Mini PCs can go in the medium category, depending on specs. There is a very wide range of performance.

[@christianlempa]

Yeah, that depends on the Mini PC, but you're right, there are absolutely Mini PCs that have the same power as regular Desktop PCs.

[@zerion777]

My Homeserver is running on my old Gaming Notebook with an I7 5700HQ. But now i plan to reorg this. I'm searching for a good, cheap and performant replacement. Anyone suggestions?

[@WayneMcCormick]

Check your local government surplus sales (city, state or province). Mine is selling thinkstations with i7 processors for under $150 each in working order.

[@MMWielebny]

I use clean kvm from years and I do not understand why you do not like it. If you mean web GUI there are some options. I haben much more possibilities in networking than proxmox or any other option can provide. To use private network on the host on proxmox I need to use vlans or ovn but in plain libvirt based kvm I just make nat local network and it just works. It lacks stuff in multi node but I do not care - I want to have cicd it all so live migrate via pipeline any way. If I will ever want ha - i can use opensvc or pacemaker (just like proxmox uses). It is harder not for newbie but if you love tinkering and learning it will give you bigger understanding of your system

[@hcjkruse]

Depends on what you want to achieve or learn. I ran SmartOS before switching to Proxmox and now TrueNAS for home use. For the lab use Proxmox is great for thinkering with other services. It just works and saves time. sometimes point and click or an Ansible playbook is good enough.

[@stsoul12]

How much do you pay for electricity? Bills please 😂

[@AM93000]

I disagree

[@MR-vj8dn]

With what?

[@regis9596]

your parents also disagree about how you live

[@AM93000]

@@regis9596 i disagree how your parents raised you with a filthy mouth

[@Lunolux]

i find it really hard to replace proxmox with another nice video

[@christianlempa]

It really is! Thanks :)

[@dominick253]

Laptop, proxmox, and have fun!