Home labs :)

As the holiday season approaches, what better way to celebrate than by diving into a fun and rewarding project – building a home lab using multiple mini PCs! My journey into the world of home labs began when I stumbled upon a fantastic deal: a batch of 4th Gen i5 processors equipped with 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD. These components were part of mini Lenovo ThinkCenters, which I found particularly appealing for my setup.

Why Mini PCs for a HomeLab?

Mini PCs offer a compact and efficient solution for setting up a home lab. They’re small enough to fit in limited spaces, yet powerful enough to handle a variety of tasks. Plus, with the end-of-life (EOL) of Windows 10 on the horizon, the market is brimming with these high-spec machines at incredibly affordable prices. It’s a golden opportunity for enthusiasts like me.

The Festive Setup: A Christmas Homelab Project

I decided to scoop up four of these Lenovo ThinkCenters. The specifications were just right for a beginner to intermediate home lab environment. Here’s a breakdown of why these machines were ideal for my Christmas homelab project:

  1. Powerful Processors: The 4th Gen i5 processors provide enough horsepower for most home lab experiments.
  2. Adequate Memory: With 8 GB of RAM, multitasking and running multiple virtual machines becomes feasible.
  3. Sufficient Storage: A 256 GB SSD ensures quick boot times and fast access to stored data.
  4. Compact Size: The small footprint of these mini PCs allows for an unobtrusive setup, which is great for home environments (My roommates won’t kill me).

Setting Up the HomeLab

Setting up the home lab was a delightful project. I dedicated a corner of my room for the lab, arranging the mini PCs in a neat row. Each machine was configured to serve a different purpose:

  1. Virtualization Server: One of the PCs was set up as a virtualization server using Proxmox. This allowed me to run multiple operating systems concurrently.
  2. Network Storage and Media Server: Another machine was dedicated to network storage, using Nextcloud, and doubled as a media server with Plex.
  3. Development and Testing: The third PC was reserved for network services, like Custom DNS (PiHole), Uptime kuma, MQTT Broker and couple of Databases.
  4. Learning and Experimentation: The last one was my playground for trying out new operating systems, security tools, and anything else that piqued my curiosity.

Enhancing Connectivity with a Smart Switch

As my homelab began to take shape, I realized the need for a more robust solution to manage network connections between these devices. This led me to the TP-Link “TL-SG108E 8-Port Gigabit Easy Smart Switch.” This fully managed switch was the perfect addition to my setup, offering enhanced control over network traffic and the ability to configure settings like VLANs, QoS, and IGMP Snooping. (and this didn’t break my bank <3 )

The Joy of Learning and Tinkering

This project wasn’t just about setting up hardware; it was a journey of learning and experimentation. From configuring network settings to setting up virtual machines, each step was a valuable lesson. The process was akin to unwrapping gifts on Christmas morning – each challenge uncovered was an opportunity to learn something new.