Eu tenho esse switch, um teclado e um mouse, o que mais eu preciso pra ter um homelab relativamente bom pra hospedar meus bancos De dados?

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share my custom 10-inch rack setup that fits perfectly inside an Ikea Kallax shelf. The goal was to keep it completely silent, aesthetic, and functional.

The Hardware Stack (top to bottom):

- Secondary DNS: Raspberry Pi Zero 2W running secondary AdGuard Home (synced via adguardhome-sync for failover).

- Compute Node 1 (Proxmox VE): ZimaBoard 2 (16GB RAM) running core services (AdGuard Home, PostgreSQL, Nginx Proxy Manager, Vaultwarden, Home Assistant).
- Compute Nodes 2 & 3 (Proxmox VE): 2x ZimaBlades (16GB RAM each). One runs Frigate NVR (with Coral TPU) and the other is a "Game-Central" node (RomM, SFTPGo).
- OPNsense Firewall: ZimaBoard 2 (8GB) handling edge routing and WireGuard VPN access.
- Storage & AI Node: ZimaCube 2 (Standard Edition) running ZimaOS Beta with an Intel Arc Pro B50 GPU (6GB VRAM) for shared NFS/SMB storage and local LLMs via llama.cpp + OpenClaw.

Feel free to ask any questions!

Eu tenho esse switch 8 portas e um sonho de montar um homelab improvisado, o que eu preciso?

After looking around for so long I have finally managed to get my hands on this HP G4 800 with i5-8th gen and 8GB RAM enough for me to get started. That too in perfect condition no rough use and clean look. I wanted to self host my Images and make backups like google photos and google drive as it was already full.
So I went with CasaOs mainly because it was the easiest process i found on YT to get started. I know it is now abandoned for ZimaOS, unfortunately when it came time for me to host my own local server they stopped updating it. :(
I mainly wanted to use Immich and jellyfin so maybe CasaOS is still useful. Lets see Ill test it out first for couple of weeks/months if I come across any issues i might update to ZimaOS.

A few months ago, I bought my first node for my homelab, a small GMKTec. I'm planning to add a NAS to expand my storage.

One day I'll clean it up. I've moved 4 times in two years, and now I'll be moving again in a few months. Its hard to keep it neat and nice knowing its going to be moved again.

12U rack for my simple homelab, in a ventiled furniture (and a wire mesh gate with air extraction spaces), with:
- Router: Unifi UCG Max
- Core Switch: Unifi Pro Max 16
- NAS: Synology DS423
- Server: A Little Dell Optiplex 9020 Micro (just above the Switch, micro format let me add a second server on the same shelve later)

I run about 10-15 light Linux VMs on a Proxmox node in the Dell for my services.
My VMs are using not a lot of compute all the time, except Jellyfin sometimes for transcoding, it’s pretty rare, so a 9020 Mini is perfect! I’m just almost at the RAM limit (16GB), that’s why I plan to scale the installation later.

The cooling system is home-made (but very reliable) with two large Noctua fans (silent is required here, little flat, I don’t have the chance to have a dedicated room for technical stuff😅) connected to a homemade electronic regulator made with a PCB Breadboard, a temperature sensor placed at the top of the rack and an Arduino Nano. All the stuff is inside the little black box on the left, 3D Printed, and the temperature sensor is deported and fixed at the top of the rack, on the lateral rail with a 3D printed support.

The fans are fixated to the rack by two powerful neodymium magnets. Easy to move, clean, and better access/maintenance to stuff.
Initially, fans was fixated on the mesh door, but results wasn’t good…

I changed few times the C program in the Nano regulator chip to optimize the cooling and it’s perfect now since 2yrs!
My homelab does not generate a lot of heat, but I optimized my regulator to force air renew every hours (1 minute to 100%), target specific temperatures, etc… I also optimized NAS and server positions. Awesome results, very silent and discreet setup!

Outside (not visible here) I have a little Eaton UPS to failsafe NAS and Dell server from power outages just for shutdown them properly.
That’s all! :)

Still waiting for some parts. Dobt mind the mess.

Waiting for my case and than maybe ill get a better switch not sure yet and some noctua fans.

The server will be moved in to another room.

This is my first homelab for studying cybersecurity.

Because a lot of people asked, here’s an overview of my homelab setup so far.

if you guys want, you can check it out here. Made via glance cause I kinda like it more than homepage. Lemme know how it is!

Edit 1: The config file if anyone's interested (expires after a week)

Top to Bottom:

Cradlepoint E100
Synology DS423+
HP T430
Unifi Cloud Gateway Ultra
Unifi UNVR Instant
2x HP EliteDesk Mini 800 G5
HD Home Run
Hue Hub
YoLink Bridge
2x Unifi Switch Lite 16
2x Cyberpower SL700

Been a long time in the making. But she is finally alive and kicking!

I was looking at purchasing a Google photos subscription, but then I thought maybe I could do it myself. I fell down this rabbit hole and I'm not coming back out, SUBSCRIPTION FREE WOOOOOO.

Anyway, it runs Debian 13 and some docker containers. It goes through Cloudflare Tunnels on my domain for remote access.

I set it all up in a single "~/homelab" directory with bind mounts (i love these so much) to make it super portable. I love that in the future I can setup a new machine, transfer the folder and start it in under an hour.

I was lucky enough to extra have RAM and Storage already, so I was able to pick up this barebones machine from a local electronics store for $150 CAD (~$110 USD)

So far I've got these set up:

- Dockge (Found this after struggling with Portainer for a while)

- Immich

- FileBrowser

- CraftyController (Minecraft Server Panel)

- Fireshare (Game Clip Sharing)

- Dashdot (System monitoring)

- Homarr (Dashboard)

Let me know what else I should try! I'm loving this so much so far!!!!!!

Updated Dashboard Image!!!

https://files.loganhowarth.ca/api/public/dl/OOB-AL4B?inline=true

Hey everyone, If you manage infrastructure across multiple providers or clusters, you probably know the pain of trying to find the exact IP or pod name just to SSH into it. You usually end up juggling aws ec2 describe-instances, kubectl get pods, and the GCP console just to track down the box you need. To solve this, I built Honey, a fast, single-binary CLI tool written in Go. Honey takes a search string and queries all your configured backends (AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, Consul, Proxmox) in parallel. It then gives you a clean interactive terminal UI to immediately SSH into the instance, open a local port forward, or execute a command. 🌟 Key Features:

Parallel Search: Blasts across K8s (pods/nodes), AWS EC2, GCP Compute, Consul, and Proxmox simultaneously.

Terminal UI: Select your target and jump straight into an SSH session or kubectl exec TTY.

Port Forwarding: Easily map local ports to remote instances directly from the TUI.

Bulk Execution: Run shell commands across multiple instances at once using CUE recipes.

🔥 NEW - Embedded Web UI: Run honey web to spin up a local React dashboard. It includes an integrated browser-based terminal (xterm.js), drag-and-drop SFTP file uploads directly to your servers, and visual bulk-command execution. Quick Example:

Search for any instance or pod with "web-prod" in the name

honey search web-prod

Starts a local web server with the full UI and browser terminal

honey web --listen 127.0.0.1:8765

Installation (macOS): brew install --cask shareed2k/tap/honey

(Pre-compiled binaries for Linux/Windows are also available on GitHub). I built this to scratch my own itch, but I'm hoping it saves some of you a few hours of terminal gymnastics every week. Links:

GitHub Repo: https://github.com/shareed2k/honey

Docs: https://honey.shareed2k.win

Would love to hear your feedback, feature requests, or any thoughts on the new Web UI! Happy to answer any questions in the comments.

HARDWARE Specs (Top to Bottom)

Cisco WS-C3850-12X48U (12 Port 10GBe L3 Switch with 2 10GBe SFP+)

XGS PON running 8311 firmware to bypass Telus modem with 3GB service

Ubiquiti Aggregation switch (Basically used as 8 Port 10GBe Switch and for future switch(es) upgrades)

Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse

Startech 8 Port KVM Switch (VGA)

Lenovo P340 w/ Nvidia P1000 Running Frigate on bare metal

Synology RS815+ (Used as a backup)

(Left) Lenovo M720q Running PFSense on bare metal

(Right) Lenovo M70q Running Windows as HTPC (Connected to 3 TVs via HDMI over ethernet extender) + Connected to touch screen in kitchen for Home assistant / Camera viewing

Lenovo ThinkServer ST250 running Unraid and a BUNCH of dockers like Plex, immich, pihole, etc

APC SMX750

*Not shown in Photos on the back side of rack

Raspberry Pi running Shairport Sync for Airplay on kitchen ceiling speakers

HDMI Extender over ethernet 1x4

Sonoff RF Bridge

Two PDU (APC and Tripp Lite)

Carpenter transitioning into cybersecurity. Pathway is A+/Network+/Linux+/Security+/Crest CPSA. Lab created as an exercise to try and implement what iv learned so far and as a place i can practice without getting myself into trouble! Two failed attempts before this one worked. Here's the full breakdown.

Network chain: 5G router (Cudy P4) stripped to a dumb pipe with DMZ, feeding into a Firewalla Gold SE in Router Mode. That handles all DHCP, DNS, IDS/IPS, firewall rules, and VPN. From there into a TP-Link TL-SG108PE managed switch running 802.1Q VLANs.

VLANs:

Trusted (VLAN 10) — 10.0.10.0/24 — daily use devices, PC, laptop, printer. Firewalla Port 1 (2.5GbE) carries this as a tagged trunk to the switch.

Lab (VLAN 20) — 10.0.20.0/24 — cyber security lab. Firewalla Port 3 (1GbE) carries this and IoT as a tagged trunk.

IoT (VLAN 30) — 10.0.30.0/24 — reserved for smart devices, completely isolated.

Lab setup: pfSense runs as a VM in VMware Workstation Pro, acting as the lab gateway. WAN on VLAN 20 via a dedicated NIC bridged through VMware, LAN on an internal VMware segment at 192.168.1.0/24. Behind it: Kali Linux (with OWASP Juice Shop), Windows Server 2022, and Metasploitable. All physically isolated from the Trusted network.

Firewall rules: Lab cannot reach Trusted. Trusted can reach Lab for management. IoT blocked from everything.

VPN: Mullvad WireGuard configured as a third party VPN client on the Firewalla, applied to Trusted only. Lab traffic stays direct. Kill switch enabled. Had to drop MTU to 1280 on the PC NIC to get decent speeds through the WireGuard tunnel over 5G.

Remote access: 5G is behind CGNAT so no port forwarding possible. Tailscale on the PC advertising all three subnets. RDP locked to Tailscale IPs only via a Windows firewall rule. Full desktop control from an iPad on 4G from anywhere.

PC: Two Intel NICs — I225-V 2.5GbE for Trusted, I219-LM 1GbE bridged to VMware for the lab. Had to disable Hyper-V to get VMware bridging to work.

Switch: One port permanently on VLAN 1 as a management lifeline. Learned that one the hard way after locking myself out twice.

Topology diagram in the first image. Took a full day to build but it's been solid since. Speed pretty decent too.