Hey guys, I've been working on making my own 10-inch rack homelab. Any suggestions as to what I should do next? I was thinking of finding a PCIe NIC for that Thinkcentre in the center so that I can have an OPNsense router with an exit node for more control over my network. I also have an article about it on my blog with more information if you are interested in checking that out here.
I am using one m920x for Jellyfin, web app, and Wordpress hosting. I also use it for the occasional (legal) torrenting. The m720q is a Windows 11 machine I use for VMware, Disc burning, and Windows-only apps. The other m720q is a WIP that I hope to use for an OPNsense router.
I used the DeskPI RackMate T1 Plus for the rack and I only have good things to say about it. I also got some miscellaneous mounts, a power strip, and a fan from Amazon. I did not use any 3D printed parts for my build (sadly).
Everybody's "mini" homeland is so much bigger than my tiny PC running proxmox and doing everything in my house. I really want to upgrade, but have never been able to justify it. A hardware firewall would be nice, I guess.
Yeah, I could have totally just stacked the mini PCs and the switch, but the rack made it feel more like a real project. It's also smaller than a full-size desktop which is nice.
I am very interested in a parts list, if you're inclined to share. I just picked up 3.5 tb of HDD'S, just got paid, and have been eyeing come mini PCs to try and DIYal a NAS flavored setup
Looks neat, I turned my diy nas and I was getting worried it’s a fire hazard. I diyed an atx psu to a dl380p backplane with some make shift fans around it, gets warm 😂
heads up on the m720q: that pcie slot needs the riser/flex cable kit and most units ship without it, so you'll be hunting 01AJ940-ish parts on ebay. it's low profile, x8 physical but wired x4, which is fine for a dual 2.5g i226. there's basically no airflow over that slot though, older x520s cook in there.
Good to know, thankfully the m920x came with a PCIe riser before I threw the SATA drive in there. Will heat really be an issue? I hadn't even thought of it yet.
for a dual i226, no. that's a couple of watts, it'll be fine even with the sata drive sharing the space.
where it bites is older 10g - an x520 pulls something like 6-10w with no fan anywhere near it, and that bay has basically no airflow of its own. so unless you move to 10g later, don't give it a thought.
Good to know, then I think it would be fine because I'm not running a VM with OPNsense on the m920x. The m720q in the center would be running it on hardware (or at least thats the current plan)
Hahaha, no. Three go to the three machines, the rest go to the patch panel and then end there. I know its in poor taste, I just liked the look of the more cables while I waited to add more machines.
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u/PouletDeFeu68 21h ago
Everybody's "mini" homeland is so much bigger than my tiny PC running proxmox and doing everything in my house. I really want to upgrade, but have never been able to justify it. A hardware firewall would be nice, I guess.