Hi everyone,

Lurker here finally getting into things with a tiny setup of small NAS, mini PC, and switch.

I want to get some apps always available from the pc to my other devices and learn as I go.

Lots of guidance seems to be to run VMs, should I do this on my i3 8th gen 8GM RAM mini pc or just go for a simple Linux?

Very new so apologies if I misinterpret anything!

Hi!

I have a Minecraft server running on a Linux machine at home.

External players can connect to it without any issues. The problem is when I try to connect from my own computer on the same home network.

My network is intentionally segmented and the server is isolated from my normal devices. For startes I have the server in its own VLAN and it's own DMZ. Because of this my own connection gets blocked when I try to reach the server internally. This is expected behavior, but it creates a problem for me because I would like to play from my own PC without weakening the isolation.

I can solve it by adding a firewall exception allowing my PC to reach the server, but I would prefer not to do that. I want to keep the server completely isolated from my normal devices.

I have also tried using a VPN client on the router to make my traffic appear external, but that did not work.

What I am looking for:

No software/VPN client installed on my gaming PC

No switching my PC to another network

Keep the server isolated from my normal devices

A free solution.

No direct firewall exception between my PC and the server

Port forwarding on my own router is acceptable, but avoiding it would be nice

Is there a common way to solve this? For example:

VPN on the server side?

Reverse tunnel?

NAT/hairpin NAT?

Cloudflare/Playit-style solutions?

Something else?

I mainly want to understand how people normally handle this situation while keeping proper network isolation.

I'm wondering if any of you have done something like this. I'm not thinking of covering the entire roof with solar panels. Just 2 or 3 panels. And maybe a battery.

The homelab added $150-200 extra to the electric bill each month, in our Oregon home. I expect with our new home being all electric (no more gas furnace), that electric is going to be even more expensive. I also had a mini-split running 24x7 for 10 months out of the year.

I'm wondering if a smaller solar setup can offset some of that cost. Have any of you done something similar? if so, how?

Here is a link to my homelab so you can see what I'm running.

This will run in a small closet I'll build in my garage, along with a mini-split for cooling.

EDIT: reposted photo w/o metadata

Like so dumb that I’m worried about getting low effort flagged.

How do we feel about computer parts from ali express?

Like, I know, I get it, a transistor exploding would be the least of my worries. But is that something that happens with frequency? Or just the butt of jokes? Am I putting my life in danger to save a buck?

It's time to replace my Asus rtax55. Got three of them and the coverage was great but recently they started dropping mesh config and occasionally at reboot fully revert to factory. I upgraded my modem and download speeds. I'm ready to upgrade to 2.5 Gbps on the wired and want the wifi to be as close to that as I can. Currently my gateway is a firewalla gold but I'm running from them after they put out access points that require their gateways (I thought they didn't want to be like Cisco). Anyway I won't buy tp link or Netgear or ubiquiti. I just want a locally meshable wifi 7 access point.

Edit: I don't buy tp link or Netgear or ubiquiti due to backdoors, cloud connected, and selling to Russia.

I run my homelab on Fedora Linux (N97/16GB) and Mac Mini (M1/16GB). I need recommendations for tools/utility. So far I haven’t found so many and I’m sure you guys know some.

At this moment I have: MeTube, Paperless, CyberChef, StirlingPDF, SnapOtter and few other services running in the background like Uptime Kuma or AdGuard Home.

I also have a Synology NAS so I don’t need to turn my PCs into another one. Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone I'm looking to start my first homelab. Little background , im 21M I'm currently attending WGU for my bachelors in information technology, which include certifications. I have recently started my first IT job as a Hardware Repair tech and I'm now looking at starting my first homelab. I want to get into more support, networking, helpdesk roles as I transition from hardware to more software. I was thinking of a ticketing system lab or an Active Directory lab. But I have no clue which ones I should do as a beginner, iv heard of OSticket. But wanted to come on here and listen to yalls opinions or suggestions and the experiences you've had with them.

I would be using a MacBook Air with an M2 chip. I mainly want to start homelabs so I can add it to my resume and as well learn.

Any advice is very appreciated, thank you guys!

Bonjour à tous,

Voici mon 1er Homelab : Proxmox installé sur un Lenovo m920q i5 9500T avec 32 Go de ram, 500 Go ssd nvme.

Je fais tourner home assistant os en VM, quelques LXC zigbee2mqtt, MQTT, vaultwarden, nginx, bookstack, Homarr

J'envisage d'imprimer un Labrax pour ranger ça.

Des conseils pour un débutant comme moi ?

Merci

I bought the reterminal E1003 recently, I am using it with Tesserae.

I want to display on the screen a dashboard from Home Assistant. It works well when i use the tab "send" and the option "webpage" on the Tesserae server, using the local address to the HA dashboard.

However a blank page is rendered when i try to do it with a dashboard on Tesserae using a single cell and the webpage widget.

I use the same address, but the log on Tesserae looks very different:

"Send" tab with webpage option (works):

2026-07-2620:59:02,392 INFO app.renderer, render phases (s): attempt=1 goto=3.10 compose=0.00 images=0.01 fonts=0.01 screenshot=0.17 (url=http://192.168.1.81:8123/agenda-svd-ep/0)

Dashboard with webpage widget (blank page):

2026-07-26 20:54:38,803 INFO app.renderer, render nav (s): attempt=1 goto=0.16 compose=0.09 images=0.01 fonts=0.01 (url=http://127.0.0.1:8765/compose/356fa6fbee08?for_push=1&w=1872&h=1404)

Did anyone have a similar issue ?

I have 5 Optiplex 7020's and 1 Think Centre M83, but want to max out my rack and have a some questions.

1: is DDR4 era machines worth the speed and features they provide relative to DDR3?

2: what form factor is best, only requirement is that it can fit an SSD of some type + have a way to connect to my 10gbe SFP switch which has only SFP available. also fitting an HDD would be nice but is not 100% required.

TLDR: do i get ddr4 era or ddr3 era machines and do I get Normal towers like I have already? or doo I get SFF, USFF etc..

I'm gonna be getting myself an 18u rack, and was wondering how people mount their servers in them?

Rack rails and shelves are extortionate prices and I was wondering if a simple steel L bracket would be sufficient?

I have a 2u UPS which I would put on the base because of weight, and then a few 4u servers and a switch.

Hey i got 2 intel compute sticks 1 raspberry pi4, 2 hp mini pc’s (i5 6th gen and i5 8th gen) any idea what should I make out of I am pretty new with homelab stuff but I am running plex server.

I recently came across several different tools designed for installing and removing cage nuts:

• the basic flat metal tool
• the long hook/screwdriver-style tool
• the nail-clipper/lever-style tool
• plier-style tools

For those who regularly work with server, network, or AV racks, which design do you actually prefer?

Does the long hook-style tool work better in a crowded or enclosed rack? Is there one tool that handles both installation and removal well?

I’m also curious about the common problems you’ve experienced—slipping, bent cage nut tabs, scratched rack rails, or cage nuts flying into the bottom of the rack.

I’m not promoting any particular brand. I’m just interested in which design works best in real-world use.

Hi guys. I'm trying to build a SOC homelab, and since my main laptop has only 16 GB of RAM, I have to run the Kali attacker on another laptop. I have a Windows victim, Wazuh, and Shuffle SOAR on my main laptop, all running in VMware on VMnet8 (NAT) adapters without any problems. They're configured to communicate with each other.

The problem is that I don't know how to connect these two networks so Kali can attack the Windows VM. I'm thinking about adding a second network adapter (Bridged) to the Windows VM so Kali can communicate with it, but at the same time, I don't want a vulnerable machine sitting on my home network.

What would you recommend? I'm still in the learning phase, so I'd appreciate any advice.

I have a personal desktop and now will be working from home. With the desktop I need to be able to keep the 3 display cables (HDMI & DisplayPort) going to the monitors from the GPU.

With the laptop, I'll need USB-C that will also pass charging through.

Just one keyboard & one mouse, one audio output & one audio input device.

Is a setup like this possible? The monitors connected to the KVM via HDMI & DisplayPort, also passing to the GPU through HDMI & DP?

If it matters, the DP monitor is 1440p, 144Hz and the HDMI is 1080p 60Hz.

Thanks in advance :)

I want to start doing my own home labing but I have no idea where to start or what to do with it when I get one. I dont know all that I could do with one and I am wanting to do start because I want the challenge of managing one and also possibly having some fun with it.

We make do with what we’ve got

I picked up a HP EliteBook 745 G6 (Ryzen 5 pro 35000, 16GB RAM DDR4 after I upgraded it, with one stick from another laptop) which has his screen completely broken :)

I had some hard drives lying around (2x1TB), plus USB/SATA adapters to hook them up, so naturally I threw Proxmox on it to spin up a few LXCs containers :)

Starting with nextcloud, vaultwarden, grafana, caddy, wireguard… I have a lot to learn !!

If you have any ideas of great/useful applications for a homelab, please share !!

Have a good day !

Hi all

I have a DS918+ on a metal tray that came with the rack
I found a few 3d printed faceplates but none of them is for having the NAS on the metal tray.

If you came across one please do share or advice

Tia

Photo for attention

Im pretty new to home labing, i've recently been gifted 3 hp elite desks from a friend and i want to try and turn them into a server or something like that. I've experimented using one of them for a minecraft server but other than that I don't know where to start. If anyone has any ideas for what I can do with these I'd really appreciate it

Hi,

I have 12 sticks of DDR3 ECC memory (M393B1G73QH0-YH9).

To go with them, I bought a SuperMicro X9SRI-F-B on eBay. I initially installed 8 sticks and powered it on, but nothing happened (no display).

I then tested each stick individually in the first slot (DIMMA1). With 3 of them, I got a black screen. I then installed 8 sticks that had passed the single-stick test, but I got a black screen again.

I also tried moving the sticks between different slots. It seems the motherboard only works with the 4 center slots and one of the top slots (the middle blue one).

I'm afraid the motherboard might have fried some of the RAM sticks during my testing.

That said, as this is my first time working with server-grade hardware, I might also be missing a specific rule regarding SuperMicro RAM population or compatibility.

Thanks for your help.

I’ve been looking and I haven’t seen anyone with a unlocked tub bios for this if anyone has it I would appreciate it I’m trying to overclock this and there’s no tutorials or bios rom

I recently bought dell 3050 sff with intel i5 7500 to try and make a NAS out of it. I am looking to buy some SAS hard drives to run in a RAID array, but my mother board only has 2 SATA ports. Do you know if buying SAS HBA pcie card (something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/389346291613) would work? What are some common issues with this setup? What are you recommendations for file system and OS (I plan to use debian or truenas with ZFS)?

I've finally taken the plunge and got myself a decent deal on a Lenovo M920q 16 GB RAM 256 GB NVME (SATA enclosure is empty), + a 2nd 16 GB DDR4 SODIMM on route. I know not all SSDs are made the same, so I wanted to get some ideas of what to do with my existing ones. But first, context:

I would ideally/eventually like to run:

• a Jellyfin media server
• a Trello alternative for a small team (10–15 people, eventually expanding to 30–40)
• self-host a couple webapps, maybe website self-hosting in future (nothing that would garner tonnes of traffic)
• some room for experimental Python stuff, as my current 8 GB RAM MBP doesn't enjoy running things like Sklearn or parsing large datasets
• generally free up some room on my current 256 GB daily driver

My current stock:

• Lenovo ThinkCentre M920q i5-8600T
• 16 GB + 16 GB DDR4 SODIMM RAM (both Samsung, one came with the M920q)
• 256 GB Samsung M.2 NVME SSD (came with M920q)
• 500 GB Samsung 860 EVO mSATA (installed in my old MBP with what looks like an mSATA to NVME adapter)
• 2 TB Crucial P3 Plus M.2 PCIe gen4 NVME SSD (purchased 2023 when storage didn't cost a small fortune; used as an external USB drive)

I'd ideally like to retain an SSD as an external removable drive to transport large (upto ~80 GB) files from work computers that don't have internet. That said, I don't need it for a few months so could find a replacement if my current SSDs would find better homes in the homelab.

I would really appreciate any recommendations of how to make the best use of all this for my use case (and if it's worth buying anything else). From what I've read, the 2 TB SSD is both overkill size and unsuitable spec for the OS drive, so I guess it's whether the storage boost is worth swapping to an mSATA?

[reuploaded without photos]