HomeLab

[Reciever]

Good Evening Ladies and Gents! 

 

This has become a growing interest for me personally as well as professionally and was curious to what and how others make their own approaches to the topic. 

 

For me, since mining has been mostly curtailed these days I have finally repurposed all the equipment that I had, along with some equipment not used for mining and a few additional purchases. As such my starting point is probably different from most which means the learning curve is a bit up there...

 

Open Bench - Would like to setup a multi-head Gaming VM

10850K @ 5.0Ghz

16GB DDR4 @ 4000Mhz

256GB SSD
2x 5700XT's 
X520-DA2 10Gbps DAC SFP+

6x HP T630's - HA? Container/Docker? 
128GB SSD
16GB DDR4

Optiplex Micro 7050 - Remote End Point
i7 7700
32GB DDR4 
256GB SSD
Connected via switch + WiFi + Console

2x Precision 7810's

2x Xeon E5 2650 12c/24t

128GB DDR4 

2-3TB SSD (NVME/SATA)
4x1Gbps NIC

X520-DA2 10Gbps DAC SFP+
K2200

Cisco 48p 1Gbps PoE, 4 SFP 

 

Its way more than I need right now, but I have been wanting to get a better understanding of how SCCM/MECM works which is its own huge undertaking, then my friend at work told me about vcenter/vsphere and that it looked like what I should be dabbling with (at the time was dabbling with proxmox). As such took a step back and rebuilt everything with VMware.

 

Then later he gave me a Cisco switch, then I realized I still had the t630's and the 10850K system was sitting dormant after I wrapped up the comparison thread. Things are a little out of hand. 

 

Im curious what you guys may have up your sleeves? 

 

[ryan]

you should start up a computer business, you would be super successful. and when you do succeed imagine  what you could do(travel), I have no idea what a home lab is or what its used for but sounds like alot of cables and know how.

[ssj92]

I have several desktops and laptops at home and thought about making a LAN party area but no one to play with LOL. 

 

As of right now I use my main desktop as a "server" :

 

Alienware Aurora R4 (only chassis is original at this point):

Intel Core i9 10980XE 18-Core Extreme CPU

EVGA X299 Micro Motherboard

32GB RAM (4x8GB) [Really want to upgrade this]

nVidia RTX 4070 FE [Might end up with a 5090 this time around]

EVGA 1200 Platinum PSU 

Realtek 2.5GBps PCIe NIC

ASUS HyperX M.2 adapter with 2x 1TB Intel 660p VROC RAID 

16TB HDD

1TB SSD

Windows 11 Pro for Workstations 

 

Right now I am using it as a SMB server and Plex server. Next step is to install my ZooZ 800 series USB stick and use Home automation VM to also make it into a hub for all my ZooZ Double Switches. Then I can control them through Apple HomeKit. 

 

Network wise I have it setup like this...

 

Comcast X8B Gateway >>>>(2.5GBPS)>>>>Linksys LGS328C[SFP+ to RJ45]>>>>(SFP+ to RJ45)>>>>Server (the rest of my stuff, ps5, apple tv, etc is hooked up to this using the 1gbps ports

 

Linksys LGS328C>>>>>>>(1GBPS)>>>>Linksys LGS328MPC>>>>>Security Cams/Printer (these are PoE cams and also threw my printer in the mix here)

^>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(1GBPS)>>>>Generic 1GBPS 8-Port switch>>>>>>>Hooked up to apple tv, receiver, etc in family room for basic internet needs

 

Also using MoCA:

 

RG6>>>>Hitron 2.5GBPS MoCA adapter>>>>>>(2.5GBPS)>>>>>Alienware Area-51 R2 upstairs in my office using Intel i-225V I think it was

RG6>>>>Hitron 2.5GBPS MoCA adapter>>>>>>(1GBPS)>>>>>>TP-Link Wi-Fi 5 Router for the ADU in the back 

 

I received some DDR5 RAM and now I am debating on making a new 14th gen i9 system or wait until Nov for the new intel socket. Just need MB/CPU lol 

[ryan]

yeah I feel the same way, I used to have parties everyday now like 0 friends are available. everyone has familys and lives lol heaven forbid. crazy times of past but hopefully I bump into some new friends in my town, wouldn't mind company

 

also something similar I purchased two usb c to 2.5gbs ethernet adaptors and man are they slick, im getting 1500 mbs almost instantly and the image quality with geforce now even in canada which doesnt have a western server is impressive.

 

As for home lab? what exactly is a home lab for, like use cases?

[Reciever]

8 hours ago, ryan said:

yeah I feel the same way, I used to have parties everyday now like 0 friends are available. everyone has familys and lives lol heaven forbid. crazy times of past but hopefully I bump into some new friends in my town, wouldn't mind company

 

also something similar I purchased two usb c to 2.5gbs ethernet adaptors and man are they slick, im getting 1500 mbs almost instantly and the image quality with geforce now even in canada which doesnt have a western server is impressive.

 

As for home lab? what exactly is a home lab for, like use cases?

Virtual Sandbox to do anything and everything you want with it.

 

IT Training typically, can use it for Plex/JellyFin, remote game streaming, self-host all the things. Imagination and to some degree, budget, are the only limitations.

[ryan]

I have 64gb of ram and wouldn't mind trying a virtual sandbox. not sure what to do in it though, same situation as many, might use it for a ram disk who knows.

 

PLEX now that I know I host all my VR videos on a plex server but I just use my laptop for that, seems to work fairly well. all the power to you, threads like this are great because its esoteric and well interesting, never heard of this now I have.