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+#+date: 2020-05-03
+#+title: An Inside Look at My Homelab
+
+* What is a Homelab?
+
+Starting as a developer, I have largely stayed away from hardware-based hobbies
+(other than building a gaming desktop). However, as the quarantine for COVID-19
+stretches out further and further, I found myself bored and in search of new
+hobbies. After spending the last few months browsing the [[https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/][r/homelab]] subreddit, I
+decided it was time to jump in and try things out for myself.
+
+Since I am a beginner and just recently graduated from college, everything I've
+done so far in my homelab is fairly low-budget.
+
+* Hardware
+
+#+CAPTION: HomeLab Diagram
+[[https://img.0x4b1d.org/blog/20200503-homelab/homelab-min.png]]
+
+** Raspberry Pi 4
+
+Luckily, I had actually purchased a [[https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/][Raspberry Pi 4]] before the quarantine started
+so that I could try to keep Plex Media Center running, even while my desktop
+computer was turned off. I started here, using the Pi to hold Plex and Pi-hole
+until I grew tired with the slow performance.
+
+Here are the specifications for the Pi 4:
+
+- Broadcom BCM2711, Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5GHz
+- 4GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM
+- Gigabit Ethernet
+- H.265 (4kp60 decode), H264 (1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode)
+- 64 GB MicroSD Card
+
+** Dell Optiplex 5040
+
+Since I wasn't happy with the Pi as my main server, I turned to Craigslist. I
+know a lot of other homelabbers use Ebay, but I can't seem to ever trust it
+enough to purchase items on there. So I used Craigslist and found a Dell
+Optiplex 5040 desktop computer on sale for $90. While this computer might be
+underpowered, it was one of the few computers under $100 that was available
+during quarantine.
+
+Here are the specifications for the Dell Optiplex 5040:
+
+- Intel Core i3 6100
+- 8GB RAM DDR3
+- Intel HD Graphics
+- Gigabit Ethernet
+- 500GB Hard Drive
+
+While this hardware would be awful for a work computer or a gaming rig, it
+turned out to be wonderful for my server purposes. The only limitation I have
+found so far is the CPU. The i3-6100 only has enough power for a single 4k video
+transcode at a time. I haven't tested more than three 1080p streams at a time,
+but the maximum amount of streams I've ever actually used is two.
+
+** WD easystore 10TB & 8TB
+
+Application storage and temporary files are stored on the internal hard drive of
+the server, but all media files (movies, tv, games, books, etc) are stored
+externally on my WD easystore hard drive. Creating auto-boot configurations in
+the =/etc/fstab= file on my server allows the hard drives to automatically mount
+whenever I need to restart my server.
+
+#+BEGIN_QUOTE
+Update: In March 2022, I shucked the hard drives out of their external cases,
+put some Kapton tape on the third power pin to prevent power shutdowns, and
+stuck them inside my server tower using internal SATA cables.
+#+END_QUOTE
+
+** Netgear Unmanaged Switch
+
+To manage all the ethernet cords used by my homelab, my desktop, and my living
+room media center, I purchased an 8-port gigabit ethernet switch for $50 at my
+local computer store. This is probably much more than I should have spent on an
+unmanaged switch, but I am comfortable with the choice.
+
+** TP-Link Managed Switch
+
+Since I use the unmanaged switch to group all living room devices together, I
+use the managed switch to configure VLANs and secure my network.
+
+** Arris TM1602A Modem & Sagecom Fast 5280 Router
+
+My default modem and router, provided by my ISP, are fairly standard. The Arris
+modem supports DOCSIS 3.0, which is something that I definitely wanted as a
+minimum. The Sagecom router is also standard, no fancy bells or whistles.
+However, it does support DHCP and DHCPv6, which is something you can use to
+route all household traffic through a pi-hole or firewall.
+
+** TP-Link EAP
+
+In order to gain better control over the network, I use my own wireless access
+point instead of the one included in the Sagecom router above. Now I can control
+and organize all of my ethernet connections through the VLANs on the managed
+switch and wireless connections through the VLANS on the EAP.
+
+** Generic Printer
+
+The last piece to my homelab is a standard wireless printer. Nothing special
+here.
+
+* Software
+
+** Ubuntu Server 20.04
+
+While the 20.04 version of Ubuntu was just released, I always like to experiment
+with new features (and I don't mind breaking my system - it just gives me more
+experience learning how to fix things). So, I have Ubuntu Server 20.04 installed
+on the Dell Optiplex server and Ubuntu Server 19.10 installed on the Raspberry
+Pi. Once I find an acceptable use for the Pi, I will most likely switch the
+operating system.
+
+** Docker
+
+I am /very/ new to Docker, but I have had a lot of fun playing with it so far.
+Docker is used to create containers that can hold all the contents of a system
+without interfering with other software on the same system. So far, I have
+successfully installed pi-hole, GitLab, Gogs, and Nextcloud in containers.
+However, I opted to delete all of those so that I can reconfigure them more
+professionally at a later time.
+
+** Plex Media Server
+
+Plex is a media center software that allows you to organize your movies, TV
+shows, music, photos, and videos automatically. It will even download metadata
+for you so that you can easily browse these collections.
+
+** Pi-hole
+
+Pi-hole is an alternative ad-blocker that runs at the DNS level, allowing you to
+block traffic when it hits your network, so that you can reject any traffic you
+deem to be bad. Pi-hole uses blacklists and whitelists to decide which traffic
+block and, luckily, there are a lot of pre-made lists out there on Reddit,
+GitHub, etc.
+
+** Nextcloud
+
+While I had trouble with the Docker version of Nextcloud, I was very successful
+when setting up the snap version. Using this, I was able to map Nextcloud to a
+subdomain of a domain I own in Namecheap. Additionally, Nextcloud has an
+integration with Let's Encrypt that allows me to issue certificates
+automatically to any new domain I authorize.
+
+** Webmin
+
+To monitor my servers, and the processes running on them, I use the Webmin
+dashboard. This was fairly painless to set up, and I currently access it
+straight through the server's IP address. In the future, I will be looking to
+configure Webmin to use a custom domain just like Nextcloud.