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+#+title: An Inside Look at My Homelab
+#+date: 2020-05-03
+#+description: A retrospective on the first iteration of my home lab.
+#+filetags: :sysadmin:
+
+* 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.cleberg.net/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.