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#+date: <2020-05-03>
#+title: An Inside Look at My Home Lab
#+description:
#+slug: 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
** 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.
|
