My TV Cabinet Lab
In an effort to more quickly build resume skills and improve my understanding of basic IT concepts, I started this lab. I am 22 years old and have recently graduated college with a degree in Information Technology. Just as school came to a close, I got my first gig at a small MSP. Now, I'm working at a bigger MSP in Chicago, mostly for private equity clients. My ultimate goal is to work as a System Administrator (or similar job, however it may change in the coming years), so I figured this would all be good practice. I currently live at my parents house, so excuse the TV cabinet rack haha. I am open to any and all criticisms. WARNING: I use windows 11 as my host and I am not a huge fan of docker, but am willing to be sold.
Compute: Beelink EQi13 Pro
• CPU: Intel i5-13500H
• RAM: 32GB DDR4
• OS: Windows 11 Pro (Host)
• Host Services:
◦ Jellyfin Server: I will probably be getting this off of the host soon...
◦ NUT Client: Configured for automated graceful shutdown during power events.
Hyper-V Virtual Machines
1. Windows 11 (Media Management):
◦ Stack: QBitTorrent + Hide.me VPN.
◦ Security: Uses a heavily restricted service account to move completed downloads directly to the NAS.
- Windows 11 (Dev Sandbox):
◦ Dedicated strictly to testing PowerShell scripts for work. The machine from my employer simply cannot handle running VMs on top of regular work.
3. Ubuntu (Nextcloud - Snap):
◦ Primary use is the Notes app, but I've grown to prefer it for automated backups over the built in UGREEN features.
◦ Automation: I use SMS Backup & Restore (Android) to push my messages and call logs from this VM to the NAS every Sunday at midnight. I also back up my Android voice recordings, Ableton session files, and various folders across devices to my user Nextcloud account.
◦ NUT Client
Storage & Infrastructure
• NAS: UGREEN DXP2800
◦ Drives: 2 x 10TB Toshiba N300 Pro (RAID).
◦ Role: Acts as the NUT Server. It’s connected via USB to the UPS and broadcasts the shutdown signal to the rest of the lab when the battery kicks in. In addition to hosting files for every device and VM, it automatically backs up all of my photos.
Networking
◦ Router: GL.iNet GL-BE6500 (Flint 3e).
▪ Runs DDNS
◦ VPN: Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB) running a dedicated Wireguard server for remote access. This Pi is wayyy overkill for its purpose, but it works.
▪ NUT Client
◦ Flat network, since nothing is really open to the Internet.
Power / Protection
• UPS: CyberPower EC750G Ecologic Battery Backup.
• Logic: The UGREEN NAS monitors the battery state and triggers a timed shutdown sequence for the Beelink and the Pi to prevent data corruption.
Remote Management
• RMM & Patching: Action1
• Remote Desktop: Rustdesk
• Redundancy:
◦ Tailscale VPN on some systems in the event that the Pi goes offline. I also use this to let friends access my Jellyfin library, since it's very easy to restrict access when needed.
◦ Action1 has a remote desktop feature in case Rustdesk craps out
Future Plans
◦ Off-site backups
◦ Move NAS into more of an isolated space
◦ Hosted Remote Desktop