r/minilab

Just want to share my server after lurking on this sub for about a year. Getting to the point where this feels solid.

Ubuntu Server PC1:

- Lenovo M73 Mini 12GB RAM, i5 Processor
- 5 Bay ORICO USB DAS attached
- 2×6TB WD Red Pro drives (RAID)
- 2×2TB WD Red drives (RAID)
- 250GB SSD for the OS
- Docker Compose for everything

Ubuntu Server PC2:

- Lenovo M72 Mini 8GB RAM i3 Processor
- Handles networking and light apps

Windows PC3:
- Dell Optiplex 3090 32GB RAM i5 Processor Radeon AMD GPU

Windows PC4:
- Custom gaming rig with i7 7700 Processor, 48GB RAM, 12GB 3060 GPU

ASUS RT-AX58U Router - running Asuswrt-Merlin (the custom firmware gives the Asus logo a wizard hat and a ton of other useful features)

Each PC is paired with a JetKVM and everything is connected via a 8 port switch.

Thrift shopping, eBay doom scrolling, FB marketplace all got me these things at a great price. I don’t have a tally for everything but I’m most proud of getting my router for only $5.

Adding these fans to the front of my DAS to get my HDD temps down.

Gaming:
PC3:
- Minecraft server
- Glorified Steam Link
- Can play light indie co-op games

PC4:
- This is my gaming PC that is a ship of theseus. I’ve had it for a very long time.

Media Stack

PC1:
- Jellyfin for movies and TV
- Jellyseerr for requests
- Sonarr for tv
- Radarr for movies
- Lidarr for music
- Prowlarr for search indexers
- Bazarr for subtitles
- qBittorrent (behind VPN) for downloads
- FlareSolverr
- Navidrome for music
-MusicSeerr for music requests
- Soulseek (slskd) music downloads
- Explo for music discovery
- Kavita for ebooks
- Audiobookshelf for audiobooks
- Shelfmark for automated book requests

This stack lets me get the media I want on demand and I actually own it.

Photo & Personal Cloud

- Immich for photo backup
- Nextcloud for files and document sync
- FileBrowser for quick filesystem access

Network

PC2:
- Pi-hole
- Unbound DNS
- Nginx Proxy Manager
- WireGuard (wg-easy)
- DuckDNS
- Uptime Kuma
- Homarr dashboard
- Portainer
- Dozzle
- WatchYourLAN

Right now I just have Nginx set up for my password manager. I’m going to be adding 2FA to my stack and start adding more.

Monitoring

- Beszel monitors both servers
- Uptime Kuma monitors services
- Dozzle for container logs
- Homarr as the central dashboard

I only really use Beszel to check HDD temps.

Backups

I have a script running that:
- Backs up Docker configs
- Backs up databases
- Backs up personal data
- Stores local backups
- Uploads encrypted off-site backups to Backblaze B2

I choose not to backup my movies/tv/music media to reduce storage costs. Only my cloud and photos get backed up. My other media can be downloaded again and is stored on a backup external drive. That’s good enough for me when it comes to my copy of “Dude Where’s my Car”.

Privacy Goals

I’ve noticed less targeted ads coming my way. Switching email providers is my next step. Creating an aliases for certain types of accounts. It feels futile but I’m going see if it helps with big tech getting less data from me for free.

So far I’ve replaced:

- iCloud Photos -> Immich
- Kobo library management -> Kavita
- Google Drive -> Nextcloud
- Netflix, HBO, Hulu -> Jellyfin + JellySeerr (+ Streamio w/ TorBox - this is paid but fills in the gaps for Jellyfin nicely for me)
- DNS -> Pi-hole + Unbound

I still can’t pull away from Spotify. I’m going to be gutting my music stack and just keeping Navidrome + a Spotify downloader. I’m just going to be archiving my CD’s. But I found that these services just don’t replicate music sharing or discovery like Spotify can. I could say more but I’ll leave it for another post.

But I actually use my media stack, Immich, and Nextcloud on a daily basis. One of my favorite parts is automated book downloads. It makes getting new books on my reader so much faster.

Future Plans

- Move everything into Proxmox
- Add automated VM snapshots
- UPS with network shutdown support
- CrowdSec
- Wiki for documentation

I’m sure I’ve made some questionable decisions. I’d like to hear more about what you would improve or remove.

Edit: That is a faux fireplace! It does have a space heater but I only use that in the winter.

Hello,

Just printed out the LabRax 5U Bolt version and some rack mount for devices such as Cloudway Fiber and Pi5. But when i installed the mount, the bolt only aligned with holes for one side, top or bottom. Does anyone have same issues or just me did something wrong?

Thank you guys

Now safely inside the vacuum cupboard with the proxmox pc next to it. I put all my networking inside there. And now everything is super fast running on the UCG Ultra and 2 U6 Pros around the house. Could not be happier :)

This is my first time building a homelab in the mini rack!
here is the details of the build

1. ONT Modem from ISP
2. Mikrotik hex s (old one) with omada es205g
3. Geeekpi PDU lite
4. patch panel
5. netgear gs308 + owl tree's dc to pwm to power the top and bottom fan
6. Beelink me pro with 2 seagate exos and raspberry pi with radxa penta hat
7. 300 watt power supply, glinet kvm pro and radxa's dragon q6a

The devices are mostly powered by DC cables from the 300w power supply except for the beelink NAS
I also used a 3d printed cable railing from here!

https://makerworld.com/en/models/1448527-deskpi-rackmate-cable-chase-6u?from=search#profileId-1508661

and used 3d printed top cover to add another fan in the top from here!

https://makerworld.com/en/models/954877-deskpi-rackmate-t0-t1-120mm-fan-top-panel-and-gril?from=search#profileId-923629

thank you Nomad07 and SigOS from makerworld, it makes my build cleaner and colder
I do not know your reddit usernames
if you guys are here let me know, I will update the post

I am very happy with all this turns out
it took some time to build all of this
the patch panels mostly work for my home access points
any input or questions are welcome!

as for the software, as I just completed this and only managed to do pihole, immich and vaultwarden with tailscale support
I spent a lot of time in understanding things regarding vlan and trunking as this is my first time working with managed switch
I am planning to do some linux isos download, but I am not familiar with it,
if there is any input or source on where I can start, will be much appreciated!

Thank you!

A self-hosted home server setup running on Debian with Docker Compose.
I mainly use this for Taskmanagement, Backups and DNS Adblock.
If you want every detail of it, look here: https://github.com/Knuspii/home-server

Setup:

• HP EliteDesk 800 G3 DM 35W

• OS: Debian GNU/Linux 13

• CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6500T (4) @ 3.10 GHz

• RAM: 8GB DDR4

• Disk1: SSD 128GB

• Disk2: SSD 128GB

• Disk3: SSD 128GB

• Disk2 & Disk3 = RAID1

• TP-Link TL-SG108

• GeeekPi 6,91" 1424x280 LCD Touchscreen

Hi there ! Let me introduce you Toast, "The One and Single Server I Trust".

After my 10" mini rack cluster, I wanted to migrate my little mini-pc cluster to one and only server with real bulk storage and better future upgradability.

So I built Toast, a Proxmox VE server in an SSF NAS form factor. Here are the specs :

• Beverly NAS Case
• Ryzen 5 5500
• AS-Rock B550M ITX
• 40Gb RAM DDR4 3200mHz (1*32Gb and 1*8Gb -- no money so i need to be sketchy)
• Nvidia Quadro p620
• 4*2TB Refurbished NAS HDD (RAID-Z1 on bare Proxmox)

Adding two Sonoff Zigbee & Thread dongles and Xiaomi Gigabyte Router flashed with OpenWRT.

I've installed Proxmox with multiples VMs and LXC like Home Assistant, Hermes Agent, Papra, Jellyfin, Immich, and way more :)

Took a few tries to get it right, but the NixOS 10" panel is finally up on Makerspace for anyone interested.

Filaments used: BL Matte Ivory White, Sky Blue and Marine Blue.

I built this rack for my product demos and home assistant demos. I organized a few home assistant meetups (50, 150 people).

But I am rebuilding because the GL.iNet berryl ax is replacing the Fritzbox.

I need to power the following:

- router 5V

- Home assistant blue 12V

- Odroid H2 15 V

- Switch 9V

- various other USB devices

- Gaming PC (is still powered by a Pico PSU)

So I went out and found this handy ugreen power supply. 8 ports and 200 Watts

I could not find any dimensions. Some brands are just annoying. So I ordered it and it looks like a good fit for 1U.

I also ordere a couple of cables which terminate to barrel jacks and have specific voltages for the devices.

Just had time to test it for 5 minutest and worked great!

I hope it does not disconnect power when I unplug and plug in new stuff.

I need to test that later.

When this works I will also create a 3D 1U mounting bracket.

Anybody have experience whit that particular unit?

It’s a 6U remix of the bolted together lab rax design I found on makerworld, printed in petg.

From the bottom:

1U blank
2U Rackmod 1U 10” with a custom drawer holding an Ikea tradrifi gateway with a keystone, and the second drawer is just a keystone
3U HP t640 thin client hosting proxmox
4U Unifi switch Ultra 60W
5U keystone panel
6U unifi gateway ultra

Looks great and it was fun to build

I got the UPS installed from my earlier post https://www.reddit.com/r/minilab/comments/1u63l1z/i_found_a_ups_that_fits/ and it fits great in the very bottom of the mojo rack. I 3d printed a quick little bracket that replaces the cross bar at the bottom of the rack and it takes up the bottom 1U when mounted that way.

Since my last minirack update, one thing that bothered me was the power situation with the power bricks. In the most recent update of my miniracks:

• Replaced all the AC/DC power supplies with a single Meanwell DRS-240-12 supplying 12VDC rail, which in turn supplies:
  • 1x 12vdc shucked minipc via direct rail
  • 2x 19vdc shucked minipcs via 19v boosts
  • 1x unifi non-poe switch via 5v (usb) buck
  • 1x 12v fan controller (noctua ippc-3000 pwm top exhaust) via direct rail
• This allowed me to add a 12V Eco-worthy LFP battery for when power blips
• Standardized the 4U "blade"-style mini pc mounts easily adapting to different types of 100-140mm shucked minipcs.

I built a total of three of these mini racks and took the opportunity to spread out the control plane nodes for a bit of physical redundancy.

Still to do:

• A small raspberry pi to communicate to the DRS-240-12 over RS-485 and serve PSU metrics.

tldr: I didn't like the inelegance of the power situation so I made things a lot more complicated and expensive

Here is the Unifi setup I Finally finished in my condo. I wanted a lot of functionality in a small space so I’d still get good use of the closet in which the data cabinet resided.
I was able to take advantage of some of the existing CAT 6 run to this box to get good AP distribution. I’m getting some pretty bitchin internet speeds via WiFi (as high as 1500Mbps and an average of over 1k everywhere on the unit.
A UCG Fiber serves as the network controller. It runs Network, Protect, and Drive. Other notables are the 5G backup WAN, Superlink radio, Unas2, Unifi UPS, Homey and Lutron Caseta hub.
This setup powers 2 cameras and 4 APs.
Tying it all together is a 10.5” Deskpi rack with various 3d printed device mounting plates designed by Mauker. I designed and printed the shelf as I couldn’t find one I liked.

Overall I’m happy with how much functionality I get without having to resort to a large std rack.

And before anyone questions my USL sensor fetish; I had to have them at every water fixture to get homeowner’s coverage bound.

I'm still working on it. There is a nightmare of wires in the back that I'm still trying to beat into submission. I would have put everything into one rack, but I didn't want the rack to be higher than my monitor. I also didn't want all of that weight in one spot on a glass-topped desk.

The rack monitor was recently installed, but I'll set it up with a monitoring dashboard when I get the time. My next project is to find a 10-inch NAS.