HPE LCD8500 KVM console just added to the lab.

Currently 3 raspi's and a cheap Intel N105 SOC, in a veggie rack. I wanted airflow, I got airflow - and all on wheels too!

Bots kept (and keep) hitting my home server (Fedora Rawhide, 16GB, 12 TB, i5 4th Gen) so I wrote a small custom 404 script to add them to firewallD blocklist. I also logged the requests to my DB, and made a little page to showcase them. I call it, the Wall of Shame.

I've caught 8000+ requests in like a month. What's interesting is the sheer number of CVEs that these try to exploit. I'm surprised servers in the wild aren't getting pwned more often.

Something to think (and harden)¹ about.

Edit: Footnote 1: servers

This is an SGI Rackable SE3016 chassis and it looks like the holy grail for any labber out there who can't commit to a full 42U rack or mini datacenter in their homes. SGI/Rackable was bought by HPE a decade ago and all of these awesome designs went defunct and now we need to retrofit loud, hot and ever increasing complex proprietary designs - eg. QNAP/NetApp/EMC.

I cannot see any downsides with this product as it was quite compact, short depth, easy to mod and make it silent, simple grow as you go daisy chaining design, etc. Had these kept existing with modern SAS-3 expanders and U.2/3 compatibility it would've been a dream for anyone starting their homelab.

The ones that will happily listen to you sometimes endlessly talk about something lab-related even if they don't understand a word of it because they just like hearing your voice.

How many of you use your spouse as your rubber duck?

Server setup that I made when I was twelve. It has 2 tbs of HDD’S and a tb of SATA. It’s on ddr3, with a gen 2 sandy bridge i7. It’s running Ubuntu Server w/Jellyfin, Webmin, AMP, and Nextcloud. Mono is a random Chinese one I got from Amazon.

Hi r/homelab!

I'm considering buying this for a Proxmox host. Probabil only light services and a stack of VMs for networking related stuff (opnsense, pihole, wireguard).

Would this cooling solution be enough for 24/7 operation?

I'd like to play around with hosting some services for friends as well, like game servers and the like, once I get it setup and familiar with how everything works.

Before you ask: I live in a small apartment so it'll have to be in my bedroom. That's why I'd like a silent server.

Full specs that I know of (it's 2nd hand and the guy didn't give me the exact brand):

64gb ram 1TB intel optane ssd i7 1165g7 - 4C 8T processor 1 sata conector 1 nvme slot 4 x 2.5GB/s NICs 1 RJ45 com port

~300 dollars for the whole thing. I'd like to hear your thoughts about the value of this thing as a first homelab for a student in a dorm :)

Hi, I'm a relatively new homelabber and I'm curious about monitoring tools and security.

At the moment I feel like I do close to the bare minimum to still be acceptable. I only expose 2-3 services to the public internet and keep everything else internal only, specifically jellyfin, jellyseerr, and nextcloud. All are routed through nginx proxy manager, and I have ports 80 and 443 forwarded on my router. I don't currently use VLANS so everything is on the same network, but I have in the past. I don't use any kind of additional login like authentik, I just rely on the login and security of each individual app, nor do I route everything through wireguard. I make sure to update everything at least once a month

I'm not interested in limiting myself to only wireguard. I recognize that it reduces the attack surface to essentially nothing, but I'd prefer not to jump through that hoop.

I'm under the impression that the moment you expose a service to the public internet, you're going to start getting attack attempts from whatever bots people have scraping the internet. However, I've realized I don't even know how I would become aware of it if I were getting suspicious connection attempts. What would I use to monitor things like this?

I guess, what more can I do to play an active role in understanding the security of my network and monitor for attacks/make sure it's sufficiently secure?

Hello! I'm fairly new to all this and wanted to get your eyes on this, before committing too much money to this project.

I've got a small office with two workstations for my tiny animation and editing studio. I have a synology ds1621+ with 4x16tb in RAID5 in there. For now I have the NAS plugged in the router and Cat6 cable going from the router to my PC, the other machine connects to it with WIFI.

I'm looking at upgrading my system to 10gb to be able to edit directly from the NAS.

To upgrade, I'll need to get a 10gb PCIE card for my NAS, two 10gb PCIE cards for the PCs and a 4 port switch. Correct?

Now, is there a good reason to go with a SFP+ system? For now I'm looking at getting everything on RJ45, since my router is on that, and I can use one of my 2nd workstation's 2.5gb motherboard connection before eventually going with a 10gb PCIE card. However, it's all in a fairly small room and heat is somewhat of a factor. I'm also running two heavy graphics cards, so I'm use to be warm an cosy in there. ;)

This is what I'm looking at getting (prices in CAD)

• Synology 10Gb Ethernet Adapter 1 RJ45 Port (E10G18-T1) - $200.99
• TP-Link 10GB PCIe Network Card (TX401) - $110
• TP-Link 10GB PCIe Network Card (TX401) - $110
• Ubiquiti UniFi Flex XG - $410
• 4x 3ft Cat 6 cables.

Any big issues in that setup? Any great SFP+ alternative that I should consider? Thanks a ton for your help!

The first pic is around 2 years ago, the router is mounted close the ceiling to try and get some coverage. Second pic is from today, I have now access points in the basement, upstairs, backyard and garage for total coverage. The Synology is up to 97tb with a backup ugreen with another 20tb. The old tower has more or less been retired but still has a presence.

After a month and a half my new server case finally arrived. I have been wanting one of these for quite some time after seeing them on Aliexpress. But once tariffs hit it became way too expensive to acquire in the US. It would have been over $500USD after shipping and customs tax. Then I started looking on Alibaba and found the same case for $194 Plus $54 shipping. SOLD! Sorry I know this post is pretty pointless but I had to share with someone. Now to pick out the core components to my new Unraid server!

For those wondering it is the “JMCD Best Selling NAS12S4-2 12-Bay Rack-Mount ATX Nas Case for Home PC Private Cloud Data Backup Server Chassis Storage” I ordered it with the break out cables. That is why it was $194.

2 power edge r610s And 2 710s For completely free

Hi all,

I came up with the following Unraid setup and would like to know if it will work.

The most important part is if the HBA card will work in this setup.

The intention is to run Unraid and a VM with Windows 11.

Enclosure: Fractal Design Define 7 XL

PSU: Seasonic Vertex GX-850, ATX 3.0, 850W

CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, S1851

CPU cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5

Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z890-H Gaming WiFi, ATX, ,S1851

Memory: Crucial Pro DDR5 96GB (2x48GB) 5600MHz CL46

SSD (for OS): WD Black SN850X 1TB, M.2 NVMe (if Unraid is not an option, I want to install Windows 11)

SSD (for work or cache for Unraid): WD Black SN850X 2TB, M.2 NVMe

SSD (encoding or cache for Unraid): WD Black SN850X 4TB, M.2 NVMe

HBA card: LSI 9305-24i + 6x 8643 to 4x SATA (IT mode flashed)

The motherboard has 1x PCI-e 5.0 x16 slot and 2x PCI-e 4.0 x16 slots (supports x4 mode) and I would like to install 18x HDD (that is the reason of the HBA card).

In addition, I want to add 5x Fractal Design HDD Tray kit – Type-B (2-pack) to mount all the HDD's.

Will what I came up with actually work?PS. I know that most is overkill for Unraid, but if I can't get it to work with Unraid I'll just install Windows 11 and use it as a desktop.

I bought this little ThinkCentre M910q for experiments. i5-7600T/16Gb RAM/256Gb ssd (Linux root) + 512Gb Nvme (unallocated). Installed Debian and PostgreSQL for studying. I once studied networks and Linux, but I forgot a lot of it.

At the moment I want the following:

A) - Add a Wi-Fi module for the role of an access point. - Create a file server (SSD disk) that is visible only through the access point (only for storing documents, books, PDFs, textbooks, educational videos).

B) - A file server (M.2 disk) that is visible in the ethernet. - File sharing. - There will also be several ISOs. - Add the ability to boot from these ISOs on the network (installation ISOs of Linux or other systems).

C) - I'll probably add another ethernet network adapter (like a 1 wifi module, and 2 ethernet).

Help me understand the architecture of such a device and the possibilities for creating the above-mentioned functionalities. And also provide links where I can understand this Zen

I built a server around the Threadripper 1920 and ASRock Taichi X399M mATX board into a Sliger Cerberus case back in 2019. I was extremely happy with the setup for years. All that computing power in a nice looking SSF!

But recently I've been requiring more disk space. Like a lot more, and a SSD solution would just be too expensive. I already have a PCI adapter card for 4 nvme SSD's that is configured as a 6TB raid array. But I really need to go mag and the Cerberus just doesn't really fit 3.5 drives. Maybe I could have squeezed in one??

So I started checking out the Sliger store and hot damn does that 3U C3702 mATX NAS case look perfect. But I noticed two issues: neither my GPU or CPU cooler would fit. I looked at the 4U versions with full ATX space, but those are too big for my space. The GPU issue could be easily solved (upgrade from my old RTX 2070 to a sweet refurbished RTX A4000?? Yes please 😁). But I already had the smallest cooler Noctua makes for the TR4 socket. What to do?

Well, I decided on a big gamble: upgrade the TR 1920 to a used 2990 (effective doubling the TDP 😳), replace the Noctua NH-U9 with a Dynatron A50, swap out the Dynatron fan with a Noctua 80mm, and hope it all work in the C3702. Well, I'm here to tell you it all worked. I've got good idle temps and the temp curves seem similar to the NH-U9 under load. Still extremely quiet, like in the config I had in the Cerberus case. But now I have 10 3.5" bays! Likely 1 or 2 is unusable because the fit with the A4000 is tight, but the X399M only has 8 SATA ports anyways.

Anyways, super happy with the rebuild. Maybe you are wondering why I did all this instead of upgrading the CPU/board combo to something that would have been more straightforward, like an AM4 or AM5. Well, I just don't think there exists a better mATX board then the 399X. Yeah it's a little long in tooth, but having 3 PCI slots each with full access to 16 lanes is so useful. Sure its older gen PCI and DDR. But my main bottle neck is overall RAM capacity now. Might test if the board can actually handle 128 instead of the listed 64. But that's another expensive roll of the dice...

Hey r/homelab,

I’m excited to share the end‑to‑end build I just finished on a budget $150 Mini PC (MLLSE G2)that I snagged from AliExpress. The machine has:

• 12 GB RAM
  
• Intel N100 CPU (4 cores, 1.6 GHz base)
  
• 512 GB SSD
  
• Built‑in Wi‑Fi 6 (Realtek 8852BE)
  
• 2x 1 GbE ports (why I went with this specific model!)

With this modest hardware I’ve managed to run a full Proxmox host with several VMs, and the network is delivering ≈ 500 Mbps upstream/downstream, basically full‑speed what my ISP provides. Below is a quick overview of how everything fits together, without getting into the nitty‑gritty IPs or ports.

Connectivity Flow (High‑Level)

1. Internet → Mini PC – The ISP’s router plugs into one of the 1 GbE ports.
2. WAN Bridge – The port is attached to a Linux bridge (vmbr1) that also connects to OPNsense WAN Interface.
3. OPNsense – Its WAN interface is on vmbr1; its LAN/WLAN and DMZ interfaces are on separate bridges (vmbr2 & vmbr3).
4. OpenWrt – Acts as a transparent bridge: its eth0 logical port plugs into the LAN bridge vmbr2, while the Wi‑Fi NIC realtek 8852be is passed through and bridged to that same port.

Everything is virtualized on a single mini box!

Performance & Stability

-500 Mbps downstream/upstream over wireless. – All VMs set to auto start if host restarts.Zero intervention, works flawlessly after reboots. – OPNsense with Zenarmor + Adguard + ntopng perfectly fine. -OpenWrt works perfectly fine, a perfect virtual wireless AP/router.

I’m extremely satisfied with the outcome. A $150 mini PC, a handful of VMs, and a solid Wi‑Fi6 connection (with antennas) give me a full‑featured, isolated network that’s both powerful and secure. The whole setup runs smoothly on the Intel N100 – no thermal issues, no throttling.

I had ordered Gl. Net router MT3000, but I will return it, my build is much more portable and way more powerful.

If you’re thinking of building a home lab or just want to replace your old router with something more flexible, this is the proof that you can do it on a budget. Feel free to ask questions or share your own builds!

Happy networking!

Jellyfin and Cloudflare alone keep me in the green. Electricity is the main killer. My lab has a 2640v4, 12500, and j5005, along with 2 APs, a switch, buncha hard drives, etc,
I saw that wattage draw and needed to make myself feel better, so I built a script and tried to be as objective as possible on pricing

I'm looking into making my first NAS and self-hosted Minecraft server (~7 players), and I've gotten it down to two options. I either build from scratch using mainly used parts, which I've budgeted out to be ~$375(5600g, B450, etc.), or I can buy an Optiplex 3000 SFF for $220.

Which would you all recommend?

(I'm a uni student, so my budget is pretty tight)

Still working on a way to give the system a display out and stuff, currently leaning to console output.

It's working, alive! crossflashed a Biostar X470 GTA board onto a B350 chipset'd Optiplex 5055. This board normally only supports stupid ryzen 1st/2nd gen, because Dell is Dell and a piece of shit company.

This will fit perfectly into my 2U Racknex optiplex mount, and become the ultimate OPNSense box with a X710-T4L.

The power supply is soon to be upgraded to a FlexATX Silverstone 600W unit, and I'll need cable adapters for all the power supply stuff.

I'm stuck here. Any suggestions on a switch upgrade, or any wisdom at all here would be greatly appreciated.

I've decided to add a Beelink SER8 to run Blue Iris (and Plex and host game servers). This will attach to the NAS to use as an NVR. I also want to patch in some rooms to the router so I can copper connect some devices.

The issue is I'll be out of ports. Is there a Unifi switch 16 150w? I was only able to find a lite which 45W will not account for the camera power draw.

Current stack (Minus the Beelink)

Proposed 5x PoE Cameras:

Thanks in advance

Edit: Is this my best bet?

Ubiquiti Networks UniFi 16-Port Gigabit PoE+ Compliant Managed Switch with SFP

Edit 2: Should I simply add a cheaper Unifi Lite PoE switch instead of upgrading my current 8 port one?

I was sick of the R530s. They generated a lot of heat, consumed too much energy, and their resources were wasted on me. While I was at it, I replaced a few other things as well. I was originally running pfSense on a Minisforum GK41. It was okay, but I wanted a more premium feel. One of the R530s was used as a standalone Security Onion node, and the other was running Proxmox with all kinds of stuff.

Now I’ve got a UDM-Pro; two Minisforum MS-A2s with 96 GB of RAM and 6 TB of usable NVMe each; a Beelink ME Mini with 6 TB of usable NVMe; and I repurposed the GK41 for PBS with a 2 TB SSD holding on from a USB-SATA adapter.

I though I would share my homelab and the changes I did for it.

So this PC started as a Dell optiplex 5050 I bought it on eBay for 50$ it came with 8gb of ram and a i5-7500 as well as a 1gb intel nic. Pretty bare bones. I installed proxmox on it and used it like this for about 6 months.

Upgraded the ram to 16gb a while later.

Until about a year ago, I wanted to have a Naz for storage and the current configuration didn’t allow more than one hard drive so I drilled out the rivets in the old hard drive cave, and I riveted in the hard drive cage to my desktop, which can hold two drives and that is the black metal that you seen the pictures.

It was also around this time I upgraded the CPU and ram to the highest configuration that this motherboard supports which is 64 GB of ram and a Intel i7–7700

Got a cheep m.2 for the boot drive

I ran it with this configuration for a long time with Proxmox, ZFS for Nas, Docker containers, Minecraft server, OPN sense and homeassistant.

I noticed that the chip set on the motherboard was getting really really hot so I found a small heat sink I have laying around and a thermal pad which seemed to help but the heat sink still got really hot so in my 3-D printer parts I found a 24 V fan probably from a power supply and I spliced it into a sata 12 V rail and designed and 3-D printed a mount for the heat sink and the fan to cool the chip set

My server rack has limitation of 450mm depth and I ended up selecting this chassis. Cost also was a factor.

The objective is a simple NAS and stepping stone to assembling things. It’s been more than a 1.5 decade that I have assembled a PC.

Components were sourced from Amazon Au, Scorptec, Centre Com, PLC, Umart as also Ali Express, eBay.

—————————

CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Cooler Thermalright AXP90-X53 Full CP Noctua Nf A8 x 2 intake front panel

Asrock B550M Steel Legend PSU Corsair RMS 750X

Micron 16 Gb x2 ECC Rams Seagate NAS 4Tb x3 sata Patriot 240Gb ssd nvme

—————————

Modifications: 01. Removed front usb +power button panel. Its wires were inflexible, nasty and messy. Gives a nice 80x80x25 space which can add 1 fan Replaced the power button with external pci based (sourced from Ali express)

1. Replaced Corsair sata power cable with their CP-8920190 SATA Individually Sleeved Cable Type 4 Gen 3. It’s highly flexible

2. Replaced top 5.25 panel with 3.5 hotswap bay

3. Removed ssd adapter from on top of the 3.5 bay to improve airflow

—————————

Actions:

1. Tried level best to streamline and keep wires flat. Used velcro, combs and zip ties. Cpu power cable was taken along psu. Mobo power was kept flat most of the time and brought to the mobo with an arc to allow 3rd intake fan to blow direct to the hot areas. Sata cables were wired below the 5.25 and 3.5 bays. Sata cables are a bit in front of the intake fan but for this iteration I have minimised to max I could.

2. Modular psu helps and bottom 5.25 section is where I have parked them

3. Cad model for airflow is being developed to understand airflow better. I plan to introduce noctua 80mm fan at front power button panel as also 1 60x15 fan between psu and 5.25 to create gentle air wall so that no air exits from the grill of bottom 5.25 panel

Will add more details as the cad readies.

Also I am thankful to the original post here on the chassis which helped zero on. Will tag it in comments.

Four years ago we purchased seven ICSee cameras and our relatives in the philippines installed these cameras correct. We could then easy add these cameras via QR-Code to our ICsee app in germany to follow the construction of our home in the philippines. Now just a few months ago we purchased another two cameras and the cameras were added correctly in the philippines. Our relatives in the philippines could add these new cameras to their ICsee app without any problems. When we try to add this cameras to our ICsee app in germany - evey attempt is rejected. Interessting: we can add the old prior cameras in germany without problems. We thought that it is a problem of the cameras and purchased another ICsee camera from the vendor where we got our first cameras. Still this camera is also rejected. BUT in the philippines this camera is easy to add to the app. So it seems that there is a new software installed which checks the IP-Address of the installer (Router) and rejects the cameras when the origin is too far. Yes, we could try over VPN, but before paying money for VPN, I would like to know if somebody have same experiences?