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Home lab beginners guide (2021)

haydenjames.io

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Re: Home lab beginners guide (2021)

#161

Post by Aeolun »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #66
nomel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Consumer hardware is insane. With less technical management, I've had repeated, and bewildered, conversations trying to get them to understand that our one "computer" sitting on my desk is many many times faster than the "server" our IT team provides. "But it's a server!".

Many times faster doesn't mean shit if it takes up 4-6x more space than it needs to in what is likely the most expensive commercial real estate the company owns/leases. Many times faster doesn't mean shit if it can't be remotely lights-out managed and its hardware monitored using standardized tools (or at all.) Many times faster doesn't mean shit if it doesn't have redundant PSUs. Many times faster doesn't mean shit…

So you are basically saying that 99% of the time it will work fine. Got it.

But seriously, they were comparing to the server they got, not the one you have or can provide.

It’s entirely reasonable for the IT team to provide a VPS that doesn’t have nearly the amount of power for a application that’s barely used. Doesn’t mean it’s easy to explain to management.

Re: Home lab beginners guide (2021)

#162

Post by tikkabhuna »

Daegalus wrote: post #132

See, I have no interest in running large server hardware at home. I did it different. At first i Had a stack of 2-3 old laptops running stuff. Now I just use 4 raspberry pi 4s, with 8gb. It lives in a cubby in my office desk. Low energy, low maintenance and works really well. Got rid of the laptops. My network is the TPLink Omada stuff, sittign on some shelves in our family room. Everythign is wifi and I run a 2nd ap…

I’m still looking for Raspberry Pis. I have some on back order. Due for delivery in December and I get an email once a month pushing that back.

Re: Home lab beginners guide (2021)

#163

Post by Daegalus »

tikkabhuna wrote: post #162
Daegalus wrote: post #132

See, I have no interest in running large server hardware at home. I did it different. At first i Had a stack of 2-3 old laptops running stuff. Now I just use 4 raspberry pi 4s, with 8gb. It lives in a cubby in my office desk. Low energy, low maintenance and works really well. Got rid of the laptops. My network is the TPLink Omada stuff, sittign on some shelves in our family room. Everythign is wifi and I run a 2nd ap…

I’m still looking for Raspberry Pis. I have some on back order. Due for delivery in December and I get an email once a month pushing that back.

Ya, I am currently on the hunt for CM4s for a weird restoration project. But haven't found any yet. I was lucky for the 4 that I have.

I use https://rpilocator.com to monitor stock.

Re: Home lab beginners guide (2021)

#164

Post by Aeolun »

loudthing wrote: post #124
rhinoceraptor wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same reason why people like woodworking. Why buy a piece of furniture when you could spend 3x as much and do it yourself?

But do woodworkers consider their home workspace a "lab"?

We can call it a workshop instead, since it’s more physical. I associate lab with a place you do lots of thinking.

Re: Home lab beginners guide (2021)

#165

Post by whazor »

My comments:

- network switches: if you want enterprise features, low price, higher stability.. and you are willing to deal with painful configuration: check out Mikrotik - mentioned servers consume quite some electricity, check out this Dutch server thread on how to have efficient server for inspiration: https://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/2096876 (use Google translate) note that the Framework main boards also look quite nice as server - also check out k8s at home template: https://github.com/k8s-at-home/template-cluster-k3s it uses GitOps to setup services which has proven very valuable to me by messing with configurations. I also build a search for helm chart releases: https://whazor.github.io/k8s-at-home-search/ - if going cluster mode: having a NAS for storage is more stable than using kubernetes storage solutions

All in all, I learned a lot about servers and networking by doing this as a hobby.

Re: Home lab beginners guide (2021)

#166

Post by sgt »

candiddevmike wrote: post #30
sgt wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At what cost though?

$500-800 for the CPU and RAM ish? I just built a 16 core Ryzen with 32GB of RAM and a bunch of HDDs for about that a year ago.

I guess that's pretty cheap. I've also wondered about a Mac Mini running a bunch of Linux VM's. I've to this date never seen a piece of hardware as reliable as the Mac Mini, based on my own and anecdotal evidence.

Re: Home lab beginners guide (2021)

#167

Post by mikojan »

zrail wrote: post #97
Elv13 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A PC is ideal as long as there is only one. Once you start adding machines, it is time to move to a rack. Otherwise you end up with a giant ball of wires. Racks have rails like drawers, so the units are easy to service. Thats not the case with a heap of ATX towers. Also, your "collection" remains self contained and doesn't grow. Past some scale, you start to also make use of other rack mountable accessories like UPSe…

> Otherwise you end up with a giant ball of wires. Let's be honest, it's frighteningly easy for a rack to turn into a giant ball of wires too. See r/cablecore for examples.

It's r/cablegore

Re: Home lab beginners guide (2021)

#168

Post by itomato »

These are always a hoot to read.

Attitudes toward dust ingress in particular delight me. Look inside any old Dolch data acquisition unit or tire alignment computer from the 1980s and find minimal reason to be horrified.

To think a home environment would necessitate anything special is excessive.

Pizza restaurants,OTOH.

Re: Home lab beginners guide (2021)

#169

Post by itomato »

bagrow wrote: post #3

Anyone else annoyed at how narrow the term Homelab really is relative to what it could be? Any scientific or maker hobbies could take place in a "home lab," from breeding seedlings, to soldering and electronics work, to 3D printing. But it really means just networking and servers? Seems too narrow to me.

I agree. “Home Data Center Lab” is not always implied.

Re: Home lab beginners guide (2021)

#170

Post by voxadam »

itomato wrote: post #168

These are always a hoot to read. Attitudes toward dust ingress in particular delight me. Look inside any old Dolch data acquisition unit or tire alignment computer from the 1980s and find minimal reason to be horrified. To think a home environment would necessitate anything special is excessive. Pizza restaurants,OTOH.

If you think restaurants are bad, and they are, you should try machine shops. I used to maintain CNC milling machines; one was in a shop that milled EDM sinkers[1] out of solid blocks of graphite. Graphite dust is a fracking nightmare. I quickly lost count of how many servo amplifiers and PLCs I had to replace.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_discharge_machining

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