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Home Lab Beginners guide

linuxblog.io

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Re: Home Lab Beginners guide

#81

Post by smallmancontrov »

bombcar wrote: post #71
smallmancontrov wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These NASbooks are sooooo close to what I want! My problem is that none of them have an internal power supply. They all require a power adapter that's decidedly less easy to source than an IEC cord. I have had 3 separate experiences where I give someone instructions to grab a box and the power adapter... and they show up with the box and without the power adapter (or with a power adapter in a box of similar power ada…

It's harder and harder to find small computers with internal power, because they've found that nobody counts the power brick in the "size" (remember the original Xbox?). The best bet might be to wait until they've all finalized on USB-C.

Yep, that's probably how it has to be. Hopefully USB4NET can save us from "gigabit ethernet is enough for everyone," too.

Re: Home Lab Beginners guide

#82

Post by nonameiguess »

AnarchismIsCool wrote: post #13

I know it's becoming the new "I use arch btw" meme but if you go down this route I highly recommend using nix as the distro. Ideally you can just leave these systems running once they're working and using nix means all your system state is logged in git. No more "wait, how did I fix that thing 6mo ago?" or having to manually put the system back together after a Ubuntu dist upgrade explodes. Every change you've made,…

For what it's worth, I personally do use Arch for my homelab and still achieve cattle not pets because the Arch install media comes with cloud-init so I simply keep a cloud-config with the modules to build a server from scratch on a separate USB stick with a drive that has "cidata" on a label and plug that into a machine along with the install media before hitting the power button. I don't know if Nix would have been easier but cloud-init just lets you run scripts that you presumably already know how to write if you're the kind of person who does this sort of thing. No need for a DSL.

Someone is going to chime in with "boo yaml" and sure, but a person interested in running a homelab is almost certainly a person who manages a bunch of servers for work too and there's no escaping cloud-init, Ansible, Kubernetes, or something using yaml that you're not going to have a choice about. Assuming the point of a homelab is at least partly to practice what you do on the job without the possibility of destroying something owned by someone else (which is what this guy says his reason was), you may as well get used to the tools you're going to have to use anyway and not make your home setup too much different than the environment you manage at work.

Of course, I know a lot of people on Hacker News are not like me and this guy and use "homelab" to mean they want to self-host media servers, chat, and photo sharing and what not for their family and friends, not have a mini data-center as a practice ground for the real data center they manage in their day job.

Re: Home Lab Beginners guide

#83

Post by bombcar »

MrVitaliy wrote: post #31

Surprised author didn't mention https://labgopher.com/ for finding used enterprise hardware at low cost on ebay. This hardware is cheap and typically out-of-service for enterprise, but great for home labs.

The big problem with off-lease enterprise hardware is the power usage can quickly outrun the original costs - but that may not be an issue for everyone.

The nice thing about off-lease enterprise hardware is there is so much of it, and it's enterprise. You can easily find replacement parts, and working on that stuff is a joy, everything is easily replaceable with no tools.

Re: Home Lab Beginners guide

#84

Post by dijit »

crtasm wrote: post #52
dijit wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, actually, but "wife-acceptance-factor"[0] (or; "wife approved") is useful terminology; I would love if there was some colloquially acceptable gender neutral term for that. Some have suggested some truly cumbersome terminology to replace it which is unfortunate because you very quickly run into the same problem the vegans have: If your choices are too unpalatable then reasonable people (who don't care or shar…

Partner. Spouse. This seems easy. edit: "it's just a joke" - please re-read OP. 5 to 6 syllables is too many? Why aren't you saying WAF (PAF) if that's a concern :)

I'd probably say "would it be wife-approved?" or some other thing given the context of looking at a device that is hideous and not in-line with my girlfriends intended aesthetic of the home.

But an additional syllable is indeed enough friction here, and if you think it's not then that's fine: but it is.

Please understand me here, I'm not arguing or fighting with you: it's not something you can argue rationally, it's something subliminal that all humans will do and I'm trying to point it out. It's a form of lossy optimisation in our brains, we will always choose phrases that roll off the tongue better. This is the science of soundbites, and how they are weaponised in marketing for populist political agendas.

Re: Home Lab Beginners guide

#85

Post by ClumsyPilot »

toinewx wrote: post #3

what would be the typical use of such a lab? Why are so many different components needed?

The responses are kinda a mixed bag here - there are two totally different use cases.

If you want something for practical purposes, /r/selfhosted actually has you covered. It’s usually jellyfin for movies, etc. And you use a NAS or a PC, but the idea is normally that you setup something reliable and don’t lose your data, and it does not require too much tinkering. Maybe once in a while run some docker container to test it out. what I have now.

Then there are people who get many raspberri Pi’s or NUCs and basically play ‘build a datacenter at home’ game. It’s good for tinkering and you often mess it up and start from scratch. I’ve done that, it’s kind of fun, cool experience, learned a lot about networking, installed Kubernetes, then sold the machines.

Then a third group are people who build a whole data centre at home AND run serious applications on it. These guys need to buy themselves a motorbike or something.

Re: Home Lab Beginners guide

#88

Post by runjake »

If you're old and grumpy[1] and don't want a homelab but paradoxically want homelab functionality, I can't recommend the Firewalla[2] enough. And heck, it would fit right into a homelab situation, as well.

It allows you to go deep into settings and configure anything to your heart's content. But, if you want to ignore it for a year and not mess with it, it will run as smoothly as an Eero or a similar consumer product like that.

I have a Purple model[3]. I initially balked at the price, but it performs well, and there hasn't been a single day in the past couple years where I've regretted it or looked at something else.

It supports just about any router feature. Has robust and easy to configure device/family profiles. The quality of the Firewalla software and the mobile app is excellent.

---

1. I manage a quite large WAN during the day. I don't want to do it at night, too.

2. https://firewalla.com/

3. https://firewalla.com/products/firewalla-purple

Re: Home Lab Beginners guide

#89

Post by michael_michael »

jackallis wrote: post #40

how/where can a complete noob learn all these skills to set something like this at home?

I started a few months ago. Reddit's /r/homelab has lots of great resources, and you can get some good deals through /r/homelabsales, though the best deals usually go quickly.

Like with learning a programming language, having a specific goal helps a lot.

Reading other people's posts about their hardware, how they use it, and what problems they solved with their homelab can be a source of inspiration that sets you on the right path.

Like others on this thread have said, while it's tempting to immediately dive into racks, patch cables and network diagrams, you can achieve A LOT with something simple like a small NAS or a NUC. Even a spare laptop that you can repurpose might be more than sufficient.

Unless you're trying to simulate managing enterprise hardware (and I mean physically managing it), the greatest value lies in learning the software side of thing, IMHO.

Re: Home Lab Beginners guide

#90

Post by nonrandomstring »

cloudripper wrote: post #43
AnarchismIsCool wrote: post #13

I know it's becoming the new "I use arch btw" meme but if you go down this route I highly recommend using nix as the distro. Ideally you can just leave these systems running once they're working and using nix means all your system state is logged in git. No more "wait, how did I fix that thing 6mo ago?" or having to manually put the system back together after a Ubuntu dist upgrade explodes. Every change you've made,…

I use nix btw. I totally agree. It (nix and nixos) is/are such a pain so often. But, wow... when you get things to work it is glorious. Quickly and easily syncing system/user/application configurations across multiple devices is incredible. The declarative approach means that the often laborious effort it takes me to get things to work pays off when I finally figure it out and realize I never have to do that again -…

I got into Guix and then failed. Now I realise it's because I didn't fully understand the nix philosophy underneath. Can you recommend any good tutorial points for an intermediate/experienced unix person?
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