Here’s my beautiful unemployed-for-too-long-have-no-money-dont-care-about-looks lab :)

Hey it’s more than good enough to run all this ¯_(ツ)_/¯

In a walk-in closet. Hdd laying on power cable to reduce vibration, works unexpectedly good.


Started with a nicely packaged mini-pc running some docker containers. Recently added an external gpu through an m.2 to oculink adapter, so now it also hosts wolf for game streaming 😁 Will package it all up at some point…


I used to have a random server box. This past year my hobby has been CAD work and 3D printing to turn a bunch of mini PCs into a fully remote controlled cluster, complete with a DIY IPMI KVM and custom built outlets that are controllable for power cycling (hard wired, not radio smart outlets). It’s all self-contained with a single plug to the UPS.
I plan on releasing all my models/etc as I usually do on my site when everything is finished.
I will say, I don’t miss the dusty box 😄
Edit: And yes, I color coded cables from each system. ¯\(ツ)/¯



My literal tech stack:
HP Prodesk and NUC i3: Proxmox hosts
NUC i5: Debian server (primarily docker server)
uGreen NAS: TrueNAS NFS-Storage for proxmox host (connected via 2.5G NIC)
RaspberryPi4 (NES case): docker host for pihole (so I don’t take out my whole DNS access when doing maintenance…)
White sandwich at the botom: HPE Aruba 1930 24G PoE switchAll stacked on my PC (Win11, Ryzen 5 7800X3D, 16GB RAM, RTX 3070)
Edit: Power is stable enough to not need a UPS. In fact I had never experienced a power outage at home.

a bunch of ebay specials with more ebay parts scavenged over time + some 3d printing.
The centre tower has a miniitx mb and PSU behind those panels to run the NAS, and the drive bays are in the bottom.
The right is a failover cluster that isn’t finished yet.
That’s a very tiny, dense lab!
i’m not utilising it nearly as much as i should which is why i haven’t gotten around to the failover cluster yet.
Same here wrt utilization. I’ve excess capacity and can’t seem to find anything I want to use it on.
Wow, that looks really good! I like the labels on each server! Are the 3d printed parts custom or did you find them online?


Did some one ask for dust cos I got plenty! Also have one desktop with 30TB of memory, separate small form for HA and Pihole, networking equipment, cooling fans and a UPS all packed into one (un)tidy cupboard. The door doesn’t quite close but enough to hide it from my partner!
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters AP WiFi Access Point DNS Domain Name Service/System HA Home Assistant automation software ~ High Availability IoT Internet of Things for device controllers NAS Network-Attached Storage NUC Next Unit of Computing brand of Intel small computers NVMe Non-Volatile Memory Express interface for mass storage PSU Power Supply Unit PiHole Network-wide ad-blocker (DNS sinkhole) RPi Raspberry Pi brand of SBC SBC Single-Board Computer
[Thread #223 for this comm, first seen 8th Apr 2026, 20:50] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

Nothing fancy myself as well. Not unemployed but I don’t necessarily wanna spend a lot on something I’m really just cutting my teeth with so far.
The central hub is up top, a Bosgame P4 Mini with 16GB DDR4, 512GB NVMe and a decent last-last gen Ryzen 7. It’s enough to run Jellyfin, HA, and PiHole all through Proxmox. Been rock solid outside of a planned power outage Peco was doing (and actually did it this time!)
I also have Jellyfin connected to an 8TB RAID1 NAS that resides upstairs in our shared space, and HA connected to the basement tech, mostly lighting and the TV and PC.
Bonus battlestation pic (not really lol)

Hey this looks how my setup would look like if I had the energy to clean :) https://lemmy.today/post/39171225
I spent too much time trying to get a configuration in which I could fit both the MiniPC and Router/Modem in the cabinet. This fixture came with the house, so I’m not complaining. I think I should swap out the surge protector (not even sure if it is one lol) for something more streamlined. And as for the mounted switch? That’s $2 velcro strips at Walmart :P
nice
booooo! /s looks awesome bro. It’s too clean tho.
Yeah I think I have a before picture on here somewhere. It was less messy, but I’m not quite ready for a rackmount or other system. I’m not even sure I need to jump to that level lol. Unless you’re talking about the 2nd pic, oh it can get messy. I cleaned up a bit so it wasn’t too gnarly. Shoulda changed my background too, I usually go for greenery or abstracts.

What’s that web interface thing? Is it home made? I keep thinking about doing something like that to save me having to remember port numbers for the different services on my home server.
It’s just heimdall.
Projects that im running:
General Web server out of junk
Old system 76 machine from a while back. Its what is running a majority of my services for self hosting. Only one screw keeps the case together, since I get into the insides quite often.

Solar powered web server on a phone
Solar powered web server. Its going to be repurposed into a meshtastic node soon.


Ebook reader on a heltek v3
Somewhat jank setup of a heltek which is also an ebook reader. It runs a webserver to upload the book in txt format, then I can take it on the go. I still have to do some work on the text.

Old system 76 machine from a while back. Its what is running a majority of my services for self hosting. Only one screw keeps the case together, since I get into the insides quite often.
If you get bored and adventurous:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case_screws
Computer case screws are the hardware used to secure parts of a PC to the case. Although there are numerous manufacturers of computer cases, they have generally used three thread sizes.
The #6-32 UNC screws are often found on 3.5" hard disk drives and the case’s body to secure the covers. The M3 threaded holes are often found on 5.25" optical disc drives, 3.5" floppy drives, and 2.5" drives. Motherboards and other circuit boards often use a #6-32 UNC standoff. #4-40 UNC thumb screws are often found on the ends of DVI, VGA, serial and parallel connectors.
You might be able to get a box of thumbscrews in the appropriate diameter and go toolless. I’ve had a number of computer cases that ship with those (my current desktop case just uses magnets, doesn’t even have the thumbscrews). I have had a lot of less-than-ideal toolless things in the past, including poorly-designed toolless hard drive mounting stuff that wound up being a lot more work than the traditional tool-requiring stuff, but for the screws that keep the case closed, going toolless has always been a big win for me.
Thats good to know! Although if I am honest, ill probably just repurpose my current desktop that I am using for this conversation and get a new one if I end up re-doing my homeservers again.
Last thing I want to do is more work at home. So these are just “for fun” projects. If im not having fun, I start removing things from the setup.
That ebook reader is wild! Does the text stay in place while you read, or does it scroll past like a stock ticker?
If the latter doesn’t exist, I guess I should go push a PR to make that happen on meshcore firmware haha
Stays in place. It was a weekend project so I still need to do some work on the text in particular. Im not sure if ill go any farther, but the code is here if you want to take a look.
Now that’s a crafty homelab, love it
The best homelab is the one you already have.
The second best is the one you want to buy :D
Is that a PI in your setup?
Yeah it’s just haproxy + uptime kuma
it’s a mini pc, standing sideways, with a USB to ethernet adapter and USB HDD


How can you hear the DJ tunes over the server fans?
Can’t hear either over my tinnitus
Same. Thirty years later and I still have it D:
I remember looking at Sysracks racks a while back when I was trying to find sound-absorbent enclosed racks (which they do make, though I didn’t get one; wasn’t willing to pay for it, as they come at a very large premium). They were one of the very few companies making them. I don’t think that those particular ones are the sound-absorbent models, but their name stuck in my head.
I got this because it’s almost fully enclosed. Most of the noise comes from an open rear door which this doesn’t have, and an open front door which this sort of has. It’s not very loud when the hvac is set to a reasonable level, even though it’s pulling air through 4 fans on the top.
I have additional sound deadening material if I need to apply it but I’m not there yet.
I’m eyeing 3-5 more 1U servers though so maybe I’ll need to do it.
I have additional sound deadening material if I need to apply it but I’m not there yet.
That’s probably a pretty good idea in terms of cost. I checked earlier when I made the comment to see what the price difference these days was, and IIRC a non-isolated 18U is ~$800 and an isolated 18U is ~$1800. They aren’t putting anything like $1k of sound-absorbing material into the rack.
Man, GTFO with that hot mess… I’m jealous really. I’m getting a chub just thinking about it.
Is this the “before” shot? There’s 190 spare ports. I’m all for leaving room to expand, but that’s a lot
Unpowered free 48 port switches are cheaper than block off plates.
Can’t argue with that!
Oi thats too clean for this thread. Get out of here! /s Nice setup.
Business in front…
So clean, I’m jealous
BEHOLD! THE MOTHERBOARD!

“Beware of the leopard.”
Wow!
When I’m rich I will also get a NAS/multiple drive enclosure (and fill it, hence the “rich” condition).
This has got grit! I love it.
Just cleaned mine up a bit recently!

PC on the left, RPi for simple stuff and an Odroid HC4 as my media and backup server.
Not pictured: another RPi dedicated to HomeAssistant, a magic mirror, and networking stuff.
Also not pictured: my workbench tools on the upper shelves, which have not been tidied recently.










