↓Skip to main content

Home Lab Journey

·6 mins
Technology Home Lab
Table of Contents

It’s been several years since I started my home lab journey. So I wanted to share my thoughts with family, friends, and Internet strangers out there looking to start a home lab, or at the very least improve the one they have.

Disclaimer: By no means is this a full guide to everything. Maybe more of a quick overview to get you started.

Chibi Steven at Home Lab (Generated with ChatGPT)

The image above was generated with ChatGPT.

What is a Home Lab? #

According to Google Gemini:

A home lab is a private, personal IT environment, typically set up in a home, for learning, experimenting, and testing various technologies without affecting real-world systems. It consists of hardware (like servers, networking gear, storage) and software (like virtualization platforms) and allows users to gain hands-on experience with IT infrastructure, practice cybersecurity skills, or host personal projects and services. Home labs can range from simple setups using an old PC or Raspberry Pi to more complex configurations with dedicated servers and network equipment.

Quick Story #

I was unhappy with my Asus home router/gateways. It would require weekly reboots to reconnect with various disconnected Internet of Things (IoT) wireless devices. One thing was becoming apparent, these consumer level hardware was not cutting it for me.

A friend nudged me into getting a UniFi Dream Machine Pro SE. I did and I never looked back. My cameras, doorbell, lightbulbs, and other IoT devices no longer disconnect so routinely.

It also became a slipperly slope into more hardware, software, and what became a home lab hobby. An expensive one.

Where to Start #

There are many ways to build out your home lab. Remember, it’s a journey, not a destination. Every home-labber starts somewhere, and slowly builds it out over time depending on needs and interests.

The Basics #

Router/Gateway #

I would start with the router/gateway. This is the central part of the home network to which all roads lead. See: UniFi - All Cloud Gateways.

If you have a lot of wired devices, consider looking at UniFi Switches.

Wireless AP #

Next I would look to add wireless capabilities. Most of our devices are going to be wireless, from our smartphones, tablets, laptops, media players, TVs, etc.

I like the U7 Pro Wall with the table stand (add-on). For a complete product list, see: UniFi - All WiFi.

That all said, if you can, use ethernet cable for those devices that simply do not move anywhere. This just solves any wireless disconnect issues.

For cables, see:

UniFi #

Ubiquit makes a great IT networking product line that is UniFi. They offer hardware that includes the router/gateway and wireless access points (AP) from above. The software updates the make is excellent and does improve things.

See: UniFi Store

Ubiquiti

Other Considerations #

The size of your home can influence you decision. Maybe you can run cable through the walls, maybe you can’t. Maybe you’re going mostly wireless, and can get a Unifi Dream Router where its the router/gateway and wireless all-in-one. Personally, I would’t recommend an all-in-one solution. I think it’s better to have functionality more spread out so it’s less brittle to single points of failure. Plus it’ll be easier to upgrade.

If your cable modem is also your router, which has become common these days, you may need to disable the firewall on it. You’ll need to know its model and search for how to disable it, and put it in bridge (pass through) mode. You want to avoid a double NAT situation.

Instead, your UniFi gateway will be your firewall and perform network address translation (NAT).

I think 1Gbps ethernet is a bit dated. You should aim to have 2.5Gbps or 10Gbps options on your server and switch hardware.

The Extras #

Storage - NAS #

Do you have a lot of files/media that you want either backed up, access at home, or are too large for cloud storage? Then you should consider a network area storage (NAS)!

If you have an old PC lying around, that could be enough to build your very own NAS with its own operation system.

I recommend Unraid. I love that it allows for HDDs of different sizes to be used, which is a good fit in case you have drives of different sizes that are still usable. It is also good in case you want to upgrade the drives gradually.

Unraid is a powerful, easy-to-use operating system for self-hosted servers and network-attached storage.

Unraid is not free– I recommend Lifetime ($249). They do offer 30-day free trial. See: Unraid Pricing.

Unraid

TrueNAS is another alternative to Unraid. But it requires all the HDDs to be the same size. They are free.

Instead of using an old PC, you can build your own. I use PCPartPicker to help build mine. This service allows you to search and select the components to the computer and double check that parts are compatible with one another. And will also help you estimate how much you would be spending.

Either way, you can utilize cheap storage that are hard disk drives (HDD). I would stick to NAS drives, or better yet, refurbished Enterprise HDDs.

Another option is to outright buy your own NAS, hardware that includes the software.

Some hardware NAS options:

Services - Virtual Machines and Containers #

I run several services on my homelab and Proxmox Virtual Environment meets my needs.

Proxmox

I install services as Linux containers (LxC) with the help of Proxmox VE Helper Scripts.

The primary services I use are for my own Domain Name System (DNS) with Adguard, Pi-Hole, and Unbound.

In Adguard and/or Pi-Hole, you’ll want to add some DNS Blocklists:

More Considerations #

You’ll need some old or new hardware to run Proxmox on. If you are looking for newer, more modern options, I find the mini PC selection today to be quite good.

Whatever you run Proxmox on, if it’s meant to run 24/7, then it needs to have the ability to autostart after a power outage. You’ll need to look into the device’s BIOS and make sure it support some form of “Restore on AC/Power Loss” or something similar, and then to turn it on.

Conclusion #

I hope this post was helpful in getting you started with your home lab journey. If this kind of stuff interests you– just know that plenty of more research can and should be done. There’s no way my blog post can cover every single scenario or use case.

Sometimes shopping online is always the best option– I recommend checking your local Microcenter for some deals where you can just pick up in person.

Resources #

Here are some more resources, some of which I already linked above, but I placed here again for organization.

Hardware #

Software #

Subreddits #

Some of these subreddits have their own Discords too.

YouTubers #

Steven Suwatanapongched
Author
Steven Suwatanapongched