Homelab Devices: The Hardware That Powers Me
From a repurposed Dell workstation to a clean Proxmox stack—how this lab came together, piece by piece
¡Hola! Soy Dora, can you see my homelab , No !!! But I’m building one! Like many of you, I started this journey not as a seasoned pro, but as someone who wanted to learn by doing. I've spent years watching YouTube videos (LTT) and reading guides, and now I'm here to share my own personal setup. This first article is all about the hardware—the physical and virtual devices that make my homelab tick.
le fond : A Repurposed Workstation
When I decided to build a homelab, I didn't want to buy a new server(money!!). Instead, I opted to repurpose a powerful workstation I found. My main server is a Dell Precision 7910. It’s a beast of a machine, and for me, that power is what makes this lab work.
The specs are overkill for a beginner, but that's exactly what I wanted. This machine has two Intel Xeon E5-2673 v4 CPUs, giving me a massive 40 cores and 80 threads to play with. This allows me to run multiple virtual machines and containers without a hitch. I've also got 64GB of RAM and a combination of a 512GB SSD for my operating systems and a 2TB HDD for general storage. With space for future expansion with 8+ drive bays, 4 PCIe4 x8 Slots and 1300 W of Power Supply with upto 1TB RAM . With all the Virtualization and Remote MAGIC .
To protect this valuable machine and my data, I have a Schneider APC 1100 VA UPS. Best Purchase as for frequent power cut in my area .
Image . Workstation
The Network Backbone
A good homelab is built on a solid network, even a simple one. My setup begins with my Airtel ISP router. It provides me with fast internet—I get around 45 Mbps upstream and 40 Mbps downstream with a 1 Gbps router.
From there, my devices are connected to a simple D-Link DGS-1008A 8-port switch. This is an unmanaged switch, which means it's incredibly simple and just works. It acts like a network power strip, allowing me to connect all my wired devices without any complicated configuration as i only have 1 LAN port on my ISP router.
Figure . Simplified Network Diagram
The Software and Virtualization Layer
For my lab, I chose Proxmox Virtual Environment as my hypervisor. I picked it because it’s free and offers a fantastic web interface that makes managing my virtual machines a breeze.
Within Proxmox, my primary server is an Ubuntu Server 22.04 VM. It's where I host my VS Code Server and JupyterLab for remote coding. and most of the current projects . I'm also using my lab as a learning sandbox; I'm even running a separate ESXi VM within Proxmox to learn about different virtualization platforms without needing dedicated hardware.
Image . Proxmox Dashboard
Storage, Backups, and Other Devices
When it comes to storage and data protection, my approach is simple and honest. I don't have a RAID setup because I don't have a lot of mission-critical data. If a drive fails, I'll just replace it and start over. For important files, I have a simple backup strategy: I periodically back up my critical VMs to my laptop and create weekly snapshots of key data to Google Cloud Storage.
Figure . Backup Flow Diagram
In addition to my main workstation, I also have a Dell Inspiron 3505 laptop as my daily driver. It has a Ryzen 3 CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 1TB HDD. I use it for daily tasks and as a backup location for my homelab. I also have an older i5 6th gen system with 8GB of RAM and a 2TB HDD running Linux Mint at my home, which I'll discuss in a future article on remote networking.
That’s a wrap on the hardware that powers my homelab although very small. In the next article, I'll show you how I've configured my systems to create a powerful remote coding environment using VS Code Server and JupyterLab. Stay tuned!
