Rate my one year old homelab.

Rate my one year old homelab.
from Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social to selfhosted@lemmy.world on 03 Jul 14:24
https://piefed.social/post/1002037

How it started: <img alt="mp80" src="https://i.imgur.com/Ahn8RXN.jpeg">
I bought a MiniPC (Blackview MP-80) to run Home Assistant and some lights etc. to go with it.

It’s now exactly one year later this is what my setup looks like now:
BMAX B2 Pro --> Home Assistant OS Blackview MP-80 --> Proxmox --> Nextcloud-AIO & Immich
ODROID H4+ --> Proxmox --> TrueNAS

How it’s going: <img alt="odroid" src="https://i.imgur.com/tZG59FP.jpeg">
With the heatwave in Europe I’ve now installed cooling to keep my HDD’s from heating up.

I know it’s Janky as hell, but I love it. The plan going forward is to buy a 3D Printer so that I can 3D Print a custom 10" rack, and I’ll build my own cooling and temperature monitoring system with ESP32 and create a dashboard for it in Home Assistant and sorting out networking.

It’s a work in progress, having a lot of fun learning and adding new things.

Rate my one year old homelab.

#homelab #mini pc #odroid #selfhost #selfhosted

threaded - newest

nesc@lemmy.cafe on 03 Jul 14:33 next collapse

Nice, 8/10. Don’t buy bambu lab, they will suck you soul.

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 03 Jul 14:36 next collapse

Thanks <3

I'm going to go with the Sovol SV06 Plus ACE , I'm a big advocate for Open Source, so anything that requires proprietary software isn't really an option for me.

I live in a tiny apartment, so my biggest hurdle with getting a 3D printer right now is space.

nesc@lemmy.cafe on 03 Jul 14:47 collapse

I’m waiting for one of those right now as well!

Bluefruit@lemmy.world on 03 Jul 20:57 collapse

Yea not super thrilled with bambu lab for the privacy concerns but the printer itself is good. I just use it in lan only mode and block any outgoing network traffic on my router.

But there are other brands that are good. Ive heard prusa is nice but never tried them.

nesc@lemmy.cafe on 04 Jul 19:55 collapse

I have bambu printer they are good, but my printer stopped printing until I’ve allowed it to phone home for a bit, this repeated twice already.

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 03 Jul 14:33 next collapse

A lesson I learnt along the way:

HDD's on your desk are loud AF when you're constantly writing to a database
Solution: Everything except backups and Media run on SSD's

Ptsf@lemmy.world on 03 Jul 21:13 next collapse

Depends on the drive too, I have some insanely loud Ironwolf drives and you would never guess they’re from the same manufacturer as my practically silent Exos X18s.

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 04 Jul 06:36 collapse

The other HDD I have is a WD Gold, it's definitely the louder of the two, both of them are ~5 years old.
Now that I moved the databases off of them, they are quieter than my work laptop, so they don't bug me.

But oh boy, it really did sound like a train yard at one point.

JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl on 05 Jul 06:49 collapse

Some drives are worse than others and higher capacities get worse and worse, in my experience, Seagate drives are extremely loud.

If you get helium drives (like wd red plus > 8TB i think),or 2nd hand hgst/ WD enterprise drives) they are significantly quieter.

But, having an ssd is cheaper probably. I have an SSD for the boot drive and all databases, configuration folders, etc… In docker so general IO is fast, then media, documents, pictures, etc… On the big HDDs.

HelloRoot@lemy.lol on 03 Jul 14:54 next collapse

10/10 best value

woe2you@toot.wales on 03 Jul 15:27 next collapse

@Ek-Hou-Van-Braai Why virtualise TrueNAS? IMO that's only really needed for single machine setups.

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 03 Jul 15:45 collapse

I was 50/50 between running it bare metal or in Proxmox, I decided to go with Proxmox as I felt it gave me some flexibility with also running other things on there if I really want and it makes backups of it easy (aka. I just do a proxmox backup, the same way I do all my services)

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 03 Jul 20:08 collapse

Yes, same - in cases of one server. Proxmox is just too nice for lazy ppl like me.

When you need a separate, dedicated NAS, then it’s bears to the metals ofc.

sundray@lemmus.org on 03 Jul 18:19 next collapse

Function over form, I love it!

Damage@feddit.it on 03 Jul 18:51 next collapse

All homelabs are 5 star

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 03 Jul 19:49 next collapse

Yeah, it’s fine … wait, IronWolves in a living space? Paired with that acoustic desk it must be like a train yard, but with more vibrations :D.

Edit: wrote this before I saw your comment acknowledging the same.
Well, with HDD there is the noise of the drive itself (the constant one & the searches, spin-ups), and the vibrations which can get acoustically amplified. For the former you need a case, any case, maybe a case in a case (ventilated ofc), for the latter I’ve always (since late 90s) had my HDD on full rubber, no non-rubber connection to the case.

My current NASies all use these (in desktop cases, I don’t like server hardware if it isn’t necessary, like with disks):

(They cost like 2 monies with shipping.)

So if going the 3D-print way, as you mentioned, I would def add the suggestion of incorporating thicc rubber pads or rubber straps into your design, like these ones (I’ve used them a lot decades ago, the only commercial option for silent PC enthusiasts at the time, but I’ve built then myself too):

(It’s rigid, the disks won’t fall out.)

Pilferjinx@lemmy.world on 04 Jul 01:08 next collapse

Ooo. That hdd solution looks like a mic shock mount. That’s brilliant.

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 04 Jul 06:31 next collapse

The one is a Iron Wolf, the other is a WD Gold, both of which are ~5 years old, they were LOUD when I had a database running on them. They are now a lot quieter than my work laptop so they don't bug me anymore.

Thanks for the advice, I really like these solutions I'll definitely look into them

toketin@feddit.it on 04 Jul 14:52 collapse

Hi, which is the name of this kind of cases? I’m looking a similar way in order to add an external HDD on my local server which is a Lenovo Thinkcentre SFF, so with 3 disks of space (1 hdd 3.5" + 1 2.5" + 1 nvme). Thanks!

Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip on 04 Jul 15:10 collapse

The key search words in your (Chinese? better than rewarding Amazon with even more extra fees) store of choice I wound suggest:

3.5" to 5.25" Internal Hard Disk Mount Rubber

But don’t get the ones where the inner mount (of the 3.5" drive) is the same piece or bolted/screwed into the outer mount (5.25").

The ones in my pic have fairy big rubber nips in between (each secured on both sides), 4 at the bottom (that support the weight of the disk too), and two on the sides.

Also such 5" brackets you can mount anywhere rally, even on the outside of the case, lol.
In one case without the 5.25" bays (at my parents, quick job) I mounted two disks on such mounts on that metal mesh between the PSU compartment and the main compartment.

dis_honestfamiliar@lemmy.sdf.org on 03 Jul 20:14 next collapse

That’s beautiful but I don’t understand why two pair of cables go into the fan (is that a PSU?) and only one yellow wire comes out. Also where the motherboard. Need answer

SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de on 03 Jul 20:46 collapse

The black box is the mini PC (note the Ethernet cable going into it) and the yellow/red/black cable is a single SATA power cable, that is daisy chained. Going from the PC to the drive and then going back to the fan control board

Edit: looks like it’s actually 3 SATA cables. Not daisy chained

dis_honestfamiliar@lemmy.sdf.org on 04 Jul 01:58 next collapse

And is that an Ethernet cable going into what looks like PSU? (I found the Ethernet cable you mentioned)

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 04 Jul 06:34 collapse

It looks like a PSU, but it's actually just a case for the odroid H4+
https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h4-case-type-1/

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 04 Jul 06:34 collapse

It's 3 SATA power cables yes, plugged into the H4+
https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h4-plus/

chug-capture-ahoy@piefed.social on 04 Jul 00:58 next collapse

I think u friki and i like u a lot. Hehehhe you should see mine, is all made of old repurposed garbage. Wtb Corsair peripherals ftw!

loomy@lemy.lol on 04 Jul 01:16 next collapse

11 out of 10

bigboitricky@lemmy.world on 04 Jul 01:21 next collapse

I adore every piece of this

My OG system had the whole side panel on the case ripped out where I stuck a fan because the CPU fan died, that was over a decade ago I love your setup <3

avidamoeba@lemmy.ca on 04 Jul 06:25 next collapse

It’s great but that fan is an overkill. 😂

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 04 Jul 06:38 collapse

Very much so, but I do enjoy gross overkill.

I'll build them into a future case then they won't be as overkill

oranki@piefed.social on 04 Jul 11:45 collapse

If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing!

avidamoeba@lemmy.ca on 04 Jul 15:08 collapse

There’s nothing that could possibly go wrong with this strategy. 😂

bluesheep@sh.itjust.works on 04 Jul 12:59 next collapse

10/10

What’s the black pcb on top of the odroid?

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 04 Jul 13:20 collapse

Thanks!!

It's a 10 Euro fan controller, that I'm temporarily using till I can build my own with ESP32
<img alt="fancontroller" src="https://i.imgur.com/C8sPBPY.png">

bluesheep@sh.itjust.works on 04 Jul 13:31 collapse

Aaah, that explains the potmeter. Thanks!

tiramichu@sh.itjust.works on 04 Jul 13:43 next collapse

Lol, brilliant.

At first you are thinking “this is going to be so nice and compact and tidy” and then…

Love it though

justme@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 04 Jul 13:46 next collapse

Nice setup. I also started with a mini PC but couldn’t find a reasonable way to add drives, how are yours attached? In general I would love to find some reasonable prices DAS/JBOD options

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 04 Jul 14:41 collapse

Thanks.
ODROID allows 4 drives with sata, it's a really nice solution.

You could attach even more with using nvme

https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h4-plus/

justme@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 05 Jul 10:49 collapse

Damn. I was looking for agrees for someone like that, now I’m stuck with a microATC board that is great but doesn’t fit in a 10" rack, why are there no 12" racks? ^^

AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works on 04 Jul 15:16 next collapse

a proper hobbyist setup, well done!

rumba@lemmy.zip on 04 Jul 15:29 next collapse

Just needs a 10" cardboard box with proper holes

SilentKnightOwl@slrpnk.net on 04 Jul 15:53 next collapse

Don’t get too carried away, it’s just a homelab

rumba@lemmy.zip on 04 Jul 17:38 collapse

but, think of it… RACING STRIPES!!! or FLAMES!!!

You use bamboo skewers to mount the things off the bottom and dampen vibration. mabey use an internal flap and bent the disks out the front and the PSU out the back. If you have enough cardboard, you could even bend it a bit and do like a jet engine with the fan sticking out the front.

cardboard papercraft homelab… I almost want to get rid of my 42 U rand and make a voltron now.

SilentKnightOwl@slrpnk.net on 04 Jul 17:59 collapse

There would definitely be flames if you forgot the proper holes!

Lol a jet engine shaped cardboard case held together with bamboo skewers would actually be pretty rad

Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social on 04 Jul 18:18 collapse

Not gona lie, I'm very tempted it'll get me lots of Internet points, and definitely a few haters

matdave@lemmy.ml on 05 Jul 00:39 collapse

Does she have a sister?

some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org on 04 Jul 19:17 next collapse

A+

Part4@infosec.pub on 05 Jul 10:59 collapse

I’ll build my own cooling and temperature monitoring system

I bunged mine in the fridge, just drill a hole out of the side for the cables then use rubber sealant.