A small home server grew into a split home lab
A small mini PC that started with and Pi-hole grew into a self-hosted setup with a VLAN-separated network. The current setup uses a mix of n150 mini PCs and Lenovo m720q machines for Windows Server practice, s, SQL Server, and cyber security experiments. The firewall and router are still running in a temporary setup, with a plan to move later to a bare-metal OPNsense machine.
Another m720q with four wired is being considered because the machines offer strong value for the price. Storage runs on with a rough mix of 3.5-inch SATA drives and USB-attached drives, and that storage setup is the next likely upgrade. There is also a plan to build smaller racks by service type, such as one for networking and one for NAS storage.
Grafana and Prometheus ran in for about a year, but a custom asset manager and network overview app has been in development for the past few months.
Key points
- A simple mini PC server expanded into a VLAN-separated setup.
- The lab runs Windows Server, s, SQL Server, and security experiments.
- The temporary firewall/router setup may be replaced with a bare-metal OPNsense machine.
- Storage uses with mixed SATA and USB drives, making it the next upgrade target.
- Grafana and Prometheus are being replaced by a custom asset and network overview app.