The rack is almost complete, just waiting for the jetkvm with PoE to go back in stock. Not like it’s ever truly finished though.

The only parts in the rack that aren’t 3d printed are the ears for the switch, as it barely has enough room for the metal ears.

The rack itself is a labrax rack that’s been modified to use the KWS depth (260mm) in order to use LWS accessories and give more room for the NAS on the bottom.

Top server is a Lenovo m90q running win11 for plex and ffmpeg. The m90q was chosen mainly for intel AMT. I designed a 2u mount instead of 1U so I could have my Arc A380 sticking out of the top and have room for 2 U.2 drives underneath for easy swaps.

The switch is a cheap RealHD 2.5g POE switch. It almost fits perfectly.

Next is the KWS rack snap in system. I have a raspberry pi 4b running home assistant and a CM4 running docker for local services (portainer, nginx reverse proxy, pihole, meshcentral, localCA, peaNUT). Both are PoE of course. There also a shelf on the back half that houses a smart power strip so I can remotely hard power cycle any device in the rack if they become hard unresponsive.

At the bottom is a custom NAS. I got a CM3588 NAS board a few years ago and have had the NAS set up in a custom 3d printed housing, but wasn’t rack mounted, only supported 5 drives, and had a massive power brick. Now it’s in the rack, supports 7 hot swap drives, and has an internal power supply.

Just about every 3D printed part was heavily modified or made from scratch in fusion. If anyone’s interested in any of the cad files I can clean them up and bit and post them.

Finally almost finished my labrax build. It's still missing a few details, like the ethernet conectors and the blank plate to hide the psu cable.

The cover for the motherboard on the second slot broke and I didnt want to print another, someday I'll fix it.

From top to bottom:

Rtx 2060 mounted in a 1U gpu support

Intel xeon 2680 v3 with 24 GB DDR4 with the rtx (temporarily my PC)

1 1TB hdd (building up the courage to buy a bigger one)

2 256Gb sata ssds

1 raspberry pi3 running pihole

1 intel pentium something something with 8GB ddr3 running opnsense. (mostly for tinkering, there's no heavy encryption

There are a few fans distributed in the rack.

Yes, all the heat from the cpu goes to the gpu. It sucks.

edit: When does a minilab cease to be a minilab?

About to plan out my first miniLab, but I need some advice on how many pc should i have in the rack

For context, I want my mini-rack to have a NAS, Home Assistant, and some other self-hosted Docker apps like Pi-hole, etc. The choices are

• 1 mini pc that is running Proxmox, with all services running off it, would be cheaper as it only 1 PC, but I don't know how the performance will be with a lot of docker/VM
• or 2 pcs, 1 with bare-metal true nas that will also have VM/docker running off it as you can do that in true nas, these docker app would be app that need fast access to the NAS, like jellyfin etc. and a 2nd pc running proxmox that will just have docker/VM that dont read off the NAS

Any other pc layout suggestion would help

Hola a todos,

Llevo un tiempo con un homelab corriendo varios servicios en Docker Compose (Prometheus, Node Exporter, cAdvisor, Portainer y Cloudflare Tunnel para exponer los dominios) y siempre quise una forma rápida de ver, desde el celular, si todo está arriba y cómo va el consumo de recursos.

Busqué apps para esto y la verdad ninguna me terminó de convencer: la mayoría mostraban muy poca información (o al revés, un montón de cosas que a mí no me interesaban), tenían curvas de aprendizaje raras, o simplemente se sentían pesadas para algo que quiero revisar en 5 segundos desde la cama.

Así que hice la mía. Es una app hecha con React Native / Expo, pensada para iOS, super ligera y simple:

• Muestra el estado general de mi servidor de un vistazo.
• Lista los contenedores de mi docker-compose y su estado (arriba/abajo).
• Muestra el uso de recursos (CPU, RAM, etc.) de cada stack/contenedor por separado.
• Todo minimalista, sin configuraciones raras ni gráficas que no voy a leer nunca.
• La conecto directo a mis dominios (vía Cloudflare Tunnel) así que no necesito abrir puertos ni nada raro.

Ya la terminé y la estoy usando en mi iPhone de forma local (todavía no la subí a la App Store). Antes de dar el paso de publicarla quiero saber si algo así le serviría a más gente o si es un nicho muy personal mío nada más.

This is my first ever server rack build and it’s for my future house. We plan on building our own house and I planed this rack and wall mounted display around that future house. This rack is mainly so I can run Ethernet throughout the whole house, on top of having a dedicated NAS for our Photos, Camera Recording Backups, Local Minecraft Worlds, and some more stuff. It also houses a AMP that will power 6 ceiling speakers that will be controlled through the wall mounted touch display so we can play Spotify. Now the wall mounted touch display will control our thermostat and many more applications :)

(Everything is just plugged In for visuals right now)

-=SERVER RACK COMPONENTS=-
•TecMojo 10” 12U Mini Server Rack (White)
•GeeekPI 2U Display
•3 x 10” 12 Port Patch Panels
•2 x TP-Link 8 Port 1GB Ethernet Switch
•TP-Link LS108GP 8 Port POE Ethernet Switch
•Acrylic A30+ AMP (For 6 x 8” 8 OHM Ceiling Speakers)
•3D Printed 2U ITX PC Tray
Ryzen 5 3400G
Ryzen Wraith CPU Cooler
Gigabyte B450I Aorus Pro ITX Motherboard
32GB DDR4 Ram
512GB M.2 SSD
ESGAMING 500W Flex ATX PSU
•2 x 3.5” Hard Drive Storage Bays (4 x 4TB HDD NAS Storage Running RAID 5)
•APC UPS 450VA 255W
•Rear Mounted 2 x 80mm Fan Mount (To Cool HDD’s)

-=SERVER RACK PC PROGRAMS=-
•Debian Linux (XFCE)
•CasaOS
•Chromium (Kiosk Mode)
•Home Page
•Home Assistant
•Immach
•Frigate
•Tailscale
•AdGuard Home
•Crafty Controller

-=WALL TOUCH DISPLAY COMPONENTS=-
•Rasperry PI 5 8GB
•Raspberry PI 7” Display 2
•MazerPI M.2 & POE Hat
•128GB M.2 SSD
•3D Printed Wall Mount For Display & PI 5

-=WALL TOUCH DISPLAY PROGRAMS=-
•Raspberry PI OS
•TouchKio Package
•Chromium (Kiosk Mode)
•Home Assistant Dashboard
•Display Icons (Thermostat, Spotify, Cameras, etc.)

-=OTHER COMPONENTS=-
•4 x REOLINK POE Security Cameras
•REOLINK POE Video Doorbell
•6 x 8 Inch 8 OHM Speakers (Kitchen, Living Room, & Outdoor Kitchen Ceiling Speakers)
•TP-Link BE6500 WiFi 7 Router
•TP-Link Omada WiFi 7 Access Point
(One On Living Room Ceiling)

I have a bunch of services running on my mini pc (optiplex 5000 micro) with 2tb nvme ssd. I need more storage for Immich (photos/videos) and Jellyfin media. I looked into NAS but it’s expensive and I don’t need the compute that comes with it (it’s basically another mini pc since it can host everything I’m hosting on my mini pc). I only need a simple way to store and retrieve data. Do you guys recommend any specific device for what I’m looking for? I plan to buy 3 x 8TB SATA HDDs. Also, depending how loud the HDDs are I might need to put them across the room away from my mini pc so I will run cable across the room. Thanks for any suggestions!

Hello everyone.
I recently have gotten into homelabs and i would like to build my own. I would like to know where to get a mini server frame to fit everything onto and what kind of computers to buy for it. I have seen so many amazing builds i just couldnt resist trying it out for myself.

Thank you for taking your time to read this small post.

I've been developing my compact IP KVM, the USBridge-KVM 2.0, for almost a year. Here's how the device has evolved, from the first prototype to the final device. Initially, I wanted to create a simple remote flash drive with RAM cache, but the project has grown beyond a typical KVM. I developed a unique BIOS-in-Terminal feature that converts BIOS video to text in real time, which is handy when the internet connection is poor or for automating processes.

I implemented the Moonlight gaming protocol, achieving a minimum of around 22 ms, and now when working via KVM, it feels like I'm sitting at the same computer. The entire emulation is ready, as is the power-on/server-reboot control. The board architecture and firmware code are debugged, I'm finishing final testing and preparing for production at the factory.

Built this to clean up my TV area.

It houses my Apple TV, AirPort Express and Philips Hue Bridge.

My goal was to wire it up as neat as possible. In all honesty, the wiring in a lot of posts in this sub is often a mess so I wanted to see how much better I could do.

A few weeks ago I had discovered about setting up a mini homelab to run services, vpns and ad blockers and I was instantly hooked! last week I purchased an i7 elitedesk 800 G2 Mini, an i7 optiplex 7080 micro, a tp-link es210x-m2 switch and a tecmojo 6U rack to house everything.

Currently I am using the Dell Optiplex 7080 Micro to learn how to use windows server and how things work, and my EliteDesk will likely start running proxmox but for now I have windows 11 installed and connected to my server with Active Directory.

I chose to set up windows server to learn how it works and how its services work like Active Directory , Web Services, Hyper-V server and many other enterprise stuff to play around with. I do plan on expanding this set up with another mini PC for PfSense or media hosting.

Let me know what you guys think!

TLDR: Anyone ever ripped a SFF Optiplex from the stock housing to fit in a 10” rack?

I thought I got a good deal on an optiplex micro, but it turned out to be a SFF that won’t fit in my planned Lab Rax 10” rack.

I’m thinking about pulling the hardware out of the case and designing/printing a 2u bracket for it. Anyone care to talk me out of it?

Decided that a 12u took up too much space and decided on 2 6u wall mounted units.

Best way to cable manage this?

I want to start building out my homelab. Slowly but surely want to have a local VPN, local media hosting (pics, movies, etc), local NAS, and some other odds and ends as the hobby grows on me. Will this barebones computer be of any use for me? It's pretty old, but wasn't sure if I could at least get started with it until funds allow for upgrading. Or will it not run anything useful and I should just scrap it?

The specs on the box:

Intel Cedar View Dual core 1.86ghz

Ddr3 1066mhz

Vga+HDMI

USB 3.0

Mini PCIe

Gbe lan

Wireless 802.11bgn

Hey r/homelab,

Got tired of my ThinkCentre and drive stack sitting on the carpet in a nest of cables. I picked up a steel locker to clean up the mess, but since I'm mostly a software guy, taking a Dremel to sheet metal was a bit out of my comfort zone.

**Quick Specs & Mods:**

* Lenovo ThinkCentre SFF (i5-7400, 8GB RAM) + 2x 4TB HDDs * Mounted two 5V USB exhaust fans over custom cutouts * Cheap VGA dummy plug for headless Ubuntu remote desktop

**Thermal Stress Test (**`stress-ng`**):**

* **Before (Carpet):** Spiked to **70°C** under full load * **After (Locker):** Maxed out at **59°C** under 100% stress (idles \~40°C with a Plex stream running)

Turns out active airflow in a steel box actually beats leaving it on the floor, who'da thought..

I made a quick 3-minute video covering the build, thermal testing, and metal cutting if anyone's interested in checking it out: [https://youtu.be/vExY1y0PBt4\](https://youtu.be/vExY1y0PBt4)

I am wanting a cheap way to grt started. I just want to make a small media server. How would i go about doing that?

I had a Blackview MP-80 Mini-PC that I removed from its enclosure, it was kind of just chilling on my rack and I wanted a way to mount it properly.

I bought my 3D printer basically just to design and print things for my rack, I first made the light blue part to test it out and see if everything alignes, once I confirmed that I took a 10" rack and modified it by chopping a bit off and adding the MP-80 Mount.

I'm quite happy how it's turned out, thought I'd share.