What is a HomeLab?

A homelab is any configuration of personal computing resources, away from the corporate environment, that you can use for experimental learning, professional development or self hosting.

Many IT or Software Development professionals need a playground to test new software or learn new skills without worrying about corporate resource approvals, department budgets or possible interference with production systems.

While its easy enough to do everything “in the cloud” these days, I still like having my own resources for a few reasons. I think of this a lot like using a physical notepad or whiteboard for certain tasks despite having a computer with note taking software. I enjoy the hands on experience and intimate knowledge of how everything works right down to the wires. But also, I dislike subscription services that don’t have a guaranteed concrete monthly benefit. I’ve signed up for lots of recurring services from Audible to GoDaddy in the past, where you keep paying monthly despite not listening to any audio books or never getting around to finishing that new web project. At the end of a year, I’ve paid as much in Audible and GoDaddy fees as a small used virtualization server.

So, I’ve built up my HomeLab with a combination of Ubiquiti Unifi network equipment and diy virtualization servers built out of mostly used parts off eBay. My servers are based on Xeon E5-2650v2 processors on an offbrand chinese X79 motherboard with a few sticks of used DDR3 ECC RAM.

HomeLab Resources

/r/homelab on Reddit - Active with 372k+ members as of January 2021.
/r/homelabsales/ on Reddit - Growing with 70.4k+ members as of January 2021. This where you can buy and sell homelab hardware.
/r/homelab/wiki/index on Reddit - The official wiki curated by /r/homelab is a great place to get started.

HomeLab Articles and Videos

Underdesk Edgemounted USB Hub [for my Yubikey]

I install an edge mounted underdesk USB hub and SD card reader for easy access to my USB and SD Cards. This was in part for my Yubikey hardware security token that I am using to secure my online accounts.

SILENT PC Build [MonsterLabo "The First"]

In this video I build a fully silent fanless PC in the MonsterLabo “The First” case. This fanless pc case is aesthetically pleasing on my office desk and totally silent during normal use. Silent PCs are great for YouTubers or anyone livestreaming or doing zoom meetings, microsoft teams, skype, etc.

Testing Power Supply Options for the Cooler Master NR200

In this video we test SFX vs SFX-L power supply fitment in the CoolerMaster NR200 Case. To test SFX power supply placement we used the Corsair SF450 power supply. To test SFX-L powersupply fitment we use the SilverStone NJ450-SXL fanless power supply.

Cooler Master NR200 with mATX Chinese X79 Motherboard

Find out if you can fit a micro-ATX motherboard in the Cooler Master NR200 small form factor case! This Machinist X79G motherboard is a smaller variant of mATX that can fit in sff cases that have at least a 3 slot GPU space.

VRM Thermals for X79 Motherboard with Xeon E5 2650v2

I test the VRM thermal performance for a Xeon E5-2650 v2 Processor on a Machinist X79G v1.3 Chinese off-brand Motherboard. This motherboard was able to achieve an all-core turbo boost with this processor with the VRM which is good. However, I was able to drive the temps up to 70°C which getting towards the danger zone.

Testing Xeon E5 2650v2 with Chinese X79 Motherboard

In this video I do some basic benchtop testing to make sure nothing in my most recent eBay order of used server parts is DOA. I ordered up some cheap Chinese X79 motherboards off eBay, as well as a pair of used Intel Xeon E5-2650v2 (8c 16t) processors and 4x 16GB of used DDR3 1866Mhz PC3-14900R ECC memory.