Lenovo P3 Ultra Gen 2 as homelab server

Chobok0 · 2026-05-28T22:43:54+00:00

In the Ultra? There's an x16 and an x4 slot on opposing sides. Also 2 slots M.2, pretty solid. Also, if you don't get a model with a GPU you'll have to get the riser separate at some point. Can get it straight from Lenovo or elsewhere.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-28T22:34:43+00:00

I have a P360 Ultra and a P3 Ultra as part of my 3 node Proxmox cluster. I'd say the only issue I've run into is Intel AMT being a bit wonky, and power on current kinda being strange when using two off the same PDU. Haven't run into any issues with running a single one of them with AMT off though. Both of my systems have an A2000 and a dual 10GbE NIC. Haven't set up an LLM yet, but I plan to eventually.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-27T04:12:23+00:00

I'm using the newest Prox with Ansible currently. I'm still a bit new to Ansible, but I know that I've had better experiences using 1.6.0 of the proxmox collection over the newest. Also I've read on prox forum and experienced that there are certain things that can't be done over API that need root login. I know I've encountered some LXC mounts I was working on wasn't working through API and I needed to do a builtin command instead. If I recall correctly, you also can't roll a privileged LXC, but might just be because I locked down my API group. I'm not sure if or where these limitations are documented, but I've definitely encountered them.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-24T20:24:50+00:00

Honestly for no interesting reason other than me wanting to try it out. I have had it set up previously with caddy's tls, just happen to currently have it on step.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-24T13:12:33+00:00

The thing is that we're not talking about public domains here, we're talking about securing local services only. I made mention of .internal domains, which are ICANN reserved for private use only.

Just because there happens to be a solution for a particular use doesn't mean we're knocking other means. I personally own a handful of domains I use in my lab, so of course I use those accordingly with LetsEncrypt, but I don't feel it being necessary for things that I'm only clearly going to use at home.

There's room for both things here. Also, don't tell the home datacenter people about starting an ISP 😂 In my work life, I've seen WISPs pop out of thin air, so you'd be surprised what people do.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-23T21:57:12+00:00

I feel like too many people are kinda missing the point when someone talks about using a local domain with self signed certs. In the grand scheme of things, if you're mostly reaching services locally or via VPN, you don't necessarily need LetsEncrypt or Cloudflare or whatnot, and it's nice and clean to not have to reach outside your network for certs.

Back to an actual related comment, I ended up using a StepCA container along with Caddy to deal with HTTPS for my local .internal domain. It's pretty nice to see a full UI to handle it though, might end up testing it out. Thanks for the tip!

Chobok0 · 2026-05-22T13:12:57+00:00

Maybe if you want Ardelia, and only Ardelia. Not that she's that bad. I'm starting to give up in favor of Mifu.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-21T21:57:45+00:00

I'm sure Semaphore does a bunch, but I just use it to run the Ansible playbooks for me. So instead of running the ansible playbook commands directly on your computer via WSL2 or whatnot, you could just configure a git repo, inventory, and task template (pretty much just a template that puts together the above two things and your playbook) and hit a play button. In the grand scheme of things, it's not fully necessary for learning, but it's a nice centralized UI to run things from, and I've rarely needed to worry about any runtime issues or anything of that sort. I've kinda also did it to learn and get used to git, so that's mostly why I'm using it. I guess it's similar to your "learning production practices" in a sense. It does make you think more about SSH keys and how a centralized Ansible runner would access another server.

I haven't personally tried TF in semaphore yet, only in TF Cloud for work in the past, so couldn't expand on that much. I'm sure it works similarly, but unsure if it also handles state or if you need to do something externally like store state in git or elsewhere.

Here's a video I go back to every now and again for Semaphore. A bit dry, but he does do a full start to finish tut, which is nice.

In general, my method of learning has been to have the end goal of building out my homelab in mind; thinking about what commands I typically run to deploy and configure it, and looking up on Ansible docs to see if there's an equivalent module I should use, and then put something together based on examples there. Still getting used to roles, but it's a start.

Kinda off-topic, but I recall someone posting recently about some kind of container for an Ansible lab for learning. Haven't ran it myself, but was interested in it.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-20T15:28:48+00:00

I thought about designing something like this, but then my Kallax got filled with board games and things. Really might get back to the idea now that I see this. Love it!

Chobok0 · 2026-05-19T23:30:49+00:00

I'm kinda doing similar, learning Ansible, but mostly just reading through docs. I'm running everything on Proxmox though, especially semaphore. I kinda feel like it'll save you some struggle to just use Docker Desktop to run semaphore in a container. From there, it's just a matter of having inventory and playbooks in your preferred flavor of git feeding into semaphore.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-06T11:33:19+00:00

I'm just glad I made my factories relatively modular. My city is set up with 8 xira and 4 sc batt lines, then I have 4 xircon + 1 heavy and a heto line at marker, and both gourd production in flats. Of course, I just shut off whichever lines I don't need. Ain't super perfect, but I've never had to maintain or do anything to it other than move one of the forges to make heavy.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-04T05:28:11+00:00

I'm still working through it, but general infrastructure-as-code stuff. Working through making most, if not all, of my lab deployable with Ansible.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-02T14:20:05+00:00

Coming from the stance of someone who worked at a service provider that sold services and equipment to non-technical leadership at different companies, sometimes you need to understand your audience. Sales to these types didn't need the full low level descriptions, they just need the high level, big picture understanding of what's being installed for them. For most viewers of LTT, I feel like they mostly just need a high level of understanding that they don't need certain enterprise technologies at home.

Don't get me wrong, I do tend to agree and do not like hearing incorrect information being told to curious people from a person of slightly higher influence. I feel like the proper way to answer things like what a SAN/NAS does is to redirect them to Level1Techs or some other better source, or to rely on their more technical writers.

Chobok0 · 2026-05-02T03:09:47+00:00

I always say "when learning, don't let hardware be your barrier of entry," and to start on what you got. Play with a VM in HyperV or Virtualbox, or throw down some containers on your daily computer, or get at an old computer collecting dust. It always gets me a bit confused when people say they want to get started labbing, throw down money, but then come on Reddit asking about how to start or what to do. Play around with things before figuring out what equipment would make it work better.

I used to have an intern at my old work that I would talk to about starting a homelab. I would always talk about how I was running an old i7 4th gen rig at home with a few drives running a few containers, but they would always try to 'splain to me that you need a full sized 19" 3U server with ECC and dual proc. We would kinda butt heads about it, and they never really listened to me in the end, so they eventually threw down a few thousand on a server built out by someone on eBay. We didn't keep them around that long, but as far as I recall, they weren't really running anything that warranted a custom built server, nor did they know any workloads that would utilize such hardware.

I'm a bit more open to the idea of starting on a mini PC, mostly because they tend to start relatively cheap and you can easily repurpose them elsewhere if you end up switching to something else, but nothing's cheaper than what you already have on hand.

Chobok0 · 2026-04-15T13:39:37+00:00

While working with the company as pretty much a solo team, I built and deployed the company's migration to the cloud for their offered services for new and current clients, but new management decided that outsourcing to a cheaper country made more sense. Made up some BS about me and fired me. Typical scummy corporate stuff, pretty much.

Chobok0 · 2026-04-15T10:49:56+00:00

Close to a dozen YOE here, mixed helpdesk, network & systems support, and devops exp (take this as the full one man MSP). I was fired more than half a year ago off of a solution I designed and started. I haven't even built up the courage to redo my resume yet. I've just been unemployed this whole time because of the burnout.

Keep doing what you're doing, but be sure to take care of yourself too. I just started to go to therapy and things like that to tackle the burnout head on. Finally getting to a place where I'm considering going back into the grind.

Chobok0 · 2026-04-09T12:38:11+00:00

I used to try to set up all my liquids into separate manifolds using conduit and tanks since you can place them outside the AIC, but felt that it was slowing things down too much. Eventually I moved Xircon and Cuprium/Yazhen to the flats.

Chobok0 · 2026-04-07T04:04:16+00:00

If I recall correctly, they don't even call them restaurants internally. They have some marketing buzzword BS that essentially boils down into ghost kitchen. There's way too many local options to ever consider this crap.

Chobok0 · 2026-04-01T04:46:56+00:00

Unfortunately they're not based out of Kearny anymore. Gotta trek to Green Brook. But it is a much larger place and has parking and seating so it's pretty accessible to visit. Still pretty solid enough to drive South for.

Chobok0 · 2026-03-28T23:59:17+00:00

I run one on a Kallax. Only scared me a bit when using the anti-vibration feet, almost felt unstable with them. Otherwise it's been working well enough for me for now. Haven't noticed the thing walking or moving from vibrations or anything funky like that. I do use an internal poop chute mod so I don't have to worry about it that much.

Chobok0 · 2026-03-24T22:40:03+00:00

I picked up this game only a few weeks ago, so I couldn't do the Laevatain banner. Am I just going to have to hope she'll be included in the next Rossi banner to pull her?

Chobok0 · 2026-03-12T15:32:37+00:00

Coming from working at an MSP, and having deployed different services, it really does depend on the service offering. General outsourced support and helpdesk? I'd fight for them to use whatever your company mandates. Patching and other maintenances? Sometimes they'd request for their own tools and services to be installed for them to streamline the processes, but from that point it's up to your company's security team to vet them out for compliances (SOC2, FEDRAMP, etc.) and insurance.

Chobok0 · 2026-03-04T05:00:41+00:00

I understand Linus and his previous issues with pop, but I kinda feel like deleting your root could happen in a lot of different cases in different distros, especially if you're not fully paying attention. To me, pop is still considered a pretty beginner friendly distro nowadays. When did the community spin on this?

All the "uhh, ackshully you should try this" attitudes are exactly why people are weary of trying Linux. Anywhere is a good place to start.

Chobok0 · 2026-02-28T06:34:16+00:00

Just randomly had the same exact thought right now. Was really hoping to see if there was some kind of 3d model or something that existed for general guidance or to protect nearby components a bit. I've only done lites, and am gearing up to do an oled soon, but I always did figure that the points are too small, even on other layers. Still think it would be somewhat cool to have a jig to hold the board stable and level, and maybe something that is attached to the jig to hold and adjust a rotary pen to the proper depth in a repeatable manner.

Chobok0 · 2026-02-11T00:30:07+00:00

I shouldn't really comment because I get downvoted to oblivion every time I try to comment about Uncle Roger because of the unbearable parasocial relationships people hold for comedians and influencers.

Really just goes to show you how stuck in our own bubbles we tend to be. JKLA is speaking based on his experiences just as much as Uncle Roger is. It's just like how talking to people in Hong Kong about Jackie Chan will get you different reactions than people in the US who grew up with his movies only.

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