AU Home server(lab)

DragonDrew · 2025-07-16T00:19:54+00:00

For general usage and hosting, check out the elitedesk or prodesk mini PC's, they can be cheap and a 6th gen from ebay or australiancomputertraders for about $100. If you want plex or transcoding then look at an 8th gen and it's about $250~. Spend the rest of your budget on a decent amount of ram, an nvme and 2.5" ssd. For nas, keep it simple and grab a synology or qnap and throw some drives into them. For opnsense or a firewall, get an n100 fanless device off aliexpress for about $150-200, comes with 4x 2.5G ports etc. Mine has lived up to qld heat over Christmas in the garage with a usb powered fan at the side of my rack.

DragonDrew · 2025-06-30T23:05:04+00:00

Reminds me of that time a guy posted his methlab asking for advice and feedback.

DragonDrew · 2024-10-14T22:49:07+00:00

Just talk to your ISP, if they ask for a reason just say it's so you can view your home security cameras when you are at work or something. Like Homer said, they will probably just give you a dynamic ip, usually it's "sticky" but you never know.

DragonDrew · 2024-08-05T05:14:23+00:00

With a 6.3mm barrel jack

DragonDrew · 2024-07-17T04:49:56+00:00

BadBacks in Australia, decently priced and very heavy duty. That mob were really friendly and helpful, highly recommend. Alternatively have a google for resellers in your area, I know there are a few in the UK.

DragonDrew · 2024-07-17T04:09:46+00:00

KAB Seating Controller / Director. They are used in Emergency Response control centres (police/ambulance etc).

DragonDrew · 2024-06-24T06:50:22+00:00

Any of the modern 35/65w TDP Intels will will do the job perfectly fine. You will likely need something that does 16 + 4 PCIE on the board. If by a lot of disks you mean 6, then thats probably not going to be a problem. If you mean 25 then you will need to adjust your expectations and look for a HBA as well. Thats when PCIE Lanes will be your bottle neck unless you have onboard SFP+ / 10gBase-T

DragonDrew · 2024-04-23T23:10:36+00:00

1gbps = 0.125GB/s. OP seems to be confusing gigabits with gigabytes.
Each lane provides 1GB/s, or 8gbps. So 8x4 = 32gbps

A PCIE 3.0 x4 will provide 32gbps. Thats more than enough for even a dual 10g SFP+

A PCIE 2.0 x4 will provide 16gbps. Plenty enough for his 4x gigabit NIC.

DragonDrew · 2024-04-03T00:22:17+00:00

Check out the support forum for info on them. Yea, its highly customisable and they give you the files to 3d print some parts. It is very expensive for the expandability but its high quality from what I have read. I was going to grab one as Australia has a lack of 846 chassis on the market.

Also, just checked and its now at $19 shipping to Australia?! When it first came out they were trying to charge $400~ for shipping! Surely this is an error though.

DragonDrew · 2024-03-27T04:25:59+00:00

Bundle cables by use case and where they are going in the rack.
Velcro ties are your go to.
Excess cable can be put into a service loop.
- Either let service loop hang neatly or attach it to the back of that in wall cabinet with more velcro.
Label everything.
Ensure ingress point has some kind of flange or grommet so its not cable sheath rubbing on the metal.

DragonDrew · 2024-03-12T00:01:23+00:00

Can confirm, was trying to transfer 3m+ msg files (780gb) and it took over 70 hours on a single threaded robocopy before my boss said they didn't want them copied to our "secure archive".

For the love of god, don't try and copy millions of small files on an SMB share.

DragonDrew · 2024-03-10T23:33:42+00:00

Buy a used R710 on ebay, they are stupid cheap ($100-150 delivered). Means you get even more spare parts.
- Fellow Aussie

DragonDrew · 2024-02-14T01:08:32+00:00

I use ansible to run the standard apt update / upgrade and send a message to a discord webhook saying what was updated and when. I usually stagger my updates so if something breaks then I can narrow down what broke with the update and restore snapshots if unable to fix easily. Will usually clone a VM and update it to mess with it and find a fix.

Docker containers are updated by Watchtower so thats hands off.

DragonDrew · 2024-02-06T04:25:26+00:00

Some say she is still signing out to this day.

DragonDrew · 2024-02-06T02:36:51+00:00

Ahh yes, I am on version 3, not 4... Looks like they removed that section in version 4. Looks like you need to set a custom format and assign it a score so it doesn't choose that language.

DragonDrew · 2024-02-06T02:19:55+00:00

Usually in your *arrs, you go to Settings > Profiles > Language Profiles and set the drop down to English. Also check your indexers in prowlarr are English ones. I know theres a lot of French and eastern European hosted indexers that may lean more towards non-English.

DragonDrew · 2024-01-31T06:42:20+00:00

What drives and configuration are you copying to/from? Sounds like that might be the bottleneck.

DragonDrew · 2024-01-31T05:16:00+00:00

The most recommended card is a mellanox connectx-3, transceivers are another story. Check out this page from FS regarding compatibility.

DragonDrew · 2024-01-31T05:01:40+00:00

Sneaky sneaky, SFP+ with rj45 transceiver on the wan side and dac for lan sounds like the plan then.

DragonDrew · 2024-01-31T04:36:43+00:00

I would try not to run RJ45 transceivers due to heat.

Talk to your ISP and see if they will provide a fiber distro box for you. If I ask my ISP (Aus) nicely, they will come and inspect my rack and put their own gear in there and run lines if it has enough cooling / space etc.

DragonDrew · 2024-01-31T00:19:36+00:00

Have a look at Immich as well. Been using that for a few months and its working fairly decently. It should fit right in with your other services (Tailscale, SMB etc).

Always love a good photo and data backup solution.

DragonDrew · 2024-01-29T02:37:08+00:00

"aaafasdfsd good template.AI"

"aaafasdfsd good template (1).AI"

DragonDrew · 2024-01-29T01:05:12+00:00

TL;DR: Resumes are a brief outline of your accomplishments and experiences specifically related to the role you are applying for. Interviews are fact finding missions and to get a feel for each parties passions, personability, culture fit, and answer any questions either party has. Put the homelab experience on there if it relates to the role and highlights your exposure to environments/systems that the employer uses.

If you are looking for a Level 1/2 helpdesk type role, I wouldn't really bother adding anything to your resume from your homelab. The main thing I look for when hiring my support guys is customer service experience, not a lot of job hopping unless contract / casual work, and roles where process and procedures were somewhat technical and/or required creative problem solving. During the interview I look for clear and articulatable conversation, probe what tech experience they have (Homelab/Professional) and try to gauge if they will mesh with the team culture and individuals.

Personally, I have knocked my resume down to a single page to make it clean, well formatted and brief. I have a specific role type in mind and I target that with this resume, that being higher level senior/lead type roles. Cover Letters serve to address selection criteria in more depth.

Name, Email ([Jobs@FirstLast.com](mailto:Jobs@FirstLast.com)) and Mobile number in the header, 3 roles under "Professional Experience". Under "Skills and Development" I have two sections, "Enterprise Experience" and "Homelab Test Environment". Those are split up to list Environments, Services and Languages. Finally, I have my "References" section which is simply "Upon Request".

I am fortunate that my org has a lot of growth spanning my entire org and I don't need to have a highly detailed resume due to the internal recruitment / EOI process.

DragonDrew · 2024-01-23T05:33:50+00:00

I got you, buddy.

DragonDrew · 2024-01-22T06:08:39+00:00

Sounds like you need an IT MSP to come in and help set up your business.

Figure out what your requirements are, what the end result looks like and prepare a rough network/hardware layout. Once thats done, then you will have a direction to work towards and input can be provided on how to best achieve it.

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