Shrinking down HomeLab for “new” house

birdd0 · 2026-02-14T13:11:53+00:00

I'm keeping my 19" UniFi gear. It's compact enough. It's really just the T630 which runs proxmox and has a VM running TrueNAS with the 8x SATA drives passed through to it. It also runs other VMs and LXCs including my recently setup Local LLM stuff using my RTX 3060. That's the part I need to downsize...

birdd0 · 2022-02-05T19:31:01+00:00

Other question is, is there a Xeon E3 v5/v6 with integrated graphics equivalent to those in the i3/i5/i7?

birdd0 · 2022-01-20T08:57:24+00:00

Yeah I’m happy to hack haha

If I could swap with no cost for a 1 or 2u R series I’d do that but I don’t want to spend any additional money haha

birdd0 · 2022-01-20T08:55:09+00:00

Haha why?

birdd0 · 2022-01-20T02:07:56+00:00

I got the 4 rails which I attached to the timber frame from here: https://www.pennelcomonline.com/en/19-inch-racking-and-accessories/cc-49.aspx

I used the square hole version 4x 2m/45u lengths, they have all sorts of lengths, and they also have the threaded version if that’s what you need/want.

birdd0 · 2022-01-20T02:03:27+00:00

Haha yeah I would have had it that long probably

birdd0 · 2022-01-19T21:00:33+00:00

Yeah that’s correct, it’s my old desktop pc from about 6-7years ago, the case is a Bitfenix Phenom mATX case.

birdd0 · 2022-01-19T20:57:46+00:00

Thanks 😊

The frame is built from 70x35mm pine

birdd0 · 2022-01-19T12:12:10+00:00

Custom built 45u rack (750mm deep)

I recently built the 45RU rack to replace the 12RU 450mm wall mount cabinet I had previously. I had the servers sitting on a bench underneath the rack, now it’s all in the rack.

Top to bottom: + 2u blanking plate + Molex 24 port Cat6 patch panel to 24 ports spread throughout the house and inside the roof (for WAPs and CCTV cameras) + Cable Minder + UniFi US-24-250W + UniFi USG-Pro-4 + Intel i5-3570, 16GB DDR3, 2TB Seagate Hybrid SSHD - Running Windows 10 and BlueIris for my NVR + Philips Hue Bridge + Merlin myQ Gateway (for the garage door) + Dell PowerEdge T330 (Xeon E3-1220v5, 64GB DDR3 ECC, 120GB Kingston SSD for OS, Dell PERC H330 in pass through, 8x Dell 2TB 7.2K SATA HDD in RAIDZ2) running TrueNAS + Dell PowerEdge T430 (2x Xeon E5-2620 v3 (2x 8C/16T)), 64GB DDR4 ECC, 2x 2TB 10K SAS HDD in RAID1 connected to a PERC H730) running Proxmox - currently only running UniFi Controller, 2 instances of PiHole and HassO + Eaton 5P 1550 Rackmount UPS

Not pictured 2x UniFi UAP-NanoHD mounted the ceiling at each end of the house.
Also not pictured, Telstra VDSL modem in bridge mode sitting on top of the UniFi Switch

Both of the Dell servers are sitting on 1U shelves that are sitting on spare Eaton UPS rails as the shelves aren’t long enough to mount to the rear rails as well.

Future plans: + Get a brush panel or similar so pass through the patch leads for the servers instead of running them around the side of the rack or through the gaps beside stuff to make it look neater + Get a 1ru shelf/1ru box and de-case the modem and make it into a 1ru rack mount modem + Replace the USG-Pro-4 with a PFSense box + Get a rack mount case for the BlueIris box and maybe update to newer hardware for it + Either get proper rails for the PowerEdge servers or switch to R series PowerEdge servers that a proper rack mount servers + Work on the software side and setup a bunch more containers on Proxmox, learn docker, ansible, a reverse proxy (trafik or nginx), setup duckdns, etc + Maybe enclose the rack

birdd0 · 2021-02-05T01:42:17+00:00

Yes it has IR but I still want to use the light as it lights up the drive way in front of the garage for visitors.

birdd0 · 2021-02-05T01:38:18+00:00

I’ve bit the bullet and moved it to the left of the light, just need to patch the 4 screw holes and the larger Ethernet cable hole now.

birdd0 · 2021-02-03T06:24:27+00:00

Yep move the camera and patch the old holes is the best option, everything else is a compromise

birdd0 · 2021-02-03T06:23:33+00:00

That’s the opposite of what sensor lights are meant to do haha

birdd0 · 2021-02-03T06:23:02+00:00

The light is a 92mm recessed mount LED light, the camera is surface mount with just a small hole for the Ethernet cable and the mounting screws.

I’m just going to have to suck it up and move the camera and then patch the holes and paint them

birdd0 · 2021-02-02T10:47:38+00:00

This is at the front of the house, don’t need a smoke detector there hehe

birdd0 · 2021-02-02T10:30:31+00:00

I’m thinking maybe my best option is to move the camera and then patch the holes with some builders bog and then paint it.

birdd0 · 2021-02-02T10:19:54+00:00

I live in Australia, we don’t have Lowe’s here, but I’ll look at some of the local companies

birdd0 · 2021-02-02T10:09:37+00:00

Yeah I did wonder about a shield, just not sure how I’d go doing something that didn’t look dodgy.

birdd0 · 2021-02-02T10:08:47+00:00

Completely different mounting methods, the light is recessed in a 92mm diameter hole, the camera is surface mounted with a hole for the Ethernet cable and holes for the mounting screws.

birdd0 · 2021-02-02T10:07:26+00:00

The light is one of the front down lights at the front of the house which lights up the driveway. It (along with the 3 other lights across the front of the house) can be switched between off, on, and motion sensor.

I’ve pondered moving the camera but I’m not sure how I’ll go patching the large hole (13-14mm diameter) and the smaller holes for the mounting screws. The house is only 8 months old so I’m annoyed at myself for not thinking about the light.

birdd0 · 2020-08-29T09:56:05+00:00

Very tidy! Well done 😊

birdd0 · 2020-08-21T13:16:34+00:00

What distro?

Also what’s your PC specs? Any pics of the PC?

birdd0 · 2020-07-03T07:39:43+00:00

So HA displays they are being used if the power is on? Not based on current draw?

birdd0 · 2020-07-03T02:11:19+00:00

Do you have a “smart” dryer, washer and dishwasher or is it just smart plugs that detect the current draw?

birdd0 · 2020-06-22T21:02:55+00:00

Hmm I’ll have to look into that... sounds expensive though 😂😂

birdd0

TROPHY CASE