I’ve been “home labbing” for a good few years now, way before I even heard of r/homelab! I started as I had ‘needs’ and didn’t want to leave my primary workstation running all the time. (Apple eMac with external 15″ TV connected via composite video adapter).

My first I guess was my G4 MacMini I had plugged in to my TV with VGA. I had a Elgato EyeTV 200 connected by FireWire 400 and a matching external drive. All video was there, and I kept my audio on the eMac in iTunes as I only had WiFi at home.

Adding a Synology CS407e gave me 6TB storage and I was able to run Plex and a few other services.

But I ran out of space and needed more CPU, so I upgraded the Synology to a 1010+ with Western Digital 4TB Reds. I gave away the CS407e for a friend to user for backup, but the 1010+ still never didn’t have the power to run enough services. This was before I knew enough about Linux and Docker. God I wish I

I added an Intel NUC i5 with 32GB and a internal SSD. Google Translate let me down here; I wanted the model with two internal drives, one NVMEe and one 2.5″ SSD. I read a lot of William Lam and got ESXi running on the NUC from a USB stick, freeing up the internal drive for VMs. I “tested” installed macOS on the NUC with esxiUnlocker. It worked, but the NUC didn’t have the power or the Apple ‘je-ne-say-quios’ 😉

My local storage and backups were running to the Synology 1010+, but when I looked in power usage I needed to power it down. 5 x 4TB RAID5 could be covered with 1 x 12TB. I mean I’m not running production here; it’s a homelab!

I replaced the NUC with HP desktop I could fit 32GB RAM, 2 x SSD (by removing the internal DVD drive) AND a internal 3.5″ 16TB WD Red.

Then I got to my current setup; a MacMini 2018, i9, 32GB RAM, 1TB internal running ESXi 7.0.2. 2 x 1TB SSD and 2 x 14TB WD Red connected from a StarTech 4 bay ThunderBolt 2 enclosure with a USB-C adapter. This backs up weekly to the 1010+ which also boots up, now only weekly.

The Lab

Plug to measure power usage. (I should get something better that logs the usage.)

Ziggo Internet cable modem in pass-through.

Ubiquiti Dream Machine. My house is “L” shaped, so I have this and two other Ubiquiti access points at each corner of my house.

Home made shelves! I did this! Old simple racking system and spare bits of wood cut to fit. The crappy chip-board edge are covered in ‘Gaffa-Tape’

NetGear F5D5141 16 port gigabit switch. In 2012 we bought a house, it was a renovation and we stipulated we (well, I) wanted wired networking in all rooms. 8 drops in the house.

MacMini 2018.

120x150mm aluminium heat-sync. HEMA USB Fan. Orange.

StarTech ThunderBolt 4 bay enclosure to USB-C adapter to connect to MacMini. 2 x 1TB SSD, 2 x 14TB WD Red.

Synology 1010+. Boots weekly for backup of all VMs.