Spencer’s Home Lab

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Intro

Since 2013 I’ve been running home servers of some type. Many MANY mistakes have been made. I in no way call myself a IT expert, but it’s a little funny to have the network of a small corporate office running in my apartment and at my parents house.

Current Network Diagram

Image Updated 2024-12-04, Right click and open in a new tab to view details

What am I looking at above?

This diagram is a layout of the network at my house and my parents house. IP address and full hostnames have been redacted.

  • AD servers is for testing and learning how to setup another AD server that acts like another site. Similar to how offices are setup.
  • I have way too many Zigbee devices for a 1 bedroom apartment. But they are amazing and IKEA makes awesome smart home devices.
  • I do have a FreePBX setup and IP Phone, but all it really does is project testing and also playing around with Lenny.
  • I’ve standardized on PfSense for my networks. The hardware is a bunch of Barracuda F12 firewalls that I got at auction for cheap. See my blog posts for details on it.
  • I’ve been using the free version of PRTG Network monitor for a few years now. It gives you 100 sensors and it works fine for me. I know there’s better options out there that are open-source. But I don’t feel like moving my monitoring over.
  • The design was inspired by u/TechGeek01’s EPIC network diagram. You can also get the icons and template from TechGeek01’s website.

Future Plans/Pipe Dreams/Stupid Ideas

  • Run fibre between switches
  • Upgrade to 10gig networking on switches, routers, desktop, servers.
  • Upgrade the SNETPVE01 proxmox server
  • Clean up the cables at my parents house… one day
  • Add another offsite backup location
  • Get into ansible or some kind of automation for all this crap.

List of Servers and Status

  • HP DC7600 running Windows Home Server
    • 2013 to 2015ish?
    • E-wasted
  • Dell Optiplex GX520 running WHS2011
    • 2015 to 2016ish
    • I think it’s still in storage, or has been tossed
  • 2011 Apple MacBook Pro running Server 2012R2 Essentials
    • 2016 to 2018
    • Sold laptop in 2020
  • Netgear ReadyNAS 212
    • June 2018 to Nov 2018 (A short life,
    • Sold to buy the R510
  • Dell R610, ESXi, then Proxmox
    • 2018 to present day
    • Still in use at my parents for virtual machines
  • Dell R510 running FreeNAS
    • Nov 2018 to 2020 (Drives moved to the Unraid box)
    • Sold to a friend in 2024
  • Dell Optiplex 3020 running FreeNAS
    • 2020 to present day
    • NAS for my parents house
  • Custom built UnRAID box
    • 2020 to present day
    • Small form factor build when I moved to an apartment
  • Custom build Proxmox box
    • Another SFF build, with parts from older custom built PC’s
    • 2021 to present day