Last time I posted a full writeup on my lab (The before before this) there was a lot of questions on what exactly I was running at home. So here is a full writeup on everything I am running, and how you can run it too
Interesting, I’ll admit its been a little while since I went in there. My main concern was the ability to upload files. Text I don’t care about too much, but when random people start uploading files, thats a problem
Not really, I just update containers via Portainer and update the OS with a bash script. Once every few weeks I just roll through them all, only takes 30 mins at most
I use O365 Business (Or whatever the heck they call it now) for my email, so for SMTP on all my devices at home, I use an O365 account with an app password, sending as a distro-group so it can have a custom name...
I have 2 x TrueNAS boxes, and because I am doing replication between them, I need to keep the UID’s and GID’s the same between them for accounts that are needed on both ends...
It sure can, but so far I’ve not found much use for it. I set it up to see if it can block YouTube ads in the mobile app, but it can’t. Since I already use uBlock Origin, I don’t know what I gain
The grid both is and isn’t unreliable. I’ve not had many random outages, but I have had 2 x day long outages on hot Friday’s when they were replacing power poles, which the generator of course kept me through. Working from home, and being in the Texas heat, that would be bad. And I like many people now have really bad power outage PTSD after the 2021 Texas Freeze where we all lost power. I’ll never let that happen again! And turning everything off is such a hassle, I want it to to all stay on no matter what. Since I work from home, that adds another layer too. Plus, I just like cool things
Honestly its all cheaper than you think, 100% of it I bought used bar a few things, and over a long amount of time too. Plus messing with stuff like this has 100% helped me advance my career
Its cool. Imagine being able to get data from 12 satellites at the same time to get super accurate time, with a $10 GPS board. What a time to be alive!
I’m trying to reduce the amount of stuff I’m relying on the internet for. Time is pretty important, and having a local server solves all that.
I have no way to prove it, but I’m 99.9% sure that CenterPoint Energy (Who services this grid around here) leave stuff on its last legs so it gets damaged in a hurricane, and they can claim that juicy FEMA money to fix it.
You’re using the Linode box as the server, on which you forward ports for your services. Am I to assume that you somehow access your homelab via your VPN using the Linode box too? Usually people would access their lab at home directly.
Yes, I also access the lab via the Linode box. I do however have direct VPN access too. The reason for using the Linode box is that for some reason, the speed and latency via the Linode box is far better that directly in. I can only assume its some kind of peering thing. I always connect in via my phone on T-Mobile, so perhaps the connection between T-Mobile and Linode, and the connection between AT&T and Linode, is better than T-Mobile to AT&T Residential? Unsure, all I know is that it works 100x better. And it also means I don’t need 2 different connections for the primary and secondary WAN, I can just connected to Linode and it will connect over whatever connection is active
Wouldn’t a whitebox build for your NAS save power?
This really is a whitebox build, it uses very little power. The disks use the most amount of power, which there is no getting around
What are you using both switches for? Are you running out of ports?
The 1Gb switches? yes, I ran out of ports on the Dell, or am very, very close
Since you’re running VMWare, are you running VMs for every service? Why not containers?
Everything that can run in containers already is, on Debian VM’s within ESXi
Even if most of the content on your blog is static, how are you hosting it for it to load so quickly? Are you using some sort of CDN in front of your Linode box to cache the static assets like pictures?
I am using CloudFlare in front of it, so that’s probably why. But even directly its pretty quick. I guess NVMe storage and decent internet means its fast?
Good to hear! I replied above about it, here was my reply
I am using CloudFlare in front of it, so that’s probably why. But even directly its pretty quick. I guess NVMe storage and decent internet means its fast?
Honestly, I’m not 100% sure. I don’t have a way to monitor just the stuff in the rack as the UPS also powers a lot of other stuff in the house. Either way, I’ve worked to make everything fairly low power, or at least as low power as feasible. The things that use the most power is the disks
I can tell you its less than 800w though, as that’s the lowest the UPS goes at night. But that also does include both me and my wifes desktops which stay on 24/7, and an Apple TV, and standby power for all devices etc
I have Bitwarden set to give my wife access if she requests it and I don’t respond in X days
Things generally “just work” so she would have access to everything, and she can figure out what she wants to do. All the passwords are there and all of the configs are fairly easy for stuff she cares about anyway
Yes, I have a 27kw Natural Gas standby generator with an ATS. It takes 10 seconds from power failure, to it switching to generator power. So, the UPS just bridges that gap
In the extremely unlikely even the natural gas goes out, I have a 7.2kw Tri-fuel portable generator (Gasoline, NG and Propane) and I keep around 80 gallons of gasoline on hand, and I have an inlet and interlock on the main breaker, so I can switch to that if needed
Well, that didn’t take very long at all! As with almost everything, the cloud seems appealing, and then slowly increased in price while the service gets reduced
Check out the Lenovo Tiny’s, can get them used on eBay for quite cheap. I’m running a M720q with 64GB of RAM, an in i7-8700T, with Dual 10GB NIC’s. Uses hardly any power!
VM's and Containers I am Running - 2023 (blog.networkprofile.org)
Last time I posted a full writeup on my lab (The before before this) there was a lot of questions on what exactly I was running at home. So here is a full writeup on everything I am running, and how you can run it too
SMTP Relay Questions
I use O365 Business (Or whatever the heck they call it now) for my email, so for SMTP on all my devices at home, I use an O365 account with an app password, sending as a distro-group so it can have a custom name...
Looking for some kind of SSO/Account Management for TrueNAS
I have 2 x TrueNAS boxes, and because I am doing replication between them, I need to keep the UID’s and GID’s the same between them for accounts that are needed on both ends...
My Overkill Home Network - Complete Details 2023 (blog.networkprofile.org)
Hopefully this is not too long! There has been a lot of changes since the last time I posted a full overview like this
Moving my Blog off of Linode and back Home (Sort of) (blog.networkprofile.org)
Well, that didn’t take very long at all! As with almost everything, the cloud seems appealing, and then slowly increased in price while the service gets reduced