Hey Brandon... been watching your channel off and on for a while. Love the content and your explanations.
Here is my current homelab - this looks huge, but most of this is home networking. We live in Northern Mi on 20 acres with several metal outbuildings. I have ethernet run to all buildings so there can be access points and security cameras. This past summer i trenched 500 ft out to a secluded back field where i hunt. I ran 2 lines of cat 6 with POE extenders and have an AP and a security camera back there. I now have wifi while hunting (we have no cell coverage)
So like i said most of that rack is home networking. I am running an Omada system with ER707-M2 Router, TL SG2428 main switch, OC200 controller, SD105G-M2 2.5g switch for my computer, my primary NAS and my secondary NAS. Also on the TP link system i have SG2008P poe switches in the strategic places around the property with AP's and camera's. I currently have 8 AP's running - 2 in the house, 2 in the buildings, and 4 outside
For my homelab, it started 2 years ago really small. I won a Pi5 4GB at the 2024 CES. Had no idea what to do with it, found Novaspirit Tech's channel, and it all went down hill ($$) from there.. lol.
My primary focus for my homelab all along is to give me something to stretch my mind with during the long cold winters, and provide some cool services for my gamer family
Homelab:
- Raspberry Pi5 4GB (POE HAT + NVME Boot): Home Assistant
- Raspberry Pi3 B+ (POE HAT + SSD BOOT): nothing currently, but plan to go through the Pi Hosted series again this winter
- Beelink SER5 Pro (Ryzen 7 5800H) 64GB: I am running Proxmox with some core services (NGINX, Cloudflare Tunnel/DDNS, Kuma, Heimdall), but mainly this is the Minecraft Server. Running Pterodactyl. My family and their friends from around the globe play minecraft together
- Beelink SER5 (Ryzen5 5560U) 64GB: This is my play ground. I have an ARR stack running through an Openwrt router container and PIA. I also am running nextcloud, startos (for emby project that i am struggling with), and various pi-hole containers for different vlans on my network
- Beelink N12 (N100) 16GB: It runs our plex server... that's it
- Reolink 36CH NVR -- we had the 16, but when we got to 10 cameras, it couldn't support, so upgraded to the 36CH version
- NAS1 (Primary): 8bay self made NAS. Jonsbo N3 case, Topton N150 6sata motherboard. Currently has a 13TB array and a couple of cache pools. No real services running on it other than rclone and tailscale. This is where we have several shares for our plex server, photos, documents, etc. Running Unraid
- NAS2 (Backup): Rackchoice 2u chassis with identical Topton N150 motherboard as above. Currently has 10TB array - 2 6TB (1 parity) and several 2.5 hdd/sdd i shucked from old laptops we had. I got a icydock 5 bay adapter that houses 4 2.5" drives and a dvd drive. This is also running unraid
-OFFSITE BACKUP: I have an AOOSTAR R1 2bay nas at the inlaws on my tailscale network as a 3rd backup. It is currently down waiting on response from Aoostar. One of the sata controllers stopped working.
My biggest goal is to not break the bank with electricity. The total outfit you see here including homelab, monitor, networking equipment, reolink, etc typically idles (nothing is every 100% idle) around 220 watts.
My plan for 2026 is to button up all the documentation especially for the networking so my family has a clue what to do. And I want to figure out how to create a website for us. Maybe self host, maybe using a hosting site. Found a couple of docker containers from this video that i might pursue for the documentation.
Forgot to put in 2025 changes
1) went from a 27U roll around rack i had purchased on auction for 75 to this Sysracks 18u wall mount
2) built 2 home made NAS the Jonsbo N3 /Topton 8 Bay, and the rackchoice 2u Topton. Actually the rackchoice was originally in a Jonsbo V12 wood grain case, but took up too much room on floor
3) add Beelink N12 for Plex (bought used on ebay lol)
4) added Beelink SER5 (bought used on ebay)
5) started using Nextcloud
6) changed NVR from Reolink 16CH to 36CH
7) swapped main switch from TP LInk SG2218MP + 5 port POE to SG2428MP. May switch back - fan noise is LOUD
2026 Changes?
1) may take the Jonsbo N3 and put it in another rackchoice 2u chassis
2) rack mount ups? Give hte floor mount to my wife for her office
3) $$$$$ but MAYBE change the main switch to TP LINK 2.5GB switch? seems excessive. My driver pc is connect to the 2 NAS through the 2.5 GB switch and 2.5GB port on the router - and my 3 beelink's only have 1gb network... so probably not
4) As i mention in the original post - website building. i know overall what i want it to look like, just getting there and learing how to create. and then where to host it? we plan on having pictures/videos of 2 fifth wheels we plan to airbnb with links to airbnb. So self hosting is risky without proper protections