My Homelab Journey (Beginner)

N

nad_isa

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2011
Messages
913
Reaction score
425
Hi All,

I'm starting a homelab journey - and I've decided to document it (and get some advice and wisdom) in this thread. Mods can move this thread if it is not in the correct section.

Now, off the bat I will note I am a Bingingner (in zuma speak) - so at times I will not be doing things that make sense and is 'best practice'. I'm here to learn new things and try out stuff as I go along. Note I likely will be updating this thread at a pace I can manage, which might be every few weeks or months. Depends on what happens.

I have been in and around the IT field for about 15 years but not as a specialist 'techie' so to speak - so whilst I can follow and understand most terms I don't have the in depth technical experience with networking, development and so forth. I enjoy tech as a generalist.

Ive been interested in many things including utilising a rpi (python and basic robotics), home automation, and home security, Linux. But I never actually get 'into' it by focusing my time.

I have decided to start a noob homelab journey where I am going to start with setting up a server with VM's to start learning and playing around with some things.

Currently my network setup is an abomination (dont k@k on my cable management). I have a network cabinet which has:
  • ONT
  • Backup Battery
  • Hikvision NVR
  • Mikrotik rb4011 (setting this up was nightmare for me)
  • I have 2 unifi access points an AC-LR and NanoHD
20250118_202813.jpg

So as a first phase I am going to use spare old hardware at home to setup a pc as a server and install proxmox/unraid and setup some VM's (Ubuntu/mint, home assistant, file/back up server). this will be setup on some old 3rd gen intel hardware just for me to play around with.

I then want to clean up my network cabinet and look at upgrading a few components - I have long wanted to get into the unifi ecosystem with a UDM Pro and camera/access control setup - but cost has been a barrier.

So by my next post (which I dont know when) I will have hopefully setup the server with some sort of VM capability and cleaned up my network cabinet. wish me luck!
 
Good luck and remember to have fun, if you need any assistance, we will gladly assist you with any questions you have. You ever thought of setting up a Plex server so you can stream all your movies/series?
 
MakoPC said:
Good luck and remember to have fun, if you need any assistance, we will gladly assist you with any questions you have. You ever thought of setting up a Plex server so you can stream all your movies/series?
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have noted down plex but havent really looked into it and its capabilities for me. I have messed around with Kodi but thats it. Will add plex into the mix..
 
Ive found Proxmox to be a good test-bed for these sort of things - the ease with which you can spin up VMs / containers is great and there are a lot of resources to aid you

goodluck and have fun
 
Mzezman said:
Ive found Proxmox to be a good test-bed for these sort of things - the ease with which you can spin up VMs / containers is great and there are a lot of resources to aid you

goodluck and have fun
Click to expand...

True but find pure Linux good to understand it initially and then move to tools to simplify the process after.
Ubuntu is still kind in this regard
 
Pho3nix said:
Don’t understand why anyone would go JellyFin over Plex hey. Tried it a few times and don’t see the hype over Plex?
Click to expand...

Its mainly the free and self hosted part. Plex sends a lot of data back to Plex and they are ever increasingly punting their own content on the apps so its becoming more and more their app and content and not your app and content.

What didn't you like with JellyFin?
 
B-1 said:
Its mainly the free and self hosted part. Plex sends a lot of data back to Plex and they are ever increasingly punting their own content on the apps so its becoming more and more their app and content and not your app and content.

What didn't you like with JellyFin?
Click to expand...

Been a few years since I gave it a proper try. Installing it again now and I’ll give feedback in a week or two
 
Any Unraid users looking for an upgrade in USB? I have 2 x ATP NanoDura 8 GB USB 2.0 USB Stick - ATP Industrial Grade USB Drives

Better to upgrade sooner, rather than later when your entire OS relies on that single USB drive.

R500, drop me a PM if you want 1
 
Don't forget to look into docker as an alternative to vm's.

Majority of my apps are dockerized. Only VM's I run is for HASS and web server.
 
Thread Update:

So as a first step i decided to begin with trying to organise my network cabinet a bit better and get a handle on the mess it was in. This happened over a few weekends where I had to find time without a tenant or the family moaning the network is down..

I managed to get a test PC box put together with some old hardware - next steps I will be setting this up on the network and starting my journey with Proxmox and some of the suggestions on this thread. All work thus far is with old hardware and items I had accumulated over the past few years, no investments as yet.

20250204_141704.jpg
 
Thread Update:

So I spent the weekend and made some slight progress.

1. Updated my mikrotik router (haven't updated it since I initially setup my router) - now running ROS7 and winbox4.

2. Created a ventoy disk with some iso images

3. Setup my first proxmox server! I ran into some issues using the post install script helpers (doesn't work with 8.3) - but managed to update the script file and get everything setup! Also wasn't able to fully install my first VM as i got a virtualisation error which i believe is a motherboard setting. Still need to fix that then will be setting up my first VM...

20250209_200558.jpg

in my progress to date I have been doing some research and I have updated my next steps and target architecture (revision 1 :D)

I will be focusing on setting up:
  • Ubuntu desktop
  • Windows (mainly to setup blue iris)
  • Rust desk server
  • Hass os
I am now seriously considering pausing moving to unifi kit. If I can get more comfortable with mikrotik I am looking at getting rid of my hikvision nvr and cameras and getting mikrotik 24 port poe switch and some reolink cameras and running blue iris.

But will be testing this all on my test lab before I make a call :D - just not enough damn time in a day!
 
Just my 2c, I would personally go for frigate over blue iris. It's come a long way and IMO better. Also easier on resources as it can run in a docker container instead of needing a windows machine.
 
acidrain said:
Just my 2c, I would personally go for frigate over blue iris. It's come a long way and IMO better. Also easier on resources as it can run in a docker container instead of needing a windows machine.
Click to expand...

I have come across it but people seem to think its not yet 'quite there' - also what are the mobile app viewing and AI options like? my needs at the moment are fairly simple.
 
I havent really delved into the app side as I have been fine using HA or web url but apparently there is an app that supports frigate (iOS):
github.com

GitHub - mjehrhart/viewu: The Viewu App is a compact, user-friendly iOS application designed to integrate seamlessly with Frigate NVR systems.

The Viewu App is a compact, user-friendly iOS application designed to integrate seamlessly with Frigate NVR systems. - mjehrhart/viewu
github.com github.com

Also you can install a progressive web app. https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/pwa/

As for AI, not sure exactly what you mean but if talking about object detection and that stuff, Frigate can be integrated with CodeProject.AI which I am using with a Coral TPU.

The only lacking item I ever experienced with frigate was the inability to export feed for a specific timeframe. At the time you had to navigate through all the saved video files to find the timeframe you were looking for. This has since been added. Even the review page allows you to seemlessly navigate through the footage with an event indicator so you can jump to the next detected event
 
acidrain said:
I havent really delved into the app side as I have been fine using HA or web url but apparently there is an app that supports frigate (iOS):
github.com

GitHub - mjehrhart/viewu: The Viewu App is a compact, user-friendly iOS application designed to integrate seamlessly with Frigate NVR systems.

The Viewu App is a compact, user-friendly iOS application designed to integrate seamlessly with Frigate NVR systems. - mjehrhart/viewu
github.com github.com

Also you can install a progressive web app. https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/pwa/

As for AI, not sure exactly what you mean but if talking about object detection and that stuff, Frigate can be integrated with CodeProject.AI which I am using with a Coral TPU.

The only lacking item I ever experienced with frigate was the inability to export feed for a specific timeframe. At the time you had to navigate through all the saved video files to find the timeframe you were looking for. This has since been added. Even the review page allows you to seemlessly navigate through the footage with an event indicator so you can jump to the next detected event
Click to expand...

okay let me look at frigate since one has to pay for blue iris. So perhaps let me firs test drive frigate and see if it aligns with my use cases.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X