Home Lab

Note: I have since sold the home lab equipment and am using other shared environments (work lab, cloud, etc.). This page is preserved here for those interested.

I realized early on that people like building home labs for various reasons – education, certifications, fun, testing, or some crazier stuff. As such, I offer a complete list of all hardware kept in the lab for your viewing pleasure. Most items will have links that will take you to the build list or related post.

If you have a question about the lab, feel free to leave a comment below. Keep in mind that hardware models continue to evolve and that some of the build information may be out of date – make sure to look for the post date before ponying up any of your hard earned cash on lab hardware. 🙂

Lab vSphere Hosts

These hosts are used for lab testing and validation. Based on my Sandy Bridge and Haswell builds.

Dev vSphere Host

I mainly use this server for testing beta builds and other development purposes due to the AMD CPU (can’t mix with my other Intel boxes).

Storage

All of my storage arrays in the lab are NFS attached Synology arrays over various 1 GbE links. Any array with 2 or more NICs are connected to the physical network via a dynamic link aggregation group (LAG) running LACP.

  • NAS1 (Files): Synology DS411, RAID 5, 4x Western Digital Red Drives @ 3TB each
  • NAS2 (Lab VMs): Synology DS2411+, RAID 5, 12x Kingston SSDNow V+200 SSD @ 120GB each
  • NAS3 (Mgmt VMs): Synology DS414slim, RAID 5, 4x SanDisk Ultra Plus SSD @ 256 GB each
  • NAS4 (Backups): ioSafe 1513+, SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID), 5x Toshiba Drives @ 2TB each
  • Backup Server VM: Veeam Backup v8 pointed to NAS4 via CIFS.

Networking

Licensing

I’ve written about various VMware licenses available for home labs in this blog post.

Miscellaneous Items

  • UPS: CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD UPS
  • Rack: Utility shelving, 36″ W x 14″ D x 60″ H
  • Monsters: Melvin the Monster VM
  • Bling: Color changing LED strips

Layout

I use a four tier approach for the lab. To start, here’s the entire thing:

The entire lab
The entire lab

The first tier is dedicated to lab hosts. I’ve stuck with Lian-Li cases of varying type.

First tier

The second tier houses networking and security devices.

Second tier

The third tier is for smaller server devices and management storage.

Third tier

The fourth and final tier holds the larger bulk items and lab storage.

Fourth tier

Other Photos

Melvin protects my management arrays
Melvin protects my management arrays
The bottom shelf
The bottom shelf
A monster sized all flash array
A monster sized all flash array
Zip tie more power strips
Zip tie more power strips
Zip tie your power strips
Zip tie your power strips
Internal wireless for gadgets and such
Internal wireless for gadgets and such
Cloud networking at its best
Cloud networking at its best
It's a bit like a runway
It’s a bit like a runway
It really ties the room together
It really ties the room together
The underside of my bling
The underside of my bling
Average draw from the ENTIRE home lab
Average draw from the ENTIRE home lab
A bunker filled with capacity
A bunker filled with capacity
All flash in a small package
All flash in a small package
A big ol' pile of capacity
A big ol’ pile of capacity
A stack of network goodies
A stack of network goodies
The internet!
The internet!
In case a non-vExpert breaks into my house
In case a non-vExpert breaks into my house
A management host
A management host
Show your passion through stickers
Show your passion through stickers
This server has a pulse
This server has a pulse
One of these things is not like the other
One of these things is not like the other
The network stack
The network stack
More switchports
More switchports
The flexboot cables are finger friendly
The flexboot cables are finger friendly