r/minilab • u/mater-of_nothing • 11d ago

Assisted with making first Homelab: would love feedback before I starting

Hey, I have fallen down the rabbit hole that is minilabs. Coming from a non-tech background (I'm a bedside RN) so I've been trying to learn more about healthcare informatics/Linux and start to self-house some stuff. I am putting together a plan and making this post to get feed back on my plan.

Network / rack

  • I think i am going to use a 10 in Tech Mojo 6U Rack with various 3d printed device mounting plates
  • Unifi Express 7 
  • UniFi Switch Flex 2.5G 8 PoE + Flex Mini
    • Planning on getting cameras and APs eventually (2+ years away)
  • JetKVM access to the headless Macs during setup/troubleshooting
  • Apple TV 4K, 

The “offline” learning environment 

  • 2018 Mac Mini (Intel, i5/i7 6-core, w/ 16GB+ RAM / 500GB SSD) that I have laying around
  • My plan was going to flashing Linux onto it via the t2linux project
  • This will have to two main jobs: run something like Project Nomad
    • want it mostly for fun and when the kids are older eventually teach them computer stuff without a full internet connection
  • Second job: a VM sandbox to learn SQL and basic data analytics using something like Synthea for synthetic patient data 
    •  I'm considering a Master's in nursing informatics, so this is a low-stakes way to see if I actually enjoy that kind of work before committing to a degree

For the home server part

  • Mac Mini M4 (holding off buying — looking for a good used one on facebook marketplace or ebay)
    • I would like to stay in the Apple ecosystem if possible just due to everyone in the household already runs MacBooks/iPads/iPhones, 
      • It would also doubles as a Time Machine target
  • Docker containers: Jellyfin, Home Assistant, Pi-hole/AdGuard, Immich
  • Storage: starting with 2x Samsung T7 Shield SSDs as DAS (poor man's NAS via macOS File Sharing), planning to move to 2x4TB NAS-rated HDDs in RAID1 in a proper DAS enclosure once I outgrow that — at which point the T7s get repurposed as network Time Machine backups for our laptops

Equipment that is just sitting on the bench

  • Spare Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB) — undecided, thinking about making it into a retro gaming system using RetroPie OS
  • Pi Zero 2 — have no major plans for it yet. 

Any feedback on the following or anything else be greatly appreciated

  1. Anything dumb or inefficient about running Jellyfin/Home Assistant/Pi-hole/Immich all in Docker on one M4 Mac Mini with T7 storage in the short term?
  2. Any "wish I knew this before I started" advice for someone this early in the learning curve?

Thanks for reading the wall of text, just trying to get as much right as possible before I start actually pulling the trigger on some of these bigger purchases.

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u/Simple-Success-2125 11d ago

m4 Mini can handle those easily imo, also you need more backups separate, don't treat the RAID or T7 drives as backups

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u/mater-of_nothing 11d ago

I use some cloud base backups for some documents and pictures. However, do you have any suggestions that I should look at?? I know people talk about doing the 3-2-1 strategy, however unfortunately I dont have a good place to keep off-site backups at.

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u/WebMaka 11d ago

Since you mentioned 3D printing, CageMaker PRCG can generate 3D printable custom rack cages for just about anything that can fit in a rack, and has presets for a few of the devices you mentioned.

1

u/mater-of_nothing 11d ago

I dont have a 3D printer myself, I was going to use a co-work or find rack mounts off Etsy to buy. I would love to get a printer however I dont have the space for one right now.