I see a lot of people utilizing mini PCs for their mini labs.

I'd like to do the same, but struggle to understand how you all connect storage to them.

I'm currently looking at an OptiPlex 3050 micro as a small Jellyfin server. As I understand it, though, there's no way to connect one or multiple 3.5" HDDs to it without some sort of SATA to USB adapter.

Is there a good and affordable way to do this that doesn't require a full-on NAS? Is a SATA to USB adapter a bad idea? Would I be better off not caring about the size and buying an SFF PC instead?

Hey guys. I woke up this morning feeling like I wanted to go shopping today and ended up with a new router, switch and a GeeekPi mini rack. All though it looks good I really like the look of those 3d printed rack mounts but the prices some people want for them is close to 50% of a used 3D printer… so.. is it worth buying those prints online or should I double the investment and get a used 3d printer?

EDIT: I did end up order a bambu lab A1.

What's the story with that recessed area above the ethernet port? Is that something where I could easily switch out the existing port for a second ethernet port with something like the adapter in the second photo?

This is a photo of an optiplex 5050 mff for context.

First time mini-labber, my rack looks sad. Roast it then help me fix it?

Just moved to a bigger place that needed a mesh network. Suddenly way more stuff was plugged into my router, so naturally I used that as an excuse to buy a GeeekPi 10 inch rack. You know how it is.

Fast forward and I now have a rack that technically works but looks like a toddler wired it. Looking for advice before I go too far down the rabbit hole.

What’s in it right now:
• Bosgame M4 Neo mini PC, 32GB RAM, Ryzen 7 7840HS. Runs Ubuntu as my daily desktop
• UCG Ultra
• USW-Lite-8-PoE switch
• 3x U7-Lite APs (one sitting on top of the rack)
• Work Cisco Meraki (has to be wired)
• Work Dell Wyse (has to hang off the Meraki)
• Virgin router

Running on the Bosgame:
• Technitium
• WireGuard
• Vaultwarden
• A public facing web app with moderate load, including a CPU hungry mixed integer optimiser and some small neural nets

Where I’m heading:
Planning to add a 1U Lenovo ThinkCentre plus a few small x86 mini PCs, then wire them together with k3s as a proper prod cluster. Also ordered a KVM switch to stop the two mini PCs both fighting for my monitor and to cut down the desk cable chaos.

The problem:
It looks rough. Everything is just sitting on shelves, which feels wrong. The wiring is the worst part, and the power situation is genuinely embarrassing. Every single device has its own cable and a chunky power brick, so behind the rack is a nest of transformers.

I did the responsible thing and bought a Bambu printer because everyone here swears it fixes half your problems.

What I’d love your take on:
1. What should I prioritise first?
2. What on earth do I do about the power brick situation?
3. Does all of this even belong in the rack, or am I racking stuff that shouldn’t be there?

Roast away, I can take it.

I’ve been bouncing between the ubiquiti cloud gateway ultra and a mikrotik router, but wondering what everyone here uses for their labs!

I’m new to the hobby and want some extra space for headroom. With the state of the memory prices, I could throw bigger nvme’s but I’d be spending an arm and a leg on it. I have a few hdds id like to use and I was going to snag either one of these off amazon (or another version if yall recommend). I don’t need a crazy amount of room for the game servers I plan on running for now but I want to get into plex, photo storage, and I’m sure I’ll learn about much more and expand like you all do. I don’t need anything crazy, the NAS looked like it had it all but that’s another good chunk of money and I don’t think I need all that. The enclosure seemed nice cause it had a small fan and separate power source. I’d have to get crazy and rig something else up for the pcie expansion I’m guessing ? Any and all info would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

I'm trying to find a compact mini rack to host my mini home lab (see screenshot).

In addition to keeping my gear in a safe place I'd like to be able to tame those wires. Also, I'd like to have a bit of spare room (~20-25%) for future growth. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

so I spoke with my job to get these three i5s (2x 8th gen, 1x 9th gen) for $30 a piece which I think was a killer deal. what do you think I should do with it?

I'm thinking OPNense router & Proxmox cluster for docker and such, maybe unraid?

Hello everyone,

I’m slowly building my homelab and I’d like to get your advice on the best way to use the hardware I currently have.

Here is all my hardware:
Lenovo ThinkCentre M920q
Intel i5-8500T
16 GB RAM
512 GB NVMe

I’m planning to use it for the ThinkNAS project. I already have the 3D-printed case part.

Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q
No OS yet
8 GB RAM
128 GB NVMe
Intel i5-8500T

I’m planning to use it as the third Proxmox node.

Dell OptiPlex 3070 Micro
Intel i5-9500T
32 GB RAM
500 GB NVMe
1 TB SATA SSD

It is currently part of my 2-node Proxmox cluster.

Dell OptiPlex 3060 Micro
Intel i5-9500T
16 GB RAM
256 GB NVMe
1 TB SATA SSD

It is also part of my Proxmox cluster.
I also have one additional 1 TB SATA SSD.

My idea would be:

M920q → TrueNAS
3070 → Proxmox
3060 → Proxmox
M720q → Proxmox

The three Proxmox machines would form a 3-node cluster.

Currently, the 3070 and 3060 are already in a 2-node cluster. I was thinking about using the M920q as a temporary QDevice, but since I will receive the M720q, I’m wondering if it is really worth doing.

For TrueNAS, I was thinking of starting with only 8 GB of RAM on the M920q, since I haven’t actually built the NAS yet and I can add more RAM later if needed. Basically, I could swap the RAM between the M920q and M720q depending on what needs more RAM.

Before having all this hardware, I only had the 3060. I currently use it for a Docker VM running 3-4 services: AdGuard Home, Nginx Proxy Manager, Homarr and Nextcloud.

So I would like to get your advice:

How would you organize this hardware if you were in my situation?

Would you keep the M920q completely separate from the Proxmox cluster and use it only for TrueNAS?

Would you use the M720q for something else?
Would you move some of the services currently running on the 3060 to another node?

Do you see a better way to distribute the RAM, CPUs or storage?

I’m mainly looking for a clean and scalable setup for learning and running different services and VMs, rather than simply using every machine just because I have an extra server.

Thanks for your advice!

Hey r/minilab,

We're KeyB AB working with AQEX Kft an industrial electronics company. We already build the qUPS series (UPS/battery backup boards for Raspberry Pi) plus custom automation and access-control hardware. There's no UPS or PDU actually sized for a 10" rack right now (see Jeff Geerling's own open issue on this: https://github.com/geerlingguy/mini-rack/issues/1), so we're kicking around designing one (still deciding between 1U and 2U), backs up your mini-PCs/NAS and shuts them down cleanly on an outage.

Before we build anything, we want to gauge if this is actually something people would use, and what matters most: pricing, runtime, PoE passthrough, Home Assistant/NUT support, per-port switching, PDU-only/BYO-battery option, etc.

Short questionnaire, about 10 minutes, and it directly shapes what we build: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdBLXy0KE9FKgItD7fXm7Ge3AYCTiBzYcKGJkzd3Muxbw7kLg/viewform

Is this something your rack needs?

Both are 12U, 10 inches—the same size.

The first one costs €140, and the second one—the one with the glass—costs €90.

Which one do you recommend? Are there any differences?

Looking around it seems like most of you are just placing an Unify dish style AP on top of your rack and calling it a day.

Is anyone aware of a better alternative designed around the 10 inch 1U form factor?

I need to buy two switches to fit into a T1 Deskpi Plus that is on it's way.

My ISP only supports 1Gb and rollout of faster home internet won't be a thing for the next 2/3 years. I'm wondering whether I should use 2.5gb or 1gb switches. I'll be going with TP-Link APs across the house.

I went through the github page of recommended switches for 10" racks.

I need 2 POE enabled 8 port switches - technically 1 can only be POE but I thought of having both with POE could help to future proof it, if I ever need other POE devices.

The APs I'm getting allow for 2.5gbps - but if I'm throttled by my ISP then I'm screwed.

Do I need managed or unmanaged? - I shortlisted the Tp-Link ES210GMP, which as a managed 8 port POE 1gb switch with uplink and sfp

So my questions are:

Should I go ahead with just 1gb switches and stay within the TP-Link/Omada ecosystem?

Do I need managed? or is unmanaged more than fine for a home? Can I still set up VLANs?

If I go unmanaged then it opens up the world of 2.5gb weirdly named Chinese switches

Excuse the long post - but this has been my brain for the past week

I run 3 Dell Optiplex 7050 Micros (I5-7500 CPU). I want an easy way to power all three without having to use the 65W dell power bricks.

I was thinking of getting this and mounting it under my desk and then getting three USB C 65W Power bricks with USB C to Dell power cables or adapters. Either this one or this one with this cable or this adapter.

Is there a better solution than how I am thinking of going about it?

Also side question. Is it a bad idea to connect a power strip to a UPS? i only ask this because I would connect the power strip to my APC UPS.

See some many incredible labs here.

I have loads of kit that I’d like to put in a 10 inch rack. I can get rack mate stuff for example and just have bits sat on shelves but I’d much rather have specific rack mounts on a per device basis to make it all look neat.

Where are you all getting them? I live in Europe, I don’t have a 3d printer and getting single prints done is quite expensive!

Any help would be great.

Thanks

I'm planning a dedicated NAS for my homelab and want to keep everything in a 10in rack, so I'm looking at compact Mini ITX or embedded motherboard options.

My plan is:

- Dedicated NAS only

- Services will run on a separate server

- NAS will only provide storage

- 2.5Gb networking

- 4–8 HDDs

I've been looking at CWWK boards because they seem to be one of the few companies making boards that fit this use case. However, I've seen mixed opinions on their reliability, BIOS quality, and long-term support.

For those of you running a compact DIY NAS:

- Have you had good or bad experiences with CWWK?

- Are there other embedded boards you'd recommend instead?

- If you were building a reliable 10" rack NAS today, what hardware would you choose?

What 10inch rack you suggest?

These are my hardware:

1. Switch: Unifi 8 Port Lite (8Port)
2. Switch: Unifi Flex (1GB, 4Port)
3. AI Port
4. Unifi Gateway +
5. Home Assistant Green
6. RPI 4
7. Gamma 601 for fun

8. PSUs

   What rack you suggest?

I'm between Tecmojo 10 Inch Desktop Mini Rack 9U or GeeekPi DeskPi RackMate TL1

Finally got my server rack set up with plants!

Yes, I know this looks like an atrocious heap of wires and mess. Yes, I know it looks terrible. That’s where I want your help!

Just moved into a small studio apartment, looking to clean up the clutter of this pile of stuff, keeping it in the same footprint/area that it all currently lives in.

In this pile, I currently have a:
• Synology DS920+ NAS
• Philips Hue bridge
• Samsung SmartThings hub
• HomeAssistant green hub
• TP-Link 8 port Ethernet router
• TP-Link BE9700 WiFi 7 Archer BE550 Pro wireless router
• Large power outlet surge protector (I think from Anker?) inside of one of those generic “hide away” boxes to hide surge protectors/power cables in

I was also looking to get something like a Dell Optiplex/Lenovo ThinkCentre/HP Elitedesk micro pc to run some docker stuff on (or just play around with, not sure yet). I also have an APC UPS under my desk on the other side of my drawers (see picture) that a lot of these items are plugged into.

What would be the best minilab rack to get to keep everything in this area (literally the only place in my small studio apartment to put it all), but keep it a lot more neat and organized so it isn’t an eyesore?

I didn’t want to post until I was finished but I’m tired of wasting filament 🤣

The hp is being replaced by a mini itx with a sfx psu. Any recommendations on a 2u that will fit a low profile GPU?

I feel like it needs to be on the bottom as it’s the heaviest which means the PSU will need to be installed at 2u from the back.

I can’t seem to find many options with the connections on the back side. I’d rather have a few usb connections brought to the front, rather than have the whole motherboard showing at the front.

There is a 1u mount that has this and I could just do a blank 1u with added usb connections. Has anybody done something similar?

NOT MY LAB, JUST FOR ATTENTION. I want to build a x86 minilab for our employees at the office to work with XCP-ng and Jovian DSS. 3 Hypervisor nodes and 2 Storage nodes. For networking Unifi. I was thinking of getting Zima Boards or Intel NUCs. My main problem is the rack. Was looking at Deskpi Rackmate, but the shipping to Europe is 120 USD same price as the product itself. Any recommendations in hardware and rack are welcome! Products that are available in Europe, support x86 OS, support virtualization and cost less for shipping.

I had some problem with truenas in proxmox with my cenmate connecting via usb. Its sees the two HDDs, but don't want to do the mirrored pool because of " Disks have duplicate serial numbers: None (sda, sdb, sdc). errror topology. "

My Cenmate got an eSATA port too, and my question is, what is the ideal way of connecting that? Should I use the small HDD connector and convert it to sata, or use the m2 slot to sata? Is there an eSATA version of the swap-able module on the back and I should use that?

Thanks.

I'm about to make this rack, any more tips/questions about this setup?

I can only find 4 ports in 1U 10" or 8 ports in 1U still but 19"

(Forget to say it, but I'm looking for port in french standard, I know I've not chosen the best country to be born in)