My Cute Homelab
a year ago
- #homelab
- #RHEL
- #DIY
- The author describes their cute and efficient homelab setup using refurbished Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny PCs.
- Key requirements included quiet operation, easy access, and low investment, leading to a 10-inch rack and ThinkCentre M9xx series PCs.
- The PCs are powerful (quad-core, up to 64GB RAM) and cost-effective (around €120 with upgrades).
- The setup runs RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) via the free Red Hat Developer Subscription, ensuring stability and support.
- The homelab supports OpenShift, Kubernetes, and containerized home automation, offering more power than Raspberry Pi setups at a lower cost.
- Detailed specs of two PCs: M900 Tiny and M910x Tiny, both running RHEL with podman and container tools.
- The 6U Digitus rack is compact, living-room friendly, and uses 3D-printed mounts for components.
- Average power consumption is around 35W, with quiet operation even under load.
- Bill of Materials (BOM) provided for rack, devices, and cables, totaling approximately €416.
- Future plans include adding a third PC for experiments with an air-gapped Certification Authority (nerdcert).
- Encourages readers to consider self-hosting for privacy and fun.