Wieloryb as a home lab
My current home server which I use many for virtualisation, serving also some net services is reaching memory and disk-space limits. I named this server Wieloryb which in Polish means The Whale.
Hardware
So far I have:
- Lenovo M910t server
- 64 GB RAM
- 1x 1 TB SATA HDD (3.5”) – configured root ZFS Pool (RAID1)
- 3x 2 TB SATA HDD (3.5”) – storage1 ZFS Pool (RAID5)
- 1x 254 GB SATA SDD (2.5”) – storage2 ZFS Pool
- 1x 254 GB (M.2) – cache for ZFS pools (Cache and L2ARC). I know, L2ARC should be mirrored but I decided that I will take the risk
- PCI-e 4x SATA board to provide 4 + 4 SATA connectors (M’board + PCI-e board)
- The three 2 TB HDD disks and 254 GB SSD disks are stored in Icy Dock 4-disks cage. The disk cage allows to connect all 4 disks through 4 SATA connectors
- The disk cage is powered by an external PSU (as the PC’s PSU is not strong enough)
- On-demand backups are made to a 4 TB SATA HDD using i-tec USB HDD dock
- Remote management is possible thanks to Belkin Net KVM
- Sending critical alarms via SMSes as well as forwarding of SMSes from my old mobile SIM are done thanks to Nokia USB stick and Gammu software
- And finally – a small UPS
Picture of the lab
Software
For greater flexibility and separation between different tasks I decided to use Proxmox as virtualisation manager. No issues with that: it does what it should, small issues can be justified by a very attractive price (0 USD…).
My current Home Virtualisation Lab “Wieloryb”