Introduction #
So i always wanted to have a rack for my homelab and because i had some money left from the previous month salary i decided to buy a network rack for my homelab hardware so i can put stuff in that and have it more organized.
My Old homelab #
So i started the hobby like 1-1.5 years ago. Over the years i gotten some prety nice hardware and systems. But previously my homelab consisted mostly of computers scattered all around the place in my bedroom and it became a unorganized mess. I had the UPS and my main server (my old gaming pc) under the desk and the opnsense router standing next to the bed. The NAS standing on the right side of my desk and the switch laying ontop of the cabinet on the left side of my desk. Aka a lot of cables running everywhere and also because the UPS was only a few meters from the bed and the fact the UPS has an active fan inside meant that every night i could fall asleep to loud fan noise of the UPS and the beautifull bright blinky lights of my switch and main server next to my desk which where also only a few meters from the desk. I dont have any sleep issues but sometimes when i had drank coffee or other caffeinated drinks, it did keep me up more at nigh due to the noise or the lights.
So i bought some stuff. #
So i invested a bit of money into buying all stuff below. Quite expensive but i guess i will just work harder next time (joke). To rackmount stuff you cant just only buy a rack and need to buy some more equipment/stuff.
The rack itself. #
So i bought a rack. Its a 20U networking rack, meaning 20*4.5cm as 1U is 4.5 cm high or around that height. Also its an 19 inch rack as you also have 10 inch racks but those could only hold maybe a mini pc in terms of width. It is open frame, but thats fine for now, also cause i could not find a closed frame rack that did not cost above 250 euro as prices in my country are not that cheap. Also i bought 20u as my UPS already is like 5U high and i needed to mount a switch, power delivery unit (PDU), patchpanel and more. I bought it at Vevor. Not a website i knew well, but i pulled the trigger anyways. The rack was 100 euro.
The PDU (Power delivery Unit) #
So i also wanted/needed a PDU. This is basically a normal powerstrip but one that can be rackmounted and has rack ears on it to allow me to screw it to a rack frame. I bought one with 8 sockets and was made by Brennestuhl. It also had a bonus surge protection. My UPS already has surge protection but always nice to have extra protection for delicate expensive gear. This costed me 30 Euros.
The Patchpanel #
So i also needed whats called a patchpanel. This is basically a panel that allows installing little connection pieces and thus makes it so you can run short cables from the front of the network switch to the front of the patchpanel and then the back of the patchpanel will have all your connections neatly routed and will have all longer cables plugged in coming out of the back. It has 24 connection slots, but i wont use/populate them all (mainly because i only use half of it or even less than that and i dont like wasting money for stuff i might use in like 10-20 years). This costed me 14 euro.
The keystones #
So those little connection bits in a patchpanel are called keystones. They come in 2 forms. Either ones that allow connecting a raw cable directly and also ones that simply are couplers between 2 lan cables. I got the coupler bits as those are easier to use and it means you wont have to modify or cut your cables. I got 12 pieces for the same reasons as before, saving money and avoiding having invested money in stuff thats not being used and might only get used in the far future. These costed me 22 Euro.
The patch cables. #
So ofcourse you also need good network cables or whats called patchcables which are these shorter network cables that are true network/datacenter grade. I bought 12 little ones of 25cm and 1 larger one of 1M. I will use the larger one to connect the LAN side of Opnsense to the switch and also color coded it red to mean its a very important cable. The little 25cm cables are for patching from the front of the switch to the patchpanel. These i bought at netwerkkabel.eu for a reasonable price of 38 euros including shipping. They are cat6A rated so that means they are ready for future 2.5 and higher speeds. They are S/FTP cables also known as “Shielded Full Twisted Pair” and are full copper cables.
The (fully assembled) build #
So because i was too excited and built everything, i did not make much pictures of the process, but below some pictures of the assembled rack and a few i did manage to take.
And the full rack populated and running
The hardware #
So i pretty much kept the same hardware as before. But below i explained it again and what i am running it for.
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The Main proxmox server, which used to be my gaming pc. Sports an i5 12400, 16GB ddr5, 512GB nvme. Later added a 1TB hdd for bulk storage and an extra sata m.2 ssd. Used for services that need beefy specs. Also runs my Windows11 virtualmachine i can remote desktop into. And it runs my private modded Minecraft server.
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The Main TrueNAS NAS. Sports an i5 10400, 16GB ddr4 ram (upgraded from 8GB), 4x 2TB enterprise SAS drives, lsi HBA (host bus adapter. Used for interfacing sas protocol drives), 128GB nvme boot drive. This stores all my media i aquired (eg: ripping dvds) and its primary function is for being my NAS. It replaces those cloud storage providers and i wont be selling data to bigtech in that way. It also has no limits as i can always upgrade the drives inside and its my own hardware and no subscriptions that they can snatch from under your nose at any time. I also host Immich, which is a sort of google photos replacement. This is an opensource alternative that puts privacy and control in your own hands. And immich syncs easily through its official app. I wanted more privacy when it comes to (personal) photos and videos and such.(also because google was complaining that i ran out of storage and google can use google photo’s to train AI or collect telemetry).
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The 2nd proxmox server. A pc i bought for 70 euro off marktplaats (dutch marketplace). Sports an i3 10100, 8GB ddr4 ram, 256GB nvme boot drive, 500GB sata HDD. This is used for my websites as those containers use minimal resources. It hosts my local side reverse proxy (NGINX proxy), this blog, my links page, my private tailscale VPN i use to remote manage things when i am away, my bitwarden selfhosted password vault via vaultwarden, forgejo git software repository, newsletter, likes-API, comments-API, Umami analytics system, listmonk newsletter. Its less power hungry than the big machines as its an i3.
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The Main router/firewall. A Hp prodesk 400g6. It Sports an i3 9100, 8GB ddr4 ram, 256GB nvme bootdrive, 2.5GB dual port NIC (network interface card). This is my main opnsense router+firewall. It sits inbetween our family’s private network from the ISP and my homelab. My homelab is also on a different subnet and i embedded some firewall rules so the 2 sides can never fully talk to each other. It provides DHCP and DNS (unbound + adblock/malicious block lists) to my homelab and bedroom devices.
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The main Energenie eg-100-ups UPS. This is the Uninterruptable Powersupply (UPS) that protects my homelab gear from brief power outages/blips. Or in the evnt of a major power outage, allows me to safely shutoff my gear. This is critical for homelabs as you dont want any hardware dying and for sure not in todays day and age that components are expensive due to AI datacenters and inflation. This is an Active online UPS meaning it is always active and thus has a noticeable fan. You also have offline UPS units but those switch to battery when the power is out, but there is a minor (often neglectible) delay as it has to switch, so might cause little dips, but most ood quality gear should have been made to handle those very short power cuts just fine. It is hooked up to that PDU so everything plugged in that PDU is protected against brief power outages or surges by the UPS. The PDU is also surge protected so double the surge protection.
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The main switch. This is a zyxel gs1920-24HP POE switch. As the name implies, it suports POE (power over Ethernet) and thus can be used to power accesspoints or cameras via just a single ethernet cable. This switch is capable of 1 GBps speeds. I wil eventually replace it when i get more speed or want mroe speed, but for now its fine. It also was cheap to buy and a good upgrade from my original zyxel gs1900-8 switch that was getting full and also was not POE. Its also rakcmountable which is what i wanted (i bought it for in the future which is now when i got my rack).
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The Homeassistant server. A dell optiplex 3040mini Sporting a i3 6100, 8GB lpddr3 and a 500GB sata hdd. This runs my homeassistant smarthome. This allows me to control all lights and my smart plugs easily and with security and privacy in mind as it runs fully local and has no Apple, google, tuya or amazon involved. Also all devices in my smarthome run modfied opensource firmware as i dont even trust their stock firmware and a lot of devices are tuya devices i could easily flash witrh community made and rujn non-profit opensource software.
Signing off #
So i am very happy with the rack! I love that its now more an organized mess instead of an unorgaanized mess with computers scattered all around my room and the UPS standing next to my bed. Now its all in the unused corner of my room further away from the bed, but still accesible. My original plan was ot make a box around it with woo,d but i also kind of like the open frame looks, so maybe i will put a box around it, maybe not, who knows…