--- title: HomeLab url: 'https://patrik.kernstock.net/homelab' markdown: 'https://patrik.kernstock.net/homelab.md' date: '2020-04-04' description: 'HomeLab (Last update: 2023-10-07) My HomeLab is split across multiple locations. HomeLab #1: Germany, Frankfurt This lab is a colocation at meerfarbig, hosting the more public-facing workload. Host specifications: Model: HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 CPU: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2673 v4 @ 2.30GHz (40 threads) …' --- # HomeLab (Last update: 2023-10-07) My HomeLab is split across multiple locations. ## HomeLab #1: Germany, Frankfurt This lab is a colocation at [meerfarbig](https://meerfarbig.net), hosting the more public-facing workload. Host specifications: - Model: HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 - CPU: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2673 v4 @ 2.30GHz (40 threads) - RAM: 384 GB DDR4 RAM (12x 32 GB) - Boot: [Samsung 980 500 GB NVMe M.2](https://amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B08THW4S3T/) via [NVMe PCIe x16 Adapter](https://amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07RZZ3TJG/) - Disks (via HPE Smart Array P840ar) - 4x HPE 1.2 TB SAS HDD (vSAN Capacity Disks) - 1x [Micron 5300 Max 960GB 2.5](https://amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B083QKSBWK/) (vSAN Cache Disks) - Disks (via HPE Smart HBA H240) - 4x HPE 1.2 TB SAS HDD (vSAN Capacity Disks) - 1x [Micron 5300 Max 960GB 2.5](https://amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B083QKSBWK/) (vSAN Cache Disks) - Dual PSU - NICs: - 2x HP Ethernet 1Gb 4-port 331i Adapter - 1x HP Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 530 FLR-SFP+ Adapter - Running VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0 ## HomeLab #2: Austria, Lower Austria This might be the longest bit. It started with a HPE MicroServer Gen8… and somehow… it escalated quickly. ### Compute cluster #### Main workload Two hosts, each one with following specs: - Model: HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 - CPU: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2667 v4 @ 3.20GHz (32 threads) - RAM: 320 GB DDR4 RAM (10x 32 GB) - Boot: [Samsung 980 500 GB NVMe M.2](https://amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B08THW4S3T/) via [NVMe PCIe x16 Adapter](https://amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07RZZ3TJG/) - Disks (via HPE Smart Array P840ar) - 10x HPE 1.2 TB SATA HDD - 2x [Micron 5300 Max 960GB 2.5](https://amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B083QKSBWK/) (vSAN Capacity Disks) - Dual PSU to two independent UPS, with TPM 2.0 - NICs: - 2x HP Ethernet 1Gb 4-port 331i Adapter (VM traffic) - 1x HP Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 530 FLR-SFP+ Adapter (NSX, vSAN) - Running VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0 #### Test cluster This cluster is mainly for testing purposes and running vSAN 8.0 ESA. Two hosts with specifications as follows each: - Model: [Intel NUC BXNUC10I7FNH2](https://amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08465XBXP/) - CPU: Intel Core i7-10710U - RAM: 2x [Crucial CT2K32G4SFD8266 32 GB DDR4](https://amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07ZLCC6J8/) - Disks - Storage 1: Samsung SSD 980 1TB (vSAN Capacity) - Bootmedium: INTENSO 120 GB SSD (ESXi OS) - Network - 1x 1 GBe built-in, Management - 2x 1 GBe USB-NICs [StarTech USB 3.0 to Dual Port Gigabit Ethernet Adapter via USB-C](https://amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-USB-C-Gigabit-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B01L3H31PY/) (using [USB-NIC-Driver-Fling](https://flings.vmware.com/usb-network-native-driver-for-esxi)). Using for iSCSI and vMotion. - 1x 2.5 GBe USB-NIC [Club 3D USB 3.2 Gen1 Adapter Type A to 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet](https://amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Q626XK2/) for vSAN traffic. - Running VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0 U1 ([7.0 works out-of-the-box](https://twitter.com/Patschi95/status/1244740345281249287), also check out [HomeLab 7.0 considerations by William here](https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2020/03/homelab-considerations-for-vsphere-7.html)) ### Storage 1. **Storage NAS** - Model: [QNAP TS-H973AX](https://www.qnap.com/en/product/ts-h973ax) - Storage: - Capacity: 5x [Western Digital Red 10TB](https://amazon.co.uk/Red-10TB-3-5-SATA-5400rpm/dp/B0719498XY/) (RAID6/RAIDZ2) - Write-Cache: 2x [SAMSUNG SSD SM883 240GB](https://amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07R2YNH5S/) (ZFS LOG) - Read-Cache: 1x Micron 7300 Pro U.2 800 GB - Various Temp Data: 1x Western Digital SSD 2 TB 2. **Backup NAS** - Model: [Synology DS920+ 4 Bay Desktop NAS Enclosure](https://amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075DDZ894/) - Storage: 4x [Western Digital WD40EFRX 4 TB](https://amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-WD40EFRX-NASware-Internal/dp/B00EHBERSE/) in SHR-RAID (similar to RAID5, 12 TB useable space) - Read cache: 1x [Samsung 860 EVO 250 GB SATA M.2](https://amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Sata-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B078WQC2GQ/) **Network-wise:** Beside the hardware-wise isolation (Core/SAN), there are also about 15 VLANs across all switches to isolate various workloads from each other. 1. **Core Switch** - Model: 2x [HPE Aruba 2930F-24G-4SFP Switch (JL259A)](https://www.arubanetworks.com/products/networking/switches/2930f-series/) - Those two switches are running in a VSF stack, so they are clustered for increased reduncancy. - **Purpose**: Main switch handling all workload like traffic from/to virtual machines, Internet traffic and OSPF/BGP to/from firewall. Uplink over fiber-optic cable to upper floor. Servers are wired to both switches for increased redundancy. LACP in use with Virtual Distributed Switches on the ESXi hosts. 2. **SAN Switch** - Model: [MikroTik CCR2004-1G-12S+2XS](https://amazon.co.uk/-/en/gp/product/B087X9QKGH/) (12x 10 GBe, SFP+ + 2x 25 GBe) - **Purpose**: Mainly handling storage traffic for iSCSI, NSX-T, vSAN and vMotion. 3. **Management Switch** - Model: [HPE Aruba 2920-24G-4SFP Switch (J9726A)](https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-c03711181) - **Purpose**: Handling management traffic like iLO to each HPE server, internet traffic from/to modem in separate VLAN, access points, Raspberry Pi GPS time server, etc. There is a uplink of 2x 1 GBe fibre-optic cable to the Core Switch. 4. **Firewall** - 2x WatchGuard XTM 525 Appliances (unfortunately EOL) 5. **Access Switch** - Model: [NETGEAR GS110TP 8 Port PoE Gigabit Smart Managed Pro Switch](https://amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-GS110TP-Gigabit-Managed-Power-Over-Ethernet/dp/B00MHLUS8E/) - **Purpose**: This switch is for connecting upper floor (where fiber-optic cable from basement is connected to) and below two switches to handle e.g. client traffic. 6. **Client Switches** - Model: 2x [NETGEAR GS108Tv2 8-Port Gigabit Smart Managed Pro Switch](https://amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-GS108Tv2-Gigabit-Lifetime-Protection/dp/B000RAILSQ/) - **Purpose**: Handles media area (TV/Xbox) and office (1x PC and 1x network printer) Running following VMware products: - VMware ESXi + vCenter - VMware vSAN - VMware NSX - VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer - VMware Horizon - VMware Unified Access Gateway - VMware AppVolumes - VMware vRealize Log Insight - VMware vRealize Operations Manager - VMware Cloud Director - Carbon Black And in case you’re wondering: Yep, these are indeed 2x Philips Hue Light Strips for some cool lighting. Because of reasons. **Also, here are some pictures:** [![Servers](https://patrik.kernstock.net/images/i/m/g/2/0/img20220105112516-scaled-e1641840526648-9bbab842.jpg?g-c5393bf2 "HPE Servers")](https://patrik.kernstock.net/user/pages/02.homelab/IMG_20220105_112516-scaled-e1641840526648.jpg?g-c5393bf2) [![SAN Switch + Firewall](https://patrik.kernstock.net/images/i/m/g/2/0/img20220105112909-5dabd843.jpg?g-c5393bf2 "SAN Switch + Firewall")](https://patrik.kernstock.net/user/pages/02.homelab/IMG_20220105_112909.jpg?g-c5393bf2) [![Rack with Hue Lightstrips!](https://patrik.kernstock.net/images/i/m/g/2/0/img20190906003502-c6b5e5b5.jpg?g-c5393bf2)](https://patrik.kernstock.net/user/pages/02.homelab/IMG_20190906_003502.jpg?g-c5393bf2) [![Cat & me taking care about HomeLab](https://patrik.kernstock.net/images/i/m/g/2/0/img20190906132054-741783e4.jpg?g-c5393bf2)](https://patrik.kernstock.net/user/pages/02.homelab/IMG_20190906_132054.jpg?g-c5393bf2) --- ## Navigation - Previous: [Blog](https://patrik.kernstock.net/index.md) - Next: [Legal Notice](https://patrik.kernstock.net/legal-notice.md)