Wanting to learn more about IT infrastructure, networking, and system administration... and also wanting to have an awesome home network and servers for myself, I designed and built my home server rack for projects and learning (homelab).

I aim to eventually acquire enterprise server hardware and run a different hypervisor on it. VMware ESXi is on one of my machines but I want to learn Proxmox as well.

Homelab

DNS Server

Using a Raspberry Pi 2b I set up a DNS Server with an IP blocklist to filter out ads, tracking, and other malicious sites on my network.

When a device on my network requests an IP address for a known malicious site or source it will not provide it. Therefore the ads will not populate.

Through the IP admin portal I can manage the DNS server, adding or removing blocklists, blacklist or whitelist IPs, and manage the system.

Cloudflare Tunnel

In order to access my Jellyfin Media Server when I am outside of my home network (public), I set up a Cloudflare Tunnel.

I created a secure tunnel to my home network and created a subdomain that securely points to a resource in my home network (the server). This includes an SSL certificate for EVERY subdomain automatically!!

On my 3rd server machine I installed and configured VMware ESXi as my hypervisor. I have a VM for Windows and Ubuntu Linux.

I plan to use these virtual machines for various learning projects and services.

VMware ESXi Hypervisor

Jellyfin Media Server

Using a mini pc running Windows 10, I set up a Jellyfin Media Server to give myself 24/7 access to my media library. On my home network you can watch all content on the web, apple tv, or mobile.

For my own personal laptop I went with Linux Mint as my operating system. I wanted to integrate Linux into my every day and found Mint to be my favorite distro.

Install is streamlined, set up is straightforward, and the OS is very responsive and logical. Having a dedicated Linux machine is great for learning!

Linux Mint Laptop

Project Zomboid Game Server

Using a mini pc running Windows 10, I set up a Project Zomboid Dedicated Server. I host this server with custom settings and mods for my friends and myself. Utilizing Hamachi VPN my friends can join my network and join the server, giving us a private server to play on without a monthly cost for a VM service.

Admin is easy, I use remote desktop to remote in and manage the server, the mods, and the networking.

Modded Minecraft Server

Using a mini pc running Windows 10, I set up a dedicated GTNH Modpack Minecraft Server. This heft mod pack overhauls the entire game and I wanted to have my own server to play it with my friends.

Admin is the same as PZ server

Ethereum GPU Miner

Back in 2021 when Ethereum mining was profitable I designed, purchased, built, and configured a 6x GPU mining rig. This machine was able to run 24/7, mining Ethereum on the blockchain through Nicehash. On it's best months it was yielding about $150/month.

I later sold the rig before Ethereum moved to Proof of Stake.