July 16, 2021

Home IT infra in a single rack

diy server hardware

This is a repost from January. The original post was published in Reddit and Imgur.

I have simplified the setup since January by getting rid of some hardware. Thus, I also updated following text.

This setup is constantly changing, and this post will be outdated soon. In near future my internet provider and changes. Then I need to relocate whole rack and change the modem. Unfortunately I still can’t place the rack out of sight due to cabling.

— Post begins —

Motivation 🔗

Today, after 3 years (since 2017), I feel this project is now complete. It has all I need and nothing unnecessary.

Original motivation and goals of the project:

  • All infra (servers, network) in one box
  • Quiet
  • Reliable
  • Inexpensive
  • Power efficient
  • Extensible for my future needs

In this post I describe only the hardware.

However, couple words about software. My goal is to be as independent as possible and self-host at home all I need. I don’t want evil cloud corporations to have any my personal data. In addition, cloud services get discontinued every now and then. In a nutshell, I’m detaching myself from internet. When I am at home, all my services work even if my internet connection is down. Sadly I’m still so dependent on electricity. Solar panels wouldn’t work efficiently in this apartment.

Acoustics 🔗

All internal surfaces are covered with 2 cm soundproofing mat.

Cooling 🔗

Cabinet cooling:

  • Fan controller with own power supply (12 V + 5 V = 12 VDC power supply + car USB charger)
  • 3 x 14 cm intake fans (side panels)
  • 2 x 12 cm exhaust fans (lid)
  • Dust filters made out of mosquito net (works)

Hardware 🔗

Hardware from bottom to top (unit number).

1 UPS 🔗

  • Eaton 5P 650iR
  • Fan replaced by quiet Noctua NF-A4x20 FLX + silencer

2-5 NAS 🔗

  • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1225 v3 @ 3.20GHz
  • 28 GB ECC RAM
  • LSI SAS2008 9200-8i (IBM, IT-mode)
  • 6 x 4 TB 3.5" HDD
  • 1 x 256 GB SSD
  • 4 x 2.5" SATA hot-swap trays
  • 1 x 2.5"/3.5" SATA hot-swap bay
  • CPU and MB from ThinkServer TS140, ATX 24 pin mod
  • Seasonic FOCUS GX-550 80+ Gold
  • Inter-Tech 4U 4088-S case with 3 quiet fans

6-9 Virtualization/container platform 🔗

  • AMD Ryzen 5 2600X with Wraith Prism
  • 64 GB ECC RAM
  • 1 TB NVMe SSD
  • 8 TB 3.5" SATA HDD
  • Seasonic S12II-620
  • Inter-Tech 4U 4088-S case with 2 quiet fans

10 Shelf 🔗

  • TeleWell TW-EV902 (VDSL)
  • Loose HDDs

11 Switch 🔗

  • ZyXEL GS1900-24

12 Shelf 🔗

  • BitFenix Recon fan controller
  • UniFi POE injector
  • Tellstick Net gateway
  • Ikea TRÅDFRI gateway

On top of rack 🔗

  • UniFI 802.11ac Long Range Access Point (UAP‑AC‑LR)
  • 433 MHz antenna

At the back 🔗

  • Lantronix Spider KVM Over IP
  • ATEN CS84U 4-Port PS/2-USB VGA KVM Switch

Discussion 🔗

The rack is connected with only two cables; power and internet. It provides whole home IT infra in a single black box. Hardware is overkill for one person at home, but at least I don’t have to think about any bottlenecks or extensibility.

It is quiet and power efficient. All devices are behind UPS and the total idle power consumption is less than 100 watts.

It has hacky KVM-over-IP solution that supports up to 4 devices. However, that’s rarely needed. I prefer separate KVM over motherboard built-in IPMIs for 3 reasons:

  1. Single remote management gateway for all devices
  2. Maybe more secure than IPMIs
  3. I also use consumer hardware without IPMIs

Originally I considered this project as homelab, but it took too much time. Now it is just home prod.