Home lab
What I'm running at home now.
Foundational server
- Started with an HP ProDesk 800 G2 Mini as my first serious server build.
- Upgraded it from an i5-6500T to an i7-6700T.
- Upgraded memory from 8 GB to 16 GB and added additional storage.
- That machine became the base for the always-on infrastructure story on this site.
Recycled file server
- I reused the old i5-6500T and spare RAM from the G2 upgrade to build a second machine.
- That second box is an HP ProDesk 600 G3 Mini barebones system I bought cheaply and completed myself.
- It now handles file-storage-style and self-hosted workloads.
- Services there include Immich, Frigate for a Tapo C220 camera, and FileBrowser Quantum for shared access.
Windows dev machine
- Built a dedicated dev box with a Ryzen 9 5900XT, GTX 1660 Ti, and 32 GB DDR4-3600 CL16 RAM.
- I use it as a remote Windows workstation through Parsec to preserve MacBook battery life and keep stronger Windows performance available when I need it.
- My Mac stays focused on iOS development, while the Windows machine handles the workloads that run better there.
Teaching friends to build
- Used the Ryzen build as a hands-on chance to walk friends through PC assembly from scratch.
- Went through part selection, cable management, BIOS setup, and OS install together.
- That kind of teaching is how you find out what you actually understand versus what you just assumed.
Virtualization and services
- Multi-guest Proxmox environment with separate VMs and LXCs for different responsibilities.
- Linux VMs for agent work and the public-facing services behind this site.
- Windows 11 VM support, reverse proxy services, Vaultwarden, Gitea, Docker hosts, and file-management workloads.
- Cloudflare Tunnel for controlled public ingress and Tailscale for private device networking.