Home Lab?

Oumax N100 MAX-N Mini PC

"A personal, home-based technology environment where individuals can learn, experiment with, and test various IT hardware, software, and networking technologies without risk to critical systems or networks"

I've been home labbing (HL) for roughly a year now and it's been a journey. This page in general will be dedicated to said journey. However, I want these posts to act as an archive for me to reference (even though this website is hosted on my server and if something were to happen to it, this website would disappear and could never be referenced again...) when I'm tinkering on things and for others who might be complete beginners like I am and are having a hard time finding solutions on more traditional forms.

Speaking of helping others, when I started this project I knew nothing. Getting into HL is pretty easy. However, the help side of things can really turn a person off in general. Most of the time when you are starting out it's endless Googling on how to do something. Only for you to understand like 10% of the article or post. You then give it a try and it doesn't work or it breaks everything and you hate your life. Throughout these future posts I will be going from start to present day (I don't think you can ever "finish" in this hobby) trying my best to spell everything out in non technical terms. There is nothing worse than getting stuck and finding a form post that leads you to the right answers but it really only gives you a pinch of what you are looking for without greater context. Now, I'll be very clear. I don't know anything and I probably wont be able to help all that much. Nor will I claim that my "methods" are secure or even good for that matter. But it will get that said topic running for the individual instance. Maybe you can learn something along the way and then tweak it to work more for your individual needs.

The System

My HL is all run on a Oumax Max-N (A1) mini pc. I bought it for about $135 and it has the follow specs.

OS - Ubuntu Server (Linux)
CPU - Intel N100
GPU - Intel UHD Graphics
SSD - 2x 1TB MVMe
RAM - 16GB
Wifi
Dual Ethernet nics (1000 mbps)
3x USB 3.2 ports
1x USB 2.0 port
2x HDMI 2.0 ports
1x 3.5mm audio jack

Software

Currently my server is running the following software with plans to add more.

Docker
Ghost
Home Assistant
Immich
Mealie
Nginx proxy manager
Nextcloud
Onlyoffice document server
Pihole
Portainer
Uptime Kuma
Restic

How to navigate this page

On any page of this website there is a page tab labeled "HomeLab". Click it and you will see all posts that I have published on the topic. This post that you are reading right now is pinned to the top of the page. Future posts will be listed newest to oldest. You can scroll through and see if there is anything that you may find interesting or helpful. You can also search key words by clicking the magnifying glass in the top right of the page, by the subscribe button.