Component Recommendations for Proxmox Homelab with TrueNAS and Various Applications

[alehop]

Hello everyone,

I’m in the process of setting up my own homelab and would greatly appreciate your recommendations and advice. Below, I provide the details and requirements of my project:

Goals and Essential Requirements:

1. Homelab Server with Proxmox: I want to create an environment to learn and practice various IT certifications.
2. TrueNAS: One of the virtual machines will be a TrueNAS that will utilize 6 Seagate Exos X18 HDDs, each 18 TB (already have them) for backups and cloud at home.
3. Cybersecurity and Sysadmin Labs: I need to set up labs with virtual machines for practice.
4. Home Service Applications: I wish to run various applications in virtual machines and containers (Docker or similar) to service at home.

Components I Already Have:

• Chassis: Fractal Design Node 804
• HDDs: 6 Seagate/dell Exos X18 - 18 TB

Additional Requirements:

• Low Power CPU: Seeking a processor that doesn’t consume too much energy.
• Silent System: I want the server to be as silent as possible.
• Compatibility and Performance: Compatibility with Proxmox and good performance to handle multiple virtual machines and containers.

Components I Need:

• Motherboard
• Processor (CPU)
• RAM Memory
• Additional Storage (SSD for the operating system and cache)
• Power Supply Unit (PSU)
• Cooling Systems (if necessary)
• Network Card (if not integrated into the motherboard)

I’m open to specific recommendations for models and brands that you consider suitable. Additionally, any additional advice on configuration, optimization, and management of a homelab like this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Zedicus]

couple of ways to do this. older server gear is a valid option:

D1541-D4U (any variant, 2T8R has 10gb and LSI onboard)
this board supports ECC REG DDR4 and that stuff is cheap.
and the board has a low power Xeon on board so this would be the entire root of everything you need.

or desktop gear:
maybe some random ASRock b450 board (b450 is about the sweet spot for features and power) then decide if ECC is of value to you as it can be a headache on desktop boards. then decide if 10gb and HBA is needed.

so basically, you need to decide a budget and if things like ECC, 10gb, HBA ports, etc are important to you plans. and if used gear and flashing firmware is something you are comfortable with, or if it needs to be new and or plug and play.