I’m trying to figure out how to continue my homelab but stuck down a rabbit hole. Currently I only have a Lenovo think centre mini PC with:
8400T CPU
256gb nvme boot (running zimaos)
2TB team group ssd
2x8gb ddr4 sodimm
I also have a raspberry pi 5 4gb just running pihole
The Lenovo runs the following:
Jellyfin
Teamspeak 6 Server
Home Assistant
All of my apps assist with jellyfin…
I’m trying to decide on how to setup a storage system for backups and photos and etc. My issue is I keep getting stuck on wether to get a pre built or if I should build my own. I’ve looked at getting a mini itx board and get something from icy dock to store drives and put it in my 10” mini rack. I’ve also looked at 45homelabs especially today since they dropped the new X4 pre order. I know I’m overcomplicating this to hell. I want to either free up the Lenovo to just be proxmox so I can tinker and or make it into a router and transfer all of my stuff to the new system. Or keep jellyfin on Lenovo and just use the new system as a file server. I’d like to push everything to one system but not sure what to do.
A first decision I would make is do you want a system that is mostly turnkey or a platform you can tinker and upgrade.
Ugreen has some nice basic systems you can use their software, truenas or unraid.
You can also grab a case and start throwing whatever you want in it.
For me this comes down to scaling. I want a platform I can swap mobo and expansion cards to get more drives, networking, or when it isn’t crazy expensive, more RAM.
You can make proxmox do so much.
I would personally recommend pairing up an expandable platform with proxmox. Then you can start adding all your VM goodies.
I started with a mini pc with proxmox.
I now have a threadripper system, 192gb of RAM, and hope to play with an Intel B60 and SR-IOV in the next week or so. (I have to finish rebuilding my Unraid server first)
So I want the ability to tinker and upgrade. My issue a lot is deciding on how much cpu I need too. Like when it comes to how much I need for each vm and service. I thought about am4 because boards are cheap and cpu aren’t bad but loose on transcoding. Then I looked at the intel core ultra’s like the i5 which is cheap and a mini itx isn’t too bad but obviously ram is killer. I really thought about running proxmox on the system I’d like to build and just have a true nas instance on it.
Lenovo mini PC - virtual machine host, Jellyfin as VM or container with iGPU passthrough for transcoding, AdGuardHome or PiHole in a VM or container for local DNS.
Raspberry Pi - Dedicated HomeAssistant box (radio dongles often have passthrough problems as a VM)
Storage server - TrueNAS box with Linux ISO acquisition and management systems running as TrueNAS apps. All internet traffic shunted through VPN.
I Normally run out of PCIe lanes before I run out of CPU.
But it comes down to what you are doing.
Depending how it goes. You could sell the raspberry pi for a nice chunk and use that more more goodies. I’ve sold some of mine, and will probably rotate out another two. But that is me.
My main suggestion would be to avoid all the hardware vendor provided OS stuff. They just don’t have the track record of dependability that the likes of a Debian or a BSD have. In particular will you get security updates in a timely manner? What about in 5 years time? Is there telemetry?
I base this opinion off many years of watching the security story of consumer product OSs on routers, TVs…etc fold.
Okay so I’m overthinking the CPU thing at least for now starting out. I did think about selling the Pi just because I have more and I only used that one cause I got one of those pironman5 cases for like 20$ on FB marketplace with an nvme drive. So I’d be able to store my linux ISO’s on my truenas and do any of the transcoding through the lenovo mini pc? Also to reply to ack. Yeah that’s why I don’t want to go with consumer OS stuff. I would’ve went with Ugreen and flashed truenas onto it if I did that. I’m trying to remove all OS’s I haven’t personally installed in my home as it is. Thats a whole other topic lol. So all in all it’d be best just to build a box that’s upgradeable probably 6 core to start? I’m guessing amd vs intel not really a thing other than transcoding ability?
I got a Synology DS216+II NAS about 10 years ago. I use it for serving files, plex, docker, web apps.
I’m still using it, and am only just starting to run up against its limitations, mostly due to kernel age of DSM.
I upgraded its RAM from 1GB to 8GB about a year after getting it and that made a massive improvement. I don’t know what they were thinking selling it with just 1GB.
It’s using a dual core Celeron N3050 processor so you really don’t need much to get started.
I’d keep the Lenovo as the Proxmox/Jellyfin box and build or buy a separate storage server for your photos, backups, and media. That gives you a clean separation: the NAS handles storage while Proxmox handles the services, and you can later move containers around without risking your data. A separate NAS also gives you a proper place for Proxmox backups instead of keeping everything on the same machine.
I wouldn’t turn the Lenovo into the router yet. Get the storage side working first, mount it to Proxmox over NFS/SMB, and then decide whether you actually need another machine for routing. Also, I’d keep any Jazz-related site/content separate from the homelab itself rather than mixing the two.
