Hey guys, I've got a 2010 Mac Mini available for free — 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3 (16GB on hand to swap in), 256GB SSD. Currently I run my security lab as VMs on my daily driver (Wazuh 4.14 under KVM on CachyOS, plus Kali and Parrot), and I want to move the always-on parts off my main machine.
What I want running 24/7:
– Wazuh manager + indexer, small deployment
– Suricata as a passive sensor
– Pi-hole/AdGuard + Unbound
My read on the Mini's limits: USB 2.0 only so external storage is a non-starter, no AES-NI, and it's x86-64-v1 so anything RHEL 9-based won't even boot — Debian + Docker or nothing. Fine for DNS, questionable for an OpenSearch indexer.
Where I'd like input:
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Has anyone actually run a Wazuh indexer on a Core 2 Duo with 16GB? Usable or miserable?
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If the answer is miserable — is the move to just skip it and buy a used i5-8500T box (M720q / 7060 Micro / 800 G4), or use the Mini for DNS only and buy the box anyway?
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Anything I'm underrating about the old hardware? Power draw at idle is the part I haven't measured.
Happy to be told the free box is a trap. Any advice welcomed as I am definitely new as far as homelabbing.
Source: r/homelab · by /u/DragonflyEven377