Preface:
I have some knowledge and experience in IT.
I am new to home-labing and have been going down the research rabbit hole to the extent I have 50tabs open and I am forgetting things I learnt already.*Information Overload*
That being said I have a pretty good idea on what I want to setup but am looking for guidance on if what I have planned to do is worth doing or am I making a misstep.
Hardware:
I have alot of old hardware I intend to use from previous work. Ideally I want to get this done without any cost so am happy to run it off these laptops.
1 x Mini firewall PC (One of those Chinese ones):
CPU: Intel Celeron N2940
RAM: 8GB (can upgrade it to 16GB)
Storage: 64GB SSD
Network: 4 x 1GE Ports
1 x HP ZBook Firefly 14 G7
CPU: Intel Core i5-10210U 1.6GHz/Turbo 4.2GHz (4 Cores, 8 Logical)
GPU: Nvidia Quadro P520
RAM: 16GB (Can upgrade to 32GB)
Storage: 512GB SSD
1 x HP ZBook 15u G5
CPU: Intel Core i7-8550U 1.8Ghz/Turbo 4Ghz (4 Cores, 8 Logical)
GPU: Radeon Pro WX 3100
RAM: 16 GB (Can Upgrade to 32)
Storage: 512GB SSD
1 x HP Elitebook 840 G10
CPU: Intel Core i5-1335U 1.3Ghz/Turbo 4.6Ghz (10Cores, 12 Logical)
RAM: 16GB (Can Upgrade to 32GB)
Storage: 512GB SSD
Storage:
2 x 500GB 2.5" External HDD
1 x 1TB 2.5" External HDD
1 x 500Gb External NVME SSD
The Setup:
I want to setup Mini Firewall PC as a firewall with OPNSense. I will but this inbetween my ISP router(in Bridge mode) and my current router turning it into just a Wi-Fi 7 AP.
Setup 1 Laptop with 2 x 500GB HDD connected via USB in RAID 1(Mirroring) as a server with ProxMox. Use ProxMox to setup the 2 HDDs as a RAID 1 NAS
In Proxmox run a Docker Engine with Portainer
In Docker Run AIOStreams, Audiobookshelf, Home Assistant, CCTV App, Vaultwarden, Immich, LibreNMS, AdGuard/Pi-hole.
Setup the HP ZBook Firefly 14 G7 laptop as an AI host device for Gemma 3 1b with OpenWeb UI.
Questions:
Is there actually a point for me to run Proxmox, or should I rather just run Docker Engine directly?
Which Laptop should I use as my Proxmox host?
Will I have enough power or should I run 2 ProxMox laptops?
Is my Firewall Perf on that Device going to suffer?
Should I run a NAS specific OS like TrueNAS or OMV?
Should I rather buy some type of cheap raid device for the 2 externals 2.5" HDDs like this or does it not really matter at that point: https://amzn.eu/d/0byL5hSN
Are there Apps I should run as a VM in ProxMox rather than a contianer in Docker or other things I should run in ProxMox?
Is there a CCTV App I can run in Docker thats compatible with most Wi-Fi Cameras?
How do I make this accessible externally without compromising everything, I want to be able to reach my apps without need of configuring a vpn on my device(Am I asking too much?) Maybe with FreeIPA? OR better to setup Tailscale or Gluetun?
What is a good App to setup to replace Google Drive. I know Immich is great for Pictures but I want something for Docs and files.(storage management I guess) Maybe Nextcloud or Papra?
I want to replace the cloud, Any other ap suggestions to look into?
Source: r/homelab · by /u/MarsupialLast3392