The Computing bits
This is probably one of the most important set of units I have in my homelab environment. After a long research I have opted for the Intel NUC. There are different reasons for this choice and primarily these include low power consumption and super low noise levels. After purchasing the first one and checking the consistent performances I have decided to buy more of the same type to bring consistency in my homelab configuration.
At the time of first updating this page the latest version of Intel NUCs shipping was with Gen 10 of the Intel Processor (Comet Lake / Frost Canyon). At the time of writing the first edition of this page, what I opted for was version Gen 6 (Skylake / Swift Canyon). They can run the latest releases of VMware vSphere 6.0, 6.5, 6.7, 7.0 and 7.0u1 pretty much out-of-the-box and with the help of Intel built-in network card. The latest builds of VMware 7 bundle already the Intel network card drivers required for the Intel NUC. For more information there is a great resource at virten.net. In addition, I have also created an article showing the steps to upgrade the existing VMware ESXi installation searching and comparing for the drivers details against the official VMware Compatibility List.
The only caveat if I really need to find one is this: only one built-in network card. This is not really a problem though. If we need to add more network cards we can simply use additional USB Network Adapters and use the excellent drivers from Jose Gomes. I’m using Realtek based nics with amazing and stable performances. Since version VMware 7.0 though Linux Kernel drivers are not a valid option anymore. A new VMware Native Drivers model is in place starting from VMware 7.0 and it is possible to add USB Network Adapters using the packages available at Fling VMware website. Packages based on Linux Kernel Drivers won’t work in version 7.0 and later.
In the meantime as the homelab was growing, I have added more Intel NUC 7i7DNHE based on the Gen 8 (Kaby Lake R / Dawson Canyon). The considerations about the VMware ESXi install are exactly the same as per Gen 6. Including extra support for the built-in network driver. Also for Gen 8 and VMware 7.0 moving forward, the preference is for the new VMware Native Drivers and performances are great even in conjunction with virtual Distributed Switches and several VLANs. More ideas on how to configure VLANs and multiple USB Network adapters are available here. The great news is all NUC generations starting from Gen 6, support 64 GB of RAM Memory and possibly even more if there were more RAM slots available, especially with newer CPU generations. A quick article shows how to run 64 GB of RAM Memory on Intel NUC and upgrade BIOS to the latest version. This is great for higher VM density per ESXi host!
 | 4x Intel NUC 7i7DNHE Intel Core i7 1.9 GHz 4x Samsung 64 GB RAM Memory 4x WD Green 120 GB M.2 SSD 4x USB Network Adapters (Anker - Realtek) |
 | 4x Intel NUC 6i5SYH Intel Core i5 1.8 GHz 4x Crucial 32 GB RAM Memory 4x Kingston 120 GB M.2 SSD 1x USB Network Adapter (Anker 3 Ports USB - Realtek) 1x USB Network Adapter (Anker - Realtek) 1x USB Network Adapter (Anker - Realtek) 1x USB Network Adapter (TPlink - Realtek) |
The Networking bits
For the Networking layer I have initially opted for small and cheap Managed Switches from Netgear. In the meantime the homelab environment evolved by adding more Hosts and Storage. So over time I bought 4 of these Netgear Switches. There are a few features that make these little switches desirable: VLANs and Jumbo frames support up to 9KB. Perfect for playing with a homelab. Unfortunately, even latest firmware installed I had a few issue with VLAN 802.1Q support. Only recently, the 4 small Netgear switches have been replaced with an easier to use and more robust TPlink smart managed switch capable of 24 Gigabit Ports. The VLAN 802.1Q works great, it is quick to configure and works as a champ overall.
Overtime I have also noticed good and stable performances with this configuration on all TPlink models. Also tried to upgrade the firmware from V1 to to V2 and the procedure all in all is very simple. If you’re planning to use these ones with VLANs just make sure PVLANs (Private VLANs) are not in use as the firmware shipping with these models do not support such configurations. In the end these are just an entry level Managed Switch models and still packed with lots of good features.
As soon as the computing side of things was growing I have decided to maintain the same network redundancy approach and invested this time in a couple of TPlink Layer2 managed switches. In particular, the choice went for the T2600G-18TS model. These models are Layer2 feature rich and definitely a good one for a homelab at an affordable price.
 | TPlink TL-SG1024DE Easy smart switch 24-Port Gigabit VLAN support for traffic segmentation IGMP snooping for multicast optimisation Jumbo frame support up to 9 KB packet size |
 | 2x TPlink T2600G-18TS 16-Port Gigabit L2 Managed VLAN support for traffic segmentation IGMP snooping for multicast optimisation Jumbo frame support up to 9 KB packet size Features rich L2 Switch |
The Storage bits
What about the Storage layer?
I have to admit I’m a Synology happy customer. Initially I bought a DS416Play model running with 4x 3TB Western Digital Red Pro Drives. All configured with RAID 10. So essentially 6TB to use for different purposes. As long as the homelab environment was growing I decided to go for an additional Synology DS916+ this time equipped with 4x 1TB SSD Drives. This one runs on a RAID 5 providing 3 TB of Storage. So the former is storing Backups and running the Storage for Data Dedupe Virtual Appliances like DellEMC Data Domain and HPE StoreOnce. The latter is used from Primary Storage and where all VMs are running.
The new one also comes with certified support for VMware VAAI integration. Both Synology NAS are configured with various iSCSI LUNs I use for several VMware Datastores. Last but not least also plenty of Apps easy to install and configure. Some of them proving helpful also for homelab environments like addtional Servers for DNS, Syslog and more.
The cost of the SSDs is going down compared to the beginning and the cost of 1TB SSD disks is not really prohibitive. As I was looking to expand even further the homelab, why not add a DS620Slim all SSD and upgrade to 6GB RAM Memory? A perfect NAS full of features and a very small factor.
 | 1x Synology DS416Play 4x 3TB WD Red Pro - 1GB RAM RAID 10 Dual gigabit LAN ports runs Link Aggregation Backup Storage |
 | 1x Synology DS916+ 4x 1TB SSD - 8GB RAM RAID 5 Dual Gigabit LAN Certified for VMware, Citrix, Hyper-V integration Primary Storage |
 | 1x Synology DS620Slim 6GB RAM 4x 1TB SSD RAID 5 2x 1TB SSD RAID 0 Dual Gigabit LAN Certified for VMware, Citrix, Hyper-V integration Primary Storage and fast Restores |
Which Applications can I run in a homelab like this?
Of course the list is not exaustive and can help having an idea on what we can use this homelab for. This list also include links to articles on this blog for a step by step walk through.
Hypervisors:
- VMware ESXi 6.0
- VMware ESXi 6.5
- VMware ESXi 6.7
- VMware ESXi 7.0
- VMware ESXi 7.0u1
- Acropolis Hypervisor (nested into VMware)
- Citrix XenServer 7.4 (nested into VMware)
- Hyper-V Core 2012 R2 (nested into VMware)
- Hyper-V Core 2016 (nested into VMware)
- Hyper-V Core 2019 (nested into VMware)
Server and Desktop OS Applications as Virtual Machines in VMware:
- FreeBSD NAS4Free
- FreeBSD FreeNAS
- Linux CentOS
- Linux ClearOS
- Linux SUSE
- Linux Ubuntu Desktop
- Linux Ubuntu Server
- Linux RedHat Enterprise
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
- Microsoft Windows Server 2016
- Oracle Solaris
Nutanix Server OS Applications nested in VMware vSphere:
- Windows Server 2016
- Linux Ubuntu 20.04
Virtual Storage Appliances:
- Cloudian
- DELL EMC Data Domain Virtual Edition
- DELL EMC Isilon
- DELL EMC Unity
- FreeNAS
- HPE 3PAR Simulator
- HPE StoreOnce
- HPE StoreVirtual
- NetApp ONTAP Simulator
- NetApp Virtual Storage Console
- NexentaStor Community Edition
- StarWind Cloud VTL for AWS
- StarWind Virtual SAN
- Quantum DXi Virtual Edition
HyperConverged Platforms:
- Nutanix CE (nested into VMware)
Cloud
Data Protection Applications:
- Veeam Agent for Linux
- Veeam Agent for Solaris
- Veeam Agent for Windows
- Veeam Availability for Nutanix
- Veeam Backup & Replication
- Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager
- Veeam Backup for Office 365
- VMware vSphere Data Protection
Deployment of Server Applications:
- AvePoint DocAve
- IBM Lotus QuickR
- IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
- Microsoft Active Directory
- Microsoft Exchange
- Microsoft Office 365
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Microsoft SQL Cluster
- Microsoft SQL Server
- Oracle Database 12c
- Oracle Database 19C
- Veeam Backup & Replication
- Veeam Backup Proxy
- Veeam ONE
- VMware vCenter 6.0
- VMware VCSA 6.5
- VMware VCSA 6.7
Monitoring:
Networking:
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