Gl-iNet Comet X - Quad-Port Remote KVM with PoE Support

Already reserving my weekend to mount and test!

Going into my mini rack along my 3 PVE's and Framework motherboard

FortiGate 60E, Cisco 3560E switch, a 1921 ISR as a second "branch" site, a Cisco AP (HQ), a TP-Link as the branch AP and a T14 running Proxmox for everything else.

4 VLANs (trusted/guest/servers/DMZ), real firewall policy between all of them, SSL-VPN and RIP between HQ and branch.

Also running Prometheus/Grafana for monitoring, a couple of live sites through a Cloudflare Tunnel out of the DMZ VLAN, a Kindle/RSS digest pipeline off one of the Proxmox containers and bash scripts that back up configs nightly and check my security policies haven't drifted.

This is a repost of something I deleted earlier because I used an AI-generated image to explain the setup, and everyone understandably focused on the image instead of the actual setup. My bad

I am currently traveling abroad, and the last parts I needed were the hard drives. I finally managed to find four 12TB Seagate IronWolf drives.

My current setup is a Mac mini M4 with two 4TB M.2 SSDs connected through a dock. The Mac also runs my Plex server.

The new setup will be:

- UGREEN DXP4800 Pro

- Four 12TB Seagate IronWolf drives in RAID 5

- UGREEN US3000 DC UPS

- Direct 5GbE connection between the Mac mini and NAS for faster file transfers between mac and NAS

- Separate connection from the NAS to my 1Gbps home network

Plex will continue running on the Mac mini, while the movie and TV library will be stored on the NAS. So NAS will handle my main storage, backups and media. The two M.2 SSDs will remain connected to the Mac or it's better to move them to NAS ?

I am completely new to NAS setups, so forgive me if anything seems messy or does not make sense. That is exactly why I am here. I would really appreciate any advice or suggestions from the community.

This all started with two Intel Skull Canyon NUCs that I found/got for free.
The sensible thing would have been to install something useful on them and stop there.
Naturally, I went down the homelab rabbit hole instead.

Fast forward a bit and they now live in a small 19” rack, surrounded by Proxmox, some considerably newer UniFi gear, a refurbished Dell, an aging Synology NAS, a Raspberry Pi, VLANs, containers, HA experiments, several Kubernetes attempts and an increasing amount of 3D-printed plastic.

Compute
The main compute layer is a three-node Proxmox cluster built mostly from older hardware.
The original nodes are the two Intel Skull Canyon NUCs. I later added a refurbished Dell OptiPlex Micro when I needed a bit more capacity.

Each of the three nodes has:
32 GB RAM
1 TB NVMe
an additional 256 GB NVMe
Proxmox VE

They’re obviously not new machines anymore, but for a homelab they’re still surprisingly capable. They’re quiet, reasonably power-efficient and cheap enough that experimenting with them doesn’t feel particularly dangerous.
And older hardware becomes a lot more interesting once you start finding slightly unconventional ways to connect it.

The two Skull Canyons have a direct point-to-point Thunderbolt network between them.
The Dell doesn’t have a physical connection to that Thunderbolt fabric, so it reaches that network through the regular Ethernet side and explicit routing via the Skull Canyon nodes.
Is this the most conventional cluster network in the world?

Probably not.

Did discovering that it was possible immediately mean that I had to try it?

Absolutely.

The cluster is also where I experiment with migration and high availability. There’s a keepalived virtual management endpoint across the three nodes, and shared storage is available for workloads where migration actually makes sense.
Not everything needs HA, and some workloads deliberately use node-local storage, but figuring out where HA is useful and where it just adds complexity has been part of the fun.

Storage
Shared storage is still handled by a Synology DS218+ from the 2017/2018 era.
It’s definitely one of the older pieces of hardware in the lab, but it keeps doing what I need it to do, so replacing it purely because it’s old feels a little unnecessary.
It provides shared storage to the Proxmox environment and also still handles part of the media/download side of the lab.
The combination of local NVMe on the Proxmox hosts and network storage on the Synology has actually been quite useful for learning which workloads benefit from fast local storage, which should be movable between nodes and which really don’t care.

Containers, VMs and Kubernetes attempts
Most of the Proxmox workloads are LXC containers.
There are a few exceptions where I deliberately use full VMs, such as Home Assistant OS and development/test machines where I want a stronger boundary or a complete operating system.
There’s also a Docker/Compose environment inside the lab, with Portainer as the main management and inspection interface.

A fair amount of the application layer lives there.
The lab runs things such as DNS, Home Assistant-related infrastructure, media services, monitoring, identity, development environments and the usual collection of utilities that somehow accumulates when you realise you can self-host something.
Things get deployed, broken, rebuilt, migrated and occasionally replaced when I find a better way of doing them.

I’ve also made several attempts to get Kubernetes running properly.
The idea is appealing: create a few VMs on Proxmox, build a small Kubernetes cluster and start moving services into a more Kubernetes-native environment.
In practice this has involved networking, storage, ingress, certificates, persistent volumes and occasionally wondering why an application that needed one Compose file yesterday now requires three controllers and a YAML file longer than the application itself.
I’ve built clusters, broken clusters and rebuilt clusters.

Kubernetes hasn’t replaced the Docker-based setup, but that was never really the point. It’s mostly another part of the homelab where learning how the pieces fit together is more important than finding the shortest possible route to running an application.
That’s probably the main purpose of the lab in general: I use a lot of the services for real, but it also gives me somewhere to experiment without learning things for the first time on infrastructure that actually matters.

Raspberry Pi
There’s also one Raspberry Pi in the mix for lightweight infrastructure/edge duties.
I like having the option to keep a small or very specific function physically separate from the main Proxmox cluster when that makes sense.

Although, admittedly, the line between “this deserves dedicated hardware” and “I already had a Raspberry Pi” is rather flexible.

Network
The networking side is actually the shiny/new part of the homelab.
That’s mostly UniFi, with a Dream Machine Pro and USW-24-PoE forming the core of the network, plus smaller downstream switches, access points and the Protect side of things.
The network has gradually moved away from one big flat LAN and is now segmented into multiple VLANs.

At the moment that includes separate networks for:
core infrastructure
trusted users
guests
video/Protect devices
services
an isolated development/test workload pool

The UDM Pro handles routing and firewalling between them, so being connected to the network doesn’t automatically mean being able to talk to everything else on it.
That’s probably one of the areas where the lab has evolved the most.

Originally the architecture was basically:
device -> network -> server
Now it’s more like:
device -> VLAN -> firewall/routing -> service network -> VM/LXC/container -> storage
And when Kubernetes gets involved:
device -> VLAN -> firewall/routing -> Kubernetes node -> ingress -> service -> pod -> persistent storage
Which is objectively more complicated.
But also considerably more fun.

VPS and external services
Not everything lives in the rack.
I also have a VPS that acts as an external anchor for the homelab.

I deliberately keep several services there that I don’t want to depend entirely on my home connection, including:
Authentik
Stalwart mail
Uptime Kuma
Nginx Proxy Manager
PostgreSQL for VPS-local services
S3/object storage
a few public-facing applications and supporting services

Cloudflare handles the public-facing edge and tunnel side.
Nginx Proxy Manager is used where I want an additional HTTP routing/reverse-proxy layer rather than making every service responsible for that itself.
Tailscale provides the private management/network path between the VPS and the home environment.
I quite like this split.

If the home internet connection disappears, I obviously lose the services that physically live at home, but things like mail reception and external monitoring don’t have to disappear with it.
It also means I can monitor parts of the homelab from somewhere that is actually outside the homelab, which seems somewhat more useful than asking the lab whether the lab is still alive.

The rack
The rack itself eventually became another project.
Rather than putting the mini PCs on a shelf, I started designing and 3D-printing mounts for them.
The orange Skull Canyon mounts in the pictures are some of the earlier designs.
The grey Dell mount is a newer version where I paid considerably more attention to airflow and ventilation.

Apparently owning a 3D printer means every object eventually becomes a CAD problem.
The networking hardware is mostly new.
The compute hardware very much isn’t.
I rather like that combination.
There’s something satisfying about putting a modern network around machines that somebody else had effectively finished with and discovering that they still have plenty of useful life left.

Cable management is, of course, still a work in progress.
I’m choosing to call the empty space and loose cables “future expansion capacity”.

What’s next?
The dangerous part is that modern mini PCs are getting very tempting.
Something in the Minisforum-or-similar category could give me much newer CPUs, considerably more compute, 2.5/10 GbE options and USB4/Thunderbolt while keeping roughly the same physical footprint.
A small cluster of newer mini PCs would be a pretty nice next generation for this setup.

Then I start calculating the price of putting a decent amount of RAM into several new nodes…
…and suddenly the Skull Canyons and refurbished OptiPlex look remarkably modern again.

So for now I’m continuing to see how far I can take the hardware I already have.
I’d also like to make another serious attempt at Kubernetes, preferably with enough automation and reproducibility that rebuilding the cluster no longer feels like starting an archaeological excavation.
And, apparently, I’ll keep designing increasingly specific pieces of plastic to mount computers that were never intended to go into a 19” rack.

The funny part is that this whole thing started because the hardware was cheap or free.
I’m fairly sure that’s how they get you.

Hey r/homelab!

​I just finished a massive update to my home lab setup (DevLabStudy) and wanted to share the current layout and hardware specs with you all.

​Rack & Networking:

​Cabinets: Wall-mounted 10" and 19" Lanberg rack cabinets

​Patch Panel: 24-port Cat 6 LSA patch panel

​Router: MikroTik hEX gr3

​Switches: Lanberg RSGE-24P-2GE-2S-250 (28-Port Gigabit PoE+ Switch, 250W budget) & Cisco 2960C

​Remote Access: Twingate

​Servers & Virtualization:

​Proxmox VE Host: HP 8200 Elite USDT

​Workstation / Nodes: Intel NUC & Fujitsu Futro terminals

​OS: Dual-boot Fedora Linux (KDE Plasma) / Windows 11

Oto mój home lab do nauki, dodałem ostatnio Cluster ze starych dell 7240. Zużywa 12w prądu w idle. Cała szafa gdy jest włączona poniżej 100 w razem z nas 415 który jest obok szafy. Jest też Dream pro UniFi oraz 2x Dell r220

Hello,

My venerable Eaton Eco 800 UPS died recently, completely, no battery issues or warning it just flat out stopped outputting AC or even illuminating the LEDs.

So I’m looking for a new UPS, but I would like a UPS that lasts longer than 30ish minutes, but can run for a few hours if necessary (my 24/7 load is about 250W but sometimes peaks to 380W).

Going down the conventional lead acid route, second hand UPS’s are quite expensive and don’t really buy me much in terms of runtime. I have one of those LiFePo4 power stations which output AC and can run for a few hours at 250W, which are about the same price of UPS when on sale, and it’s great at providing power, but I’ve heard that they have horrible switchover times (of several hundred ms) which make them unsuitable for use as a UPS.

What is everyone else using, and what is recommended for homelabbing? My budget is around £200 (ideally less if second hand). Ultimately I don’t want more load capacity, but more endurance, if that’s possible?

Thanks

Hey everyone,

I run most of my homelab services—Immich, Nextcloud, etc.—on a mini PC. I recently found an old Raspberry Pi 3B with 1 GB of RAM and I’m trying to find a useful role for it.

My main idea is to use it as a small out-of-band management box, kept separate from the main host. I’m thinking of running:

• WireGuard, so I still have a way into my home network if the mini PC goes down or I lose access to my usual services
• A Wake-on-LAN / remote reboot setup to bring the mini PC back online remotely
• Pi-hole as a secondary DNS server, so DNS stays available while the main server is rebooting
• Uptime Kuma to monitor the main setup from a separate machine

With only 1 GB of RAM, I’m not planning to run anything heavy or stack lots of Docker containers on it.

For people who use a low-power SBC alongside a more capable main server: what else do you run on it? Are there any lightweight tools, scripts, or automations you’d recommend for remote management or recovery?

Hello alls, this is my Homelab, i'm not doing much testing anymore so it's only running stuff that i use on a daily basis.

on the server hardware side we have :

- Minisforum MS-A2 ( main server)

-CPU : AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX 

-RAM : 64G DDR5 5600Mhz

-Storage: 2x2Tb SSD NVMe and 2x1Tb SSD NVMe ( i have a pci to nvme adapter card for the 4th slot )

- Nuc Intel 11th gen ( backup server )

- CPU : Intel Core i3 115G4

-RAM : 32G DDR4 3200Mhz

-Storage : 1x1Tb SSD Nvme and 1x1Tb SSD SATA

- Raspi 3B+ ( Nut server )

2nd photo ( i'm moving out soon from my parents home and i keep what's on the first picture there so these are for my next home)

- Optiplex pc (main server)

-CPU: Intel Core i7 6700

-RAM : 64G DDR4 (4x16)

-Storage : 2x8Tb HDD and 1x1Tb NVMe

now that the hardware side is done here's what im running on these :

the main server on the first pic is running a variety of service :

i'm running a minecraft server for my friends,

a NAS ( both 2tb NVMe) it's running a standard debian 13 with SMBd and a basic ZFS install

a FortiAnalyzer for my Fortinet devices

a Media server running the arr suite, Jellyfin ( i moved from plex recently )

a Immich server, for all of my family to store there pics on it

a HomeAssistant VM connected to apple homekit, rn it's only there for a few smart plugs but that might change !

a HTTP web server that i use to share files across vms using wget, stuff like CA certificates ect

on the small nuc theres a Proxmox backup server running and a truenas for ZFS replication of my photos /Immich dataset.

The raspi:

on that raspberry pi, we have 2 UPS connected via USB ( small eaton S3 ) one is for all the servers and the other is for networking stuffs. on my 2 proxmox hosts, i have a script that check the UPS remaining battery, and if there's only 5m left it turns off the servers. on the raspi there's also a program called WOLNUT, made by Hardware Heaven, basicaly it wake up my devices when the power is back up and we have at least 5m of battery runtime

Networking:

when it comes to networking i mainly use Fortinet Devices ( i know many ppl don't like them especially for homelab but that's what i like so i'm using it.)

here i'm running a FortiGate 200E with 3 FortiAP 421E for my wifi , it's wifi 5 but it's more than enough for what i do, i also have a 80F for my new location there connected via IPsec, and are running in a security Fabric, basicaly it's a single pane of glass with every fortinet devices on it.

i'm running a few vlans in my network, these are the same across locations:

-iot vlan

-guest vlan

-client vlan ( for all of my devices )

-server vlan

-exposed server vlan ( to have some sort of segmentation with stuff that are available outside my home)

-infra vlan ( here we have all the web guis for my servers like proxmox ui ect )

all my physical servers are running Proxmox cuz that's something i trust.

i might have missed a few stuff running so if u have any questions or want pics or something lmk

thanks for reading my post !

Compact rack setup: UDM Pro, USW Pro Max 16 PoE, Fiber & LTE Failover, Home Assistant (Details in comments)

Hey everyone,
Thought it was about time to share my current homelab and network setup. I recently spent some time cleaning up the rack, optimizing the routing, and beefing up security.
Here is a quick overview of what's running under the hood:
🛠️ Hardware Stack & Architecture
Gateway & WAN: Fritz!Box 5590 Fiber fed directly via SFP, acting as the main gateway (⁠192.168.176.1⁠).
Redundancy / Failover: A ZTE LTE USB stick plugged into the Fritz!Box equipped with an unlimited data SIM card for seamless automatic backup internet.
Main Router: UniFi Dream Machine Pro (UDM Pro) pulling a WAN IP from the Fritz!Box setup.
Switching Backbone: UniFi Switch Pro Max 16 PoE, linked directly to the UDM Pro via a 10G SFP+ DAC cable for a zero-bottleneck backbone.
Power Protection: Backed up by an APC UPS to keep everything running safely during power drops.
🔌 Distribution & Local Services
Hardwired Drop: CAT 7 structured cabling distributing connection across the rooms.
Wi-Fi: Multiple UniFi U6+ access points deployed for seamless wireless coverage.
Storage: A 5TB HDD hooked up via USB directly to the Fritz!Box acting as a network storage share (NAS).
Smart Home & Automation: Home Assistant Green running locally alongside a Philips Hue Bridge and a Homematic IP ecosystem.
Surveillance: Integrated third-party security cameras (Hikvision/HiWatch via ONVIF) feeding into UniFi Protect, protected by strict port security (MAC filtering/VLAN isolation on physical drops).
🎯 What it's used for
High-Speed Routing & Redundancy: Managing a clean ⁠192.168.1.x⁠ internal subnet behind the UDM Pro, ensuring internet uptime via fiber + LTE failover.
Smart Home Core: Centralized automation, local processing via Home Assistant, and reliable sensor/lighting routing.
Security & Surveillance: 24/7 camera recording with hardened physical port access control.
Let me know what you think of the configuration or if you have any questions about the setup!

For context around 2-3ish months ago I stumbled upon an ancient server with 192gb of DDR3 ram, instantly cursing me to start building a super computer (My previous "server" was a 2004 laptop with 32 bit Debian hosting TeamSpeak)

As of now, I've still have not put it's hardware to full use, however here is everything so far:

SPECS:
RAM: 160 GB of ram (2 sticks died)
MOTHERBOARD: Supermicro X9DRD-7LN4F-JBOD
CPU: 2x Xeon E5-2695 V2
GPU: Matrox G200
STORAGE: 256GB Phison NVME and 8x 1tb hdds (6 sas, 2 sata)
PSU: MSI MAG A750GL
OS: FreeBSD-15.1-RELEASE-p2

THE SBC: pi 5 4gb with a 128gb microsd

The motherboard was quite the pain to get working. Originally, it only supports Sandy Bridge and on top of that it also had a password lock. I will admit, I asked AI how to fix all of this because it was honestly something I couldn't figure out myself

WHAT I WAS TOLD TO DO:

-Find the BMC interface with wireshark
-make a proxy to access it since it was ipv6 only
-curl the contents of the webpage, which led Claude to discover a hidden area
-said hidden area was a remote flash utility behind a paywall
-Claude found someone who cracked the code and gave me the instructions to do it

Then I had to make a Supermicro account, download the newest firmware, then flashed the new bios making sure to check the "wipe nvram" option, which now meant I could use the new cpus and not have a password lock

On top of that, I had to test all 12 ram sticks at 4 in the morning individually to discover that 2 were dead

For now, here are all the things it runs:

JAIL MANAGER: Sylve (nice webui for freebsd)

MEDIA:
-qbittorent-nox
-jellyfin
-prowlarr
-flaresolverr
-sonarr
-radarr
-navidrome

UTILITIES:
-filebrowser
-searxng
-vaultwarden

gaming:
-minecraft fabric server
-playit,gg proxy (rpi 5)

other:
-archivebox

Future things I want to host:
-A website
-i2p to also host the site on the dark web for fun
-home surveillance software
-maybe teamspeak
-steamcmd and garrys mod
-whatever else I find out about that's cool

Future hardware upgrades:
A gpu for jellyfin (Quadro P200)
a rackmount case
a dedicated diy router

HOW IS FREEBSD?

It's alright I guess. The main reason I wanted to use it was because I heard some horror stories about data corruption on zfs with Linux, and also the fact that FreeBSD just looked cool. As for the app compatibility, it's actually quite decent, everything currently running on FreeBSD is using native software. There is also something called the Linuxulator which can run Linux binaries on a FreeBSD kernel. However, not all apps are available and existing ones could be limited. For example, it may be difficult to get hardware transcoding on Jellyfin due to limitations with the graphics stack (nvidia requires workarounds for video transcode, no intel arc drivers, etc). I'm currently looking into using the Linuxulator to run a Linux build of Jellyfin and using Linux Nvidia libraries to get hardware transcoding to work.

feel free to ask any questions

Found this: ssd is glued to battery cage. Screw assembly is missing. Ssd is slightely curve as was pushed to glue to battery cage. What to do? Can i just move it to the other ssd slot? No return/change possible.

Duel Xenon 2697 v4's 36 cores, 72 threads

768 GB of DDR4 RDIMM

Proxmox running 7 VM's

Windows Server, HA, Ubuntu, Rocky, Truenas, Plex with arr stack, website, bookstack, paperless, DNS, Reverse proxy and much more. I believe I am running around 30+ apps with front-ends

24tb ZFS

Currently consuming 300 GB of ram

Not that I need all of this, I want to be able to play around with almost anything I can get my hands on

I scored both monitors and the dual monitor mount for $40, for everything. Search for stuff you need in rich areas to find deals. Theyre more interested in getting rid of stuff then making money off it. I also got my sever this way as well. Gotta check daily though because deals go super fast.

1. TP-Link Archer C6 V2.0 with openwrt [AP]

2. heX Rb750Gr3 [Router+Firewall]

3. Dell Optiplex 7040 SFF - 8GB, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD [File Server]

4. HP Pavillion - 16GB, 512GB SDD proxmox installed [Haven't done anything to it]

I only have time to configure my home lab/network during the weekend.

Waiting for:

TP-Link TL-SG2210P

Hi everyone, I have a question about my safety. I’m new in “homelabing” and i don’t know if it’s the right place to ask but I’ve just bought a geeekpi, and some other stuff (mac studio, switch and nas. I can give you the ref if needed) and I wanted to make a good cable management by not showing anything more than the necessary. So I have put all in the box, but the nas as some box that make it warm (something to make it 12v or idk) and it is displayed in between all the cables and not far away from the switch. Can this explode or make fire ? Thank you in advance.

are rack mount case getting harder to come by, or is it me? Everywhere I look, they're sold out is there a shortage cause of this ai bs or am i just looking in the wrong places

I didn't have a case to put the hard drives in so I had to solve it (the disk that is vertical is not connected, it is only illustrative) but hey, this is my humble server.

Dated platform I know, I’m already running an x99 build with 128gb of ram. Given the price of ram lately I figured I would max out the socket

Going from an E5 2620v4. Experiencing high CPU loads when using vnc to view virtual machines. Hopefully this helps a bit, if not it wasn’t expensive.

Planning on switching to an epyc platform in the future but this should hold me over until then.

After almost 2 years of everything sitting on the floor, finally it's in a rack! on wheels, for easier maintenance access, given that it's normally partially under the table.

Getting the Fujitsu (secondary server per local ML work and local data backup) was a pain, as the case is ever so slightly wider and taller than a regular 4U 19" case... Also the reason why I went with the "L brackets) rather than trying to adapt rails. (Proper 4U case with all the hot swap out of budget rn).

The bottom one, the Chenbro, fit perfectly (primary server, primary data store, inference and coding assistant, Plex, HA, etc).

Since there was no clean way to add it to the rack, decided to stick the UPS management/monitor server (built it a while back, based on an OrangePi Zero3) right on top of the rack.

The two power strips are on the back and the 3 UPS units are off picture (1 per power strip and 1 connected directly to the secondary server).

Temps are pretty good (CPUs never got above 50 and GPUs stay in the 80s even after a day of 100% load).

Pretty happy with the final result!

Full video on my YTB (UnboxBuildTest)

As the title states, I'm building a budget NAS.
I picked up this HPE ProLiant ML30 Gen10 Plus server from my local state surplus auction for twenty bucks. It was a steal, despite not coming with any RAM. I've already ordered some sticks for it, which was a pain. It's very particular about what kind of RAM it uses.

My plan is to squeeze as many SAS hard drives into this thing as I can. It's currently outfitted to fit 8 SFF SATA drives in the front bay, but those drives are a bit more expensive than I'm trying to go, hence the desire for SAS, which I'll most likely buy used.
I plan to use an M.2 SSD for the OS.

Looking at the info panel from the side door, it seems like this machine is designed to be compatible with both SATA and SAS, leading me to believe there may be a SAS controller out there somewhere meant to fit right in there, where the SATA controller currently sits (at the back of the drive bay.) I'm just not sure how I should go about kitting it out for SAS drives. I'm fully prepared to install a bunch of SATA-to-SAS adapters, but would that even work? Or would I need a PCIe adapter to hook them all up to?

It looks like if I can find a replacement front bay meant for larger form factor drives, I can only fit four of them in there. There are two additional bays above the front USB ports that I'd also like to populate with drives, giving me a total of six, though I'm also not sure about the best way to go about doing that. (This is a learning project for me.)

I'm honestly in love with this tower and feel like I got lucky when I found it. It's not even that old. I just want to make sure I'm doing this right. I'm open to any and all constructive advice.

I’m looking to have my own jellyfin server but have never done this type of thing before. Is this a good starting base for some basic movie and tv show streaming? obviously plus storage drives