Forum Topic

Network Attached Storage (NAS)

  • @shinto
    salamat sir check ko
  • I left my original homelab setup back in the PH so i kinda missed it. It is still running quite nicely from my folks place and I'm still able to access it remotely. They have not mentioned anything about their power bill so far. lol. However I do miss having a physical homelab as I have this constant need to tinker around and learn new things.

    So over the course of the holidays and start of the year I planned my setup. Initially I just wanted to get a single Tiny PC run proxmox to host an Omada Cloud Controller as I couldnt justify buying a $130 Omada Cloud Controller (OC200) when used 1L PCs are cheaper and far more versatile.

    But then as soon as I received my first tiny PC, my mind started to wonder again about redundancy? If my solitary PC fails, then so goes my Omada Network. Eventually that escalated to the things that I wanted to improve upon from my first homelab setup so now I found myself with 3 tiny PCs.

    So now I'm sharing my Aussie Homelab 2.0 setup.

    Features
    - 3 Node PVE + Ceph Hyperconverged Cluster with High Availability (No single point of failure and all apps automatically recover within 5 min of a node failure detection)
    - Used only LXCs and Docker containers and No VMs this time due to the smaller footprint and faster recovery/failover time
    - All self hosted apps are presented using a central dashboard using Homepage/Dashy app (No need for bookmarks and no need to remember IP Addresses)
    - All hosted apps are reverse proxied and properly SSL cert'd via Nginx Proxy Manager (No more insecure https warnings)
    - All critical apps have monitoring and alerting in place via Netdata, Uptime-Kuma and ntfy
    - Omada Home network is segregated via VLANs (Admin, IoT, Guests, and Ceph) and ACLs and remotely accessible via Wireguard directly configured on the router. (Had to pay an additional $5 AUD for my ISP to take me off CGNAT and give me a static IP)

    Hardware
    - Lenovo Thinkcentre M720q Tiny
    - CPU: G5400T (2C/4T)
    - RAM:
    32GB x 2 nodes
    16GB x 1 node
    - STORAGE
    Intel DC SSD S3700 200GB (Used for Proxmox OS)
    256GB NVME SSD (mixed, consumer, used for CEPH OSD)
    - NETWORK
    1Gbe (Builtin, Used for frontend management)
    2.5Gbe M.2 A+E Key to Ethernet RTL8125B NIC (Used Ceph comms only with dedicated VLANs setup via Omada)

    Omada SDN Hardware
    ER707-M2 (2.5Gbe Router)
    SG3210X-M2 (2.5Gbe + 10Gbe Switch)
    EAP660HD (2.5Gbe Access Point)

    Resources
    2.5G M.2 A+E Key to Ethernet
    <click here for link>
    Intel DC S3700 200Gb
    <click here for link>
    16GB RZX Fatality DDR4 2400
    <click here for link>
    Niimbot D110 Portable Label Printer
    <click here for link>
    Tapo P110 Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring
    <click here for link>


    Setup Guides
    Proxmox Helper Scripts
    <click here for link>
    Homepage Setup Guide
    <click here for link>
    Reverse Proxy and SSL Setup
    <click here for link>
    Complete Omada Setup
    <click here for link>


    Pics
    M720q tiny PVE + Ceph Hyperconverged cluster





    Homepage Dashboard



    Omada SDN



    -- edited by alaeh on Feb 11 2024, 01:40 AM
  • @alaeh
    nice. planned to install proxmox sa mini pc ko kaso nagkatamaran na at baka hindi ubra yung mayat maya dadalhin s akung saan saan.
  • @scandinavian_armor,

    Your use case to me sounds more like just a regular windows PC with a drive D:\ where you store or dump files for backup. You can easily move files from your work computer to your tiny pc via a shared folder on the network which meets your basic requirement of "serving files". Not to mention it will be spending most of its time stored in your backpack.

    Not sure if proxmox will add any value or if anything unnecessarily complicates it for you.

    -- edited by alaeh on Feb 12 2024, 11:17 PM
  • @alaeh
    its a regular pc with a semi file server mode. lol. originally bought it as a mini file server sana kaso yung laptop ko is gamit na halos ni misis so ending yun ginagamit ko at dinadala: mini pc + portable monito(na dating secondary monitor ng laptop).
  • Impressive setup! Your attention to detail and redundancy is commendable. How's the performance with the Omada Network? I'm considering a similar homelab setup.
  • @kimnancy,

    I've got no complaints. Omada SDN has been stable and reliable so far. It took awhile to figure things out due to the many bells and whistles within the Omada sytem but once I learned them I'm now able to find my way around.

    I don't think I'll be going back to the standalone router or mesh setup either. I prefer every component to be wired and dedicated now (ie separate router, switch, and controller) and just add wireless access points as needed. While I understand this introduces complexity.. it is complexity that "makes sense" to me from a configurability and versatiliy standpoint being a homelabber.
  • ^I know this thread is getting out of topic now since it is for NAS (not Networking) but how did you optimize your APs to get the maximum speed out of it? I'm currently running 3 Omada APs (EAP610, EAP650, and EAP670) and I'm having a hard time optimizing it. Getting random disconnects and slow speed.
  • Hi all,

    Apologies for flooding the thread with non-NAS discussions.

    @Driz_12,

    Maybe best to post in the Omada thread. Ive had issues with disconnections early on as well but this ia due to high channel utilization on the 2.4Ghz band. The EAP660 HD's antennas being too powerful that it even my mobile devices tend to prefer that channel over using 5ghz or even 6ghz so it "overehelmed" that band. so i followed suggestions in reddit to tune down everything on the 2.4ghz band (ie channel width = 20, tx power = low, channel = trial and error, i tried all channels and selected which ones provided the lowest interference). That seemed to work for me.

    I did the opposite for the 5ghz band where i set everything to high but still had to play around with the channels and used whichever ones had the least interference.

    On the EAP side i have OFDMA enabled and on the router/switches side i have "flow control" enabled wherever i can set them.

    -- edited by alaeh on Feb 14 2024, 05:55 PM
  • brace your selves unraid users: <click here for link>

    sana wag maging ala-broadcom yung unraid.

    -- edited by polka on Feb 19 2024, 02:46 AM
  • @polka
    reminds me of Wondershare Filmora suspending Lifetime License holders their free updates. mabuti nalang at they accepted the Lifetime License agreement prior to changing their revenue model. they still honor the Lifetime License and release updates for free whenever.

    honestly, hindi ko need yung updates since ok naman use case ko for my Unraid server and stable siya sa current configuration ko. i got my money's worth sa license na binili ko sa kanila but for others, i can only imagine their disappointment sa ganitong balita.
  • Putting the homelab PCs and network gear together, and tidying up using a 4U open frame rack, 1U rack shelf and 1U PDU. Since the rack shelf is slightly inclined I had to use velcro tape (white) to prevent the 1L PCs and the router from sliding off.

    Looking back I think a more elegant and cleaner solution would have been to use Neodymium magnetic strips since the shelf is metal and wouldnt be visible. But then I plan to add a simple 4 bay NAS in the future and that may create problems.

    Next planned upgrades:
    - replace consumer NVME drives with Enterprise Grade NVME with PLP for the Ceph Storage Pools (Micron 7300 or 7400 Pro 960GB M.2 2280). Still thinking about how to cool these drives as they run hot. Perhaps a copper heatspreader with fan plugged to USB from Aliexpress will do.
    - add 2 more 1L PCs and make it a 5 node PVE + Ceph clusters so I can create more redundancy and ceph will perform much better with more nodes. :D




    -- edited by alaeh on Mar 09 2024, 10:25 PM