My Homelab Empire: Part 1
How I built my VMware homelab(s)
Introduction
This is a series of posts where I document how I got started with building and tinkering with my homelab. The first out of four posts will focus on the hardware specifics.
What is a homelab
A homelab is a great way to learn and experiment with new technologies in a safe and controlled environment, much like a science lab. In my case, my homelab serves as my VMware playground. It’s an excuse to strengthen my virtual infrastructure toolbox and just generally have fun with tech.
Build of Materials (BOM)
First iteration
My initial plan was to build the cheapest possible homelab with vSphere 7 using a laptop with VMware workstation, for the vCenter and an ARM ESXi. Initially inspired by this very well written Nakivo guide.
- Laptop Lenovo Legion 5, with VMware workstation VM ESXI on top of which a vCenter and a Domain Controller
2. Raspberry Pi 4b (for kit specs check here, case) with an Ubuntu server, Raspberry Pi OS VM
Second iteration
My first try wasn’t really practical due to the fact that my 2 ESXi hosts were on hardware with different CPU, AMD x86 and ARM. That’s why I splurged and bought a 2nd Raspberry PI 4B with 8GB RAM.
- Laptop with VMware workstation (ESXI with vCenter, DC)
- Raspberry 4GB (Raspberry Pi OS VM, Pi-Hole)
- Raspberry 8GB (Ubuntu server)
Current version: Third iteration
Even though having 2 Raspberry PIs meant I could start to practice VMware concepts without worrying about the CPU compatibility, my vCenter remained in my VMware Workstation ESXi. Despite my efforts to downsize its consumption by disabling certain services, as explained here, it still couldn’t have the sufficient amount of RAM to run normally and would take an hour to stabilize for the UI to be accessible or wouldn’t boot at all.
VMware Explore Barcelona was just in time to help me fix that by receiving a Maxtang Intel NUC!!!
As a vExpert I was able to get my hands on one, thanks to an amazingly generous community spirit that surrounds everyone involved with it.
The Maxtang NUC came without RAM memory and disk. That’s something I purchased and assembled additionally, a Samsung SATA drive and 2 Kingston RAM memory stick, 16GB each (total of 32GB).
Due to incompatibility with the built-in Realtek chipset, a USB to LAN adapter is also needed.
- Laptop with VMware workstation ESXI with vCenter, DC)
- Raspberry 4GB (Raspberry Pi OS VM, with Pi-Hole)
- Raspberry 8GB (Raspberry Pi OS VM) + Raspberry (Ubuntu server)
- Maxtang Intel Nuc (ESXI with Vcenter)
5. USB to LAN adapter
TL;DR
In case the detailed explanation is not your cup of tea, below is a short summary of the lab in a format promoted by William Lam with Homelab BOM comparison.
Platform
Intel, AMD, ARM
Approximate Build Date for Homelab
Start 2020 — In progress
Approximate Cost of Homelab
150 EUR Gifted Maxtang ~150 EUR
42EUR SSD M.2 Samsung 860 Evo 250GB SATA III
63EUR SODIMM Notebook Memory Kingston 16GB CL22 DDR4 3200MHz
14EUR Lanberg USB3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
12EUR upHere U120 USB Fan
1st Total -> 281EUR (actual cost 131EUR)
135 EUR Raspberry Pi 4 B (8 GB) Cooler Master Kit
24EUR SSD 2.5" Kingston A400
10EUR USB 3.0 Type C to SATA Adapter Cable
2nd Total ->169EUR
123EUR DYI Kit Raspberry PI 4b (4 GB)
10EUR Raspberry Pi 4b Case with Fan
3rd Total -> 133EUR
Total cost: 530 EUR (excluding the laptop cost)
Total cost (excluding the laptop cost and gifted NUC): 433 EUR
Number of Physical ESXi Hosts
3
VMware Products Used in Homelab?
vSphere ( ESXi =vCenter)
Number of Workload VMs (Non-VMware) deployed in Homelab?
1 Linux Raspberry PI VM, Pi Hole
1 Linux Raspberry PI VM, potentially running Dashy
1 Ubuntu Server VM
1 Windows Server 2022 DC, Control UP
Licenses:
Free evaluation
VMware Workstation (30 days evaluation)
Windows Server(180 days)
Control UP(vExpert freeebie, 1 year)
vExpert licenses (ESXi, vCenter, the duration of vExpert status)
Conclusion
All in all, a homelab is an investment of money, time and effort. Such investment is also the setup for the NUC, which you can check out in detail in the 2nd post of these series.
