# Grass folks who enjoy having an IT homelab



## Bermuda_Triangle (Sep 20, 2019)

Just thought I would make a generic thread so people can post about their homelabs or anything home IT related.


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

:thumbup:


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

Now you're talking! Throw some home automation in to the mix too!


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## testwerke (Apr 4, 2019)

Been thinking about ditching my Ubiquiti USG for a Dream Machine Pro when I get gigabit fiber. Haven't been running Intrusion Detection/Prevention since the USG is underpowered. Wondering if IPS/IDS is worth the trouble.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

I'm running my own pfSense router, otherwise I'd be very much interested in the Dream Machine Pro. I do like the fact that it combines all those products into one though.


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## avionics12 (Jul 2, 2018)

I've been using the UDMP for a couple of months now. I have Spectrum 1G service; actually 940/40. With IPS/IDS enabled I get the full 940/40 speeds. I am also using a USW-Pro-24-POE Gen2 for distribution to 2 NanoHD's, 2 Pi-Holes, Starling Home Hub, and 9 UniFi protect cameras. I like the system well and haven't had any problems to date. Do note that the UDMP does not provide PoE if you need that functionality.

The IPS/IDS dashboard is well laid out and I like the protection it provides.


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## testwerke (Apr 4, 2019)

avionics12 said:


> I've been using the UDMP for a couple of months now. I have Spectrum 1G service; actually 940/40. With IPS/IDS enabled I get the full 940/40 speeds. I am also using a USW-Pro-24-POE Gen2 for distribution to 2 NanoHD's, 2 Pi-Holes, Starling Home Hub, and 9 UniFi protect cameras. I like the system well and haven't had any problems to date. Do note that the UDMP does not provide PoE if you need that functionality.
> 
> The IPS/IDS dashboard is well laid out and I like the protection it provides.


Nice! What can you do with the IPS/IDS data? Are you seeing major threats being blocked?

Interested in your thoughts on the Gen2 switch as well. Did you have a previous Unifi switch before?


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## avionics12 (Jul 2, 2018)

The simple answer is I do not know what can be done with IPS/IDS data. To date I have not seen any threats recorded in the Threat Management section of the UI of the UDMP. I was skeptical and researched further, thinking I may have not had settings correctly enabled. I have determined that all is well and set up correctly.



The Gen 2 switch affords more than I need, however it does give me room for growth, which inevitably occurs. 

One real trick of the UDMP/USW Pro equipment is the AR feature. When enabled I can see which piece of equipment is connected to a specific port which comes in handy if I need to troubleshoot connectivity issues. To date I haven't needed that kind of help but it's good to know I no longer need to label cables and such. Just fire up AR and see the connections.



I graduated into the current setup from my first Ubiquiti setup I describe in this post:

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14826


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## glnh32 (May 31, 2020)

Cool thread! Just moved into our new house and I just set up my 42U rack and my desk(s) in my office.

So far I have:

Unifi Security Gateway (Rack Mounted)
Unifi 16 Port POE Switch Gen 2
Unifi 48 Port Switch
2 Dell R710 with ~256GB memory and ~3TB storage
Denon AVR Rack Mounted
A Shelf with Apple TV, Lutron Casetta Bridge Pro, Harmony Elite Hub
A Few Rasperry Pis

Working on some home automation stuff with Home Assistant, some CI/CD workflows and anything else I can think of. It would be cool to combine lawncare with home assistant. I was thinking of a soil temperature monitor using MQTT and some sensors, maybe sunlight tracking or something.


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## daniel3507 (Jul 31, 2018)

I'm far from having a homelab and even further from knowing what time talking about, but I have a brother in law helping me out. I'm going to be running ethernet drops into each room and the garage. I have a list of everything I'll need and have a switch on order. My question is what do I do with the modem, router, and switch? It's located next to the couch out of sight but I would like to clean it up a bit once I do the install. I don't need a big fancy rack but are there small stands I could put on the floor to hold it nicely? I just want to get them off the carpet and organized


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## Jacks_Designs (May 4, 2020)

Not sure where to start as I'm always doing something new.

PfSense Router
UnRaid server - plenty of dockers and VMs in there 
24 port unifi PoE switch 
1 nano HD AP
2 Unifi Pro AP
8 unifi cameras, 1 is the UI doorbell
Crestron cp3n
Crestron 8x8
2 Sonos ports

If I had the opportunity to do my cameras over I would have gone the Synology route.


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## sneakbreeze (Sep 2, 2020)

daniel3507 said:


> I'm far from having a homelab and even further from knowing what time talking about, but I have a brother in law helping me out. I'm going to be running ethernet drops into each room and the garage. I have a list of everything I'll need and have a switch on order. My question is what do I do with the modem, router, and switch? It's located next to the couch out of sight but I would like to clean it up a bit once I do the install. I don't need a big fancy rack but are there small stands I could put on the floor to hold it nicely? I just want to get them off the carpet and organized


https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack I'm using this in my basement for about a year now to hold a 24 port switch, 24 port patch panel, router, 5 port managed switch, and 3 RB pi's. I didn't feel like buying any type of real rack and we have an IKEA local so I just ran by and picked it up. It's a really cheap way to get things off the floor and somewhat organized. You can buy some server shelves to screw into the legs.


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## Deltahedge (Apr 1, 2020)

I just found this post when I searched the forum looking for some folks who have Home Automation. Mine is a work in progress. I keep buying Ubiquiti network stuff as I figure out what I think I need.

I'm currently using the following.
UniFi UDM-SE
UniFi USW-Pro 48 port POE switch. (Way more than I need, but I should never run out of POE ports)
UniFi Access Points (various APs)
QNAP Rackmount NAS (1253DU) for massive TB amounts of storage and PLEX server
Eaton 5P 1500 UPS

My plan is to move away from my current Ring doorbells and move to Unifi video doorbells.
I'll also be buying UniFi POE Security cameras as soon as they're in stock.

The reason I found this post is I have been trying to research adding some home automation. I've basically narrowed it down to Control 4 and Crestron. If I do Control 4, I'll install all the hardware, smart switches, controllers and such, and then I will have it programmed remotely. If anyone has thoughts Control 4 vs Crestron, I'm all ears.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Deltahedge said:


> My plan is to move away from my current Ring doorbells and move to Unifi video doorbells.
> I'll also be buying UniFi POE Security cameras as soon as they're in stock.


The e-mail notification of stock availability is terrible at Unifi. Your best option is to check in the AM US time. That seems to be when the website is restocked.

Also, the UDM pro is soft limited to ~7 HD cameras. The concern seems to be related to processor power. I have more than that on my system and it seems to run fine, but if you are running more than that number, you might consider one of their dedicated NVRs. They will run 15+ cameras.

https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/360063280653-UniFi-Protect-Supported-camera-limits-by-UniFi-OS-Console


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## Deltahedge (Apr 1, 2020)

bernstem said:


> The e-mail notification of stock availability is terrible at Unifi. Your best option is to check in the AM US time. That seems to be when the website is restocked.


You are right about their email notifications. I will typically check around 6:30 AM Central time, and I've had good luck finding things. There's also a reddit channel called UbiquitiInStock or something like that. The bot constantly scrapes the Ubiquiti website and you can go through the reddit channel and see how often the specific device you're looking for comes into stock. Unfortunately, the doorbell I'm waiting on comes in stock for about 10 minutes, every 2 or 3 months.
For the time being, the UDM-SE should handle everything I need; 2 doorbells and 4 other cameras. I think the UDM-Pro and UDM-SE have the same processor.


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## Amoo316 (Jul 8, 2021)

I run stacked 2K 32" monitors. Here's a desktop view with nothing open. I actually have come to prefer 2K over 4K. I went to 2K 5/6 years ago as they were still working on getting 4K to play right with graphics cards, and have been so happy with it, I have a hard time switching to anything else.










Here's what that looks like with a browser open. I like it big enough so that I can still use more then half of the screen, but small enough that if I need to side by side for things like ordering for the clinic, it's not a huge change.



















As you can see, 4 half size windows works out well in 2K. I'm quite often doing something completely different on the top screen than I am the bottom.


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## cbagz (May 12, 2020)

bernstem said:


> Deltahedge said:
> 
> 
> > My plan is to move away from my current Ring doorbells and move to Unifi video doorbells.
> ...


Are you running all unifi cameras?


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

cbagz said:


> bernstem said:
> 
> 
> > Deltahedge said:
> ...


I am running Unifi cameras. I like them, but don't have enough experience to say how they compare to other brands. I have g4 domes and g4 pros.


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## Deltahedge (Apr 1, 2020)

My house was prewired with Cat6 out to where the cameras would be located. I couldn't find where those cat6 cables terminated in my network closet and then found out the cat6 for the cameras run from the camera locations to the cabinet in the family room. WTF? Why wouldn't they run those cables to the network closet, where I run a 48 port POE switch? There are ethernet connections in that cabinet that connect the cabinet to my switch, so it's a solvable problem by placing another POE switch in that cabinet. Another $450 to buy the Ubiquiti Enterprise 8 port POE switch to place in the cabinet in the family room and now my 2 G4 Pro Bullets are up and running on my. I chose to buy another switch instead of paying the guy to run cable from my family room on the first floor to my network closet on the second floor. The cost would have been around the same whether I ran more cable and paid for labor, or buy another switch for the cabinet, but now I have an extra switch. UDM-SE ==> 48 Port POE Switch ==> 8 Port POE switch ==> G4 Pro Camera.

I had to buy the Enterprise 8 port switch because it's layer 3, and some AV over IP I am looking into requires all the network equipment to be layer 3.


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