If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I’m passionate about running a proper home lab — not just a single server tucked in a closet, but a real, purpose-built infrastructure that mirrors what you’d find in a small enterprise environment. Over the past couple of years I’ve made some significant investments and upgrades, and I figured it was time to document exactly what I’m running today.
Let’s dig in.
Compute Hosts
Host 1 — Primary Workload Node
My primary compute host is built around an ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E motherboard paired with an AMD Ryzen Threadripper-class 7950X CPU — 16 cores, 32 threads of pure muscle. It’s loaded with 64GB of DDR5 at 6000 MT/s, which makes memory-intensive workloads feel effortless. Networking is handled by an Intel X520, giving me 10GbE connectivity back to the core switch fabric.
This host handles the heavier virtual machines — anything that needs real CPU headroom or fast memory throughput ends up here.
Host 2 — Secondary Workload Node
The second compute node shares the same ASUS X670E platform and also carries 64GB of DDR5 at 6000 MT/s, but runs an AMD Ryzen 7700X (8 cores, 16 threads). It’s also equipped with an Intel X520 for 10GbE connectivity. Think of this as my secondary workhorse — it handles lighter VMs, testing environments, and serves as an HA pair for critical services alongside Host 1.
Storage
Storage is where things get interesting, and I’ve taken a two-pronged approach: a dedicated TrueNAS-style storage server for raw performance and capacity, paired with a Synology NAS for more managed, NAS-oriented workloads.
Custom Storage Server
The storage server runs on an ASUS X570 motherboard with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (12 cores) and 40GB of DDR4 at 3000 MT/s. It lives in a Rosewill 4U rackmount chassis and is equipped with an Intel X520 for 10GbE like the rest of the fleet.
The real stars of this machine are the storage controllers and drives:
- LSI SAS 9305-16i HBA (12Gb/s) — a proper enterprise-grade HBA in IT mode, giving direct pass-through to the drives
- 5x Toshiba NAS 8TB drives with 512MB cache — these are purpose-built NAS drives with solid reliability track records
- 2x 1TB Sabrent Rocket NVMe drives — used for caching or fast storage tiers
This machine gives me the raw, flexible capacity I need for VM storage, ISO libraries, and bulk data.
Synology DS1819+
The Synology DS1819+ is my “set it and forget it” storage appliance. It’s an 8-bay unit running:
- 5x Seagate Exos 12TB drives — enterprise-grade, designed for 24/7 operation
- 2x 1TB SATA SSDs — used as a read/write cache to accelerate NAS performance
- Intel X520 — yes, even the Synology gets 10GbE love
The DS1819+ handles things like backups mostly, media libraries, and shared storage that benefits from Synology’s polished DSM interface and built-in apps.
Virtualization Stack
The entire compute layer runs XCP-ng, a fully open-source, enterprise-grade hypervisor based on the Xen Project. Paired with Xen Orchestra for management, it’s a powerful combination that rivals VMware in capability without the licensing headaches.
I manage all my VMs, storage, and networking from Xen Orchestra’s web UI, and I’ve actually put together a guide on how I install Xen Orchestra from source — the easy way. If you’re running XCP-ng and want to self-host your own Xen Orchestra instance, check out my post - https://forums.pozzatech.com/t/installing-xen-orchestra-from-source-the-easy-way/21.
Networking
The network backbone is 100% Ubiquiti UniFi, and it’s honestly one of the best decisions I’ve made for the lab. Everything is managed from a single pane of glass, VLANs are a breeze, and the hardware has been rock solid.
Here’s what the stack looks like:
- UniFi Dream Machine SE — the brain of the operation; handles routing, firewall, IDS/IPS, and the UniFi Network controller all in one
- 2x UniFi Aggregation Switches — the core layer, tying everything together at high speed
- 1x UniFi Enterprise 24 PoE Switch — the primary access layer switch, powering access points and other PoE devices
- 1x UniFi Enterprise 8 PoE Switch — a secondary access switch for overflow and specific areas
- 1x UniFi U7 Pro Wall — a Wi-Fi 7 access point for areas where a wall-mount form factor makes sense
- 1x UniFi U6 Pro — a ceiling-mounted Wi-Fi 6 AP covering the main area
The combination of aggregation switches and the Dream Machine SE gives me a clean layer 2/3 separation, proper inter-VLAN routing, and enough throughput to keep all the 10GbE hosts happy.
Wrapping Up
Building out a lab like this has been a multi-year journey of incremental upgrades and deliberate choices. Every piece of hardware serves a specific purpose, and the goal has always been to run something that mirrors real enterprise infrastructure — not just something that “works,” but something I can actually learn from and rely on.
I’ll be writing more detailed posts about specific components and configurations — things like my VLAN setup, XCP-ng storage configuration, and how everything ties together from a network perspective. Stay tuned.