012 - Levin

Levin is a Computer Science Research Assistant from Germany.

June 14, 2025

Levin works as a research assistant at a university in Germany. In Levin’s free time he works on different projects with 3d printing, electronics, mechanical keyboards, server-stuff, selfhosting, games and similar things.

Social Media:

Hardware

  • Rack:

  • Inserts on the front:

    • 2* 2.5" drive bay

    • 5 ethernet keystones (one still unused and maybe for something else later)

    • pi 4b with hot-swappable, mechanical on/off switch

    • tp-link sg105 5 port gigabit switch

    • hp elitedesk 800 g5 and hdmi keystone (main server)

    • hp elitedesk 800 g3 and hdmi keystone (second/backup server)

    • 5* 40mm pwm fans for cooling

  • On the back:

    • 300W GaN power supply with 2*100W USB-C, 2*25W USB-C, 3*15W USB-A

    • 2 ethernet keystones for connection to router and future connections if needed

The two drives in the drive bay are connected to the main server via a m2 to 2*sata board and they also get power with the help of a simple 2-1 splitter that is also connected on the inside of the pc

Software

  • On the pi: raspbian lite with a simple script to control the pwm fans and to make them controllable in homeassistant

  • On the main server: headless debian running mainly docker. I'm running a decent amount of services via docker compose, most notably: Homeassistant, pihole, vaultwarden, nextcloud, paperless-ngx, traefik, ntfy, pterodactyl, stirlingpdf. Also smb for automatically uploading files from my (2d)-printer/scanner and kopia for backups

  • On the secondary server: ftp server for a remote repository for kopia, so actually just to back up most of the things from the main server.

What inspired you to build your homelab, and what’s its main purpose today?

Started off with wanting to host nextcloud myself to store all my personal data and running pihole to block all the annoying ads on most devices. Also wanted to run some game servers and to get hands on with linux.

Then i got my hands on some hp mini pcs, since they are really cheap when bought used and also still really capable of doing everything i need. Also they use only about 6 or 7W in idle.

Today the homelab is mostly there to host the services that i frequently use: Pihole, nextcloud for data, paperless for all my important documents, vaultwarden as a password manager, homeassistant and so on... Not having to rely on subscriptions and companies with questionable decisions is also a big plus. Also being able to mix and match smart home devices from basically all manufacturers is really good, since i am not locked into one of their ecosystems.

Since the two pcs were only catching dust under the desk i recently decided to build myself a mini 10 inch rack to neatly house everything.

What’s one part of your setup (hardware or software) that you’re especially proud of — and why?

I really love that everything is powered by a single 300W GaN charger and everyting is connected via usb-c or usb-a. This way i don't have to use the bulky power supplies that came with the hp mini pcs. Also i only have a single power cable going out of the case and a single ethernet cable, which makes the whole thing really clean looking and organized (at least on the outside lol, the inside may or may not look like a mess, but no one will ever know)

What are your next plans, experiments, or dream upgrades for your lab?

Finish up the software side of things and setup and offsite backup to a family members house. Also offloading the game server part from my main server to the secondary server, since that one does not have a lot to do atm.