Homelab Project
Like most tinkering adventures, my homelab started small. Back in the day, I had nothing more than a Raspberry Pi 3 running 24/7 on solar power, with everything built from scratch. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to get me hooked on the idea of always-on infrastructure. Over the last seven years, that little Pi has grown into a full-fledged cluster that powers experiments, automation, and a bit of fun along the way.
Building Blocks
At the core of my setup are three 11th Gen Intel i5 NUCs, forming the backbone of my cluster. They handle most of the heavy workloads, things like trans coding my Plex media, or Processing my immich library with a dedicated laptop on backup power taking over when reliability really matters.
For wireless experiments, I rely on a mix of ARM-based Jetson boards and Raspberry Pis. These have been my go-to for testing everything from IoT protocols to custom firmware builds.
Networking & Remote Access
Getting in and out of the homelab securely was a big step forward. I run a WireGuard VPN, accessible through a static IP and port forwarding. To make things even smoother, I added Cloudflared tunnels, so I can reach my services from anywhere without exposing ports to the internet.
Automation & Control
One of my favorite parts of the lab is how it ties into my home. Home Assistant runs as the central automation brain, orchestrating everything from smart devices to experimental IoT nodes. I
To monitor and control the cluster itself, I use Node-RED dashboards. From a single screen, I can check the health of my machines, trigger actions, or even wake nodes on LAN whenever I need more compute power.
Side Quests & Contributions
Not everything is about servers and automation, some of it is just fun. I run an ADS-B receiver that streams live flight data to FlightRadar24, contributing to a global tracking network.
I’ve also dabbled in containerization, self-hosted services, and lightweight CI/CD setups, all running within the cluster. It’s been a great way to learn about Docker, reverse proxies, and edge deployments without relying on cloud credits.
From Pi to Cluster
Thanks to my full time job, I was able to monetarily invest significantly in my hobby. Looking back, it’s wild to think that all of this started with a single Pi. Today, my homelab is a mix of reliability, experimentation, and curiosity. It’s where I break things, fix them, and learn in the process.
I plan to write more article on things I learned along the way so that it can help others who are deeply interested to start off on a similar journey!
