The rack that keeps growing
What I self-host at home, the hardware it runs on, and where it's headed. It's never finished, and that's the fun part.
What's running
Everything lives in virtual machines and containers on one Proxmox host, with storage handled by TrueNAS.
Proxmox
Hypervisor
The foundation. Every service runs in its own VM or container, so one breaking never takes the rest with it.
TrueNAS
Storage
ZFS storage for everything else: media, backups, and shares.
Coolify
App deployment
A self-hosted platform for spinning up apps and databases. Its built-in proxy gives each one its own address with automatic HTTPS.
Immich
Photos
My own Google Photos: phone backups, albums, and search, kept on my hardware.
Seafile
Files
File sync and sharing across devices, without a third-party cloud.
Jellyfin
Trying out
A media server for the movie and TV library.
Uptime Kuma
Trying out
Status monitoring that pings every service and warns when something goes down.
Cloudflare
Edge and DNS
DNS, protection, and secure access, including this website.
The next server
A rebuild that's being planned in stages, so storage can grow without starting over.
Build plan
Parts chosen.
- CPU
- Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
- Board
- ASUS Pro WS W880-ACE SE
- Memory
- 64 GB ECC
- Cooler
- Noctua NH-U12A
- PSU
- Corsair RM1000x
- Case
- Fractal Design Define 7
- Controller
- 16-port HBA
- Boot
- 2× 480 GB SSD, mirrored
- Fast pool
- 2× 4 TB NVMe, mirrored
- Media pool
- 7× WD Red Pro 20 TB, RAIDZ2 to start
- UPS
- CyberPower 1500 VA
Why it's built this way
RAIDZ2 means any two drives can fail at the same time without losing data. That costs some raw capacity, but on a pool this size the peace of mind is worth more than the extra terabytes.
Building in stages means buying drives as the library grows, instead of paying for empty space up front. Memory starts at 64 GB of ECC, which catches memory errors before they can corrupt data, and there's room to add more later.
Network
The plumbing that ties it together.
Fibre
Planned: 3 Gbps
A multi-gig fibre connection, so remote access and uploads aren't the bottleneck.
UniFi
Cloud Gateway Fiber
Ubiquiti for routing and firewall, chosen over a DIY pfSense box for easier day-to-day management.
Off-site
Dedicated server
A rented dedicated server in Québec runs Proxmox for work projects, all behind Cloudflare.