03 // ACTIVE
NETWORKING // SERVERS // STORAGE
Building a low-cost home lab from used and rescued hardware, combining old computers, networking, storage and servers into one constantly evolving setup.
01 // THE LAB
The Home Lab is the bigger project behind many of the computers and experiments on Open Boot Lab. The goal is to build a useful lab without spending a fortune, using a mixture of hardware I already own, second-hand parts and older computers that would otherwise have little use.
Rather than building everything at once, the lab is growing piece by piece. It will eventually include networking, storage, servers, test machines and computers from different generations that I can use for Linux experiments, retro computing, gaming and future projects.
Mainframe has already become one of the central computers in the lab, but there are plenty of other systems waiting to be rebuilt, tested and given a purpose. Part of the fun is figuring out what I can do with hardware that most people would probably consider obsolete.
The Home Lab isn’t meant to become an expensive enterprise-style setup. The idea is to experiment, learn and see how much useful infrastructure I can build with inexpensive, second-hand and rescued hardware.
Like Mainframe, this project will continue to evolve as I find more hardware and come up with new ideas.
Check back once in a while to see what’s been added to the lab.
02 // CURRENT SETUP
The Home Lab is still in its early stages, but the basic infrastructure is starting to come together. Some systems are already in daily use, while others are waiting to be rebuilt, tested or assigned a purpose.
COMPUTERS AND SERVERS:
MAINFRAME
CORE 2 DUO
FX SYSTEMS
SERVER HARDWARE
AMD FX-8150 // LINUX
LGA775 // LINUX
AMD FX PLATFORM
VARIOUS USED HARDWARE
ACTIVE
PLANNED
IN PROGRESS
PLANNED
NETWORKING:
The network is one of the foundations of the Home Lab. The current setup is still fairly simple, but it already connects the main systems in the lab. A Mercusys 8-port Gigabit switch handles the wired connections, while a Cudy W300 is currently used as the wireless bridge connecting the lab to the rest of my home network.
INTERNET
MAIN SWITCH
WIRELESS BRIDGE
1 GBPS
MERCUSYS 8-PORT GIGABIT SWITCH
CUDY W300
STORAGE:
Storage is another part of the Home Lab that is still growing. For now, most of the storage is spread across individual computers and a collection of SSDs and hard drives, but the long-term goal is to create more centralized storage for backups, software, media and other lab data.
MAINFRAME
SPARE DRIVES
OPTICAL MEDIA
NETWORK STORAGE
240 GB SSD // 500 GB HDD
VARIOUS SATA HDDs & SSDs
CD / DVD BACKUPS
PLANNED
03 // WHAT’S NEXT
The Home Lab is still in its early stages, and there are plenty of things I want to add and improve. The next step is to give more of the hardware I’ve collected a purpose rather than simply having computers and components sitting on shelves.
Future plans include building dedicated servers, expanding the storage setup, improving the wired network and getting more of my older computers running again. I also want to experiment with different operating systems, services and unusual hardware as the lab grows.
There isn’t really a final version of the Home Lab. Hardware will come and go, machines will be rebuilt and new ideas will probably change the setup completely over time. That’s part of the project.
Check back once in a while to see what’s been added to the lab.
PROJECT STATUS: ACTIVE
STARTED: 2026
LAST UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 2026