By Edy Werder — IT Consultant & Tech Blogger
What does a real-world homelab look like when used by an IT freelancer every single day?
That’s a question I often get from clients, friends, and fellow tech enthusiasts. My homelab isn’t just a hobby—it’s the backbone of my daily workflow and the testing ground for everything I recommend on this blog.
So what’s inside my setup?
From enterprise-grade servers and network switches to virtualization software like Proxmox VE and Veeam Backup & Replication, I rely on a combination of hardware and software that mirrors real production environments. It helps me test, learn, and stay sharp while keeping my consulting and content creation workflow running smoothly.
Why do I share my setup publicly?
Because I firmly believe in “practice what you preach.” If I recommend a tool or platform, it’s because I use it myself—daily, not just for testing. Every device, VM, and app mentioned here has earned its place through hands-on experience.
In the fast-paced world of IT, staying current is key. I regularly update and refine my homelab to reflect the latest technologies and challenges—whether it’s new hypervisors, backup tools, or AI writing assistants that help me create better blog content.
Let’s take a look under the hood and explore the software and hardware that power my homelab in 2025.
My current setup:
Hardware
Dell PowerEdge T440
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Intel(R) Xeon(R) Silver 4214R CPU @ 2.40GHz |
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128GB Ram |
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2x SD Cards |
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2x 1TB SSD Disks |
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3x 4TB SAS Disks |
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IDRAC 8 Enterprise |
Dell PowerEdge T360 (NEW)
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Intel Xeon 6 Performance 6333P, 3,1 GHz |
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128GB Ram |
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Dell HBA355i-Adapter |
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2x 1TB SSD Disks |
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4x 4TB SATA Disks |
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IDRAC 8 Enterprise |
I ordered my latest Dell Server PowerEdge T360 without a RAID controller. Based on recommendations from Dell and my own research, HBA is best for Proxmox ZFS.
Whenever I order a server, even for a home lab, I ensure it can be managed remotely. I have used IDrac, HP ILO, and Supermicro IPMI. They are all great features that allow me to manage my servers remotely. Idrac is my favorite because it supports HTML5. HP ILO and Supermicro IPMI are also great, but Idrac is the best. It costs a bit extra, but it is worth the price.
- Intel NUC Dawson i5, 32GB Memory, 300GB SSD, 4TB SATA, for Proxmox VE 9.0
- Minisforum MS-01 (see my review) – I find it is one of the best Mini-PC for virtualization
I installed Proxmox VE 9 and the Minisforum is part of my cluster with both Dell Server - Firewall Fortigate 60F
- 2 FortiAP 221E (Wireless Access Points)
- APC Back UPS RS 150
- 2 Cisco SG300-10PP POE Switch
- 1x Fortiswitch 124F and 1x FortiSwitch 108F
- Synology NAS DS720+
Software:
- Windows 2025 Server – I have not installed it yet, as there are still some Active Directory issues with Exchange Server 2019 on-premises
- Windows 2016 Server
- Windows 2019 Server
- Windows 2022 Server
- VCenter 8.0 (soon to be retired)
- Proxmox VE 9.0
- Veeam Backup & Replication 12a
- FreePBX
- Ubuntu 24.04
- Windows 11, Edition Pro, and Enterprise
- ISPconfig (open source)
- Office 365 Business Premium
- Affinity Photo 2
- Affinity Designer 2
- Camtasia 2025
- Snagit 2025
- Quickbooks Premium Plus 2024 (Windows and MAC)
- Quicken
- Glorify, an ecommerce product image online design tool, design app
I use Glorify more for my creatives than Canva or VistaCreate - Canva
- VistaCreate
My WordPress toolbox
Engaging with AI Assistants for Improved SEO Writing
As an IT freelancer, optimizing my blog for search engines is a passion of mine. Achieving a first-page ranking on Google is a significant milestone, and I’ve dedicated considerable effort to reach it. Previously, I relied on Outranking for my SEO needs. However, I’ve since transitioned to Frase and NeuronWriter, which offer more advanced features and better align with my current requirements.
In my writing process, ChatGPT serves as an invaluable assistant. I engage with it conversationally, posing questions and discussing ideas, which helps me craft clear and reader-friendly content.
If you have any tips or experiences with SEO tools, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!
The Value of Experimenting with Homelab Configurations
To stay updated with the home lab hardware and software, I’ve decided to blog about what I use and how it has helped me.
Home labs are worth investing in if you want to learn more about virtualization, networking, storage, and clustering or get your feet wet with home projects like playing around with applications. I also host my WordPress website at home with my Dell PowerEdge server.
Home labs allow everyone to play around with different configurations without affecting real-life production. If homelab hardware breaks or fails, it’s not a big deal since nobody runs their business on it!
Building and maintaining a homelab is a continuous journey — one that evolves with every new tool, upgrade, or challenge. I regularly tweak and expand my setup, so if you’re exploring similar projects or considering your first build, feel free to draw inspiration from mine.
If you decide to purchase any of the products I’ve listed, using my affiliate links would mean a lot. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it helps me keep this blog running and continue sharing real-world guides, reviews, and homelab experiments with you.
I’d love to hear from you — was this article helpful? Share your thoughts in the comments below. If you prefer, you can also reach me by email or connect with me on Reddit at Navigatetech.
Before you go …
Hey, thanks for sticking around till the end! If you found this rundown of the software and hardware that powers my workflow enjoyable, you’ll love my other post on the Best Server for Home Lab.
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IT Consultant & Blogger
Hi, I’m Edy Werder. I’m an IT consultant and the publisher of Edy’s Tech Blog. With 30+ years in the industry, I write hands-on guides about homelabs, Proxmox, NAS, and WordPress—tested in my own lab before I hit publish. If this article helped, consider supporting the site or sharing it with a friend.
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No sponsors, no fluff—just real configs and results.
oVirt (RHV) is another enterprise-grade solution that uses KVM as the hypervisor. Just because it’s enterprise doesn’t mean you can’t use it at home. oVirt offers a powerful web interface and an API and can handle hundreds of nodes (if you are running that many servers, I don’t want to be your neighbor!). The potential problem with oVirt for a home lab is that it requires a minimum set of nodes: You’ll need one external storage, such as a NAS, and at least two additional virtualization nodes (you can run it just on one, but you’ll run into problems in maintenance of your environment).