By Edy Werder — IT Consultant & Tech Blogger
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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?
The core of my setup is a three-node Proxmox VE cluster: a Dell PowerEdge T360, a Minisforum MS-01, and an Intel NUC Dawson. Fortinet handles networking and security, a Synology NAS covers storage, and Veeam runs backups. I also keep a Dell PowerEdge T440 for testing new hypervisors.
Why do I share my setup publicly?
Because I believe in “practice what you preach.” If I recommend a tool or platform, it’s because I use it myself. Every device, VM, and app listed here has earned its place through hands-on experience.
Do you want to browse all my gear in one place?
My current setup:
Hardware
Dell PowerEdge T360
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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 |
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 |
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. I’d rather use Idrac 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.
| Proxmox VE Cluster (3 Nodes) | |
| Intel NUC Dawson i5 | 32GB Memory, 300GB SSD, 4TB SATA |
| Minisforum MS-01 | 32GB Memory, 300GB SSD – part of the three-node cluster with the T360 and Intel NUC |
| Networking & Security | |
| Fortigate 60F | Firewall |
| FortiSwitch 124F | Managed Switch |
| FortiSwitch 108F | Managed PoE Switch |
| 2x Cisco SG300-10PP | PoE Switch |
| 2x FortiAP 221E | Wireless Access Points |
| Storage | |
| Synology NAS DS723+ | Main storage for VMs and data |
| Synology NAS DS720+ | Backup repository |
| Power | |
| APC Back UPS RS 1500 | UPS for the full rack |
| Standby / Testing | |
| Dell PowerEdge T440 | Former VMware host, kept for testing new hypervisors |
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
- Proxmox Backup Server 4.2
- Proxmox VE 9.0
- Veeam Backup & Replication 13.0
- FreePBX
- Ubuntu 24.04
- Windows 11, Edition Pro, and Enterprise
- ISPconfig (open source)
- Office 365 Business Premium
- Affinity Suite
- 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
My Proxmox Cluster Setup
My homelab runs a three-node Proxmox VE 9 cluster:
- Dell PowerEdge T360 – the primary node with 128GB RAM, 2x 1TB SSD and 4x 4TB SATA drives, running ZFS on an HBA355i adapter. Most production VMs run here.
- Minisforum MS-01 – compact but powerful, with 3x SSD drives. Handles lighter workloads and is great for testing. I wrote a full review of this mini PC.
- Intel NUC Dawson i5 – 32GB RAM with a single SSD. The smallest node in the cluster, running a few containers and lightweight VMs.
Each node uses its own local storage. Proxmox Backup Server runs on a separate mini PC with a local SSD and uses the Synology DS720+ over NFS as an additional backup repository. Veeam Backup & Replication covers the Windows VMs separately.
The Synology DS723+ runs Synology Drive for file sync and sharing across my devices.
Running a cluster lets me live-migrate VMs between nodes, which is useful for maintenance and testing. If one node goes down, the workload is redistributed to another node.
Why I Switched from VMware to Proxmox
I ran VMware ESXi for years on my Dell PowerEdge T440. vCenter gave me centralized management, and as a VMUG Advantage member, I had access to NFR licenses for about $200/year. It was a great deal for a homelab.
Then Broadcom acquired VMware and changed the rules. The free ESXi hypervisor disappeared. VMUG Advantage still exists, but now requires a VMware certification to qualify, meaning you have to pay for and pass an exam on top of the membership fee. That killed the value for homelab use.
The licensing changes also hit my consulting clients. Small businesses that ran VMware could no longer afford the new subscription pricing. I migrated them to Proxmox VE, and that gave me the hands-on experience to move my own homelab over as well.
Proxmox gave me everything I needed: a Type 1 hypervisor with KVM and LXC containers, a built-in web interface, clustering, and ZFS support. All open source, no licensing games.
The T440 is still in the there, powered off. I keep it around for testing other hypervisors. Hyper-V is next on the list.
The Value of Experimenting with Homelab Configurations
A homelab is the best way to learn virtualization, networking, storage, and clustering without risking a production environment. If something breaks, you fix it and move on. No downtime, no angry clients.
That’s exactly why I run one. It lets me test configurations before deploying them for clients, and it gives me real material to write about on this blog. I even host my WordPress website on my Dell PowerEdge T360.
Building a homelab is a continuous journey. I regularly upgrade and expand my setup, and I document the process here so others can learn from it.
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 …
If you found this useful, check out my guide on the Best Server for Home Lab. You can also browse all the hardware I use and recommend in my Amazon storefront.
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About the author
Hi, I’m Edy Werder. I write hands-on guides about Proxmox, homelab servers, NAS, and WordPress, based on real setups I run and document.
No sponsors, no fluff—just real configs and results.
Enjoying the content?
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).