Word count: 1138, reading time approximately 6 minutes
Overview
Previously, some enthusiastic readers wanted to know the hardware configuration list of my home lab server cluster. Hence, this article.
📝Disclaimer:
This is not an advertisement, not a promotion, not a soft sell.
I really have no talent for cable management; this is the best I can do, please be gentle. 😂
First, here are two photos:
The hardware includes:
- • Networking
- • Bottom left in the first image: Radxa E20C
- • Middle bottom in the first image: Xike SKS3200M-8GPY1XF
- • Computing: 4 N100 mini PCs (I also bought a bunch of RK ARM development boards; although they are energy-efficient, they are a bit troublesome to use, I will tinker with them when I have the chance.)
- • Top right/middle top/right top in the first image: 3 Zhongbo N100 Pro II;
- • Top left in the first image: Generic Cheshi N100 standard version/020 case/2.5G network card/32G memory/48W power supply;
- • Storage
- • Right side of the second image: QNAP TS-453Bmini
- • 3 Western Digital 12T hard drives + 1 1T SSD for caching
- • 1 Western Digital 8T hard drive + hard drive enclosure for local backup
- • UPS Power Supply
- • Left side of the second image: APC Back-UPS 650
Networking
Radxa E20C
- • Purchased from: Xianyu (as indicated by the watermark in the image above)
- • Transaction price: 139
- • Reason for selection:
- • Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports
- • Affordable
- • Energy-efficient
- • Can browse the internet “smoothly”
- • System: istoreos
- • Purpose: Soft router
Xike SKS3200M-8GPY1XF
- • Purchased from: JD.com (as indicated by the watermark in the image above)
- • Transaction price: 274
- • Reason for selection:
- • 8 x 2.5G Ethernet ports
- • Easy management – managed via UI
- • Link aggregation (used for NAS)
- • VLAN (not yet used)
- • Jumbo frames (used, but actual improvement was minimal, so I disabled it)
- • Software: Built-in system
- • Purpose: Switch, connecting soft router/N100 mini PCs/NAS.
Computing
Zhongbo Jumper N100 Pro II
- • Purchased from: JD.com.
- • Configuration: Bare system (I additionally purchased a 16G DDR4 3200 laptop memory stick and a 1T SSD with M.2 NVME interface)
- • Transaction price: Bare system 500 (JD.com price 625, after national subsidy 500)
- • Reason for selection:
- • National subsidy
- • After comprehensive analysis and planning at the time, I determined to buy: N100, dual Ethernet ports, at least one 2.5G.
- • Affordable
- • Energy-efficient
- • Strong hardware decoding capability
- • Can boot installation via network card (NetBoot)
- • System: Ubuntu 24.04
- • Disadvantages:
- The network card is a crab network card, poor performance, poor drivers, occasionally disconnects. (Not as good as the generic brand I bought, but it doesn’t affect usage)
- • Purpose: K3s Master node. Also serves as a worker node. All applications are deployed on these 4 N100s.
Generic Cheshi N100 Standard Version/020 Case/2.5G Network Card/32G Memory/128GB SSD/48W Power Supply
- • Purchased from: Pinduoduo
- • Transaction price: 1099
- • Reason for selection:
- • N100
- • Dual Ethernet ports
- • 32G memory (this actually supports 32G memory, exceeding the technical specifications of the N100 white paper)
- • System: Ubuntu 24.04
- • Disadvantages:
- • BIOS does not support network card boot (NetBoot)
- • Purpose: K3s worker node.
Storage
QNAP TS-453bmini
- • Purchased from: JD.com
- • Purchase date: June 2020
- • Transaction price: 1849
- • Reason for selection:
- • Well-known brand
- • Less hassle
- • Stability
- • Relatively affordable among well-known brands
- • Memory expandable (I expanded it to 16G)
- • System: QTS 5
- • Disadvantages:
- Poor heat dissipation
- • Purpose: Personal photos/media/files; system PV backup; Jellyfin media storage.
NAS Hard Drives – Western Digital Mechanical Hard Drives
I won’t introduce the SSDs in the NAS.
There are 3 mechanical hard drives, 12T.
Specific name: Western Digital 12TB Elements, WDBWLG0120HBK-ESSN
- • Purchased from: Amazon Global Store
- • Transaction price: 1592
- • Reason for selection:
- • Relatively affordable
- • Stable
- • Large capacity
- • Disadvantages: Purchased overseas, removed the hard drive from the enclosure for use, no warranty. (Fortunately, it has not had any issues so far.)
- • Purpose: Inserted into NAS, used as a data disk. (Configured as RAID 6, but I regret it now; I shouldn’t have done RAID 6)
External Backup – Western Digital My Book 8TB Hard Drive Enclosure
It looks similar, so I won’t include a picture.
- • Purchased from: Amazon Global Store
- • Transaction price: 1072
- • Reason for selection: Same as above
- • Disadvantages: Same as above
- • Purpose: Connected to NAS, used as local external backup for NAS.
UPS Power Supply
APC Schneider BK650-CH 400W/650VA
- • Purchased from: Suning
- • Transaction price: 485
- • Reason for selection:
- • There were frequent power outages when I just moved in
- • Compatible with NAS
- • Well-known brand, good reputation
- • System: None
- • Purpose: NAS power socket is plugged into this, automatically switches during power outages; 4 N100s are also plugged into this; data cable connects via USB to NAS, which acts as UPS Server. This allows the NAS and N100 mini PCs to automatically shut down after a period of time during power outages.
Conclusion
This is my home lab server cluster hardware configuration list. For reference.
My must-haves:
- • Soft router
- • Switch
- • Computing nodes
Everything else is optional.
I hope this helps everyone in building their own home lab server cluster. Feel free to message/comment for discussions. Thank you~