Introduction: What is a "home lab"?

A home lab is basically an over-engineered home networking setup for uber nerds. You can self-host your blog and airgap your IoT traffic with a VLAN on your UniFi Dream Machine Pro or SE, but it really isn't necessary.

Most of us who have home labs have (or in my case, had, at least for the moment) disposable income and a desire to learn, break stuff, get angry, and try again. That's the best part about it besides the gear; getting to understand how the internet and networking works by breaking it.

Who is a home lab for?

For anyone who has the income and the stubborness to learn how these things work. Once you get your lab setup, it is just three levels away from house guests thinking you're a tech genius.

What hardware should I invest in?

Start very, very, small. I've built up the stuff I have over two and a half years, with the beginning of this year picking up used Intel NUCs from eBay to have a Proxmox cluster to administer self-hosting stuff that I am still learning, deploying VMs to tinker with operating systems and pen testing.

Maybe grab a server rack, a cheap one will do. A good, solid router is a must if you're going to be doing this. Pick up a decent ethernet switch and a dedicated mini PC and get your hands dirty. All this can be had for under $500.

You'll find my setup below.

These are the tools and settings I am using in my home lab.

Device	OS	Where to Buy
Used NUCs		D1
Intel NUC		D2
UniFi Dream Machine Pro	C3	D3
UniFi Flex HD AP	C4	D4
TP-Link (T1600G-18TS) 16 Port Managed Switch	C5	D5
Echogear Server Rack	C6	D6
Generic NUC 1U Rack	C7	D7
Cyberpower power strip 12 outlets	C8	D8
Cyberpower power strip 18 outlets	C9	D9
Synology 9210+ NAS	C10	D10
Deco X55 Router	C11	D11
Navepoint 12U Closet Rack	C12	D12
Raspberry Pi 4 B 8gb RAM