Your First Home Lab: A Complete NAS, Mini PC, Switch and UPS Build
Build your first home lab with a NAS, mini PC, 2.5GbE switch and UPS. Complete parts plan, example budget, backups, setup and recovery checklist.
Best Small Network Racks and Cabinets for a Home Lab
Choose the right 6U, 8U, 9U or 12U home-lab network rack. Eight specification-checked cabinets and open frames compared for depth, airflow, access and safe mounting.
Best PoE Switches for Frigate Cameras and Wi-Fi Access Points
Compare PoE switches for Frigate IP cameras and Wi-Fi access points: real PoE budgets, 802.3af/at/bt, uplinks, VLANs and seven verified models.
2.5GbE vs 10GbE at Home: Is the Upgrade Worth It?
2.5GbE vs 10GbE for a home NAS or lab: real bottlenecks, cable limits, SFP+ vs RJ45, network layouts, power costs and an upgrade checklist.
UniFi vs TP-Link Omada for a Smart Home and Home Lab
UniFi vs TP-Link Omada for a smart home: compare controllers, gateways, Wi-Fi access points, VLANs, PoE, remote management and complete five-year costs.
Best Router Hardware for OPNsense and pfSense
Choose the best router hardware for OPNsense or pfSense: compare Protectli N150, Netgate 4200/6100 and OPNsense DEC750, with NIC, VPN, IPS and cost guidance.
Minisforum MS-01 vs MS-A2 for Proxmox and Home Labs
Compare the Minisforum MS-01 and MS-A2 for Proxmox, including CPU, 64GB vs 96GB RAM, 10GbE, NVMe, PCIe expansion, Plex and real buying trade-offs.
Network UPS Tools with Home Assistant and NAS: Safe Automatic Shutdown
Configure Network UPS Tools (NUT) for Home Assistant, Synology, UGREEN, QNAP and Proxmox, with shutdown clients, safe testing and recovery.
Best 6-Bay and 8-Bay NAS for a Growing Home Lab
Best 6-bay and 8-bay NAS for a growing home lab: compare UGREEN, ASUSTOR, QNAP and Synology for Docker, VMs, 10GbE, NVMe and RAID 6.
ASUSTOR Lockerstor 4 Gen3 vs QNAP TS-464
ASUSTOR Lockerstor 4 Gen3 vs QNAP TS-464: compare Ryzen V3C14 and N5095, ECC RAM, 10GbE, NVMe, Docker, VMs and media-server use.