Do you really need a DNS server? I would say probably. I guess technically you could just modify your host file and get to all the fqdns that you need, but a DNS server definitely makes your environment more streamlined. Also, vCenter is pretty picky with DNS and might cause problems down the road. Bottom…
Category: Home Lab
Documents and guides on how I setup my home lab
Home Lab – Configuring Nested ESXi7 on SuperMicro UPDATED
So with the first lab I ran into some DHCP issues, since I wasn’t separating anything with vlans, nor was I separating the traffic via switches. With this new lab, I’ve simplified it even further. I’m not using any routing and switching, outside of NSX-T. So for configuring the Nested ESXis, you can still follow…
Home Lab – Configure NTP on the ESXi Host
There’s lots of docs on this, but it’s worth adding this as a step, to rule out any future problems of NTP. You will do this for the physical ESXi hosts, and every nested esxi host that you create. Don’t skip this step. kb from vmware Configure NTP
Home Lab – Build the SuperMicro Server
I wanted to post some pictures and give some insight into building the supermicro. This will not be a step by step guide as most of the other guides I have posted. There is a better guide on this blog. So use that blog in combination with the high res motherboard pictures below. I think…
Home Lab – Network Diagram – 2022
Home Lab – SuperMicro Home Lab Components
This components list is for the 2022 version of the Lab. I basically doubled everything on the server side, so I could have 2 servers instead of 1. Component List for Servers I pretty much followed this guide, except for a few small changes since some of the parts were discontinued or changed model number. Quantity Name…
Home Lab – Overclocking the Supermicro M11SDV-8C+-LN4F (MBD-M11SDV-8C+-LN4F-O Mini ITX Server)
This is not a required step to build your home lab. It’s just an extra step that will give you a slight performance boost if you want it. Obviously you should know that modifying any of these BIOS settings can break your system and I nor Supermicro are responsible for it. I’m providing this as…
Home Lab – Deploy vCenter 7 and vSAN on nested ESXi
If you’ve followed the guide this far, you’ve deployed 3 esxi hosts nested on your baremetal esxi install. This guide takes it a step further by deploying vcenter and creating a vSAN cluster on the esxi hosts. Download vCenter Server Login to your account at https://my.vmware.com/ and go to Products and Accounts ->Products -> All…
Home Lab – pfsense xml dump
This is the xml dump from my pfsense router. If you prefer to use a step by step guide to configure your pfsense router, see This Guide.
Home Lab – Configuring the baremetal ESXi7
So now that we have our SuperMicro server setup, and we’ve installed ESXi7, the next step is to do some basic configuration on our BareMetal ESXi7. We will setup the network, view the storage, and prepare the esxi for the nested esxi environment. Network Configuration Storage Configuration This is basically the whole setup for the…