This page lists all the hardware and software that actually runs in my setup: in the homelab, at the TV and for photography. Each item says what I use it for, and guides follow as the English versions go live.
Links with * are affiliate links. If you buy through one, I get a small commission and you pay the same price. I bought everything here myself and use it.
Homelab servers
My homelab is spread across two sites, Berlin and France. All four servers are Minisforum mini PCs running Proxmox VE.
- Minisforum MS-01* (i9-13900H, 96 GB DDR5, 10 GbE SFP+), in Berlin. Runs the game servers with Pelican, Home Assistant, Caddy and a TrueNAS VM.
- Minisforum MS-01* (i5-12600H, 32 GB DDR5), in France. Handles Paperless, Home Assistant and a TrueNAS VM.
- Minisforum MS-A2* (Ryzen 9 9955HX, 128 GB DDR5-5600, 10 GbE), in France. The workhorse for Plex, Vaultwarden, Pi-hole and the Docker stack.
- Minisforum N5 Pro* (Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370, 32 GB), in Berlin. Runs as a NAS with a TrueNAS VM that gets the SATA controller via passthrough, and handles monitoring.
- Intel Arc A310*: sits in the MS-A2 and does the hardware transcoding for Plex.
Just getting started? You don’t need four servers. One is plenty to begin with.
Network & storage
- UniFi UNAS Pro*: the central NAS in France with about 41 TB of storage.
- UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber*: router and firewall in Berlin.
- UniFi Dream Machine Pro SE*: router and firewall in France.
- SFP+ DAC cables*: connect the servers at 10 GbE without extra transceiver modules.
TV & streaming
- Apple TV 4K*: my Plex hub at the TV. The LG OLED65C2 can’t play DTS audio, but through the Apple TV the sound works.
- Sonos Beam (Gen 2)*: soundbar on the LG OLED65C2 for movies and shows.
Photo & video
Photography is my job, and the pictures end up on lionstark.com.
- Sony Alpha 7C R*: my camera for everything, compact enough to actually take along.
- Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II*: the standard zoom that’s on the camera most of the time.
- Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II*: for everything further away.
Editing happens in Lightroom, and my photos get from there into my portfolio automatically. The code is open source: lightroom-portfolio-sync on GitHub.
Software
No affiliate links here, most of it is open source. This is what runs in my setup:
- Proxmox VE 9: the base on all four servers, for VMs and LXC containers.
- Tailscale: connects both sites and gives me access on the go, without open ports.
- Caddy: reverse proxy with automatic certificates.
- CrowdSec: blocks attackers right at the firewall with nftables.
- Uptime Kuma + ntfy: watches all services and sends push notifications to my phone.
- Paperless-ngx: digitizes and sorts our documents, with AI help from Claude.
- Plex: streams the media library to TVs and phones.
- Vaultwarden: my own password manager, works with the Bitwarden apps.
- Pi-hole + Unbound: ad blocking and my own DNS resolver for the whole network.
- Home Assistant: smart home at both sites, controlled locally.
- Pelican: panel for the game servers.
- Lightroom: photo editing and archive.
Ask me
Want to know why I picked a certain part, or thinking about building something similar? Leave your question in the comments and I’ll answer.