Summary of 1053: What’s in Our Home Lab Podcast Episode by Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

Overview of 1053: What’s in Our Home Lab

In this episode of Syntax, Scott Tolinski and CJ Reynolds do a deep dive into their home lab setups: the hardware they run, how their networks are structured, what they use for storage and media, and how they access everything securely from anywhere. The conversation is part practical guide, part gear tour, and part “here’s what I wish I’d known before building all this,” with a strong emphasis on reliability, security, and self-hosted convenience.

Hardware Setup

CJ’s home lab hardware

CJ’s lab is built around a beefy Dell Precision workstation running Proxmox as the main hypervisor. His setup includes:

A dedicated firewall box
Multiple PoE switches
An AI machine
A NAS with four HDDs for colder storage
A B-Link machine with six M.2 SSDs for faster “hot” storage
Several Raspberry Pi 3s for dedicated services

His Dell workstation is the workhorse:

Dual Xeon CPUs
48 total cores
128 GB RAM
Runs multiple VMs, each with containers inside

He also keeps certain critical services on tiny dedicated machines:

Vaultwarden on a Raspberry Pi for password management
A separate Pi planned for proxying/routing services

Scott’s hardware setup

Scott’s rack is a more polished, custom 3D-printed build:

Synology NAS with about 40 TB of storage
Mac mini M2 for compute and services
A future Mac Studio planned as a major local AI/computation box
Multiple Raspberry Pis
A network switch and a small SSD expansion

He also emphasized the custom rack design:

3D-printed in PETG and PLA
Strong, modular, and tailored to exact dimensions
Designed to fit under his desk and align with each component

Network and Firewall Strategy

Dedicated firewall and routing

CJ uses a dedicated firewall appliance running OPNsense (a pfSense fork) to act as the front door for his network. Benefits he highlighted:

Security updates are faster and more consistent than consumer router firmware
Full control over firewall rules
VLAN support for segmentation
Ability to use the firewall as a VPN endpoint
Direct control over DNS filtering and ad blocking

Load balancing and failover

CJ’s network is unusually resilient:

2 Gbps Xfinity
2 Gbps Quantum Fiber
5G fallback modem as a last-resort backup

He load-balances both internet connections so devices can use either line, and he uses SFP+ fiber to avoid bottlenecking the internal network.

Scott’s networking approach

Scott takes a more off-the-shelf approach:

Uses an Aero/Wi‑Fi 7 mesh system
Has three mesh units for full coverage
Runs Ethernet underground to his detached office
Likes the router’s management app and automatic updates, but is wary of the Amazon ecosystem and subscription upsells

Network segmentation

Both hosts stressed separating networks for safety:

Guest Wi-Fi
IoT / security camera network
Home lab / private network

VLANs and firewall rules are used to keep these isolated.

Remote Access and Service Exposure

Tailscale for secure access

Both Scott and CJ rely heavily on Tailscale for remote access:

Lets them reach home services from anywhere
Easier than manually configuring VPNs or port forwarding
Supports user and device-level permissions
Can be used across laptops, phones, Steam Decks, and more

Scott also uses a Mullvad VPN exit node with Tailscale for added privacy on some traffic.

Domains, SSL, and local service access

They both use custom domains for home services, so things feel like normal websites instead of IP-address-and-port combinations.

Typical stack:

Cloudflare for DNS management
Caddy for reverse proxying and certificate handling
Local or Tailscale-based IPs behind the scenes

This lets them access services like:

Jellyfin
Home tools
Internal dashboards
Private apps for family members

Scott noted this is especially useful for secure browser auth flows and making services feel polished.

Storage and NAS

Scott’s Synology setup

Scott uses a classic Synology NAS:

4 drives
~40 TB total storage
Synology Hybrid RAID
SSD cache for speed
Offsite backups via Backblaze

He keeps the NAS mostly for storage now and has moved most apps elsewhere.

CJ’s split storage model

CJ separates storage into two tiers:

Cold storage

A hardware RAID enclosure:

4 HDDs
USB-C connected
Used only when needed
Keeps drives from spinning 24/7

Hot storage

A compact machine with six M.2 SSDs:

Runs Proxmox
Uses ZFS
Shared via Samba
Managed with Cockpit

This stores media, books, music, and other frequently accessed files.

Container and VM Management

Proxmox

CJ uses Proxmox as his base virtualization layer:

Install it like an OS
Manage VMs through a web UI
Allocate RAM/CPU dynamically
Great for self-hosted server environments

Portainer

For Docker/container management, CJ uses Portainer:

Web UI for containers
Easier than CLI-only management
Supports multiple servers
Works well for spinning up app stacks from Docker Compose

Scott’s simpler container setup

Scott uses:

Synology’s container manager
OrbStack on his Mac mini as a Docker Desktop replacement

Home Automation

Home Assistant

Both hosts are heavily invested in Home Assistant.

Scott’s setup

Runs Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi
Uses Lutron Caseta switches throughout the house
Uses temperature sensors, Ecobee, and other smart devices
Recently started integrating Wyze cameras with Frigate
Likes local-first devices and avoids cloud dependencies when possible

CJ’s setup

CJ runs Home Assistant as a VM on Proxmox and favors:

ESPHome
Tasmota
Zigbee
Z-Wave
Matter-compatible gear

He also uses:

Smart wall switches
KAUF bulbs
Govee sensors via Bluetooth proxies
A Z-Wave lock
Zigbee thermostat support

Camera and sensor strategy

Both are moving toward:

Local processing
Minimal cloud reliance
Better privacy
Better reliability

CJ specifically avoids vendor apps when possible and prefers devices that integrate directly with Home Assistant.

Media, Books, and Personal Archives

Media servers

Scott runs:

Jellyfin
Plex
AudioBookshelf
Immich for photo backup and Google Photos replacement
A Minecraft server for his kids

CJ runs:

Jellyfin for movies, TV, and music
Finamp on Android for offline music sync

Audiobooks and podcasts

CJ is especially enthusiastic about AudioBookshelf:

Great for audiobooks
Can sync content locally
Supports offline playback
He mentioned the Dungeon Crawler Carl series as a standout listen

Offline media and internet archives

CJ also keeps copies of:

Wikipedia
Stack Overflow
Stack Exchange sites
Dev documentation

He uses Kiwix and a custom library manager so he can access knowledge offline if needed.

Document and manual storage

CJ uses Paperless-ngx to store:

Appliance manuals
Device PDFs
Tax and personal documents
Other searchable household files

This avoids hunting through sketchy manual sites later.

RSS, Read-It-Later, and YouTube Archiving

CJ also runs a broader personal knowledge stack:

Miniflux for RSS
Wallabag for read-later articles
Tube Archivist to back up selected YouTube channels and videos
Local searchable archives of important web content

The theme here is: if it matters, back it up and make it searchable.

AI Coding and Dev Workflows

Scott’s agent-based personal system

Scott described a heavily customized personal system built around an AI agent:

To-dos
Calendar integration
Multiplayer document editing
Agent chat tied to specific docs
UI repair workflows with screenshots and DOM context
“Life management” through a custom app rather than generic productivity tools