Kicked my Synology NAS to the curb and replaced it with a server running Proxmox

When I first started using a Synology NAS all those years ago, it was a place to store image files after creating them for work and media files for Plex use. It was never intended to be a home lab, but that's what it morphed into over the years until it tried to run too many things at once and failed at all of them.

Building my own server was always part of my road map for home lab experimentation, and it's time. Now the NAS will do what it's supposed to do, store archival files, and the new server will handle the heavy lifting. The only thing slightly surprising to me is that it took so long to realize that my needs had changed and something had to be done about it.

About this article: SilverStone, Asus, and Kingston all contributed hardware for this article. None of the companies saw the copy before publication or had any input into the content.

Why I decided to break up with Synology after nearly a decade

It's not me, it's definitely you, but also it was simply time to change

While the company's missteps certainly hastened this decision, it's been brewing for a while. The simple fact is that my home lab needs have outgrown the available resources on my Synology NAS or on my mini PC. The mini PC is limited to 12GB of RAM, which is not upgradeable, and the NAS enclosure can handle 64GB, I think, but I can't use a GPU for accelerating workloads on that machine, and I've run out of drive bays at any rate.

I can't even upgrade the network speed on the Synology NAS, not without an overpriced proprietary PCIe card, and I want to experiment with NVMe-over-fabrics and other exotic network-based protocols that simply aren't supported by Synology. Even if the company wasn't removing enthusiast features, I need more than enthusiast hardware to run the things I want to use.

Why Proxmox was the answer

Proxmox was always going to be the basis for my server when I finally got around to building one. I'm comfortable using it after months of running it on mini PCs, it can become any operating system I want thanks to VMs and LXCs, and it's almost impossible to break to a point of no recovery.

That last point is perhaps the most important, because I'm my own worst enemy in the home lab, whether it's from not documenting what I've built to changing things because I ran out of resources, and my mini PC or NAS is overloaded. With a dedicated server, I have plenty of processing power, RAM, and storage capacity to use, and I can swap parts in and out as necessary.

I know there's something to be said about how data centers use single servers for a single task, because it's more efficient. I don't have the luxury of multiple servers, but I do have the capacity to virtualize quite a few with the powerful resources on this Threadripper build.

Then I have a virtual data center to play with, with individual VMs replacing hardware resources. This is how the data center is going anyway, with everything being containerized and abstracted away from the underlying hardware, and I want my home lab to mirror that.

What I'm using as the host machine

It's time to rip some threads because this is a beast

I'm on the fence as to whether this is a workstation that I'm using as a server, or a server that I'll be using for some workstation tasks, because AMD's Threadripper range bridges the gap between Ryzen desktop CPUs and EPYC server ones. This is a 7970X with 32 cores and 64 threads, and I've got 256GB of ECC DDR5 memory feeding all the data it can munch on.

I've got Proxmox installed on a 4TB Gen 5 NVMe SSD, which sounds like overkill, but I constantly find I'm running out of storage on the drive I've got Proxmox installed on with my other install, and I don't want to run out of space or have to swap things out once this is all installed.

This will be a one-and-done for my home lab for many years, so I wanted to get it right, so I can get on with the fun of experiments.

Serious CPUs need serious cooling

There aren't that many purpose-built cooling solutions for the Threadripper socket, but one of the best-regarded is the SilverStone XE360-TR5 360mm AIO cooler. This server-style cooler has a low-profile nickel-plated copper waterblock, which doesn't push towards the RAM slots like many AIO coolers, and is just what I needed.

It's also an interesting design. So many AIO coolers are Asetek-licensed with the pump on the CPU block, but this has the pump inside the radiator. There are a couple of 420mm AIO coolers for Threadripper, but the larger radiator makes it harder to find a chassis to use, so 360mm was my hard limit.

It's on the test bench (for now)

While this will entirely replace my Synology NAS at some point, I'd be a fool if I didn't test things before I move data and drives over. That's partly why it's on the test bench for now, but I haven't decided on a case yet.

I don't know if I want a workstation-style case that fills up vertical space in the corner of my office that serves as my home lab, or a rack-mounted case so I can stuff it into the network cabinet. I might get a case that could work in either orientation, and I'm always on the lookout for a better option, so let me know what you're using in your server stack.

Until then, I've got stability testing to handle, essential Proxmox services to install, and a GPU to pass-through. Until those things are handled, it stays on the test bench where I can easily swap out parts and monitor temperatures as needed.

• Credit: Source: AMD

• Credit: Source: Asus

• Credit: Source: Kingston

• Credit: Source: Silverstone

• 

  Storage capacity 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB

  Hardware Interface PCIe 5.0, NVMe 2.0

• Credit: Source: PNY

I can't wait to start stuffing my new server with services

I have so many plans for the new server that I don't know where to begin. I've been resource-constrained by the mini PC I have been using for Proxmox all these months, which meant I could never spin more than a few VMs up at once before the whole thing ground to a halt.

Some of my grander plans will have to wait, as I want to lay a foundation of documented, automated home lab setup before I get wild. I think some Ansible, Terraform, and n8n are in my near future, and I need to transfer my fledgling Kubernetes pods to their new home. After that, I want a VM with a dedicated GPU for AI use, and maybe one for transcoding video files for my media server. All of these are possible at the same time now that I've got a powerful server running things, and I can start working through my project list.