Recommended Hardware for An IT Homelab
When it comes to building an IT Lab at home, you might think you need a fully built 42u Server Rack. That is far from the case! You most certainly can do that but keep an eye on your power bill. The noise might be a little high too.
What is a “U” or “Rack Unit”? A rack unit (abbreviated as U) is a unit of measurement applied to equipment racks and the servers and other gear they may contain. One U is 1.75 inches (44.45mm). A standard server rack is 42U.
Have an old gaming computer? That should be enough for this series. Already have a server at home? Great! That could work too. The biggest things to think about are CPU, Memory, and Storage.
Note
If you plan to learn about VMware or Proxmox. I would recommend using a dedicated system because everything on the hard drive will need to be erased including an OS (Operating System) installed.
If you plan on building out a VMware environment, you may want to check if your processor is supported for the version of VMware ESXi you plan to use.
VMware’s compatibility guide is a great link to have in your bookmarks.
Here are the minimum specs I would recommend for a starter IT Homelab.
Compute
CPU
A single quad-core, hyperthreaded CPU or better. The more cores the better!
Memory
At least 32 GB’s of RAM. You might be able to get away with 16 GB’s if you don’t plan on using VMware vSphere. In my experience, this is the most limiting factor. Try to have as much RAM as possible.
Storage
At the minimum, I would dedicate at least 512 GB’s of storage to this lab series. Solid-state storage will always perform better than rotating storage.
![Jonathan Ingram](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="40" height="40"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg>){kind=small}
