My New Found Addiction!

Summary

Ardens, a part-time YouTuber and IT intern, shares his newfound addiction to home labbing, a hobby he describes as both expensive and educational. In the first episode of his series, Ardens reveals his journey in creating a personal NAS server to solve his file storage dilemmas, and his venture into self-hosting a music server using virtualization techniques. His passion for creating a futuristic home office setup, reminiscent of Dexter's Laboratory, is evident as he discusses the transformation of his workspace and his plans for further tech endeavors.

Highlights

• Ardens introduces his new hobby, home labbing, and its fascinating complexities. 🤓
• Creation of a personal NAS server to manage file storage needs efficiently. 🗄️
• Building a workspace resembling Dexter’s Laboratory, full of tech aesthetics! 🔬
• Exploring virtualization to self-host a music server and the joy it brings. 🎶
• Plans to set up a VPN for remote music streaming access in the future. 🌐

Key Takeaways

• Discover the exciting world of home labbing and how it can transform your tech life! 💻
• Setting up your own NAS can save you from the hassles of traditional cloud storage. ☁️
• Get inspired to create your tech haven with personal projects like building a music server! 🎵
• Learn the basics of virtualization and how it can optimize your hardware use. 🔧
• Ardens shares his passion for tech and innovation, making it a fun journey for tech enthusiasts. 🚀

Overview

Have you ever felt the urge to bring a slice of your IT office into your home? Well, Ardens has, and he's here to introduce you to the world of home labbing! In his journey, he shares how working in IT inspired him to explore technologies beyond the office limits, leading him to the innovative concept of home labbing. This setup allows him complete control over various technologies from the comfort of his own home.

Ardens kicked off his home labbing adventure with building a personal NAS server. Displeased with traditional cloud storage options, he took it upon himself to create a more private and efficient solution. Using a Raspberry Pi and some clever software called Open Media Vault, Ardens now enjoys a smooth and secure network drive that's yours and yours alone.

Following his NAS triumph, Ardens didn't stop there. Fueled by a love for music and an aversion to ads, he embarked on creating a self-hosted music server. By diving into virtualization with Proxmox, he managed to streamline his resources and host his personal music service. It's a testament to his knack for tech, as he seamlessly integrated his systems, preparing for future expansions like setting up a VPN for global streaming access.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to the World of Home Labbing The chapter introduces Ardens, a part-time YouTuber and IT intern, who is also pursuing undergraduate studies. Ardens expresses a deep passion for computing and technology, which has led to a new hobby: home labbing. The exposure to information systems and various technologies such as servers, virtualization, and networking through an IT job motivates Ardens to explore these further, beyond professional settings.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Starting the Home Labbing Journey The chapter introduces the "Starting the Home Labbing Journey" series, where the narrator plans to document their venture into creating a home lab. It humorously hints at the challenges and costs involved while explaining what a home lab is to newcomers.
• 01:30 - 02:30: What is a Home Lab? A home lab is essentially one or more computing devices that provide services or convenience, which you fully control. The purpose can be for learning, experimenting, or entertainment. The control and management are entirely personal, offering an opportunity to handle computing tasks independently. The chapter introduces the concept by relating it to a real-world example from the narrator’s first home lab project, illustrating the practical applications and personal benefits of having a home lab.
• 02:30 - 04:30: NAS Server Setup and Configuration The chapter discusses common challenges faced when relying on a single machine to store important files, such as the inconvenience of accessing these files on other devices. Traditional methods like transferring files via email or USB are described as cumbersome, leading to the introduction of a more convenient solution, hinting at the use of cloud services.
• 04:30 - 06:30: Flexispot Sponsorship - Ergonomic Workspace Solutions The chapter discusses an ergonomic workspace solution sponsored by Flexispot. It suggests an alternative solution to using cloud storage services, advocating for hosting a personal NAS server instead. The narrator shares their experience with accessing files and documents from a shared network drive, called the T drive, at their workplace. The T drive is a centralized location for all the files, programs, and documents used by everyone in the company.
• 06:30 - 09:00: Self-Hosting a Music Server with Navidrome The chapter discusses the concept of self-hosting a music server using Navidrome. It introduces the idea of a NAS (Network-Attached Storage) as a personal network drive that allows file access across different devices on a home network. The narration starts with the backdrop of a company server allowing network access and transitions into setting up a similar system at home with a NAS.
• 09:00 - 10:00: Conclusion and Future Plans The chapter discusses the author's decision to build a NAS server instead of purchasing one due to high costs. Using a Raspberry Pi, a small and affordable computer commonly used for DIY projects, and a 1 TB Samsung portable SSD, the author constructs their own server.

My New Found Addiction! Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hi my name is Ardens part-time YouTuber part-time IT intern and full-time undergrad student all of these occupations revolve around something I'm pretty passionate about and that is the endless world of computing and technology recently thanks to my IT job I've stumbled into a new hobby home labbing working in IT has exposed me to the vast world of information systems and all kinds of technologies from servers virtualization networking and more and eventually I thought why limit the interaction with these things only
• 00:30 - 01:00 at work why not bring the chaos into the comfort of my own home so welcome to episode one of my journey into home labbing a series that will document the beginnings of a crippling addiction the slow but inevitable draining of my wallet and the descent into a world where I spend more time talking to machines than to actual humans huh but anyway let's begin this is going to get weird expensive and maybe even a little educational so what is a home lab for those who aren't aware a home lab in its simplest form is a setup in your home
• 01:00 - 01:30 with one or more computing devices that provides you a service or convenience one that you have 100% control over whether it's for learning experimenting or just having fun it's all yours to manage and if that definition still sounds a bit abstract let me hit you with a realworld example to open your third eye and tell you about my very first homelanding project picture this you are a humble muscular handsome and highly intelligent individual and you are currently facing a problem with storing your files and documents you
• 01:30 - 02:00 happen to have and use multiple laptops and on your main machine is where all of your important files and documents are stored but one day you wake up and realize that you need to access those files on devices that are not your main machine you start transferring files over email and USB sticks you're annoyed at these tedious file sharing processes and wishing for a more convenient solution and at this point you dear viewer might be thinking "Yeah buddy that convenient solution it's called the cloud." And you know what I say to that the cloud as a matter of fact Google
• 02:00 - 02:30 Drive Dropbox and you for suggesting such a cucked solution sorry I didn't mean that what I meant to say was there's another alternative solution that in my opinion is better than using a cloud storage service and that is hosting your very own NAS server at my job one of the most common tasks I do is accessing files and documents from a shared network drive called the T drive this drive stores all the files programs and documents that everyone in the company uses now this T
• 02:30 - 03:00 drive is hosted on a server somewhere within the company's infrastructure and as long as you're connected to the company's private network you'll be able to access it at this point I'm sure you can see where this is leading i thought why not recreate this setup at home but on a smaller scale that's when I discovered the magic of a NAS server a NAS or networkattached storage is essentially your own personal network drive it's a dedicated computing device that stores all of your files and makes them accessible to any device you have on your home network so I went online to
• 03:00 - 03:30 see if I could buy myself one of these NAS servers and after seeing the prices I said "Fuck no baby." And decided to build my own for cheap turns out you don't really need much to build your own all you need is a computer desktop laptop it doesn't really matter i went with a Raspberry Pi I already had which is just a tiny affordable computer often used for DIY projects the next thing you're going to need is a storage device like a hard drive or SSD i went with a 1 TB Samsung portable SSD
• 03:30 - 04:00 [Music] after that I installed a special software on my Raspberry Pi called Open Media Vault which basically turns it into an ad server instead of a normal computer with a desktop environment the next step is you connect your drive into your computer and connect your computer into your router and after some configurations in Open Media Vault you will now have your very own personal cloud that's faster more private and
• 04:00 - 04:30 completely under your control i hope you weren't hoping for a more thorough explanation on the configuration process but that's too bad this is not a tutorial channel and I'm not your dad the least I could do is leave you a link in the description that will teach you how to download Open Media Vault and configure it to have your own network drive you're welcome but anyway adding my first piece of HomeLab equipment to my work setup got me hyped i'm going to be honest here part of the reason why I got into Home Labbing was to make my room look like Dexter's Laboratory it's nowhere near complete but it's coming
• 04:30 - 05:00 together piece by piece i've got the dual monitors the Linux theme mouse pad the laptop on a laptop stand and the sick wallpapers every corner of my workstation is starting to feel like part of something bigger and then there's the chair this chair is the only thing killing the vibe and my back good thing I can stand with my E7 standing desk I got from today's sponsor Flexis Spot i've had this desk for more than a year now and it has completely elevated my home office setup the smooth height adjustments solid build and clean design
• 05:00 - 05:30 have made my workspace feel a lot more professional organized and way more comfortable for long work hours but my chair is still killing the vibe thankfully Flexispock came through and blessed me with their C7 ergonomic chair it's an absolute beast of an upgrade from my old one my previous chair was a disaster it was uncomfortable unstable and had me sitting like a gremlin worst of all I couldn't even lean back on it but the C7 is built different where do I start it has adaptive lumbar support that adjusts to my back so I no longer need those extra janky cushions in the
• 05:30 - 06:00 seat it's so spacious even bubble baths can plop down on this thing no problem you can even choose between a foam or mesh seat depending on what you're into and best of all it has a reclining back rest perfect for when I'm feeling a little burnt out and want to doom scroll for 2 hours by the way this thing has so many adjustable parts it might as well be a transformer we're talking adjustable seat depth adjustable seat height adjustable headrest adjustable armrest and the list goes on basically it offers a super personalized experience that works for just about anyone if you're thinking about
• 06:00 - 06:30 upgrading your work setup now is the time the C7 comes with a 30-day risk-free trial and a 10-year warranty with direct replacement for any damaged parts and you can use my exclusive code C750 at checkout to get $50 off your own C7 chair thank you to Flexispot for sponsoring this video now let's continue i had so much fun building and exploring the technology behind my self-made NAS that I was left craving for another project or a new skill to learn something to expand my home lab and what a better way to find inspiration than to
• 06:30 - 07:00 look at the areas of my life where big tech corporations go out of their way to make my life as miserable as possible unless I pay their greedy asses for example there's nothing I love more than music and there's nothing I hate more than ads and these companies they're going to keep shoving ads down your throat forever unless you pay them forever when you mix my love for music with my hatred for ads together it creates an experience that let's just say drives me off my rocker a little bit
• 07:00 - 07:30 so inevitably as a self-proclaimed Home Lab guru it was time to take matters into my own hands that's right i decided to self-host my very own music server so the music server I decided to go with is called Navi Drrome the next thing I needed was just a machine to host it i've already taken my one and only Raspberry Pi to be used as a dedicated NAS server and even though I have four computers left it would be overkill and just plain dumb to dedicate an entire
• 07:30 - 08:00 laptop to solely hosting Navi Drrome and this is when I ended up having to learn a neat little thing called virtualization with the power of virtualization I could take one laptop and run multiple little computers inside it and rule over them however I want like gods angry gods so I installed Proxmox which is a powerful open-source virtualization platform with Proxmox I can create and manage as many virtual computers as my hardware will allow and I plan on spinning up a virtual environment
• 08:00 - 08:30 specifically for Navi Drrome there are two kinds of virtual environments you can create in Proxmox virtual machines and containers for my use case with Navi Drrome a container is the better option why because I'm just running one application plus containers are lightweight they shared the same kernel as the host system this makes them faster use fewer resources and boot up almost instantly once I got done setting up my virtual music server all that was left was to start uploading my downloaded songs all of which are stored guess where on my NAS server you see how
• 08:30 - 09:00 everything's coming together and yeah just like that I now have my very own self-hosted adfree music streaming service running smoothly without wasting any unnecessary hardware but wait it gets better navi Drrome is compatible with the subsonic API which basically means it allows developers to build apps that interacts with media servers like Navi Drrome for example i downloaded a client in the app store called ampfy and after putting my Navi Drums IP address and password bam look at that it looks
• 09:00 - 09:30 like a legit streaming music app and it's running on my server do you understand how cool that is but anyway at this stage I can only stream music as long as I am connected to my home Wi-Fi connection we don't want that we want to be able to stream our legally downloaded songs from anywhere which means the next step will be to set up a VPN for secure remote access but my friends we'll save that for another day thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next one and don't forget to check out Flexispot remember you can use my exclusive code C750 at checkout to get
• 09:30 - 10:00 $50 off their awesome C7 ergonomic chair oh and join my Discord server if you would like to personally ask me the process of how I did everything and yada yada yada and all that boring [ __ ] bye [Music]