Infrastructure
Hardware
System architecture and hardware configuration for the HP ProDesk 400 G3 homelab host.
🖥️ System Architecture & Hardware Configuration
[!IMPORTANT]
Engineering Objective: Establish a stable, hypervisor-driven home lab using repurposed enterprise hardware. The host must support hardware virtualization, efficient containerization, and separate fast/slow storage tiers.
Hardware Specifications
| Component | Specification | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Model | HP ProDesk 400 G3 MT | Repurposed enterprise desktop (Serial: SGH552TW46). |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-6500 (4 Cores, 3.20GHz) | Skylake. VT-x & VT-d enabled. Turbo to 3.60GHz. |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4 | Upgraded from original 8GB. Allocated across LXCs and VMs. |
| GPU | Intel HD Graphics 530 (i915) | Onboard IGD. Available for passthrough to containers via /dev/dri. |
| NIC | Realtek RTL8111/8168 Gigabit (r8169) | Single GbE port bridged to vmbr0. |
| Storage 1 | 512GB SSD | "The Fast Tier." Hosts Proxmox OS, LXC roots, VM boot drives. |
| Storage 2 | 1TB Toshiba HDD | "The Vault." High-capacity storage for backups, media, and data. |
Pre-Installation (BIOS Configuration)
- Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x): ENABLED (Crucial for KVM support).
- Intel VT-d (Directed I/O): ENABLED (Allows PCI/USB passthrough).
- Boot Mode: UEFI.
- ACPI Power Loss State: Power On.
Hypervisor Software
| Component | Version |
|---|---|
| Proxmox VE | 9.2.3 |
| Kernel | 7.0.6-2-pve |
| Base OS | Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) |
| QEMU | 11.0.0 |
| LXC | 7.0.0 |
| Hostname | jaysync-lab |
Storage Architecture (Proxmox Tiering)
| Pool | Type | Capacity | Content | Mount Point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
local | Directory (ext4) | ~94GB | ISOs, backups, container templates | /var/lib/vz |
local-lvm | LVM-Thin | ~320GB | VM/CT disk images (thin provisioned) | (managed by PVE) |
vault | Directory (ext4) | ~916GB | Images, rootdirs, backups, ISOs, snippets, templates | /mnt/pve/vault |
- SSD (512GB): Split into
local(ext4) for ISOs/templates andlocal-lvm(LVM-Thin) for running Virtual Disks. Thin provisioning prevents bottlenecks. - HDD (1TB): Mounted as
vault(Directory) at/mnt/pve/vault. Configured as a universal store accepting all content types. Used for media data, Proxmox snapshots, and container bind-mounts.