Small But Mighty Homelab: DeskPi 12U Running 20+ Services

TL;DR

You don't need a server room to run a powerful homelab. With just a few host machines - a couple of Raspberry Pis, a mini PC, and a Jetson - you can run 20+ services: media streaming, photo backup, password management, smart home automation, monitoring, and even a local AI voice assistant. All in a compact, elegant setup that fits in a corner of a tiny apartment.

This post walks through my homelab architecture - how I got here, how it's organized, and what it can do.

Contents:

1. Evolution
2. Architecture Overview
3. Physical Foundation
4. Network Infrastructure
5. Compute Hosts & Devices
6. Services & Applications
7. Cost Breakdown
8. Lessons Learned

1. Evolution

Living in a 10 sqm studio apartment in Tokyo, space is extremely limited. Every square centimeter counts.

My homelab started simple: a metal rack with a Raspberry Pi 4 and a hard disk running Samba NAS. As my needs grew, so did the setup.

I moved to a TV rack as services expanded - Home Assistant, monitoring, Docker services. It worked, but:

• Cluttered mess of cables
• Ate up precious floor space
• Collected dust like crazy

The solution? Graduating to a DeskPi 12U rack - vertical consolidation for small spaces, cleaner look, and better dust management.

2. Architecture Overview

3. Physical Foundation

The DeskPi 12U Rack Layout

The DeskPi 12U rack is the physical foundation. It's visually pleasant and prevents dust buildup - a huge improvement over the open TV rack.

Power Management and Cooling

Power comes from a 650W TUF Gaming power supply - repurposed from my old main PC. Plenty of headroom for the entire rack.

For cooling, I installed 2x 12cm fans at the bottom of the rack, providing airflow from bottom to top. This keeps everything running cool without being too noisy.

4. Network Infrastructure

OpenWrt ONE Router

The network starts with an OpenWrt ONE router - an open-source, hacker-friendly device that handles:

• Routing, firewall, and DHCP
• Nginx reverse proxy for local service names (e.g., jellyfin.local instead of 192.168.1.50:8096)
• WireGuard VPN for secure remote access via port forwarding

KP-9000-9XHP-X-AC Managed Switch

The PoE managed switch serves dual purpose:

• Network switching for all devices in the rack
• PoE power delivery to both Raspberry Pis - eliminating two power adapters and reducing cable clutter

5. Compute Hosts & Devices

Raspberry Pi 4 (PoE-powered)

• Role: Smart home automation
• Powered via PoE HAT - one less cable to manage

Raspberry Pi 5 (PoE-powered)

• Role: Monitoring and observability
• Powered via PoE HAT

Intel N305 Mini PC

• Role: Main Docker host (Proxmox + LXC container)
• Intel i3-N305 (12th gen)
• 4x Intel i226-V 2.5G NICs
• 2x NVMe slots, 6x SATA 3.0 bays
• DDR5 RAM (32GB), PCIe x1, Type-C
• 1TB NVMe + 2x 8TB Seagate IronWolf (ZFS mirror)

Why the N305 over other options?

I considered Synology/QNAP NAS devices, used enterprise mini PCs, and Intel NUCs. The N305 NAS board won because:

• 6 SATA bays - room to expand storage without external enclosures
• 4x 2.5G NICs - network flexibility for VLANs or link aggregation
• Intel Quick Sync - hardware transcoding for Jellyfin without GPU
• x86 architecture - better Docker compatibility than ARM alternatives
• Low power - efficient enough to run 24/7
• DDR5 + NVMe - modern and fast for running 20+ containers

Jetson Nano Orin Super

• Role: Local voice assistant

Smart Home Controllers

• Philips Hue bridge - Zigbee lighting
• SwitchBot hub - SwitchBot devices integration

6. Services & Applications

Smart Home (Pi 4)

• Home Assistant - controlling Hue lights, SwitchBot devices, and automations

Monitoring Stack (Pi 5)

• Grafana - dashboards and visualization
• Prometheus - metrics collection
• Alertmanager - alert routing and notifications
• Uptime Kuma - service uptime monitoring

Media Stack (N305)

• Jellyfin - media streaming with Intel Quick Sync hardware transcoding
• Komga - comics/manga reader
• Radarr, Sonarr, Prowlarr - media automation (behind Gluetun VPN)
• qBittorrent - downloads (behind VPN)
• Mylar + Kapowarr - comics management

File Management (N305)

• Samba NAS - network file sharing
• Filebrowser - web UI for downloads
• JDownloader2 - direct downloads
• Syncthing - cross-device file sync

Applications (N305)

• Vaultwarden - password manager (Bitwarden-compatible)
• Immich - photo backup with ML-powered search
• Homer - dashboard
• n8n - workflow automation
• LanguageTool - grammar checker

Voice Assistant (Jetson)

• Local voice control via Home Assistant - no cloud required (see my previous post)

Network Services (OpenWrt ONE)

• Nginx Reverse Proxy - local service names for easy access, no more remembering IP:port combinations
• WireGuard VPN - secure remote access to the homelab when away from home

7. Cost Breakdown

Here's roughly what this setup costs:

Component	Approx. Price
DeskPi RackMate T2 12U	~$100-150
Raspberry Pi 4 4GB	~$60
Raspberry Pi 5 8GB	~$95
PoE+ HAT x2	~$50
Intel N305 NAS motherboard (bare board)	~$200-300
DDR5 RAM (16-32GB)	~$120-400
NVMe SSD (1TB)	~$70-150
NAS HDD (8TB)	~$150-200 each
Jetson Orin Nano Super	~$249
OpenWrt ONE router	~$89
KeepLink PoE managed switch	~$100-150
Misc (cables, fans, accessories)	~$50-100
Total (excl. RAM/storage)	~$1,000-1,250

RAM and storage costs depend on your capacity needs. Due to AI infrastructure demand, DDR5 prices are elevated.

Prices as of January 2026 - check current listings as memory prices are volatile.

Not cheap, but this replaces multiple cloud subscriptions and gives you full control over your data. The N305 and Jetson are the priciest components - you could start smaller with just the Pis and add more later.

8. Lessons Learned

Building this setup taught me a few things:

• Go vertical with an enclosed rack - Saves floor space and keeps dust out. The DeskPi 12U rack was a game-changer compared to the open TV rack.
• Use PoE where possible - Fewer power adapters, fewer cables, cleaner setup. The managed switch powers both Pis.
• Repurpose what you have - The 650W TUF Gaming PSU from my old PC now powers the N305 PC.
• Hardware transcoding matters - The N305's Intel Quick Sync handles Jellyfin effortlessly. Choose your hardware with your workloads in mind.
• Take your time - Perfecting the setup took a few days. The DeskPi's flexibility with parts and accessories makes it worth the effort.

The rack assembly isn't more complex than building a PC - just more of them. If you can do one, you can do this.

---

What's Next

This post covered the architecture - the what and why. In upcoming posts, I'll dive into the how: step-by-step guides for setting up each service, from Jellyfin and the *arr stack to Immich and Vaultwarden.

Stay tuned.