Running a Minecraft server made me build my own homelab

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/u/Current-Protection13

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Hello, I’m just a random user here (no name). Just here to share and kinda yap about my setup, but everything here is real, not made up.

Back in 2020, I made my first Minecraft server. Nothing big, just a small group of players hanging out. I ran it like that until around 2022, when I realized hosting was getting insanely expensive.

That’s when I decided… screw it, I’ll build my own machine and host it myself.

At first it was just a single PC—CPU, RAM, motherboard, SSD, PSU, cooling, normal case. But I always ended up going for top-tier hardware for some reason. I’m not rich, I don’t even fully understand why I do it. Maybe OCD, maybe obsession. I just always had to make it “proper.” And yeah, I always stick with AIO cooling.

Where it ended up​


Fast forward to now… I somehow scaled this into a full setup that can handle roughly around 1,000 to 20,000 concurrent players depending on load. I won’t be specific here, but yeah—it still feels insane saying it out loud.

I ended up with around 20 machines total.

Main compute (Minecraft servers)​

  • 7× AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
  • 13× AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

Each machine:

  • 96GB DDR5 RAM (4800MHz, sometimes up to 5200MHz but I keep it stable)
  • Storage per node:
    • 2× 8TB NVMe (U.3)
    • 10× 2TB NVMe
    • 18× 128GB NVMe
    • 1× 1TB NVMe

These run:

  • Folia servers
  • Hubs / Lobbys / Spawns
  • SMP
  • Skyblock
  • basically everything in the network
  • other gamemode

Database layer​

  • DragonflyDB (Redis alternative, extremely fast in my setup)
  • Redis
  • MySQL / MariaDB

Specs:

  • Dual Xeon Platinum 8171M
  • 384GB DDR4 2666MHz
  • ~6.4TB NVMe storage

Proxy layer​


2× Velocity proxy servers:

Each:

  • Dual Xeon E5-2696 v4
  • 128GB DDR4 2400MHz
  • 240GB + 480GB SSD

Networking / Internet​


I have 5 lines total:

  • 2× 1Gbps lines (ISP A and ISP B)
  • 1× ISP C line (can do 5–10Gbps, but I only run 1Gbps on it because cost is insane)

Router​


My router is also a PC:

  • Current: Intel E-2174G, 8GB RAM
  • Previously: i7-12700K, 32GB RAM (I honestly might switch back)

Power & cooling​

  • 2× air conditioners (~18,000 BTU / 2HP each)
  • Used to run UPS + diesel generator backup
  • Now switched to:
    • 100kWh lithium battery system
    • inverter setup

Power draw:

  • Servers: ~2kW–5kW depending on load
  • Cooling: ~2kW–4kW depending on heat

Final thoughts​


I never planned for it to turn into something this big. It just slowly evolved from “hosting a Minecraft server” into basically a small private datacenter.

Sometimes I still look at it and think… yeah, this is kind of insane lol

Pics if think this is made up by AI:
My Diagram Network:
https://ibb.co/M5fzWkWw
My Grafana Dashboard: https://ibb.co/wZxsCFvk (This one show CPU and Total RAM)

Note:
This post was structured and rewritten using AI based on the information I provided, to make it clearer and easier to read while keeping the original meaning intact. English is not my main language, so AI was used to help improve clarity.

and I also know the emdash is AI, im not that stupid.

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