Can This Tiny Board Replace Your Entire HomeLab? – Zima Board 2

IceWhale just sent me the brand new Zima Board 2 – a tiny, fanless, x86 single-board computer that’s basically a full PC in your pocket. So of course… we’re gonna try to break it. I’m throwing pfSense, Ubuntu, and even Proxmox at it to see if this thing can actually run an entire homelab by itself. Let’s see what it can handle.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Unboxing
02:29 - Specs
07:12 - Battle Plan
08:47 - Initial Setup (Zima Board + Proxmox)
12:42 - Getting Internet Access
13:20 - Setting up pfSense on a VM
20:34 - Installing Snort
21:00 - Removing PCI Card
22:45 - Setting up Ubuntu VM
24:15 - Throughput Testing
26:19 - Testing with IDS/IPS
27:24 - Squeezing in Containers

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Can the Zima Board 2 Replace Your Entire Homelab?
Zima Board 2 Running pfSense, Proxmox, and Ubuntu
Is the Zima Board 2 Good for Homelab Projects?
Full Review of the New Zima Board 2
Testing Zima Board 2 as a Firewall and Server
Zima Board 2 vs Zima Board 1: What’s Changed?
Building a Portable Homelab with Zima Board 2
Zima Board 2 for Networking, Security, and Virtualization
Running Proxmox on a Mini PC: Zima Board 2 Test
Can Zima Board 2 Replace Your Raspberry Pi?

#ZimaBoard2 #HomeLab #Firewall

[NetworkChuck]

IceWhale just sent me the brand new Zima Board 2 – a tiny, fanless, x86 single-board computer that’s basically a full PC in your pocket. So of course… we’re gonna try to break it. I’m throwing pfSense, Ubuntu, and even Proxmox at it to see if this thing can actually run an entire homelab by itself. Let’s see what it can handle.




TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Unboxing
02:29 - Specs
07:12 - Battle Plan
08:47 - Initial Setup (Zima Board + Proxmox)
12:42 - Getting Internet Access
13:20 - Setting up pfSense on a VM
20:34 - Installing Snort
21:00 - Removing PCI Card
22:45 - Setting up Ubuntu VM
24:15 - Throughput Testing
26:19 - Testing with IDS/IPS
27:24 - Squeezing in Containers














**Sponsored by Incogni

[daven]

I'm going to just say it, using sticky notes to breakdown a comparison is an amazing video technique, lets the audience back reference, compare themselves, and is quite nice to look at instead of just boxes. I honestly love how creative your videos are, please keep up the good work.

[dktol]

The other side of the cardboard packing can be used as a temporary open air case for the zimaboard2 and two 2.5" SATA SSD's (or, ugh, hard drives). Environmentally friendly and kind of cool. I like it.

[knuwepaluwe]

hi, my humble Answer for your Question is (and i hope, i'm right): CPU Performance goes down on 2.5 Gbit's, because greater Packet-Sizes, and because that, less TCP-Packets, and because of that, less to do for pfsense. (sry my faulty english). Greetings from NRW Germany, and many thanks for your Support! You was and ARE one of my Inspirations for my Job. (Admin/IT-Supporter for a nonprofit Organisation) Lovely... many many Thanks! (and i LOVE Coffey) :-D

[ReptilianLaserbeam]

8:20 I love that everything related to networking/computing is literally magic. Literally. Just understanding how a processor works is mind-blowing. And now virtualization on a tiny box, a couple decades ago people would have called you crazy to believe a whole home lab could fit on a small box xD

[ozbusa]

For Proxmox admin, I use a usb>Ethernet adapter. One bonus is that it never gets screwed around with changing pci addresses if you add or remove devices.

[SpectacularAustin]

You said you never setup LXC container before but when I watched your proxmox video from many years ago you taught me how to do it lol

[Reeonimus]

17:15: You can tell which NICs are the built in Zimaboard NICs as they are intel i226, and the ones on your PCIe card are i225

[pcdoc]

The cardboard box seems to have cut-outs to convert the box and packaging to a mini-rack for the Zimaboard and the SSDs in a compact, neat neat layout.

[Vilanculojonasse]

I'm new to programming and tech stuff and I don't 100% understand this but I watch that some day it gonna make sense

[CyberSecHemmars]

Using a VM as a router for it own hypervisor is a wild idea.

[anthonyburning]

Two years ago i got a mini pc with a ryzen 5700u (8 cores, 16 threads) + 32GB DDR4 + 500GB nvme for 300€
( to which i added a 1TB ssd and 2 usb to ethernet adapters )
Running my proxmox and 4 vms and 9 lxc ( 5 of which are docker instances) 24/7 since then
I would 100% do the same again if i had the choice between that and (at least) 4 zimaboard

[tdtommy]

Monday Chuck is way smarter than Friday Chuck.

[tekn.]

I really enjoy watching Chuck troubleshoot. I always learn something.

[matthewrlynn]

My theory ->

Unmanaged switches (in my experience) can fail auto-negoitation so you most likely had a mismatch of 2.5gi on one end vs. 1gi on the other. This may cause return frames to come in at a PHY rate of 2.5gbps and the unmanaged switch needed to issue flow control [1] which is handled by the CPU and not on the Nic.

[RoughGanome]

29:35 proxmox helper scripts has a pihole script for LXC

[godfredniiquaye]

I don't understand much of what was going on. I do get the basics of networking and some stuffs you mentioned.
How you do your videos and make them look so interesting keeps me coming back for more.
Hopefully, I get to catch up on all the new things.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[joshhamsa]

Really appreciate you sharing your challenges in this one Chuck! Every time I start pulling my hair out trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong, at the back of my mind there’s that sneaky whisper “Chuck never has these issues” 😂

[rootkitraven]

You are an example of a great father, educator, great content.. love you from Iran❤❤❤

[Blockpie]

Im Happy that you have switched back from doing ai content. The ai content was good at first but you ended overusing it for a while. Thank you.