From Pentium to Production: Building a Datacenter at Home with Proxmox

Introduction

This will be a more focused talk than a generic introduction to homelabbing. Through this talk, I wish to introduce the open-source Proxmox VE hypervisor, and how it enables you to create a production-style datacenter setup right from the comforts of your home.

I’ll begin with my journey starting from an old Pentium machine and gradually evolving into a fully custom-built server running Proxmox.

On this system, I run:

• A Minecraft server for my university with 200+ unique players

• A browser-accessible remote GUI workstation

• A self-hosted office-suit

• A cloud gaming setup similar to GeForce NOW (using pcie passthrough)

Using these examples, I’ll demonstrate how self-hosting can go far beyond hobby projects, enabling you to run reliable, always-on services without relying on expensive cloud platforms.

Proxmox stands out here because it combines virtual machines and containers in a single integrated platform. It's built on open-source technologies like KVM and LXC, and offers features such as clustering, backups, and high availability. Features that are typically locked behind expensive licenses in other ecosystems.

I'll also showcase a few demos to highlight how powerful self-hosting can be, not just in terms of cost savings, but in the level of freedom, customization and power it provides, especially when using a platform like Proxmox.

I’ll also touch on the key ideas that make this possible, from hypervisors, virtualization and containers to practical challenges like hardware choices and dealing with Indian ISP restrictions.