COMPUTE
A multi-node compute environment provides the foundation for virtual machines, containers and distributed workloads.
ABOUT POCKETDC
Private cloud infrastructure.
Built at home. Built to learn. Built because I can.
PocketDC is my personal home datacenter project — a compact, self-hosted environment built to explore how far you can take enterprise-style infrastructure without an enterprise-sized datacenter.
I’ve had a fascination for websites, web hosting and servers since I was 14 years old, back in the year 2000. What started as curiosity about how the web works has evolved into a lifelong interest in building and running infrastructure myself.
What started as an idea has evolved into a small private cloud platform where I experiment with virtualization, networking, storage, automation and self-hosted services.
Everything runs on hardware I own, infrastructure I control and systems I can take apart, rebuild and improve.
THE POCKET DATACENTER PROJECT
Small footprint. Real infrastructure.
PocketDC brings the fundamental building blocks of a datacenter into a compact, self-contained private cloud infrastructure.
At its core is a multi-node cluster built around three HP EliteDesk systems, networking hardware and a dedicated management display — all integrated into a compact rack.
The entire platform is designed to be flexible, adaptable and scalable — but also location-independent. PocketDC can be moved and deployed virtually anywhere. All it needs is one power outlet and an Internet connection.
The type of connection doesn't matter. Fiber, cable, Ethernet, Wi-Fi or mobile connectivity can all provide the path to the Internet. The infrastructure maintains its own networking, addressing and connectivity, eliminating the need to reconfigure the environment for each new location.
Plug it in. Connect it to the Internet. PocketDC takes care of the rest.
But the hardware is only the beginning.
The real project is everything running behind it: network architecture, virtualization, private services, automation, monitoring and the continuous process of making the infrastructure more resilient, efficient and capable.
This isn't just a server rack. It's a portable private cloud — designed to run anywhere.
WHAT RUNS INSIDE
NETWORK
Custom routing, firewalling, VLANs, NAT and network segmentation connect the PocketDC environment internally and securely expose selected services to the outside world.
STORAGE
Centralized and distributed storage provides persistent data for virtual machines, applications, backups and infrastructure services.
SERVICES
A growing collection of self-hosted applications replaces or complements conventional cloud services while keeping infrastructure and data under my control.
AUTOMATION
Provisioning, configuration and routine infrastructure tasks are automated wherever practical. If I have to do something repeatedly, there's probably a better way to do it.
MONITORING
The infrastructure monitors itself. Availability, resource utilization, network activity and system health provide a continuous view of what's happening inside PocketDC.
WHY POCKETDC?
Because the abstraction isn't the interesting part.
Because running infrastructure yourself teaches you things that clicking Create VM in a hyperscaler never will.
You learn what happens underneath the abstraction.
How packets actually reach a service.How storage behaves when something fails.How systems discover each other.How to recover when they don't.How to design something that can keep running when individual components cannot.
PocketDC exists because understanding infrastructure is much more interesting when you actually build it.
BUILT. BROKEN. REBUILT. IMPROVED.
PocketDC will never really be finished.
Hardware changes. Software changes. Architectures get redesigned. Good ideas replace bad ones, and occasionally a perfectly functioning system gets rebuilt simply because there might be a better way to do it.
That's the point.