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Hardware Structure

This page explains the typical hardware structure of an ei23 Smart Home Server and which components you need.

Basic Structure

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         INTERNET                                │
│                             │                                   │
│                             ▼                                   │
│                    ┌─────────────────┐                          │
│                    │     Router      │                          │
│                    │  (FritzBox etc) │                          │
│                    └────────┬────────┘                          │
│                             │                                   │
│         ┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐               │
│         │                   │                   │               │
│         ▼                   ▼                   ▼               │
│  ┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐         │
│  │ Smart Home  │    │   Edge      │    │  Clients    │         │
│  │   Server    │◄──►│  Devices    │    │ (Phone,PC)  │         │
│  │ (ei23.sh)   │    │ (Sensors)   │    │             │         │
│  └─────────────┘    └─────────────┘    └─────────────┘         │
│         │                                                          │
│         ▼                                                          │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐                 │
│  │              Docker Container               │                 │
│  │  ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌─────────────┐  │                 │
│  │  │ Home    │ │ NodeRED  │ │ Grafana     │  │                 │
│  │  │Assistant│ │          │ │             │  │                 │
│  │  └─────────┘ └──────────┘ └─────────────┘  │                 │
│  │  ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌─────────────┐  │                 │
│  │  │MQTT     │ │InfluxDB  │ │Vaultwarden  │  │                 │
│  │  │Broker   │ │          │ │             │  │                 │
│  │  └─────────┘ └──────────┘ └─────────────┘  │                 │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Components

1. Smart Home Server (Central Hub)

The Server is the heart of your Smart Home:

Task Software
Central Control Home Assistant, ioBroker, OpenHAB
Automation NodeRED, n8n
Database InfluxDB, PostgreSQL
Visualization Grafana
Password Manager Vaultwarden
Cloud Storage Nextcloud

Hardware Choice

See Server / Mini-PC Hardware for detailed recommendations.

2. Edge Devices (Sensors / Actuators)

Edge Devices are devices that interact with your environment:

Type Examples Protocol
Temperature DHT22, BME280, Shelly WiFi, Zigbee, ESPHome
Light Philips Hue, IKEA Zigbee
Switches Shelly, Sonoff WiFi, Zigbee
Cameras Reolink, TP-Link RTSP, ONVIF
433MHz Weather stations RTL-SDR
Presence Aqara, LD2410 Zigbee, ESPHome

3. Network

The network connects everything:

Router (DHCP, DNS)
    │
    ├── WiFi (Sensors, Phones)
    │
    ├── LAN (Server, PCs)
    │
    └── Zigbee (separate radio network)
            │
            └── Zigbee2MQTT / ConBee

Communication Paths

MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport)

MQTT is the standard protocol for Smart Home:

Sensors ──► MQTT Broker (Mosquitto) ──► Home Assistant
                     │
                     ├──► NodeRED
                     │
                     └──► Grafana / InfluxDB

Zigbee

For battery-powered devices:

Zigbee Stick ──► Zigbee2MQTT ──► MQTT Broker ──► Home Assistant
      │
      ├──► Motion sensors
      ├──► Door contacts
      └──► Temperature sensors

WiFi

For mains-powered devices:

WiFi Devices ──► Router ──► Home Assistant (Shelly, Sonoff, etc.)

433MHz (RTL-SDR)

For affordable sensors:

RTL-SDR Stick ──► rtl_433 ──► MQTT ──► Home Assistant
      │
      ├──► Weather stations
      └──► Door contacts

Typical Setups

Minimal Setup (Beginners)

  • Server: Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB) - ~€70
  • Sensors: 2-3 Shelly WiFi - ~€30
  • Total: ~€100
Raspberry Pi 4
    │
    └── WiFi
        ├── Shelly 1 (Light switch)
        ├── Shelly Plus H&T (Temperature)
        └── Shelly Plus Plug S (Socket)
  • Server: Intel N100 Mini-PC - ~€150
  • Zigbee Stick: Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 - ~€10
  • Sensors: 10-20 Zigbee devices - ~€100
  • Total: ~€260
Intel N100 Mini-PC
    │
    ├── Zigbee Stick
    │   ├── 10x Temperature sensors
    │   ├── 5x Door contacts
    │   ├── 3x Motion sensors
    │   └── 10x IKEA/Philips lights
    │
    └── WiFi
        ├── Cameras
        └── Shelly switches

Extended Setup

  • Server: i5 Mini-PC with GPU - ~€400
  • Edge Devices: 50+ devices - ~€300
  • Media: Jellyfin with hardware transcoding
  • AI: Local LLMs with Ollama/llama-swap
  • Surveillance: Frigate with 4+ cameras

Security Architecture

Internet
    │
    ▼
┌──────────────┐
│  Firewall    │ (Router)
└──────┬───────┘
       │
       ▼
┌──────────────┐
│Reverse Proxy │ (Traefik/Nginx)
│  with SSL    │
└──────┬───────┘
       │
       ▼
┌──────────────┐
│  Docker      │
│  Network     │
└──────────────┘

Security

Further Information