Network and homelab
Subnets, power, cooling, backups and documentation, worked out on paper first. Free calculators, step-by-step guides and templates for the home lab and the small office network.
Free calculators
- Free toolIPv4 Subnet and VLSM CalculatorFree IPv4 subnet calculator and VLSM planner. Get network, broadcast, mask, usable hosts, then split a block into right-sized subnets for each VLAN.
- Free toolPoE Power Budget CalculatorFree PoE power budget calculator. Add your phones, access points and cameras to see total draw against the switch's PoE budget and how much headroom is left.
- Free toolUPS Runtime CalculatorFree UPS runtime calculator. Enter battery voltage, amp-hours, load and efficiency to estimate how long your UPS keeps a rack or homelab running.
- Free toolHomelab Electricity Cost CalculatorFree homelab electricity cost calculator. Add each server, switch and NAS with watts and hours to see the monthly and yearly power bill, with optional cooling overhead.
- Free toolBandwidth Oversubscription CalculatorFree network oversubscription calculator. Compare total access port speed to uplink capacity and get the oversubscription ratio for a switch or a layer.
Guides
- GuideWhat is the 3-2-1 backup rule and how do I apply it to a homelab?The 3-2-1 backup rule means keeping three copies of your data, on two different types of storage, with one copy stored offsite.
- GuideHow do I subnet a home or small office network?Subnetting means cutting one block of IP addresses into smaller blocks, each one a separate network.
- GuideHow do I plan a PoE power budget for access points, phones and cameras?Plan a PoE power budget by adding up the maximum power each device can draw, comparing that total to the switch's overall PoE budget, checking each…
- GuideHow do I size a UPS for my homelab?You size a UPS for a homelab by measuring how many watts your gear actually draws and choosing a UPS whose watt rating comfortably exceeds that load.
- GuideHow should I split a homelab or home network into VLANs?Split your network by trust level: put untrusted or noisy devices (smart-home gadgets, guests) on their own VLANs, keep servers on another, and reserve…
- GuideWhat does it cost to run my homelab each month?Your homelab's monthly cost is its average power draw in watts, times the hours it runs, divided by 1,000, times your electricity price per kWh.
Templates
Backup 3-2-1 Plan Worksheet for Home LabsCheck each dataset against 3-2-1, your recovery targets and your real restore and upload speeds. What you get:$12
Docker Service Inventory and Port Map TrackerOne sheet for every service, host, port and backup flag. Finds duplicate ports before a container fails to sta$12
Home Lab Bill of Materials and Cost Tracker SpreadsheetTrack every purchase, tax and shipping, budget vs spend by category and status, and 3-year cost of ownership. $12
Home Lab Documentation PackBlank and worked-example versions of the documents that save you at 2 a.m. What you get: 9 documents, each as $19
Home Lab Rack PlannerPlan every U, catch overlaps, total power, weight and heat, then print a colour rack elevation. What you get: $14
Home Lab UPS Runtime CalculatorHow long will my UPS last, and how big a battery do I need? With efficiency, depth of discharge and battery ag$12
Home Network VLAN Design GuideVendor-neutral 10-page guide with diagrams, subnet maths, firewall matrix, migration plan and a tested subnet $19
IPAM-Lite Spreadsheet: IP Address Management WorkbookList your prefixes and hosts; instantly see duplicate or overlapping CIDRs, misaligned networks, orphan IPs, d$24
IPv4 VLSM Subnet Planner SpreadsheetType host counts in any order; get sorted, aligned subnets with masks, ranges and a fit check. Includes a CIDR$19
NAS Capacity and RAID PlannerUsable TB and TiB, safety margin, hot spares, rebuild time and multi-vdev pools, with every formula tested. Wh$14
Network Change Request Template with Rollback PlanChange request, tested-rollback plan, risk score, CAB checklist and a worked example for network engineers. Wh$19
Patch Panel and Structured Cabling Labeling SheetGenerate cable IDs and both-end labels automatically, catch duplicate ports/outlets, and print label sheets to$19
Proxmox VM and Container Resource Allocation PlannerCheck vCPU-to-thread ratio, RAM commitment and thin-provisioned storage before you add the next VM. What you g$15
Free working sample
Download a free spreadsheet sample for network and homelab, no email needed.
Reference tables
- CIDR subnet mask table, /8 to /32
- /30 vs /31 for point-to-point links
- Homelab electricity cost by watts
Calculators are checked against hand-worked test cases and templates are recalculated before listing: how the math is checked. Nothing here is tax, legal, financial or engineering advice.