There are the technological geeks and then there are the tech geeks. Like this, in bold. Some believe that the summum is in achieve a powerful setup in which they combine power, backlighting and a great cooling system. But there are others who go further and are not satisfied with configuring a custom PC, no matter how ambitious that PC may be.
No. For these other users, the true summum is to set up a server rack, a “domestic” version of the racks that we usually find in data centers and that allow them to experiment and have self-hosted services of all kinds.
Long live homelabs
That domestic “homelab” fever of which we talked a few years ago has made it increasingly common to see how these technology and do-it-yourself enthusiasts create mini data centers in which they can execute all kinds of tasks. There are of course homelabs consisting of a server (often a NAS) with several hard drives to host different services, but these server racks go one step further.
In these racks, which anyone can buy on the Internet, they combine computers and servers of all types, hard drives and switches and connect all of this with cables—there too #cableporn comes into play— and then take advantage of those servers in areas such as home automation.
There are many more possible applications, of course: one can set up one’s own servers for mail, web, multimedia, video surveillance, monitoring of those own systems and small (or not so small) private clouds.
They can also use these environments to experiment in the field of cybersecurity and pentesting, or to “tinker” with experiments in the devops field. The possibilities are enormous… if you are willing to face the task.
The great showcase for these unique technological DIY projects is Reddit, which has subreddits such as r/homelab where thousands of curious people gather to share their projects —“a homelab is never complete” is a kind of mantra in said community—and, of course, show off those racks that they have assembled with blood, sweat, tears and often a significant financial investment.
Because what is clear is that setting up this type of system is not easy. Michael Lynch, one of the users who shares this hobby, he told in his personal blog in April 2024 the entire process that led him to create his first homelab.
That post, very long and detailed, shows how when creating a homelab you have to take into account millions of details so that everything works as it should. And even doing so you can always find surprises.
This hobby has also been promoted by some internet personalities who already worked with this type of content. Jeff Gerrling launched at the beginning of the year the Project Mini Rack for users who had ambitions of that type but wanted to have a “compact rack”.
The result is certainly attractive and can be an excellent starting point for those who want to start in this world, but for those who do, a small warning: these systems are complex and the problem is not just assembling them and starting them up—and controlling things like energy consumption and noise— but, above all, keep them.
And update them, of course. Because as we said, “a homelab is never complete”.
Image | Jeff Geerling
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings