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Comment by hqsolomo | Hacker News Reader

Speaking personally, it's just another form of tinkering. Nobody HAS to do it, much like nobody has to buy and maintain their own computer, car, home, etc... We do it because we can and it makes us happy.

Extra note- I would NEVER recommend a business use their home resources for work unless you know what you're doing (and why you're doing it). Even my homelab has vulnerabilities and I'm a security professional- more moving parts = much larger attack surface. There's a reason why corporations pay big buck$ for managed security services. Most homelabs I've seen are mostly for fun and personal comfort.

"What good is knowledge that is never applied" is what drives me to stuff like this. I can't speak for others but I'm sure I'm not the minority here.

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Gotcha. Thanks for the reply! To be clear, it wasn't a judgment but just a question to understand there weren't some unapparent reasons why. I think it makes total sense as a hobby and learning, but perhaps still overkill as the post title mentions. Haha.

I apologize if it seemed like I was irate- I'm not and your question is 100% the question we all ask ourselves before doing things like this (or for some of us, it's the first question on the wife acceptance factor audit). If anyone is running a data center in their home for a serious reason they either have small loads to justify the power consumption (rpi k8s cluster says hi), stacks to blow, regulatory pressure, or isn't factoring the costs in and is in for a rude awakening. I don't think (but also don't know) these labbers are the majority, and us homelabbers are already a rarity.

If it makes you feel better, megacorps are getting out of the "self-managed data center" industry and embracing the cloud, to exemplify your very point.

Lol. I was under zero impression that you were irate or anywhere close. My question was a little judgemental perhaps but not necessarily meant in any way. I was also curious if there was some interesting need that had come up. My primary thing that I want is a bunch of PoE powered nature cameras, buy I'm still figuring that out. It will affect whatever comes up though. Oh, and stable WiFi coverage.

I certainly have hobbies that go above any need or reasonable collection, namely synths and books. Haha.

It's interesting that you mention PoE nature cams- I designed a PoE home surveillance system for a friend that involved setting up a solar panel on a 30' pole that fed a box with a shitty camera system in it at ground level. From there he set the cams around his property- particularly where the foxes and coyotes would travel to get to his hens. The whole project was apparently about $800 aside from the solar panel (I just gave him the idea- I didn't help him build it).

He eventually got rid of the cameras because, well... They were shitty and only told him the critters were near AFTER he popped 'em. I think he's got a for-purpose system (in his own words "the new cameras didn't fall off a truck") now but it was a fun project!

I still think your question is reasonable. Even when someone is doing something for joy, there's usually a spark - an essence to it. There's usually an initial motivation that sent them down the rabbit hole, and it's interesting to hear what it was.

Pretty much this. I wanted to learn about networking and server management that I no longer get to do as part of my day job.

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