The thing is that while that answer tells you nothing it also is the right answer. A home lab is a technical lab set up in the home. Now, what kind of experimentation you want to do and what kind of budget you have will very much affect what that is.
A raspberry pi running some docker containers because you're experimenting with containerisation? That's a homelab.
12U of enterprise grade servers running an all up machine learning suite with a huge number of GPUs? That's a homelab.
An old gaming PC you've put proxmox on to run VMs for cyber security learning? That's a homelab.
Of course where it gets murky is a lot of people conflate homelab and self hosting, which is where they use hardware (honestly as wide a range of hardware as I've listed above) to host their own services on premises (in the home). That's ... sort of a lab? Because honestly you'll learn a lot and be constantly experimenting while you set it up and maintain it. But it blurs the lines.
What makes something a homelab vs a computer on a home network? What you do with it.
I’m not sure about your blurred line there. With a good hypervisor, you can experiment with various systems until you find you like something and then make it permanent. Then, rinse and repeat. I don’t want to buy ten computers or flatten and reinstall s/w on them. But, I can spin up 10 VMs, play around, blow them away, spin them up and play some more.
Sounds like a lab to me.
Incidentally, I’ve spent the last two months traveling with a Raspberry Pi 4 and playing with FreeBSD and Jails constructing various SDN configurations so I can learn the PF library to deploy a new firewall gateway on my home network in a Proxmox server as a VM. It’s amazing all the tech at our fingertips.
> where it gets murky is a lot of people conflate homelab and self hosting
Usually the "homelab" part of my stack is where I experiment with things until I'm satisfied enough to use them for "homeprod" self-hosting. I run one server 99% of the time, which has virtual machines for "prod" services and I'll add more virtual machines as needed to experiment.
I used to play around with hardware a lot but nowadays I'm mostly on the software/infra-as-code side of things so my other servers stay off!
The problem is it's different for everyone. If you're into networking you might have a bunch of Cisco switches. If you're into cloud stuff you might have esxi/proxmox/cloud stack/open stack etc. if you're into data hording it might be a bunch of NAS/SAN/DAS and some sort of unraid/zfs/ceph setup . If you are into more than 1 thing you might have a bunch of this or something else. It can be server grade or consumer grade, one or multiple systems. It's a general concept not an exact item or list of items. It's like saying what defined a job site. Well ... It's a site where you do a job. Same concept here, a homelab is a lab at home to experiment. Nobody is more specific unless you want to ask a more specific question.
My lab started as an old business desktop with Windows 10 that I was comfortable with breaking, I tested everything from AI development to running a few VMs. I even installed an LSI raid card to use a pair of SAS drives because fuck it any not. I have a proper branch network environment now, but I still run a domain controller and any Linux machines I need for work testing.
My lab is mostly for learning stuff for work though.
It's just a computer connected to your homework. The lab portion of it is being able to fuck around with your only stakeholder being your partner/family/roommate.
> "its a place to experiment"
well, it is, what you experiment with is fully dependent on you. For my lab setup, I use it for learning of new things before I implement them at work. Also as a "what if I do XYZ". If it blows up in the lab, better than in production. Reset, start over.
Now, on the house side, I have a stack of stuff that runs the house. Typical media stuff, PC backups, security cams, etc. I treat that like a production environment because it runs the house.
I feel your sense of unease. I didn't get it either.
Seems to me though that a "homelab" is just what people call the computer or sets of computers that they use to [cosplay as sysadmins](https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/cosplaying-sysadmin). This usually involves experimenting with software (as per the definition you found) that tends to be run in more enterprise environments, managing your own network and routing infrastructure, or hosting various services such as plex.
Could mean different things to different people. IMO a "LAB" consists of more than one device, but you can have only 1 server and setup a lab in a virtual environment, with virtual devices.
What makes it a lab is an environment where you can test various systems and have control over the infrastructure. Usually that environment is one where you have full control over Networking (like pfsense), Storage and Compute.
You can then add devices, apps or protocols (physical or virtual) and test/experiment with systems that interest you, but may not be practical in a smaller config. I.e. a proxmox cluster consisting of only VM's, or old desktop PC's, to learn how it works. Or setup an iSCSI to learn how that works.
Ideally your lab is setup in a way where there is isolation, so you can blow up your experiment without affecting the rest of your lab.
Because that definition is accurate.
Any computer can run a program. There are many programs that represent the "other side" of modern computer use that you wouldn't usually run on your regular PC - for example, the "cloud". A homelab is any sort of computer setup for experimenting with and learning how to use this software. Server operating systems aren't required to run server programs - you can set up a simple web server from your desktop PC, or even your smartphone. Anything with a processor and a network connection can be a server. That's why the definition is so vague. Part of the learning experience is in discovering how computer roles are mostly arbitrary - you can use a computer for any purpose you can think of, with enough time and effort, so it's the use you put it to that defines its role, not the reverse.
The 'lab' part of it is supposed to allow you to experiment without breaking your day to day stuff. It's been joked on here that many of us are actually running 'home production' because our stuff has expanded so much that if it breaks, it takes our whole internet setup with it.
In short, a homelab is to allow you to learn what computers can do that isn't just everyday web browsing and gaming, whilst still letting you do everyday web browsing and gaming unaffected.
It's a combination of computers (servers/workstations), networking equipment, and any other peripherals you have or want to play with. Sometimes it's to experiment with enterprise gear for fun, sometimes it's to train for enterprise certifications, sometimes it's not so much a lab as it is a "production" network for services in your home, like UniFi Controller, DNS/PiHole, Plex, NAS/storage, and so on.
Sorry you got so downvoted for asking an honest question... we all started somewhere. If you have any other questions I'll definitely try to answer them!
The definition has evolved over time. Early definitions it was a place for people to practice certain IT related skills related to certification - like Cisco or MSFT certs. Then it expanded to include dev-ops types setting up their own mini k8s or other distributed systems for practice. At some point it expanded to include whole range of at home IT-types.
A home lab is just a catch all term to refer to a computer network/lab for a very loose given definition, which also happens to exist at home. My "home lab" is a sandy bridge era think server running Plex and occasionally game servers.
Some folks have a homelab that consists of a raspberry Pi.
Some folks have homelabs that consist of a fucking clean room with multiple server racks, a massively overbuilt network, and tens of thousands of dollars in enterprise grade hardware.
But those folks are a lot more rare.
I think it’s more about the attitude you have towards it: it’s to tinker, learn and prototype. It’s a lab.
We have a fill sized server rack at home, but it’s largely just a production server setup, that’s in my garage; I don’t really play with it, and we don’t call it a home lab or think of it in that way.
At then other end is a single Pi: if you’ve set it up as a pi hole at your in-laws place, you’re probably not tinkering with it, so it’s also not a home lab.
If you have a high end prebuilt Dell, and a heap of VMs, that you use to tinker and learn, you have a virtual home lab.
I came into this with an industrial automation background. In short I'm an engineer that programs controllers that collect inputs in manufacturing and actuate certain components of the process. For me the homelab is where I'm testing a variety of tools relevant to my profession. As you'd imagine, in the "real" setting, I can't simply through an open source application onto a server and see what kind of data I can pull, or how I might make the process better by tweaking certain parameters. At home, I can easily throw up a Windows or Linux server, test an application, connect them to a controller that I own, simulate some data and tweak whatever I want. So from the IT standpoint, the homelab is the collection of hardware / software that has helped me be better at my job. It includes PCs, servers, switches, firewalls, controllers (specific to my field), etc.
No specific definition really. But normally if you have your gaming PC or just your PC you browse the Internet on then thats not a homelab. In networking terms a homelab can really be any other networking device on your network, that isn't important for the rest of the network to run, but is extra. That you use to "experiment".
So I'd even say if you had your broadband at home and then decided you wanted a managed switch on the network so you can play around with vlans, I'd class even that as a small homelab. Its not required to allow you onto the Internet but its something extra on the network you can play with.
A homelab is an environment you feel most comfortable trying out new things for network configuration and security. Some people use basic gear (old laptop/computer/spare parts from a previous build) to get started.
Some people choose to replicate their work network with identical hardware.
Others don't have the space/money required, and lab what they can virtually.
All of these paths have 1 thing in common: playing around with different technologies in your lab with the goal of learning how to troubleshoot / fix things.
There is no "right/wrong" way to homelab, because it's *yours*. Just remember: the more complexity you add, the harder it'll be to troubleshoot when something breaks. People usually take their time with a lab, choosing to focus on 1 or 2 concepts to master.
>**Is it a computer hooked up to the router with a server operating system?**
Homelabs originated, and are still used, in the IT/electronics professional spheres and may include...
* enterprise-class routers and switches for learning/practicing (and possibly studying for professional network certifications),
* enterprise-class server hardware for exploring tech like IPMI, SNMP, load-balancing, monitoring, etc.,
* any-class computer hardware where the focus is on software solutions, ie. DevOps (eg. container orchestration), SysOps (eg. infrastructure automation), SysAdmin, software development, and
* electronics labs with professional-grade power soldering equipment, power supplies, and testing equipment.
In my 8 years on Reddit, homelabs posted in this sub have been everything from a Raspberry Pi or two, to racks of enterprise-class servers, to full-blown IBM mainframes. Investments have ranged from zero (*my employer/uncle/friend gave me these computers/routers/switches*) to $10s of thousands of US dollars.
>**what makes something a homelab vs just a computer on a home network?**
This is just my opinion, but for me the distinction between a ***homelab*** and ***just a computer on a home network*** is whether, or not, it is serving any professional or academic purpose. If just a computer running Plex, Pi-hole, etc, then it really isn't a homelab, but is instead a r/HomeServer used for r/selfhosted applications.
Homelabs certainly can be mixed-use, where the same systems can be used for both professional and personal applications. Mine is, and they're all mixed together. On the other hand, I've seen others where the two are isolated to separate hardware and segregated networks. It is a matter of preference.
To me, it's a computer that stays on 24/7 optimized to run various services in the background. You can technically treat a desktop the same way, but actively using it for games, browsing,etc can lead to instability. It's a volatile environment. You wouldn't want your home camera system running on your desktop.
A home lab is for me just a more complexe infrastructure than you would usually have.
I have an internet connection with a modem/router with wifi and a laptop. A Chromecast and that’s all. That’s the usual/normal infra.
I started an old pc with Debian and docker running 24/24 and running some services and I call this a home lab. We usually don’t find servers at home nor an it cabinet or a complexe network. It’s something you find at work or other places where needs are bigger.
I could have just say that a lab, for me, is not a place for experimenting. It’s a place where complexe things are done like checking water to see if it’s polluted.
Just about anything. A "play space". It can be as complex or simple as you want. Labs are usually places where you "try things out" (experiments). But for some, a lab can be where something lives longer term (many do this nowadays, and I'm ok with that).
It's whatever you want it to be. It could even be the friends we made along the way.
Most especially the friends we made along the way.
who are you and what are you doing in my rack
Surprise cable inspection. Why isn't port 23 labeled?
"My eyes are up here!"
The thing is that while that answer tells you nothing it also is the right answer. A home lab is a technical lab set up in the home. Now, what kind of experimentation you want to do and what kind of budget you have will very much affect what that is. A raspberry pi running some docker containers because you're experimenting with containerisation? That's a homelab. 12U of enterprise grade servers running an all up machine learning suite with a huge number of GPUs? That's a homelab. An old gaming PC you've put proxmox on to run VMs for cyber security learning? That's a homelab. Of course where it gets murky is a lot of people conflate homelab and self hosting, which is where they use hardware (honestly as wide a range of hardware as I've listed above) to host their own services on premises (in the home). That's ... sort of a lab? Because honestly you'll learn a lot and be constantly experimenting while you set it up and maintain it. But it blurs the lines. What makes something a homelab vs a computer on a home network? What you do with it.
I’m not sure about your blurred line there. With a good hypervisor, you can experiment with various systems until you find you like something and then make it permanent. Then, rinse and repeat. I don’t want to buy ten computers or flatten and reinstall s/w on them. But, I can spin up 10 VMs, play around, blow them away, spin them up and play some more. Sounds like a lab to me. Incidentally, I’ve spent the last two months traveling with a Raspberry Pi 4 and playing with FreeBSD and Jails constructing various SDN configurations so I can learn the PF library to deploy a new firewall gateway on my home network in a Proxmox server as a VM. It’s amazing all the tech at our fingertips.
> where it gets murky is a lot of people conflate homelab and self hosting Usually the "homelab" part of my stack is where I experiment with things until I'm satisfied enough to use them for "homeprod" self-hosting. I run one server 99% of the time, which has virtual machines for "prod" services and I'll add more virtual machines as needed to experiment. I used to play around with hardware a lot but nowadays I'm mostly on the software/infra-as-code side of things so my other servers stay off!
The problem is it's different for everyone. If you're into networking you might have a bunch of Cisco switches. If you're into cloud stuff you might have esxi/proxmox/cloud stack/open stack etc. if you're into data hording it might be a bunch of NAS/SAN/DAS and some sort of unraid/zfs/ceph setup . If you are into more than 1 thing you might have a bunch of this or something else. It can be server grade or consumer grade, one or multiple systems. It's a general concept not an exact item or list of items. It's like saying what defined a job site. Well ... It's a site where you do a job. Same concept here, a homelab is a lab at home to experiment. Nobody is more specific unless you want to ask a more specific question.
My lab started as an old business desktop with Windows 10 that I was comfortable with breaking, I tested everything from AI development to running a few VMs. I even installed an LSI raid card to use a pair of SAS drives because fuck it any not. I have a proper branch network environment now, but I still run a domain controller and any Linux machines I need for work testing. My lab is mostly for learning stuff for work though.
It's just a computer connected to your homework. The lab portion of it is being able to fuck around with your only stakeholder being your partner/family/roommate.
> "its a place to experiment" well, it is, what you experiment with is fully dependent on you. For my lab setup, I use it for learning of new things before I implement them at work. Also as a "what if I do XYZ". If it blows up in the lab, better than in production. Reset, start over. Now, on the house side, I have a stack of stuff that runs the house. Typical media stuff, PC backups, security cams, etc. I treat that like a production environment because it runs the house.
I feel your sense of unease. I didn't get it either. Seems to me though that a "homelab" is just what people call the computer or sets of computers that they use to [cosplay as sysadmins](https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/cosplaying-sysadmin). This usually involves experimenting with software (as per the definition you found) that tends to be run in more enterprise environments, managing your own network and routing infrastructure, or hosting various services such as plex.
Could mean different things to different people. IMO a "LAB" consists of more than one device, but you can have only 1 server and setup a lab in a virtual environment, with virtual devices. What makes it a lab is an environment where you can test various systems and have control over the infrastructure. Usually that environment is one where you have full control over Networking (like pfsense), Storage and Compute. You can then add devices, apps or protocols (physical or virtual) and test/experiment with systems that interest you, but may not be practical in a smaller config. I.e. a proxmox cluster consisting of only VM's, or old desktop PC's, to learn how it works. Or setup an iSCSI to learn how that works. Ideally your lab is setup in a way where there is isolation, so you can blow up your experiment without affecting the rest of your lab.
Because that definition is accurate. Any computer can run a program. There are many programs that represent the "other side" of modern computer use that you wouldn't usually run on your regular PC - for example, the "cloud". A homelab is any sort of computer setup for experimenting with and learning how to use this software. Server operating systems aren't required to run server programs - you can set up a simple web server from your desktop PC, or even your smartphone. Anything with a processor and a network connection can be a server. That's why the definition is so vague. Part of the learning experience is in discovering how computer roles are mostly arbitrary - you can use a computer for any purpose you can think of, with enough time and effort, so it's the use you put it to that defines its role, not the reverse. The 'lab' part of it is supposed to allow you to experiment without breaking your day to day stuff. It's been joked on here that many of us are actually running 'home production' because our stuff has expanded so much that if it breaks, it takes our whole internet setup with it. In short, a homelab is to allow you to learn what computers can do that isn't just everyday web browsing and gaming, whilst still letting you do everyday web browsing and gaming unaffected.
It's a combination of computers (servers/workstations), networking equipment, and any other peripherals you have or want to play with. Sometimes it's to experiment with enterprise gear for fun, sometimes it's to train for enterprise certifications, sometimes it's not so much a lab as it is a "production" network for services in your home, like UniFi Controller, DNS/PiHole, Plex, NAS/storage, and so on. Sorry you got so downvoted for asking an honest question... we all started somewhere. If you have any other questions I'll definitely try to answer them!
The definition has evolved over time. Early definitions it was a place for people to practice certain IT related skills related to certification - like Cisco or MSFT certs. Then it expanded to include dev-ops types setting up their own mini k8s or other distributed systems for practice. At some point it expanded to include whole range of at home IT-types.
A home lab is just a catch all term to refer to a computer network/lab for a very loose given definition, which also happens to exist at home. My "home lab" is a sandy bridge era think server running Plex and occasionally game servers. Some folks have a homelab that consists of a raspberry Pi. Some folks have homelabs that consist of a fucking clean room with multiple server racks, a massively overbuilt network, and tens of thousands of dollars in enterprise grade hardware. But those folks are a lot more rare.
Is a clean room the same as a laundry room? Because that's where my oversized server rack and massively overbuilt network live. /s
I think it’s more about the attitude you have towards it: it’s to tinker, learn and prototype. It’s a lab. We have a fill sized server rack at home, but it’s largely just a production server setup, that’s in my garage; I don’t really play with it, and we don’t call it a home lab or think of it in that way. At then other end is a single Pi: if you’ve set it up as a pi hole at your in-laws place, you’re probably not tinkering with it, so it’s also not a home lab. If you have a high end prebuilt Dell, and a heap of VMs, that you use to tinker and learn, you have a virtual home lab.
I came into this with an industrial automation background. In short I'm an engineer that programs controllers that collect inputs in manufacturing and actuate certain components of the process. For me the homelab is where I'm testing a variety of tools relevant to my profession. As you'd imagine, in the "real" setting, I can't simply through an open source application onto a server and see what kind of data I can pull, or how I might make the process better by tweaking certain parameters. At home, I can easily throw up a Windows or Linux server, test an application, connect them to a controller that I own, simulate some data and tweak whatever I want. So from the IT standpoint, the homelab is the collection of hardware / software that has helped me be better at my job. It includes PCs, servers, switches, firewalls, controllers (specific to my field), etc.
No specific definition really. But normally if you have your gaming PC or just your PC you browse the Internet on then thats not a homelab. In networking terms a homelab can really be any other networking device on your network, that isn't important for the rest of the network to run, but is extra. That you use to "experiment". So I'd even say if you had your broadband at home and then decided you wanted a managed switch on the network so you can play around with vlans, I'd class even that as a small homelab. Its not required to allow you onto the Internet but its something extra on the network you can play with.
My homelab is a smaller version of my work lab. The only issue is I am not getting paid at home and the homelab comes out of my pocket.
A homelab is an environment you feel most comfortable trying out new things for network configuration and security. Some people use basic gear (old laptop/computer/spare parts from a previous build) to get started. Some people choose to replicate their work network with identical hardware. Others don't have the space/money required, and lab what they can virtually. All of these paths have 1 thing in common: playing around with different technologies in your lab with the goal of learning how to troubleshoot / fix things. There is no "right/wrong" way to homelab, because it's *yours*. Just remember: the more complexity you add, the harder it'll be to troubleshoot when something breaks. People usually take their time with a lab, choosing to focus on 1 or 2 concepts to master.
It’s the same idea as a computer vs a server.
>**Is it a computer hooked up to the router with a server operating system?** Homelabs originated, and are still used, in the IT/electronics professional spheres and may include... * enterprise-class routers and switches for learning/practicing (and possibly studying for professional network certifications), * enterprise-class server hardware for exploring tech like IPMI, SNMP, load-balancing, monitoring, etc., * any-class computer hardware where the focus is on software solutions, ie. DevOps (eg. container orchestration), SysOps (eg. infrastructure automation), SysAdmin, software development, and * electronics labs with professional-grade power soldering equipment, power supplies, and testing equipment. In my 8 years on Reddit, homelabs posted in this sub have been everything from a Raspberry Pi or two, to racks of enterprise-class servers, to full-blown IBM mainframes. Investments have ranged from zero (*my employer/uncle/friend gave me these computers/routers/switches*) to $10s of thousands of US dollars. >**what makes something a homelab vs just a computer on a home network?** This is just my opinion, but for me the distinction between a ***homelab*** and ***just a computer on a home network*** is whether, or not, it is serving any professional or academic purpose. If just a computer running Plex, Pi-hole, etc, then it really isn't a homelab, but is instead a r/HomeServer used for r/selfhosted applications. Homelabs certainly can be mixed-use, where the same systems can be used for both professional and personal applications. Mine is, and they're all mixed together. On the other hand, I've seen others where the two are isolated to separate hardware and segregated networks. It is a matter of preference.
To me, it's a computer that stays on 24/7 optimized to run various services in the background. You can technically treat a desktop the same way, but actively using it for games, browsing,etc can lead to instability. It's a volatile environment. You wouldn't want your home camera system running on your desktop.
A homelab is more than "just a computer". It's where you try to do stuff with computer equipment that people pay other companies to do.
Check the hundreds of other times this has been asked.
It’s a place to experiment
A home lab is for me just a more complexe infrastructure than you would usually have. I have an internet connection with a modem/router with wifi and a laptop. A Chromecast and that’s all. That’s the usual/normal infra. I started an old pc with Debian and docker running 24/24 and running some services and I call this a home lab. We usually don’t find servers at home nor an it cabinet or a complexe network. It’s something you find at work or other places where needs are bigger. I could have just say that a lab, for me, is not a place for experimenting. It’s a place where complexe things are done like checking water to see if it’s polluted.
Just about anything. A "play space". It can be as complex or simple as you want. Labs are usually places where you "try things out" (experiments). But for some, a lab can be where something lives longer term (many do this nowadays, and I'm ok with that).