Why I Run a Home Lab (And Why You Might Want To)

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

If you think home labs are just a way to save money, it’s worth reconsidering what they’re really for. My home lab is something I built to explore, learn, and enjoy working with different technologies. I’ve set it up to give myself control over things that matter to me, like chat solutions, password management, media streaming, remote access for my VDI environment, and file storage.

You can choose to host things at home, in a data center, or in the cloud. When I decide, I look at factors like cost, how much control I want, reliability, security, the time I can spend on maintenance, and whether I want to experiment and learn. Everyone’s priorities are different, so what matters most will vary from person to person. Each of us has to decide whether it’s worth spending extra to host things ourselves or if it makes more sense to pay for a service.

Some people think self-hosting only happens at home, but that’s not true. There are good reasons to host things elsewhere. Maybe your power isn’t reliable or your internet is slow, but you still want to learn or maintain control over your own data.

In my home lab, I’ve set up a solid Cisco, Palo Alto, UniFi, and Dell EMC environment for networking, since that’s what I use most at work. I switched from enterprise servers to whitebox systems because I wanted more flexibility. With whitebox builds, I can pick every part, upgrade when I want, and avoid being locked into one vendor’s contracts and expensive parts. Enterprise hardware is reliable and built for uptime, but it uses more power, is noisier, and often has features I don’t need at home. Whitebox systems are easier to manage, quieter, and let me experiment more. The downside is that troubleshooting can be harder without official support, and compatibility issues come up more often. Still, I think it’s worth it for the control and the chance to build exactly what I want. I use identical Rosewill cases with different setups inside.

I’ve set up my own out-of-band management network in my home lab. If something breaks, I can access each server using JetKVM, Tripp Lite console servers, Avocent KVMs, and other remote tools. This setup lets me fix almost anything remotely, even rebooting servers with my switchable PDUs.

Most of my setup now runs on Proxmox, especially after the changes Broadcom made to VMware’s licensing. I used to use VMware for everything, but when they changed their model and limited the VMUG ecosystem, I switched to Proxmox. Migrating was a bit of a challenge because I had important VMs and wanted to avoid downtime. I exported most VMware VMs as OVAs and used Proxmox’s import tools to get them running again. Some VMs needed extra tweaks, like changing network drivers or hardware settings. The hardest part was learning how Proxmox handles storage and backups differently. My advice: always snapshot or back up your VMs in VMware before starting so you can roll back if needed. If you use Windows VMs, install the QEMU drivers before migrating to make sure networking works. The move took time, but having everything on Proxmox and the flexibility it offers has been worth it. For learning, Proxmox has been great in my home lab. I still keep some physical Windows servers running Hyper-V or Windows 11 with VMware Workstation, since sometimes you need to run a VMDK or Hyper-V VM.

The main idea is that your lab should fit your needs, not what others say you should have. If you want your lab to match your work environment so you can test things safely, go for it. If your goal is to save money, make sure you really understand how you’ll do that and weigh the pros and cons. If you want control over certain data, plan your home lab carefully.

Every home lab setup has its pros and cons. I use a full UniFi stack at home because if the network goes down, my family won’t be happy. That’s why I have two separate networks: one for daily household use and one for my home lab experiments. I use VLANs on my UniFi gear to keep them separate. The production devices are on their own VLAN and subnet, completely isolated from the lab devices. This way, if I break something in the lab, it doesn’t affect my family’s internet or streaming. In some cases, I use dedicated switches or ports to make sure nothing overlaps. The networks only share the internet connection and power.

If I broke my home lab every day, my wife would be seriously frustrated. So keep these things in mind when you design your setup.

Some of this might sound a bit much, but it’s based on what I’ve seen in the community and on my own experience. I’ve been through the ups and downs. I ask myself what I can host, what services I’m comfortable paying for, and how to find a good balance.

I plan to write a bigger post later about all the different labs I’ve built over the years, so you can see how things have changed.

One last thing: if you decide to run important infrastructure at home, make sure you back everything up. Do it in a way that works for you, but always keep at least one backup copy somewhere outside your house, whether in the cloud or at a colocation facility.

For offsite backups, you have a few good options. You can use a cloud backup service like Backblaze or Wasabi to automatically save your important files or VM snapshots. If you prefer physical backups, you can copy your data to encrypted hard drives and keep one at a trusted friend’s or family member’s place. Some people use a safety deposit box or a fireproof safe offsite. The key is to have at least one backup stored away from your lab so you can recover if something happens at home. Whatever method you pick, test your backups now and then to make sure you can actually restore them.

Selfhosting on Jason Kuehl Blog

Why I Run a Home Lab (And Why You Might Want To)