Why do I even need a homelab?

Let’s assume you want to learn a new technology, system, or application. Or you need to choose and test some software required for your job. You pick a few options from the Internet, download them, and install them on your computer - cool. Then it turns out that one of the programs is available only for Linux. No problem, you think. You have WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), so you install it there.

With time, your computer starts to feel a bit cluttered with all this software, but that’s still manageable. Eventually, however, you realize you need to install two different versions of the same software. Or you’re working with a client–server application and need multiple clients to properly test it. At this point, doing everything on a single computer becomes difficult. And you’re not going to keep borrowing your girlfriend’s laptop every time - especially if she wanted to watch Netflix at that moment.

This is where the idea of a homelab starts to make sense.

What’s next? Do I have to buy something?

No. At least not yet.

You can use your own computer, but in a slightly different way than before - as a virtualization host. Install VirtualBox if you’re on Windows. If you’re using Linux - which I probably don’t even need to explain - you most likely already have the right tools built into your system. On Ubuntu, for example, it’s called Virtual Machine Manager. You can also install VirtualBox on Linux if you prefer.

Now, instead of installing your applications or servers directly on your main system, you simply create virtual machines in VirtualBox, install the required operating system inside them, then your application - and repeat this for as many projects as your hardware resources allow.

You now have computers inside your computer, without cluttering your main OS. From its perspective, virtual machines are just regular files.

At some point, though, you’ll hit a wall. As the number of virtual machines grows, your computer’s resources may start to limit you - CPU, RAM, disk space. You have to start the machines every time you turn on your computer, and managing a larger number of them becomes annoying. More advanced network configurations can also be problematic — and sometimes necessary (e.g. VLANs). And if you don’t want to shut everything down at night, your computer would have to run 24/7.

Your first homelab

That’s why it makes sense to take the next step at some point. In my opinion, it’s not worth jumping straight into overly complex solutions at the beginning - there will be time for that later.

Have you ever played SimCity? A homelab is like a small town. You start with just a few roads and buildings, then gradually expand - adding new buildings, workplaces, and infrastructure. After some time, you realize certain areas are overcrowded or poorly designed, so you rework them, or even tear parts down and rebuild them from scratch, this time with more knowledge, resources, and a broader perspective.

Of course, if you have the money and space, you can immediately put massive skyscrapers in the middle - but does that really make sense when you don’t yet know what challenges you’ll face?

If you haven’t built such an environment before, I suggest starting with a single, relatively inexpensive computer. This could be a Mini PC - there are plenty available, and you can buy slightly older generations cheaply, which are still more than enough for most experiments. I’m sure literally everyone can find something that fits their budget. The market is huge.

I’ll write about specific hardware I’ve used in the future to give some real-world reference. But this hardware could also be your old PC, a NAS, a laptop, or even a Raspberry Pi. In my case, it was a laptop with a broken screen. I completely removed the display lid, and this “monster” served for quite a while as a Smart TV connected to a television, running Kodi.

By the way, a laptop is actually a pretty good idea - it consumes little power, has a built-in UPS (the battery), and is quiet. But let’s not focus on specific hardware just yet.

This machine will serve as a host for virtualization or containerization. It can be practically any Linux distribution where you install KVM support or Docker. If using the terminal scares you, you can add the Cockpit service and manage everything - including virtual machines - through a friendly web interface.

Personally, however, I encourage installing Proxmox. It’s an excellent, mature virtualization platform based on Debian. You can run both virtual machines and LXC containers. In my opinion, its biggest advantage is that it works well for both home enthusiasts and companies - even large ones.

The knowledge you gain experimenting with Proxmox is useful on many levels. It’s still Linux, but you can build clusters, configure backups and replication, learn different storage systems, and much, much more.

I’d like to add that although this article focuses almost exclusively on virtualization, a homelab is not only virtualization.
It can also be networking, storage (e.g. NAS), compute clusters, etc.

Defining your goals

Think about what you actually need this environment for. Will it be purely a playground for learning new systems? Or do you also want to run some services you use every day? For example, in my case it was:

  • environment as close as possible to real “enterprise” standards (of course on a much smaller scale)
  • the ability to quickly and easily spin up new virtual machines for testing,
  • a place to store some of my data and backups,
  • hosting certain systems I use “in production at home”, such as Home Assistant.

The reasons why you want a homelab will heavily influence its design.

Let’s take three example professions: web developer, infrastructure admin, security researcher.

A web developer usually treats homelab as a tool, not the goal itself.
He usually doesn’t care about fancy backend infrastructure – someone else is responsible for creating environments in his day job.
So very often one machine with Docker (or KVM) + very simple config is more than enough.

An infrastructure admin looks at it completely differently.
Sometimes he cares less about what runs on the VMs, and more about the environment itself:

  • What happens when one of three nodes in the cluster dies?
  • How does the system behave when I pull one disk from the pool?
  • How long does live migration take?

The best answers come from actually breaking and fixing things in a real environment.
You destroyed everything by mistake? No problem - you rebuild the cluster and you’re richer with new knowledge.

For a security researcher the most important thing might be the ability to safely detonate malware, research exploits, or build a completely isolated network segment for dangerous experiments.

For me - working among other things with backup systems - a homelab often saves enormous amounts of time.
When a client wants to compare several backup solutions, deploying them in their production environment usually means: waiting for VMs, waiting for networking team, missing permissions, blocked traffic… endless delays.
In my own lab I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.

Homelab developement

Architecture and servers

If you start running out of resources, you can upgrade your hardware - add RAM, replace the CPU. If that’s not an option, or if you’re interested in clusters, you can buy another server or computer.

You’re already richer in experience from your first homelab. Maybe you even have a complete vision of your final setup, fully planned architecture, everything thought through. I need to stop you right here.

Don’t assume your “final” homelab plan will actually be final. I guarantee that after some time, your concept will change again, and you’ll realize you could have done things differently. And that’s a good thing!

That’s the whole idea of a homelab: continuous development, experimentation, and gaining experience. Speaking from my own experience, my homelab has already been “the final version” at least twice — supposedly just something I would use. Nothing could be further from the truth. More than once, I completely wiped everything 😉.

Over time, though, the concept will become clearer - especially if your homelab stops being just a “lab” and also becomes a “production” environment where you store data or use services daily. That’s when the idea starts to stabilize.

Networking

Corporate infrastructure isn’t just servers - networking matters too. As long as your environment is small and limited to a local network, this isn’t critical. At later stages, however, it becomes necessary.

If you plan to expose services from your local network to the outside world, you’ll need proper network configuration: VLANs, firewalls, maybe internal DNS. If you want to expose internal resources, a 1 Gbps network will likely be too slow. Currently, 2.5 Gbps seems to be the sweet spot for homelabs.

You’ll probably need managed switches, faster network cards, and multiple NICs in your Proxmox hosts to separate or speed up different types of traffic.

Security

This point is especially important if you plan to expose services outside your local network. Make sure you understand best practices and whether it’s even worth doing.

But even if you don’t expose anything, that doesn’t mean you can ignore security. It’s good to establish a baseline security standard from the start: strong passwords, key-based authentication, proper server configuration, vulnerability updates, and so on.

Network configuration plays a major role here. You can create a VLAN with no access to other subnets or the Internet at all and use it for more risky experiments.

Another important topic is backups. It’s worth considering a professional solution early on, such as Proxmox Backup Server, Veeam (free up to 10 objects), or the Polish Storware Backup (also limited to 10 objects). Backup architecture itself deserves a separate article, but basic setups can be implemented quickly and easily.

Documentation

I strongly encourage creating diagrams and documentation - even for a homelab. First, it looks cool 😉 - check out r/homelab on Reddit for inspiration. Second, it’s simply useful. Memory is unreliable, and after some time it’s hard to remember why you configured something the way you did.

Hardware selection

I’d like to add a few words about hardware itself. I’ll return to this topic with more concrete recommendations later; for now, I just want to highlight what’s worth paying attention to.

Upgrade possibilities

A laptop is nice — it’s quiet and energy-efficient. But in the long run, it can be limiting. Upgrade options are restricted, and if you push it hard, the low-noise advantage disappears once the fans spin up to full speed.

It’s worth considering Micro/Mini PCs. The smallest ones use laptop-style power adapters, are compact and quiet, and still offer some upgrade potential. For example, the Dell Optiplex 3060, despite its small size, has two RAM slots and space for two drives (2.5" SATA and NVMe). Not bad for such a tiny machine.

If you need more, SFF (Small Form Factor) PCs are an excellent compromise between size, price, and expandability. They’re still compact but often offer four RAM slots and space for multiple drives. For instance, the HP 800 G3 supports up to five drives total (2×3.5", 1×2.5", and 2×NVMe).

If you have the space, you can go even bigger - ATX or other large, non-standard cases. Of course, some people go all the way and set up full server racks with professional hardware, but that’s a whole different level 😅. You really need special conditions and needs for that.

Power consumption and noise

For small or occasionally used homelabs, this may not matter much. But at some point, power consumption becomes important. If your homelab runs for long periods or acts as a 24/7 self-hosted home server environment, you should ask yourself how much power your entire setup consumes.

Don’t forget that it’s not just computers and servers, but also routers and switches - even if their impact is smaller. Smart plugs that measure power usage are very useful here. You may find it’s worth turning off part of your hardware when it’s not in use.

If you host “production” services like Nextcloud, it’s worth calculating electricity costs and comparing them with cloud services like OneDrive to evaluate cost-effectiveness.

As for noise — it depends heavily on the hardware and the environment. Poor ventilation increases heat and noise. Some HDDs can also be quite loud. That’s why a bedroom isn’t the best place for a homelab - something to keep in mind.

Summary

This article is only a very general introduction to the topic. Motivations for creating a home lab environment vary, but one thing is certain - it’s highly educational and genuinely addictive.

If you’re looking for inspiration, I recommend visiting r/homelab and r/selfhosted on Reddit, as well as the Home Server Setups group on Facebook. You’ll see just how many different perspectives and ideas exist.

I believe that building and documenting a solid homelab is a great idea for young people planning a future in IT administration, security, or software development. Learning opportunities are practically endless, and a homelab project is absolutely something you can showcase on your CV. In many aspects, what you do in a homelab is the same work you’d do in a company — real experience, just on a smaller scale.

Good luck with your experiments!