What I’m Trying to Do Here

While hobbies are great, I also like to have a goal in mind while I’m working on something. The goal can absolutely be “to have a good time”, but if that’s the only goal then it means I’ll abandon something once it starts to get frustrating. But I also want to be honest with myself; if something is really just too frustrating maybe it is time to move on or try a different tack. On the other hand, if it’s something that I really need to learn for work or for a project that I really want for some other reason, then maybe it’s time to invest in a class or find some local user groups.

With that said, here are my goals for my homelab:

SB_Apps

I have always wanted to start my own small business (SB), so to that end I want to evaluate free apps that will help me save money and make money. Examples of this include identity management (LDAP, SSO), security (firewall, proxy), business groupware apps (email, calendar, chat, file sharing, and document editing), business role apps (code repository, CRM, ERP, Social Media Management), accounting apps, and many others.

Programming

I want to learn how to program standalone and web apps, and deploy them. If you’re reading this, then I’ve already started on that one! Included in this goal is learning various programming languages (Python, Go, Javascript/Angular), web development (HTML, CSS), code versioning and repositories (Git and GitLab), and eventually Google or Amazon cloud hosting.

FamilyHub

I want to build a nice little hub for my family, a place where we can have a blog, file sharing, multimedia sharing, and give out email addresses and calendars.

Identity

I want to use the same login credentials on all of my workstations, laptops, servers, and VM’s. Additionally, I want to be able to assign rights to users for all of the above. But since we don’t run any windows machines at home, I’m trying to stay away from Active Directory (for no reason other than stubbornness). Additionally, apps that I can configure to use my existing LDAP and SSO infrastructure will get bonus points during evaluation.

HomelabDIY

I have always enjoyed building PC’s, so where possible I want to build my rack infrastructure. So far all I have is a server, but that’s likely to change soon, and building a new server from scratch will be far more expensive than getting a used 1U or 2U off ebay or a local auction. On the other hand, building the rack itself will save a lot of money!

Planning

I want to approach my homelab methodically; I don’t want to do something just because it might be cool. So I’m going to have occasional planning sessions where I look back at what I’ve done since the last session, see how it worked with the plan, and see what changes need to be made to the plan going forward.

FunTimes

As stated above, I want to have fun with this. I don’t want to work on something that’s causing me to tear my hair out. I will use this one ironically when I’m coming close to giving up or seriously thinking about alternatives.

Wrapping Up

I’ll be using the headings above to tag my posts as I write them out to help me keep track of my progress. Additionally, many of the posts I write will have multiple parts; sometimes planned, sometimes because I just want to move to something else and come back later to add additional functionality.

Finally, this blog is starting somewhere in the middle of my homelab journey. I’m going to start the posts where I am now (building this blog!), and will work to backdate a few posts describing steps I’ve already taken.

I hope this all makes sense! Let me know if you have any questions!