5 ms·

I do think it was easier to develop a full understanding of how IT systems work a few decades ago. We played around with Windows 3.11, XP and early Linux distro

by m3nu 6y ago

I do think it was easier to develop a full understanding of how IT systems work a few decades ago. We played around with Windows 3.11, XP and early Linux distros, setting up networking, etc in the old days™. Nowadays the level of abstraction is higher (smartphones, FaaS, VMs, UI frameworks). My tip to OP would be to set up a home lab on hardware from eBay. Run some services on it and manage it from the metal up.

bradrn 6y ago
> My tip to OP would be to set up a home lab on hardware from eBay Not OP, but this sounds like an interesting thing to do. Which hardware would you recommend? (Also, for the uninitiated, what exactly is a ‘home lab’?)
- m3nu 6y ago
  Whatever is cheap and common, I'd say. If you plan to fool around with setting up Linux and maybe *BSD servers, you need hardware support for that. Home lab for me would be a place to build and run servers. I.e. basic tooling to assemble cases, change CPUs and RAM and a wired network connection. A community hacker space may work too and there will be folks to ask for advice. You could also use micro PCs[1] or a Rasperry Pi, but those are too different from actual servers IMO. That's why I'd prefer a larger form factor to start with. 1: https://www.servethehome.com/introducing-project-tinyminimicro-home-lab-revolution/ https://www.servethehome.com/introducing-project-tinyminimic...
- rubatuga 6y ago
  I would totally recommend a used HP Z230 (either SFF or normal size depending on how big you want it to be). You can put in a Xeon processor, ECC RAM, and you have multiple PCIe slots and SATA ports.
sumanthvepa 6y ago
Yup. This advice is spot on. I started with just setting up my own server at home, and over the last 15 years, it's now a small data centre with a with a 24U rack and all sorts of tech. Eventually, I was able to quit my job and go solo with consulting. The home data centre has been really useful in keeping my cloud costs down. Since much of the infrastructure was already in place and properly setup it pretty much takes care of itself.
- m3nu 6y ago
  Haha. Same here. I started out hosting client backups in my parent's shoe cabinet. 10 years later it's a proper company with dozens of servers. (they now live in real data centers) Couldn't have done it without fooling around with my home server first. An early ASUS Eee PC in that case.

by m3nu 6y ago

bradrn 6y ago

> My tip to OP would be to set up a home lab on hardware from eBay Not OP, but this sounds like an interesting thing to do. Which hardware would you recommend? (Also, for the uninitiated, what exactly is a ‘home lab’?)

m3nu 6y ago
Whatever is cheap and common, I'd say. If you plan to fool around with setting up Linux and maybe *BSD servers, you need hardware support for that. Home lab for me would be a place to build and run servers. I.e. basic tooling to assemble cases, change CPUs and RAM and a wired network connection. A community hacker space may work too and there will be folks to ask for advice. You could also use micro PCs[1] or a Rasperry Pi, but those are too different from actual servers IMO. That's why I'd prefer a larger form factor to start with. 1: https://www.servethehome.com/introducing-project-tinyminimicro-home-lab-revolution/ https://www.servethehome.com/introducing-project-tinyminimic...
rubatuga 6y ago
I would totally recommend a used HP Z230 (either SFF or normal size depending on how big you want it to be). You can put in a Xeon processor, ECC RAM, and you have multiple PCIe slots and SATA ports.

sumanthvepa 6y ago

Yup. This advice is spot on. I started with just setting up my own server at home, and over the last 15 years, it's now a small data centre with a with a 24U rack and all sorts of tech. Eventually, I was able to quit my job and go solo with consulting. The home data centre has been really useful in keeping my cloud costs down. Since much of the infrastructure was already in place and properly setup it pretty much takes care of itself.

m3nu 6y ago
Haha. Same here. I started out hosting client backups in my parent's shoe cabinet. 10 years later it's a proper company with dozens of servers. (they now live in real data centers) Couldn't have done it without fooling around with my home server first. An early ASUS Eee PC in that case.