Home Server Uses

[JasperSlade]

Hello everyone!

In the near future I will have the ability to acquire some decommissioned equipment.  I've been fascinated with the idea of a home lab, but don't really know what I would do with it.

What do you all use your home servers for?  What have you found the most useful vs the most niche?

 

I'll likely be able to snag either an HP Proliant DL380 Gen8, or a Cisco UCS C240 M3.

 

Thanks for your input!

EDIT: spelling

[Electronics Wizardy]

Full ad setup(wsus, three domain controllers, file servers, group policy, virtual clients, veeam backup box).

 

Few vms to mess with softwaer that won't break my desktop.

 

Router on it too(opnsense)

 

Lots of file storage and backups

 

 

[Slayerking92]

 

[paddy-stone]

I keep things pretty simple. I have a couple of NAS running FreeNAS, one is the main and one is a backup NAS (the latter literally backs up what is on the main NAS, and is usually backed up once a week or so, and can take the place of the main if there is a problem). The main is basically a file server, and an Emby server, and in the process of being made into an ebook server too. I allow my family and some friends to access the server remotely too, for media and once done, a proper ebook server too... ATM they have to search the server for books they want to read, which is OK, but think a better UI would be useful.

I am always looking at other uses for my servers to see if they would actually be helpful in my day to day life.

 

I now run my home VPN server off a Raspberry Pi model 3b, that's running Wireguard VPN server, I switched from ovpn as I prefer the simplicity of using the wireguard one.

[Dyaets]

I pretty much use it for testing various stuff so virtualization is involved. Also, file server, media server and other. However, this all is individual. Someone uses virtualization like Proxmox or ESXi or XCP-ng, someone doesn't so this is up to your plans and interests  Also, here is some interesting reading on a homelab evolution in terms of hardware and usage: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/blog/3-generations-of-my-homelabs. Maybe it will give you some interesting ideas.