October 16, 2016 at 6:02 am
I have a home lab. Being I failed in school and have to learn on my own, I've always had something. When I was 15 in the late 90's, I've always had shell access to a Unix box where I programmed in C/C++ with text based games (MUDS). I still keep that tradition alive with my AWS Ubuntu EC2, where I still host a online game on a LAMP stack.
I also have a few database engines on my main desktop such as 2016, MySQL and PostgreSQL. Being I love Python, I also have Python, a personal subscription to JetBrains, which gives me access to all their IDE's and compilers for 20 bucks a month (i.e.: PyCharm, PHPStorm, CLion, and SQL tools).
I was lucky enough to snag a bunch of deprecated hardware from work too. We moved from bare metal to a complete virtualized setup in the data center. So beside my machine, I have an old DELL PowerEdge 2900 with like 8 Barracuda 7,200 RPM 200GB drives and 2x Intel Xeon procs in the box. This is my private home server for other tests, but it's super loud and I only use it for specific stuff. When I move, I plan on making a special place for it to run the home network.
Last night, I just put up a cluster on AWS to explore MongoDB new features with JOIN's, Aggregation functions and Indexing to potentially hold all my granular data as opposed to SQL Server. I'm paying for this out my own pocket to explore new technology on the personal time.
I have a family, 2 boys and a wife. I always make time to explore. I can't keep relevant without it.
October 17, 2016 at 7:54 am
I pretty much stay out of this area and just focus on data.
October 17, 2016 at 8:44 am
How do you budget for your home computer(s)?
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October 17, 2016 at 9:04 am
I budgeted 1000 dollars for my home server. I used old parts (keyboard and monitor) so they were free and waited until Dell had a crazy sale and bought mine with tax and shipping for under 700 dollars. I will buy an SSD at some point, just waiting for another crazy sale. My server has 32 gb ram and a xeon skylake. The only gotcha is if running VMs you'll have to use both network cards. Surprisingly that's a problem at my house. My router has 8 ports and I have 9 needs. 🙁 I run 2 wireless networks, 2 Tivos and a couple of hardwired computers and a small NAS.
October 17, 2016 at 9:50 am
robert.sterbal 56890 (10/17/2016)
How do you budget for your home computer(s)?
No good process. Like anything else, I'll propose something to my wife and then debate it. Certainly I could use that $400 graphics card, but do I need it? Can I get by for $100 and upgrade later?
This is partially a home budget decision like any other. Some can be written off as a learning expense for work, but it's still a cost. I rarely upgrade for this reason.
October 17, 2016 at 10:25 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (10/17/2016)
Certainly I could use that $400 graphics card, but do I need it? Can I get by for $100 and upgrade later?
once i actually realized by experimenting at the low end, it kinda blew me away how much "unnecessary" video $$ we regularly throw into our machines... if you're not gaming you can readily drive three digital displays, even at 2560 x 1600, on a HALF gig of ram (512 MB) (probably actually less but doubtful they even manufacture that)... cards like that are out there in droves on eBay for $40... case in point, here's the exact 2GB ATI 7570 that i have, going for $35 right now... it's very quiet even though it has a fan.
one way to quickly prove this out to oneself - spin up a VM (whatever OS you prefer) and see how much video ram it actually requires to stretch it's virtual desktop over the biggest physical you can muster... vmware starts them out at 4 megabytes!? that's actually a bit too low but even something super low like 64 MB will drive a huge display.
i haven't had the luxury to experiment with a 4K physical display yet... can't wait... looks like we're getting into the $600-800 range for solid "monitor" oriented specs at this point... i'm thinking something in the 40" range is about as much as i want to handle right in front of me on a desk... just trying to decide if curved is the right way to go... it makes basic sense to bring those distant corners more into view but you do see mention of distortion and/or unexpected reflection hot spots so i want to sit down in front of a couple before ordering
October 17, 2016 at 11:04 am
robert.sterbal 56890 (10/17/2016)
The only gotcha is if running VMs you'll have to use both network cards.
not sure why that's true, unless you're saying from a high volume performance standpoint, which kinda falls outside the home lab context... it's standard functionality for VM hosts to share a single physical host NIC across multiple guests... either NAT or "bridged" (i.e. distinct MAC per VM on your network, indistinguishable from a real physical machine).
Surprisingly that's a problem at my house. My router has 8 ports and I have 9 needs. Sad I run 2 wireless networks, 2 Tivos and a couple of hardwired computers and a small NAS.
what am i missing, why can't you just throw a cheap switch with more ports on the back of your router... i find stuff like that sitting on the shelves for $10 at my local GoodWill these days.
October 17, 2016 at 12:13 pm
You're right about the 2 nics. I've just found it runs better with 2. For some reason I am too cheap to buy a switch plus I have serious plug issues. I probably need to do some electrical work to make everything ok.
October 17, 2016 at 12:38 pm
robert.sterbal 56890 (10/14/2016)
has anyone built a VM for browsing the internet they would like to share?
Use a pre-built Ubuntu VM for web browsing.
And use VirtualBox. It supports VMware/Hyper-V/and its own virtualbox images. That way, when you need to use an existing VM, you can - regardless of the platform.
The more you are prepared, the less you need it.
October 17, 2016 at 4:57 pm
John Hanrahan (10/17/2016)
For some reason I am too cheap to buy a switch plus I have serious plug issues. I probably need to do some electrical work to make everything ok.
just to beat the dead horse, here's 5 port gigabit switch for like $13 new... 8 ports out there for same pittance but probably 100Mbit, which should honestly be totally fine... these 5V models run fine on USB power so if you're any good with solder you could clip the DC plug and tack it onto a spare USB cable and then hang this right off your PC/laptop to dodge your outlet issue, yay 🙂 ... this is the only reasonably priced one i found with the actual USB cable included, note, this one is "only" 100Mbit and ships from china.
October 20, 2016 at 10:01 am
David.Poole (10/14/2016)
I've got a bit of a home lab but rarely use it these days. Frankly commute time plus an average of 9-10 hour days on top leaves little for the family stuff as it is...
Sounds familiar. I have also spent a couple of years just trying to keep the "home lab" operational without doing anything with it. There have been too many technologies that I possibly could do with knowing that I haven't looked at much in depth.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
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