Over on Reddit someone commented that self-hosting solutions (eg email, calendars, file sync) was too much like hard work. Needing to update TLS certificates, keeping code up to date, acting like IT support (especially if what you’re doing is used by friends and family) was becoming too much like a job.
And you know what, they could be right. Other people starting out on their homelab and self-hosted path need to be aware of this.
Firstly, it’s very important to recognise that this isn’t for everyone. If you don’t get a sense of fun or enjoyment out of doing something then why do it? “Because Google Bad” and owning your own data isn’t really enough to make someone do stuff they don’t enjoy.
Now I’m about to say something that might sound nasty, but I really don’t mean it that way. The problem could be a skills issue. The good news is that these skills can be gained, and it’s not that hard. You just have to persevere.
Let me explain.
As the original poster noticed, running a homelab is harder than just running a gaming PC and off loading everything else to Google/Microsoft/Apple. It requires “a particular set of skills” (to quote a famous movie).
I guess I started homelab type stuff in the early 90s. The tools we have today didn’t exist back then so I would create my own scripts and automations. It really helped that I found this fun and interesting; “ooh, I learned something! This is cool!”
The homelab I have today is far superior (and more complicated) than what I had then (we didn’t even have virtual servers so my spare bedroom had half a dozen machines, including two Sun SPARCs, all running and doing stuff!). Today “maintenance” of my homelab is maybe 5 minutes each morning to check for any errors and 10 minutes every 80 days to renew certs (that “complicated” bit means I haven’t 100% automated TLS cert renewal; instead I have to run one command and check the output; I really should fix that).
But this didn’t happen in 1 day; it’s taken years to get to this point. Heck, just last month I reworked by backup reporting system. I have 17 OS instances running permanently (some physical, some virtual, some cloud hosted) and they all backup and send me reports. I was getting annoyed with checking 17 reports daily. So I wrote some code and now I get 1 report that basically says “17 servers have backup reports (17 good, 0 bad)” (or alerts if something isn’t good). It’s only saved a couple of minutes per day, but it’s a lot less annoyance :-)
And this can be part of the problem, when starting out; you’re seeing enthusiasts like me who have been doing this for years and find it easy; we can do it in our sleep. You’re comparing what you’re going through and learning to something that’s been tweaked and optimised over a period of time.
And I’ll let you into a little secret; I may run my own mail server, web server, DNS, DHCP, home assistant, firewall… I have written automations to extend Alexa, to report and alert on stuff. I’ve automated server builds so I can create a new VM (with my preferred customisations) in a few minutes just with a single command. And despite all that I still use Microsoft OneDrive as a way to sync photos from my phone to my PC. Because it’s easier.
Homelabs are first and foremost a hobby. If you’re not enjoying it and don’t think you ever will enjoy it then don’t do it! But if you think it’ll be fun and you’re just frustrated now ‘cos it’s hard then maybe stick with it; you’ll learn the skills and it will get easier.