Homelab

I had one Linux server that was up for over 500 days. It would have been up longer but I was organizing some cables and accidentally unplugged it.

Where I worked as a developer we had Sun Solaris servers as desktops to do my dev work on. I would just leave it on even during the weekends and vacations, it also had our backup webserver on it so we just let to run 100%. One day the sys admin said you may want to reboot your computer, it's been over 600 days. 😆 I guess he didn't have to reboot after patching all that time and I didn't have any issues with it.

Never.

Prod environments typically don't have downtime. Save for patching every quarter that requires a host reboot.

wait, they shut off? who knew.

Uptime is a score I need to beat!

If it is a Windows 95 server then every three days. Format and reinstall once every three months.

I don't reboot servers in my homelab unless any update require me to do so. I do have a clustered Proxmox setup, so no downtime if the admin (aka me) doesn't screw up ;-)

The only valid reason (imho) to reboot unless any update requires it would be apps with memory leaks where a service restart doesn't fix the problem. Not often I face this problem these days, but earlier versions of Windows had the occasional habit...

I boot my big server whenever i need it, everything else is 24/7. I have had no catastrophic failures in either for the last 2-3 years, so it seems to be fine?

Once a year for firmware updates. But my unraid box usually needs reboots once a month to stay stable.

Mines been up for a whilehost uptime

I have several ESXi hosts, which automatically turn off and on as needed by vCenter based on server loads.

Otherwise, I don’t turn anything else off.

When do I shut down?

1. When the power goes out and my UPS battery drains.
2. When I do a hardware upgrade.
3. If I want to rearrange equipment, and also when I moved this past summer.

That's seriously about it.

mine is small and idles at 17 watts, but i’ll shut it down if i don’t use for many days. also when i’m on vacation.

Mine are running all of the time, including during power outages, and are only shut down for physical maintenance and reboot for software maintenance.

This is a little variable through. Windows hosts tend to require more frequent software reboots in my experience. About once a year, I physically open each device and inspect, clean dust (fairly rare to find it for my setup though), and perform upgrades, replace old storage devices and such. Otherwise I leave them alone.

I usually get about 5-7 years out of the servers and 10 out of networking hardware, but sometimes a total failure occurs unexpectedly still and I just deal with it as needed.

Out of 6 Cisco servers 3 have auto power on at 7am and auto shutdown at 11 pm. Other 3 are 24/7

I set up a cron job to reboot once a day. Its for my security cameras and I want to ensure access. But, if you dont have issues, you dont need to.

When the power goes out.

I don’t shut them down but I restart when I apply updates. Having a high uptime counter is not a badge of honor unless it’s a fancy HA system.

Only when I type "shutdown" on the wrong console window.. New hardware or need to fix something.

So that's pretty rare 😂

Never? Only when they need physical maintenance

Fuck that. 3 years uptime and counting.

I suppose it depends what kind of hardware you're using. I have enterprise class servers that are meant to run 24/7 and they do. They'll be useless technologically before they wear out.

3 months? i've had linux systems up for 3 years haha

Lol. 236 days and 107 days since the last reboots of my two servers.

Today marks the first day in about 2 years that my hosts will be shut down on purpose. Running new electrical circuits for the rack.

Previous shutdowns have been like weather related power outages and such.

I have built a UPS with 200AH 12V battery with inverter charger for RV. It never fails with power so it runs like for months until I decided to put something in… let’s see

Uhhhhh, never

Only when children break into the server room.

I have been turning mine off more frequently now that my electric rates have jumped 30% in the last two months. I'm currently looking to dump the 11 year old server hardware for both my nas and hypervisor server and consolidate everything into a modern lower power single system. Most likely using Truenas Scale.

They have an off switch? who knew.

If you need to reboot or shutdown regularly it's not a server.

Network services 24/7 (4 rpi3) Nas shutdowns every day at 23:30 and boots at 9:00, except we that boots at 10:00. Apci schedule management is embedded in firmware (qnap).

Servers shutdown at 23:15 and boots at 9:15 (we 10:15). For these rtcwake does the job.

WoL is enabled in case of.

ppl shut down there hosts? Since when? XD

Only if I need to move it or upgrade the components, and that happens maybe once a year, if not less.

If it weren't for that and power outages, they would have been on for 5+ years.

I don't ever shut them down "just because why not".

My optiplex 9010 sff is what I use for experimenting with services and as a staging area for moving VMs to my main lab because it's air gapped. At max load it runs at 140w but it has a GTX 1650 that I use for gaming as well.

Otherwise the rest of my lab is only turned on when I'm using it or forget to turn it off when I leave the house. When I get a laptop again I'll leave it on more. None of it is more than $150 to replace though. It's a Hyve Zeus, Cisco isr 4331, and a catalyst 3750x so nothing heavy, just a little loud.

You shutdown servers? I guess when I clean out dust 🤷‍♂️

I run ESXi on most of my systems. So that means, when there is an update of ESXi, I install the updates and reboot them.

Sometimes I need to change hardware or upgrade stuff. Then too.

I took my docker host offline yesterday, because of a RAM upgrade (16GB > 24GB, yeah, I'm aware I lost dual-channel). I regularly check for updates on non-ESXi machines.

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Some people love 100% uptime of their servers. I hate it. When somebody has high uptime, it means they are lazy and don't keep up with updates, which are critical most of the time.

Only when I swap or upgrade internal hardware.

These run 24/7/365.

My chassis has 7 blades in it, and I typically only keep 4 powered on. However, I patch them regularly, requiring reboots, but I don't have to take any VMs down with DRS.

What are you guys even running that needs to be on?

I just got a Dell R510 and a HPe Proliant 360 g7, installed esx on them, but i cant find anything that would justify running them for 24/7.

I mean, besides a nas that holds some files.. i cant find anything worthy.. can only think about enterprise purposes which i dont meed at home.

So, to answer the question, they are always off untill i want to experiment

What uptimes are people looking at right now?

Whenever they've been running from UPS battery for more than a few minutes or for hardware maintenance/repair, otherwise they run 24/7

old 486 slackware 4.0 server I had on a big UPS made it through several dorm/apartment moves without a shutdown. Something like 7 years of uptime when I finally retired it.

Never really shit my mini pcs down, sometimes I restart a proxmox node if I want it to use an updated kernal but that's it. I don't run large servers at home

I mean, so far the longest uptime I’ve seen at my current job is 9 years. Yes, that host should be patched. But given its role, and network access, it’s fine. Running strong. It is in a DC. Server grade hardware is designed with 24/7 operation in mind. Consumer hardware might be fine, but wasn’t designed with 24/7 critical operation in mind.

At home, I have some nucs on 24/7, and a r740 and nx3230 on 24/7. The rest is for true lab env and I only power on as needed.

Mine chug along 24/7 only a restart for updates

Most things stay up 24/7

I have a couple machines I don't currently use for anything so they're powered off until needed.

You're rebooting them for update right?

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right?

Do you virtualize/pool host to separate function from hardware? If yes, then go nuts shutting off hardware as needed for service.

Otherwise, the correct answers are “annually as part of a practical DR review”, “only when the electric company cuts you off for non-payment”, and “as often as needed to keep a spouse off your back”.

Usually I reboot once a year, but in reality power outages limit uptime to about this anyway.