We’ve run our own server for year. In fact, so many years I can’t remember not having a home server. It was great for the family to use as a file server and then we grew into more networking and eventually web hosing ( www.seakat.ca ).
With our own web server we could do whatever we want. More importantly it forced me to understand how a server worked, what a dns server did (when we had one), how a mail server worked, the resources required, how to monitor backups, how to keep it organized. I even grew into WordPress which required a lot more learning.
The thing about a home server is, like crypto mining, there is a cost. And the cost is mostly electricity. We’ve been a tier two since BC Hydro instituted that program. And that was okay when I was a partner. The learning kept my mind going, thinking in other directions.
I don’t know about other people, but when I get so focused on one thing, like tax, it can be to the detriment of everything – and everyone – else in my life. The Income Tax Act is like a big puzzle and it can be a game to look for solutions. Having a server took my mind out of the game and helped me to reboot.
I’m sure other people have ways they “reboot”. I bet you have one too. Computers are definitely my “reboot” my brain and help me look at things in a new light.
But this new version 2.0 – hmmm 60.0? – of me is running lighter and when we did a cost benefit analysis (that really means Shaw was charging us $1400 a year extra to have a home server vs going to a 3rd party host at $150 a year) it was hard to say I needed to have that particular form of reboot continue. So today we switched. We chose the 3rd party based not just on cost, but on whether they could handle our little possĂ© of websites and whether we could still have some control over them. Not to say I’m a control freak. Well, okay – we can say it – I’m a control freak.
The last domain is moving this weekend. We’ve started the propagation of the name servers. And then we will turn off the server.
But there’s a small part of me that says “Wait! We’re already tier two. Let’s mine cryptocurrency – wouldn’t that be fun?”
Someone needs to tell my brain to find another form of recreation.