The meaning of “homelab” has changed over the years. Originally it was literally just having the hardware you’d find in the lab at home. e.g. you were taking classes for a CCNA and instead of going to the school’s lab for hands-on with the hardware you’d just replicate the setup at ‘home’. Nothing in the setup would be relied on beyond the specific thing you’re testing in the moment. If you’re going to stick to the original intent of the name, anything beyond “lab” use wouldn’t be “homelab”.
Now it skews more to meaning anything you’re using to learn the technology even if you’re using it as the equivalent of production and rely on it being up as a part of your daily life.
The meaning of “homelab” has changed over the years. Originally it was literally just having the hardware you’d find in the lab at home. e.g. you were taking classes for a CCNA and instead of going to the school’s lab for hands-on with the hardware you’d just replicate the setup at ‘home’. Nothing in the setup would be relied on beyond the specific thing you’re testing in the moment. If you’re going to stick to the original intent of the name, anything beyond “lab” use wouldn’t be “homelab”.
Now it skews more to meaning anything you’re using to learn the technology even if you’re using it as the equivalent of production and rely on it being up as a part of your daily life.