Because I can

Sometimes in discussions with my friends and colleagues we fall into talking about what we currently are doing. Usually this might be about anything but sometimes we talk about things we are currently doing with different technologies. It usually boils down to someone asking the question “but why”. Usually the question is a valid query on why someone would set up a complex and most often overkill thing. The response inadvertently always is “because I can”.

But why?

Is there a good reason to have a kubernetes cluster virtualized on Proxmox hosted by hardware that actually would be more comfortable in a datacenter? Or for that matter to run a three master MariaDB cluster just to cover a home infrastructure and databases smaller than a gigabyte in size? Or even worse running a full CI/CD pipeline of your actual CI/CD pipeline? The response to all those questions is of course a resounding “No”. 

Some of you might have heard about Linus Tech Tips? My favorite episodes are when they are doing almost ridiculous setups of screen-walls, higher performance storage or building a shared gaming computer. The same applies when I build things, it is for my own amusement. To scratch an itch so to say. 

Because I can!

How do we learn things? My method can be compared to bashing my head against a wall, with the added benefit of being hard headed enough to actually manage to bash it down. So I both learn and gain experience by doing installations of products like Kubernetes, HAproxy and the likes in my home infrastructure. Doing so in a manner where you do think about things like; security, availability and operability is just the next step since not thinking about those things will end you with subpar production setups. 

So what?

In the end one has to remember one thing; doing things “just because” is both rewarding for the soul and for the mind. Doing something to prove that you can, albeit not like scaling Mount Everest, is rewarding. To people looking in from the outside all this will not only look like a ridiculous endeavour but also a complete waste of time. In the end remind yourself that most people have this type of behaviour in some shape or form.