This list was provided by TechnoTim and his video called 20 Ways to Use a Virtual Machine (and other ideas for your homelab). Go checko out his video here.
- Learning a new OS - Maybe you are using Windows or Mac and want to learn a new OS like Ubuntu, Linux Mint or even older operating systems like Windows 95, Windows 98 and more.
- Home Automation - using something like Home Assistant so you control all your IOT devices from a server at home without having to pay a subscription fee
- Web Server
- API
- Home Security - using something like BlueIris to record and handle all your home security cameras without having to pay a subscription fee
- Home Entertainment - Plex server, Kodi, etc.
- Network Firewall - pfsense, untangle, opensense, etc.
- Home Network - Unifi, etc.
- VPN Server - so you can access your home network from another location. Can possibly be included with whatever Network Firewall you use.
- Docker - running your own containers at home on a dedicated server i.e. Kubernetes and Rancher
- Database Server
- File Server
- Ad Blocking - Pi-hole
- Personal Cloud - NextCloud
- FTP Server
- Reporting Server - Grafana or Kibana
- Torrent Server - for legal downloads like downloading Linux distros
- Backup Server - UrBackup (Open Source), Backblaze (Commercial)
- Game Server - for hosting a Minecraft server or remote gaming
- Crowdsourced Research - Folding at Home