Self-Hosting
Immich AI Photo Search: How CLIP, Faces, and Filters Work
Learn how Immich AI photo search combines CLIP, face recognition, OCR, and metadata filters, with steps to enable, tune, and troubleshoot search indexing.
Jellyfin Hardware Transcoding: How GPU Acceleration Works
Understand how Jellyfin hardware transcoding uses GPU decode and encode, compare QSV, VA-API, and NVENC, configure Docker access, and verify playback.
OpenZFS Native Encryption Explained
Learn how OpenZFS native encryption protects dataset contents, manages keys, and supports encrypted replication, with safe setup and verification commands.
Ceph on Proxmox VE: Architecture and Setup
Learn how Proxmox VE uses Ceph for shared VM storage, covering cluster requirements, network and disk planning, setup, health checks, and backup limits.
K3s on Proxmox: Build a Lightweight Kubernetes Cluster
A practical guide to running K3s on Proxmox, covering VM sizing, networking, installation, storage, backups, and high-availability trade-offs in a home lab.
Kubernetes Homelab: How to Build a Small Cluster
Learn how to build a Kubernetes homelab: compare K3s, MicroK8s, and kubeadm, plan nodes, networks, storage, and safely operate a small cluster at home.
NixOS for a Homelab: Declarative Server Management
Learn how NixOS configuration and system generations help homelab owners reproduce server setups, recover from updates, and protect persistent application data.
SMB Multichannel Explained: Performance and Failover
SMB Multichannel lets one file-sharing session use multiple connections for higher throughput and fault tolerance. Learn how it works and how to test it.
Btrfs vs ZFS: Filesystem Architecture and Trade-offs
Compare Btrfs and ZFS for NAS and home labs, including copy-on-write, checksums, RAID, snapshots, recovery, hardware, and practical selection advice.
Immich Self-Hosting: Architecture, Setup, and Backups
Learn how to self-host Immich for private photo management, including its services, Docker Compose setup, storage design, machine learning, and backups.
Proxmox Backup Server Explained: Architecture and Setup
Learn how Proxmox Backup Server stores, deduplicates, encrypts, and restores VM and container backups, with a practical setup and recovery workflow.
Self-Hosted Backups: Architecture, Tools, and Recovery
Learn how self-hosted backups work, when to use NAS or encrypted repositories, and how to build, automate, secure, and test a reliable recovery plan.
ZFS Snapshots and Replication: How They Work
Understand how ZFS snapshots and send/receive replication work, including incremental streams, retention, recovery, and their limits as a backup strategy.
Home Assistant Architecture: Core vs OS Explained
Understand Home Assistant architecture, including Core, Home Assistant OS, Supervisor, integrations, add-ons, storage, networking, and deployment choices.
Jellyfin Setup: Self-Host a Media Server
Learn how Jellyfin organizes media libraries, users, streaming, and transcoding, then deploy a secure home media server with Docker Compose.
Self-Hosted DNS with Pi-hole and AdGuard Home
Learn how self-hosted DNS works, compare Pi-hole and AdGuard Home, and configure network-wide filtering, split DNS, backups, and safe failover.
WireGuard vs Tailscale vs Headscale: Which VPN Fits?
Compare WireGuard, Tailscale, and Headscale by architecture, security, NAT traversal, administration, and setup for home labs and private networks.
Proxmox vs ESXi vs XCP-ng: Virtualization Compared
Compare Proxmox, VMware ESXi, and XCP-ng across architecture, storage, networking, management, licensing, and practical homelab or production use.