Homelab

What runs now

An older laptop runs my self-hosted services in Docker.

I run services with Docker and Docker Compose. The ones I run or have run: Nginx Proxy Manager as the reverse proxy, Jellyfin, Portainer, Crafty Controller, Home Assistant, Seanime and Wazuh.

Every machine I own is on Tailscale, as a mesh VPN. I’ve also set up port forwarding.

Linux automation

Three years of daily Linux use, on my own machines.

I’ve used Ubuntu Server for the homelab, and Arch, CachyOS and Fedora on the desktop. Things I’ve set up myself:

• systemd. A service that starts an app at boot, with Restart=always and User and Environment set. A systemd user timer and service that runs a posture reminder every 30 minutes, tied to the graphical session.
• Shell scripts. Battery notifications, a screenshot with OCR, and volume and brightness controls for my desktop. Bash loops, functions and service-check scripts.
• Power management on a hybrid NVIDIA laptop. modprobe options, udev rules, systemd units, TLP and thermald.
• Recovery and upkeep. btrfs snapshots with Snapper, initramfs rebuilds, and cleaning up services with systemd-analyze.
• Terminal workflow. zsh, tmux, Neovim, lazygit and Hyprland keybinds.

Earlier lab

A segmented lab network with an attack range and a SIEM. Wiped on 30 September 2026.

I built and documented this lab on my main lab server, a Dell OptiPlex 7020 MT:

• Proxmox as the hypervisor, with pfSense running as a VM.
• Three VLANs: an attack range, a management network with Wazuh, and a WiFi target. Firewall rules in pfSense per VLAN.
• A TP-Link TL-SG105E managed switch, and an Archer C20 as an isolated target access point.
• Wazuh as the SIEM, and a Kali VM.
• An ARP spoofing lab, with a write-up.

The server was wiped on 30 September 2026. The services above now run on the older laptop instead.

Other hardware

Home Assistant OS runs on its own older laptop. I’ve also built projects with a Raspberry Pi, Arduino and ESP32.