SumGuy's Ramblings

Dify: Visual Agent Workflows

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Dify is an open-source LLM-app builder you can self-host. Visual workflow editor, RAG, agents, tool use — without writing 500 lines of LangChain glue.

LazyLibrarian + Readarr: Automating Your Book Library

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

LazyLibrarian vs Readarr for ebook and audiobook automation — honest comparison of features, maturity, and community support, with real Docker Compose configs.

stunnel vs spiped

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

TLS tunneling for legacy plaintext services — stunnel's X.509 cert model vs spiped's pre-shared key simplicity, and when each one actually wins.

OpenRouter vs LiteLLM

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Two ways to route LLM traffic across providers — OpenRouter as a hosted gateway, LiteLLM as a self-hosted proxy. Which one fits your home lab in 2026?

Immich vs PhotoPrism vs Ente: Self-Hosted Photo Libraries

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Google Photos went paid and the alternatives matured fast. Immich, PhotoPrism, and Ente: which self-hosted photo library actually fits your life in 2026?

Unbound vs Technitium vs BIND

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Picking a recursive DNS resolver for your home lab — Unbound, Technitium, and BIND9 compared on speed, GUI, DNSSEC, and split-horizon.

Function Calling in Local LLMs

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Local LLMs can call tools, query APIs, and run code if you set them up right. Function calling on Ollama and llama.cpp explained — patterns that actually work.

HACS: When Custom Integrations Bite You

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

HACS custom integrations can brick your Home Assistant setup overnight. Here's how to use them safely, recover when they don't, and know when to skip them.

ntopng vs darkstat

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

ntopng vs darkstat: full DPI flow analysis vs a tiny always-on stats page. Pick the right tool for home-lab network visibility without losing your mind.

Gemma 4 vs Qwen3.6

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Gemma 4 vs Qwen3.6: sizes, reasoning, coding benchmarks, and which model you should actually pull for your home lab rig.

AnythingLLM as Knowledge Base

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

AnythingLLM is the closest thing to a real private NotebookLM you can self-host. Workspaces, RAG, agents, document chat — running locally on Ollama in 20 minutes.

FRR vs BIRD

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

FRR vs BIRD: two open-source routing daemons compared for BGP, OSPF, and home-lab dynamic routing. Which one belongs in your stack?

Home Assistant Add-Ons vs Docker Containers

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

HAOS Add-Ons vs bare Docker Compose for Mosquitto, ESPHome, Frigate — when the Supervisor magic is genuinely worth it and when it just gets in your way.

Local Vision LLMs Worth Running in 2026

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

The 2026 local vision LLM landscape: LLaVA's exit, Pixtral's OCR wins, Qwen3-VL's new tricks, and why Gemma 4 is the home-lab dark horse.

HAProxy vs Envoy

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

HAProxy vs Envoy for L4/L7 load balancing — config style, performance, observability, service mesh fit, and which one belongs in your home lab.

Home Assistant Voice: Wyoming vs Rhasspy

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Wyoming protocol vs Rhasspy for local Home Assistant voice — which offline stack actually works in 2026, hardware requirements, and when to choose each one.

MCP Servers: Tools for LLMs

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Model Context Protocol turns your LLM into a tool-using agent — file access, APIs, your home lab. Build your first MCP server in under 50 lines of Python.

Caddy vs Traefik

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Caddyfile zen vs Traefik labels-everywhere — picking a reverse proxy for self-hosted services in 2026. Real configs, real gotchas.

Promtail to Alloy Migration: A Practical Diff

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Promtail is deprecated. Here's how to migrate your scrape configs, pipeline stages, and Docker log setups to Grafana Alloy without losing your mind or data.

RAG Evaluation with Ragas

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Most RAG demos look great until you ship them. Ragas measures faithfulness, context precision, answer relevancy — the metrics that actually predict user trust.

Bun vs Deno vs Node in 2026

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Picking a JavaScript runtime in 2026 — Bun, Deno, and Node compared on speed, ecosystem, TS support, and self-hosted use cases.

LibreNMS for SNMP-Heavy Home Networks

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

LibreNMS auto-discovers your switches, APs, and UPS over SNMP with zero MIB hunting. Here's how to deploy it and stop abusing Prometheus for this job.

LLM Distillation Explained

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

How tiny 7B and 8B models keep punching above their weight — knowledge distillation, the teacher-student trick that makes local AI actually usable on home hardware.

Rancher vs Podman vs Docker Desktop

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Rancher Desktop, Podman Desktop, and Docker Desktop go head-to-head on cost, k8s, resource use, and real-world friction for local dev.

SmokePing for Internet Connection Sanity

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

SmokePing turns your ISP no-issue-detected excuse into a documented lie. Set it up in Docker and get clear visual proof of latency spikes and packet loss.

Garden vs Tilt vs Skaffold

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Three inner-loop dev tools for Kubernetes — Garden, Tilt, and Skaffold. Which one actually makes K8s development bearable? Honest comparison, no fluff.

Lima vs Multipass

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

VM-backed Linux dev environments on macOS/Linux — Lima vs Multipass compared on speed, container support, and resource use.

Riemann: The Forgotten Event-Stream Monitor for Home Labs

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Riemann processes events as streams, not time-series. Here is why that distinction matters and when Clojure-based stream alerting still beats Prometheus rules.

Compose Watch: Faster Dev Loops

Sun, 31 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Docker Compose Watch syncs your code into running containers without rebuilds. Here's how to set it up and why your dev loop is about to get a lot less painful.

Glances vs Netdata: Two Free-Tier Monitors Compared

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Glances vs Netdata: which free monitor wins for your home lab? We compare install effort, UI quality, alerting, and when to ditch both for Prometheus.

tini vs dumb-init vs --init

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

PID 1 zombie reaping in containers — tini, dumb-init, and docker --init compared; when each one fixes your signal handling and stops your 10s shutdown tax.

Container Escape: How to Stop It

Sat, 30 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Containers are not VMs. Here are the real escape vectors — privileged mode, mounted sockets, kernel CVEs — and the runtime hardening that actually helps.

ko vs Jib vs Buildpacks

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Build container images without writing a single Dockerfile — ko for Go, Jib for Java, Paketo Buildpacks for everything else. Real benchmarks, real tradeoffs.

Sentry Self-Hosted for Application Errors

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Run Sentry on your own hardware to catch real application errors — stack traces, source maps, release tracking, alerts, and when you should just pay for SaaS.

Cosign Keyless: Sign Without Keys

Fri, 29 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Cosign keyless signing uses GitHub OIDC + Fulcio + Rekor to sign container images without managing private keys. Here's how it actually works and why you want it.

Docker Bake vs Compose Build

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Orchestrating multi-image Docker builds: docker buildx bake vs compose build, matrix targets, multi-arch, caching, and when each one actually wins.

Heimdall vs Homepage vs Homer: Status Dashboards

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Heimdall, Homepage, or Homer? Pick the right self-hosted dashboard for your homelab — real configs, Docker auto-discovery, and live API status widgets included.

WASM Containers in 2026

Thu, 28 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Spin, WasmEdge, and wasmCloud are dragging WebAssembly into the container world. Here's what actually works, and what's still half-baked in 2026.

cAdvisor + Prometheus: Per-Container Metrics Done Right

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Stop guessing which container is eating your RAM. Set up cAdvisor + Prometheus to get real per-container CPU, memory, and network metrics in your homelab.

cri-o vs containerd

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The CRI runtime under your Kubernetes cluster — cri-o vs containerd compared on footprint, distros, performance, and day-2 operability.

RustDesk vs MeshCentral: Self-Hosted Remote Desktop

Wed, 27 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

TeamViewer costs a fortune, AnyDesk wants a subscription, and Chrome Remote Desktop routes everything through Google. Here's how RustDesk and MeshCentral stack up as self-hosted alternatives — and which one fits your use case.

Grafana Alloy: Replacing the Agent After Deprecation

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Grafana Agent hit EOL in November 2025. Here is how to migrate all your monitoring nodes to Alloy without losing your mind, your metrics, or your dashboards.

Nerdctl vs Docker CLI

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

nerdctl is the containerd-native docker CLI replacement — when it's a drop-in, when it's not, and why you'd bother switching at all.

age vs GPG: Modern File Encryption That Doesn't Make You Cry

Tue, 26 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

age replaces GPG for file encryption with a sane CLI, SSH key reuse, and zero key management drama. Here's how they compare and exactly when each one wins.

OpenTelemetry Collector: One Pipeline to Rule Them All

Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Replace five scattered agents with one OpenTelemetry Collector pipeline — metrics, logs, and traces unified with real config you can drop into a home server.

Sysbox vs gVisor vs Kata

Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Containers aren't security boundaries — Sysbox, gVisor, and Kata fix that. Here's which isolation runtime fits your actual threat model.

Why I Built Garrul

Mon, 25 May 2026 20:00:00 GMT

I looked at a lot of self-hosted comment systems. None of the ones I wanted ran on Cloudflare Workers. So I wrote one. Here's the story and the deploy.

Glance vs Homepage vs Dashy: Home Lab Dashboards Compared

Mon, 25 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Three self-hosted dashboards walk into a home lab: Glance (fast Go binary), Homepage (gorgeous service tiles), and Dashy (feature-packed Vue app). Here's which one survives a year of homelab churn.

Backblaze B2 + rclone: Tiered Backup at Real-World Costs

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Stop burning money on AWS egress fees. Here is how to build a real tiered backup strategy using Backblaze B2 plus rclone for your home lab setup in 2026.

Trivy vs Grype vs Docker Scout

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Trivy, Grype, and Docker Scout go head-to-head on speed, CVE coverage, CI integration, and cost. Pick the right scanner for your home lab or pipeline.

Kdenlive vs DaVinci Resolve on Linux

Sun, 24 May 2026 16:00:00 GMT

Both are free, both run on Linux, both edit video. So which one do you pick? An honest decision guide for Linux creators choosing between Kdenlive and DaVinci Resolve.

Beyond Akismet: Spam Protection for 2026

Sun, 24 May 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Akismet's licensing terms are increasingly hostile to small sites. Here are 11 spam-protection options — hosted APIs, CAPTCHA widgets, and DIY honeypots — that actually work in 2026.

Self-Hosted Email in 2026: Mailcow vs Mailu vs Stalwart

Sun, 24 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Three serious self-hosted email stacks compared — Mailcow, Mailu, and Stalwart — plus the deliverability minefield you'll need to survive, and when you should just pay Migadu instead.

Authentik vs Authelia: SSO for Your Self-Hosted Stack

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Authelia is a bouncer. Authentik is the whole security desk. Pick the right self-hosted SSO for your home lab — with working configs, gotchas, and a migration path.

Ceph for a 3-Node Home Lab: When It Actually Pays Off

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Ceph on 3 nodes: real hardware requirements, honest performance tradeoffs, and exactly when distributed storage beats a plain NFS share for your home lab.

Kdenlive Proxy Editing on Weak Hardware

Sat, 23 May 2026 16:00:00 GMT

Edit 4K (or chunky 1080p60) on a mini PC without the timeline turning into a slideshow. Kdenlive proxies plus VAAPI/NVENC for cheap homelab editing.

Cosmos vs CasaOS vs Umbrel: All-in-One Home Server OSes Compared

Sat, 23 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Cosmos, CasaOS, and Umbrel each try to make self-hosting one-click. Here's how they actually compare on UI, security, app catalogs, and the all-important escape hatch when you outgrow them.

A Guide to Fixing OpenH264 Access Issues

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Cisco's OpenH264 download server geoblocks sanctioned regions, breaking Firefox and Flatpak installs. Four practical fixes, ranked simple to nuclear.

Snapper for Btrfs Snapshots on Root Filesystems

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Set up Snapper on Btrfs to auto-snapshot before every system update, roll back broken machines in minutes, and never lose a working root filesystem again.

Kdenlive + OBS Studio: Screencast Pipeline

Fri, 22 May 2026 16:00:00 GMT

Open-source screencast pipeline: record with OBS using the right settings, edit in Kdenlive, ship 1080p MP4. The combo that replaces Camtasia.

Plex Pass Hits $749. Time for Jellyfin.

Fri, 22 May 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Plex tripled the lifetime price to $749. Here's a decision tree plus a working Jellyfin migration plan: Docker, transcoding, clients, watch history.

ZFS Replication with syncoid + sanoid: The Lazy Admin's Backup

Fri, 22 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

sanoid manages ZFS snapshot policies automatically, syncoid replicates them over SSH to remote pools — together they're the lowest-effort offsite backup strategy for any ZFS user.

Kopia Repository Server: Multi-Host Backups Done Right

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Stop letting every machine write directly to S3. Kopia repository server gives you shared dedup, per-host auth, and sane maintenance — all in one place.

Sec-Fetch & UA Client Hints in 2026: What Actually Leaks

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Ran 9 real headless tools against an echo server. Sec-Fetch alone catches almost none of them. Here's what actually leaks, WAF rules that work, and where Anubis fits in.

Kdenlive Basics: Effects You Actually Use

Thu, 21 May 2026 16:00:00 GMT

Kdenlive cheat-sheet for the effects you actually reach for every edit: blur for privacy, audio ducking, titles, transitions, and the render dialog.

OpenTelemetry for Self-Hosters: Traces, Metrics, Logs Without the Datadog Bill

Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

OpenTelemetry + the Grafana LGTM stack gives you Datadog-class observability for $0/month. Deploy an OTel Collector, route to Tempo/Loki/Mimir, and instrument your app in minutes.

ZFS Send/Receive Over WireGuard for Off-Site Replication

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Pipe ZFS incremental snapshots through WireGuard to a friend's NAS or a remote VPS. Encrypted in transit and at rest — no rsync.net bill or vendor lock-in.

K3s vs K0s vs MicroK8s: Lightweight Kubernetes for Home Labs

Wed, 20 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

K3s, K0s, and MicroK8s all slim down Kubernetes for home labs and edge — but they make very different tradeoffs. Here's how to pick the right one without losing a weekend.

Restic Repository Maintenance: Prune, Check, Forget

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Your restic repo is ballooning. Learn forget, prune, and check — the right order, real flags, automation, and why full check can wreck your entire weekend.

Blog Comments: Self-Host or SaaS?

Tue, 19 May 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Disqus is a tracker farm wearing a comment box costume. Here's every real alternative — self-hosted and SaaS — and which one actually fits your blog.

CrowdSec Collections & Bouncers: fail2ban for 2026

Tue, 19 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

CrowdSec is the modern fail2ban: community-shared threat intel, scenario collections, and pluggable bouncers. Deploy it with Caddy or Traefik and block millions of bad IPs from day one.

mergerfs + SnapRAID: The Poor Man's Unraid

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Skip the $129 Unraid license. mergerfs + SnapRAID gives you flexible JBOD pooling with parity protection on mismatched drives you already own for free.

Headscale: Self-Host Your Own Tailscale Control Plane

Mon, 18 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Headscale gives you all the magic of Tailscale's zero-config WireGuard mesh — without trusting a SaaS control plane. Deploy it end-to-end with Docker Compose, ACLs, MagicDNS, and exit nodes.

Object Storage on a Pi: SeaweedFS Cluster Walkthrough

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Run a real S3-compatible object storage cluster on Raspberry Pi 4s with SeaweedFS — low RAM overhead, fast filer, no Ceph drama or surprise cloud bills.

eBPF for the Curious: Kernel Tracing Without the PhD

Sun, 17 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

eBPF traces what Linux is actually doing — syscalls, TCP events, slow functions — without rebooting. A hands-on intro to bpftrace, BCC, and libbpf with copy-paste one-liners.

Bind Mounts vs NFS for Container Storage

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Bind mounts are fast and simple; NFS is shared and flexible for containers. Pick wrong and your database corrupts at 2 AM. Here is how to choose wisely.

NixOS First Impressions for Pragmatists

Sat, 16 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

NixOS promises reproducible, declarative Linux from a single config file. The learning cliff is steep and the Nix language is weird — but atomic rollbacks and identical machines from a git repo are genuinely worth it for the right use case.

Bcachefs in 2026: Ready or Not

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Bcachefs landed in Linux mainline but controversy followed fast. An honest look at stability, performance, and whether it belongs in your home lab in 2026.

tmux vs Zellij vs Screen: Pick Your Multiplexer

Fri, 15 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Screen is on every server, tmux is the sysadmin workhorse, and Zellij is the modern newcomer with sane defaults. Here's how all three compare — and which one you should actually use.

The Modern Unix Toolkit: fzf, ripgrep, fd, bat, eza

Thu, 14 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

GNU coreutils are 50 years old and it shows. ripgrep, fd, bat, eza, fzf, and zoxide replace grep/find/cat/ls with faster, friendlier Rust-powered tools. Here's what each one wins at — and when the original still holds.

Frigate + Coral TPU: AI Cameras Without the Subscription

Wed, 13 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Frigate NVR + a $60 Google Coral TPU gives you real-time AI object detection on your own cameras, integrates with Home Assistant, and costs nothing per month. Here's how to set it up.

GPU Passthrough on Proxmox: Run LLMs in a VM

Tue, 12 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

GPU passthrough on Proxmox is the best way to isolate LLM workloads — but it's a minefield of IOMMU groups, vfio-pci binding, and Code 43 errors. This post walks through the whole thing end-to-end.

Hoist: Label-Driven Docker Updates

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Per-container control over Docker image updates with labels. Auto-update or notify via Discord, Slack, ntfy—no sidecar needed.

Immich Hardware Acceleration: Stop Cooking Your CPU

Mon, 11 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Your Immich server is at 100% CPU again. Here's how to wire up QSV, VAAPI, NVENC, and the ML container to a GPU so thumbnails and face recognition finish before next Tuesday.

Open WebUI Tools, Functions & Pipelines: Extend Your Local LLM

Mon, 11 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Open WebUI Tools, Functions, and Pipelines do different things — and the names don't help. What each one actually does, when to use which, and working code for all three.

Coolify vs Dokploy: Self-Hosted Vercel for People Who Don't Trust Vercel

Sun, 10 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Coolify vs Dokploy head-to-head: install pain, Traefik handling, UI quality, git-push deploys, and which self-hosted PaaS actually belongs on your single VPS.

systemd-nspawn: The Container Runtime Already on Your Box

Sat, 09 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

systemd-nspawn ships on every modern Linux box and most sysadmins have never touched it. Here's when this no-daemon, no-Docker-socket container runtime is actually the right tool.

Distroless Images: When Minimal Goes Too Far

Fri, 08 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Distroless containers are tiny, secure, and loved by security teams — until you need to debug one at 2 AM. Here's when Google distroless actually pays off vs when it's just container hipster points.

MinIO Is Archived: Move to Garage

Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

MinIO archived its open-source community edition on April 25, 2026 after years of community contributions. Here's what happened, why Garage is the right replacement, and how to migrate.

RAID Is Not Backup: Rebuild Math

Wed, 06 May 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Your RAID 5 rebuild on a modern multi-TB drive has a 40-50% chance of hitting a URE before it finishes. Here's the 2026 math and what to do about it.

RAID 6 vs RAID 10: Two Dead Disks

Mon, 04 May 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Both RAID 6 and RAID 10 survive two simultaneous drive deaths. Both need four drives minimum. But they do it completely differently — and that difference matters.

Incident Response for Self-Hosters

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

You've been compromised. Now what? A practical incident response playbook for self-hosters who didn't think they'd need one until right now.

RAID 0, 1, and 5: Pick One

Sat, 02 May 2026 10:00:00 GMT

RAID 0 is fast and terrifying. RAID 1 is boring and beautiful. RAID 5 is the storage efficiency compromise your NAS has been waiting for. Here's how to pick.

Cloud Gaming Tips That Actually Work

Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Network setup, latency tricks, display settings, and genre matching — everything you actually need to know to stop fighting your cloud gaming setup and start playing.

Package Management in 2026: apt, brew, nix, and the Friends We Made Along the Way

Fri, 01 May 2026 14:00:00 GMT

apt, Homebrew, Flatpak, and Nix — which Linux package manager actually fits your workflow in 2026, and which one is just dependency hell with extra steps.

Open Source Licenses Explained: What You Can and Can't Do With Free Software

Fri, 01 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Nobody reads software licenses. That's fine until you ship a product, get acquired, or build a SaaS on GPL code and receive a strongly worded email. Open source licenses matter — and once you understand the three-sentence version of each, you'll never have to read the full text yourself.

Cloud Gaming 2026: Who's Still Standing?

Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After Stadia's spectacular exit, cloud gaming kept going. Where every major platform stands in 2026 — GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud, Boosteroid, Luna, Shadow — what they cost and who each is for.

Vaultwarden Organization Sharing: Password Management for Your Whole Household (or Team)

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

You self-hosted Vaultwarden, you've got your own passwords locked down, and now your spouse can't find the Netflix login again. Vaultwarden organizations exist for exactly this. Here's how to set up shared collections, invite family members, and actually manage permissions like it's not a chore.

Bash One-Liners Worth Remembering

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Twenty powerful bash one-liners every sysadmin should know—file ops, process hunting, networking, text processing, disk analysis

Compiling on Linux With Low RAM

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Compile software on Raspberry Pi or cheap VPS with 512MB–2GB RAM. Swap, parallel jobs, ccache, and swappiness tuning make it work.

Escaping Zim: Migrate to Obsidian

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Migrate your Zim Wiki notes to Obsidian using zim2obsidian—escape a dated GTK app for modern sync, mobile access, and a thriving plugin ecosystem.

CVE-2026-31431: The 9-Year Linux Root Bug

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

CVE-2026-31431 (copy.fail) lets any local user become root on virtually every Linux system since 2017. Here's what it is, why it matters, and how to fix it.

GeForce Now: Cloud Gaming Done Right

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

GeForce Now figured out what Stadia never did: use games you already own. A Founders tier member's deep dive into the best cloud gaming platform running in 2026.

OpenCanary: Honeypots for Your Home Lab

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A honeypot sits quietly on your network pretending to be something valuable. When someone touches it, you know you have an intruder. OpenCanary makes this dead simple.

Self-Supervised Learning Explained

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Self-supervised learning is the technique behind GPT, BERT, and modern LLMs. Learn how models teach themselves from unlabeled data.

Home Assistant + Node-RED: Automate Your Home Without Losing Your Mind

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Your home automation turns the lights on when you specifically don't want them on, because you wrote the automation at 11pm when you were tired. Home Assistant handles integrations; Node-RED handles the logic that's too complex for HA's YAML editor. Here's how to make them work together properly.

Plex Optimization: Remote Access, Transcoding, and Taming the Beast

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Plex is simultaneously the most popular self-hosted media server and the most misconfigured. Half the people running it are transcoding everything to the server's CPU, paying the Plex relay tax on remote streams, and wondering why their NAS is sweating. Let's fix that.

Stadia: The Cloud Gaming Dream That Died

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Google Stadia had the best cloud gaming latency anyone had seen — and then Google killed it anyway. A eulogy from someone who was there from day one.

Paperless-ngx: Scan It, Forget It, Find It Instantly

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

The filing cabinet you've been meaning to sort since 2019 isn't going to sort itself. Paperless-ngx scans, OCRs, auto-tags, and makes every document instantly searchable. Here's the Docker setup, auto-classification rules, and mobile workflow that actually gets you to inbox zero.

Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home: Block Ads for Your Whole Network

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Browser ad blockers miss half the ads. DNS blocking kills them everywhere — TV, phone, game console, everything. Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home: here's which one to run.

Obsidian LiveSync: Self-Hosted Sync Without Paying for the Privilege

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Obsidian Sync is $10 a month. Your notes are Markdown files. There's a free plugin, a Docker container, and about 20 minutes standing between you and never paying that bill again. Here's how to actually do it without losing your mind or your notes.

Appwrite: Your Own Firebase, Minus the Google Surveillance Subscription

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Firebase is convenient right up until your bill is $300/month or Google quietly deprecates the product you built on. Appwrite is self-hosted BaaS — auth, databases, file storage, serverless functions, and realtime — on hardware you control. Here's how to set it up and build something real.

Colima vs OrbStack vs Docker Desktop on Mac

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Docker Desktop got expensive and RAM-hungry. Colima is the lean alternative. OrbStack is the one everyone's actually using now. Here's the honest breakdown for Mac developers.

NocoDB: Because Airtable Doesn't Need to Know Your Business

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Airtable is $20/user/month for features that a spreadsheet-over-Postgres can handle. NocoDB gives you the same gallery views, kanban boards, and auto-generated APIs — running on your own hardware, with your own database. Here's how to set it up and actually use it.

nftables: Modern Linux Firewalling

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

iptables is being phased out. nftables is faster, cleaner, and already the default on modern Linux. Here's how to actually use it without wanting to quit.

Wiki.js with GitSync: Documentation That Lives in Version Control Like It Should

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Wikis that live only in a database are documentation that's one hard drive away from disappearing forever. Wiki.js GitSync backs your docs to a Git repo, gives you PR workflows, full history, and the ability to edit from your IDE. Here's how to set it up and actually use it.

Ollama Model Management: Beyond ollama run

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

You know how to pull and run a model. Now learn Modelfiles, GPU layer tuning, the REST API, running multiple models without OOM-killing your server, and actually useful system prompts.

Uptime Kuma: Status Pages, Alerts, and Knowing Before Your Users Do

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Your users shouldn't know your service is down before you do, but here we are. Uptime Kuma goes way beyond basic HTTP checks — TCP monitors, Docker container health, certificate expiry, push monitors for cron jobs, and your own statuspage.io. Here's how to actually use it.

Caddy Advanced: Automatic HTTPS, Plugins, and Config That Doesn't Make You Cry

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Nginx config files make you feel like you need a certification to write them. Caddy's Caddyfile is what happens when someone decides web server config should be readable by humans. Here's everything beyond basic reverse proxy — wildcards, plugins, forward auth, and the config API.

Restic vs Borg vs Kopia: Backups That Actually Deduplicate

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

rsync is not a backup. Restic, Borg, and Kopia do deduplication, encryption, and incremental snapshots properly. Here's which one fits your home lab and why.

Suricata vs Snort: Network Intrusion Detection That Actually Works

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Snort invented network intrusion detection. Suricata multi-threaded its way past it. Here's how to set up real IDS/IPS on your home lab and actually understand what it's telling you.

Proxmox vs XCP-ng: Hypervisors for People Who Like Their Data Center at Home

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Running 15 VMs on a machine that cost $300 because you're an adult with hobbies — that's the homelab dream. But first you have to pick a hypervisor, and the two best free options take completely different approaches to the same problem. Here's how to pick the right one.

Home Lab Hardware Guide 2026: What to Buy, What to Avoid, and What to Beg For

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

2026 home lab hardware guide: Pi-class boards, N100/N200 mini PCs, used Dell R730s, NAS picks, UPS, switches, and the power-draw math that pays the bill.

Continue.dev vs Cody vs Tabby: AI Code Help Without the Cloud

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

GitHub Copilot is great until you read the ToS. Continue.dev, Cody, and Tabby bring AI code assistance to your editor with local or self-hosted models — no code leaves your machine.

Self-Hoster's Disaster Recovery: When Everything Goes Wrong at Once

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Everyone has a backup strategy until their backup fails the one time it matters. Disaster recovery is the full plan: what you recover, in what order, and how you know it worked. Here's how to build one for your home lab before you need it.

SBOMs and Supply Chain Security

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A Software Bill of Materials tells you exactly what's in your software. Syft generates one, Grype scans it for CVEs. Together they're your supply chain paper trail.

Terraform vs Pulumi: Infrastructure as Code Without the YAML Nightmares

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Terraform's state file has a way of becoming the most precious and anxiety-inducing file in your infrastructure. Pulumi lets you write infrastructure in TypeScript, Python, or Go instead of HCL — loops, functions, and all. Here's when each one wins.

Jellyfin vs Plex: Your Media Deserves Better Than a Subscription

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Plex built the gold standard for media servers, but added a paywall. Jellyfin is the open-source answer that's finally caught up. Here's which one belongs on your server in 2026.

Chaos Engineering: Break Things on Purpose Before They Break Themselves

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Your app handles a 500ms database response beautifully in testing because the database has never been slow in tests. Chaos engineering is the practice of finding those embarrassing assumptions before your users do — by deliberately causing the failures you've been hoping won't happen.

HashiCorp Vault: Stop Hardcoding Secrets Like It's 2012

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

AWS_SECRET_KEY=supersecretpassword123 committed to a public GitHub repo. We've all seen it. Vault is the tool that makes hardcoded secrets unnecessary — KV storage, dynamic credentials, PKI, and AppRole auth, all accessible via API. Here's how to actually run it.

Sysctl Tuning: The Linux Kernel Settings Nobody Told You About

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Linux ships with conservative kernel defaults meant for general use. These sysctl settings tune your server for networking, memory, and file I/O — with explanations, not just values to paste.

Woodpecker CI vs Drone CI: Lightweight Pipelines for People Who Hate Waiting

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Jenkins needs a server. GitHub Actions needs GitHub. If you're self-hosting your Git and want CI that doesn't weigh more than the code it's testing, Drone CI and its community fork Woodpecker CI are worth knowing about. One changed its license. The other exists because of that decision.

Container Security: Scan and Sign Your Images Like You Mean It

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Pulling unscanned images onto your server is a gamble. Trivy finds the CVEs. Cosign proves the image hasn't been swapped out. Here's how to add both to your workflow.

Gitea vs Forgejo vs GitLab CE: Self-Hosted Git Without the Existential Crisis

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

You want to self-host your git. Noble. Responsible, even. But now you're staring down three options and a Reddit thread that's somehow both 4 years old and still being argued about. Gitea, Forgejo, GitLab CE — let's cut through the noise and figure out which one won't ruin your weekend.

Falco: Catch Container Attacks at Runtime

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Falco watches every syscall your containers make and screams when something sketchy happens. Like someone exec'ing a shell inside your nginx container at 3am.

WireGuard Is Fast, But You're Leaving Performance on the Table

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

WireGuard is already faster than OpenVPN and IPsec out of the box — but default config leaves real throughput on the table. MTU misconfiguration alone can cost you 30% of your bandwidth. Here's how to tune WireGuard properly, measure what you actually get, and understand why the numbers are what they are.

Loki vs ELK: Centralized Logging Without the RAM Tax

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

ELK does everything and wants all your memory. Loki does logging the Prometheus way — label indexes, not content — and runs on a fraction of the resources. Here's the honest comparison.

Vault vs Infisical: Secrets Management for Teams Who've Learned the Hard Way

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Your database password is in 14 different `.env` files across three repos, one of which is public on GitHub. Somewhere out there, a bot is already trying it. It's time to fix the secrets sprawl problem — and pick the right tool to do it without spending three weeks on setup.

Cockpit vs Webmin: Web Admin Panels That Don't Make You Cry

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Cockpit is the modern systemd-native Linux admin panel. Webmin is the veteran that configures everything. Here's which one should be on your servers — and which shouldn't.

DNS Over HTTPS and TLS: Encrypt Your DNS Before Your ISP Sells It

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Every website you visit starts with a DNS query, and by default that query goes out in plain text so your ISP, your coffee shop's router, and anyone in between can log exactly what you're looking at. Encrypted DNS fixes this — here's how DoH, DoT, and DoQ work, and how to self-host it with AdGuard Home.

LangGraph vs CrewAI vs AutoGen: AI Agents Without the Hype

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

LangGraph gives you graph-level control. CrewAI gives your agents job titles. AutoGen makes them have a conversation. Here's which one to reach for when building real AI workflows.

Cloudflare Tunnels: The Zero-Port-Forward Guide to Exposing Your Services

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

No port forwarding, no DDNS drama. Cloudflare Tunnels advanced config: multiple services, Access policies, origin TLS, and what Cloudflare can actually see.

Your Server Doesn't Know What Random Means (And That's a Problem)

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Your freshly booted VM is generating SSH keys with barely any entropy, and that should make you nervous. Linux needs randomness to do cryptography, and headless servers are terrible at collecting it. Here's what's actually happening inside /dev/random and how to fix it before you generate a weak key.

Immich vs PhotoPrism: Escape Google Photos Without Losing Your Mind

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Immich vs PhotoPrism in 2026: which self-hosted photo library beats Google Photos without making you regret the migration. Mobile app, ML, and gotchas.

Auditd & Audit Logging: Know Exactly Who Touched What on Your Server

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Sometime between "it was working yesterday" and "someone deleted the config file," you'll wish you knew who had been on your server. Auditd is Linux's built-in surveillance system — it records every file access, privilege use, and suspicious syscall if you know how to ask.

Trivy + Cosign: Scan and Sign Your Images

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

You're pulling container images from strangers on the internet. Trivy scans them for CVEs. Cosign proves they haven't been tampered with. Use both.

Kernel Live Patching: Security Updates Without the 3am Reboot

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Somewhere in your infrastructure there's a server that hasn't rebooted in 847 days. Everyone knows about it. Nobody wants to touch it. Kernel live patching is the technology that lets you patch critical CVEs without finding out what breaks when it finally comes back up.

Prometheus + Grafana: Monitoring That Doesn't Lie to You

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Prometheus scrapes metrics. Grafana makes them pretty. Alertmanager wakes you up at 2 AM. Here's how to wire all three together into a monitoring stack that actually works.

Linux Capabilities: Drop Root Without Breaking Everything

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Running everything as root because it's easier is the sysadmin equivalent of giving your web server the keys to reboot the host just because it needs port 80. Linux capabilities let you split root into 40+ granular permissions — here's how to use them without losing your mind.

Fail2ban vs CrowdSec: Blocking the Bots Actually Smartly

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Fail2ban bans IPs that attack you. CrowdSec bans them before they attack you, using community threat intelligence. Here's how to set up both and why you might want both.

Sysctl Tuning: The Linux Kernel Knobs That Actually Matter

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Your Linux server has hundreds of tunable kernel parameters sitting in /proc/sys, doing nothing because nobody ever touched them. Most don't matter. A handful can meaningfully improve network throughput, reduce swap thrashing, and make your Docker host behave better under load. Here's which ones those are.

Tailscale Deep Dive: Mesh Networking That Actually Works

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Tailscale takes WireGuard's speed and wraps it in a control plane that handles key exchange, routing, and ACLs automatically. Here's everything beyond 'tailscale up'.

n8n + LLM: Building Automations That Actually Think

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Traditional automation is just very fast copy-paste. When your email filter breaks because someone wrote "URGENT" in lowercase, you realize rule-based logic has limits. Connecting n8n to a local LLM turns "if this then that" into "figure this out and do the right thing."

n8n vs Node-RED: Automate Everything Without Learning to Code (Much)

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

You're paying $20/month to Zapier to shuffle data between two services that are both free. There's a better way. n8n and Node-RED are two self-hosted automation tools that can replace the SaaS middlemen — and they'll both run happily on a $15 VPS or your home server.

Qdrant vs Weaviate vs Chroma: Vector DB Showdown

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Every RAG tutorial says 'just use Chroma.' Then you hit production. Here's what Qdrant, Weaviate, and ChromaDB actually offer and when each one earns its place.

CUDA vs ROCm vs CPU: Running AI on Whatever GPU You've Got

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Want to run AI locally but not sure if your GPU will cooperate? Whether you're rocking an NVIDIA card, an AMD GPU, or just a CPU and sheer determination, here's the honest breakdown of what works, what technically works, and what will make you question your life choices.

2FA for SSH and sudo via PAM

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Adding TOTP to SSH and sudo takes 10 minutes and makes password spray attacks useless. Here's the setup that won't lock you out of your own server.

LangGraph vs CrewAI vs AutoGen: AI Agent Frameworks for Mere Mortals

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Everyone's talking about AI agents like they'll solve world hunger by Tuesday. But which framework do you actually use? We compare LangGraph, CrewAI, and AutoGen — with working Python examples, brutal honesty, and a healthy dose of skepticism about your robot assistant booking flights to Reykjavik.

Systemd Timers vs Cron: Scheduling That Doesn't Suck

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Cron has been scheduling your jobs since before you were born. Systemd timers do everything cron does, plus logging, dependencies, and missed-run recovery.

Whisper & Faster-Whisper: Self-Hosted Speech-to-Text That Actually Works

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

OpenAI Whisper is genuinely impressive speech-to-text — and you can run it entirely on your own hardware. Add Faster-Whisper into the mix and suddenly you've got transcription that's 4x quicker, uses less VRAM, and doesn't phone home to anyone. Here's how to set it all up without losing your mind.

Gitea vs Forgejo vs GitLab CE: Self-Hosted Git

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

GitLab CE does everything and wants all your RAM. Gitea and Forgejo run on a Raspberry Pi. Here's which self-hosted git platform actually fits your setup.

LiteLLM & vLLM: One API to Rule All Your Models

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Your app calls OpenAI, your side project calls Anthropic, your homelab whispers to Ollama — and your codebase looks like a crime scene. LiteLLM and vLLM are the dynamic duo that puts a single sane API in front of every model you'll ever run, local or cloud.

Docker BuildKit: Stop Building Images the Slow Way

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Cache mounts, secret mounts, parallel stages — BuildKit turns your Dockerfile from a slow linear disaster into something that actually respects your time.

Stable Diffusion vs ComfyUI vs Fooocus: AI Image Generation at Home

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Stable Diffusion, ComfyUI, Fooocus, A1111 & Forge compared — which local AI image generator to actually run, by GPU, Docker setup, and patience level.

LLM Fine-Tuning for Mortals: LoRA, QLoRA, and Your Gaming GPU

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

You don't need a server rack that doubles as a space heater to fine-tune an LLM. With LoRA and QLoRA, your gaming GPU can teach a language model new tricks — and we'll walk through the entire process without requiring a PhD or a second mortgage.

WireGuard vs OpenVPN 2026: It's Not Even Close

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

OpenVPN is the battle-tested workhorse. WireGuard is everything VPNs should have been from the start. In 2026, here's which one you should actually use.

RAG on a Budget: Building a Knowledge Base with Ollama & ChromaDB

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Stop paying per-token to ask questions about your own documents. This guide walks you through building a fully local RAG pipeline with Ollama and ChromaDB — from Docker Compose to Python code — so your AI can actually know things without hallucinating them.

SSH CA: Finally Ditch authorized_keys

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Managing authorized_keys across 10 servers is how you lose track of who has access to what. An SSH CA lets you sign keys and revoke access without touching every server.

Docker BuildKit: Stop Waiting for Your Images to Build

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Your CI pipeline is spending 8 minutes installing npm packages. Every. Single. Build. Docker BuildKit has had the fix for years — parallel stages, cache mounts, and proper secret handling — and most people are still ignoring it. Let's fix that.

Wazuh: Open Source SIEM for Your Home Lab

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Wazuh gives you SIEM, HIDS, FIM, and threat detection in one stack. Here's how to deploy it in your home lab with Docker and actually use it.

ZFS vs Btrfs: Which Modern Filesystem Wins?

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

ZFS is the paranoid fortress of filesystems. Btrfs is the scrappy upstart built into your kernel. Here's which one belongs in your home lab.

Docker Logging: From "Where Did My Logs Go?" to Centralized Bliss

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Your containers are screaming into the void and nobody's listening. Learn how to wrangle Docker logs from chaotic stdout noise into a clean, searchable, centralized logging pipeline using Loki, Grafana, and Fluentd -- without losing your mind.

LangChain vs LlamaIndex: RAG Framework Showdown

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

LangChain does everything and LlamaIndex does one thing brilliantly. Here's how to pick the right RAG framework without regretting it at 2 AM.

SBCs in 2026: Homelab on a Budget

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

DRAM prices are killing the hobbyist SBC market, but there are still great options. Here's what's worth buying in 2026 for a sub-$200 homelab setup.

Podman Quadlets: Systemd-Native Containers

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Podman Quadlets turn containers into real systemd services using .container unit files — no daemon, no hacks, just clean native integration.

LUKS Full Disk Encryption on Linux

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

LUKS encrypts your drives so a stolen server is just expensive recycling. Here's how to set it up, manage keys, and unlock headless boxes remotely.

Rootless Docker: Run Without Root

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Run Docker containers without root privileges — here's the security difference, the install steps, and the gotchas nobody tells you about.

PostgreSQL + Linux: Kernel Tuning That Actually Matters

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

An AWS engineer found Linux 7.0 halved their PostgreSQL performance. The fix was kernel tuning. Here's what settings matter and why, so you're not the last to know.

LinkedIn Is Searching Your Computer

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

LinkedIn scans every visitor's installed extensions and sends the data to third parties without consent. Here's what they're looking for—and how to stop it.

Docker Networking Demystified

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Docker networking confuses everyone at first. Here's the practical breakdown of bridge, host, overlay, and macvlan — with real Compose examples.

Lazydocker & Dive: Fix Your Docker CLI

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Learn how lazydocker and dive make Docker manageable from your terminal. TUI dashboards, image layer analysis, CI integration, and optimization tips.

Proxmox NAT Bridge: One IP, Many VMs

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Run multiple Proxmox VMs and LXC containers behind a single public IP using NAT bridging and iptables port forwarding. Updated for Proxmox VE 8.

Linux Privilege Escalation: The Defensive Playbook

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Attackers love finding ways to go from www-data to root. Here's how they do it, and more importantly, how you harden your Linux boxes to stop them.

Adding Extra Swap to Linux

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Out of RAM and no time to reimage? Add swap via a file on any partition using mkswap, swapon, and fstab — done in under 5 minutes.

Bash for loops sequential counting

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Master bash for loops, while loops, and seq for sequential counting — iterate over files, ranges, and arrays without losing your mind.

Directory FileCount

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Count files in a directory (recursively or not) with find, ls, and tree — quick one-liners for when du just isn't telling you enough.

The Embedding Model Choice Nobody Explains

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Most people use OpenAI's embeddings because it's easy. But local embeddings exist. How to pick and when it actually matters.

EmDash: WordPress Done Right, Finally

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Cloudflare rebuilt WordPress from scratch in TypeScript using AI agents. Sandboxed plugins, Astro themes, self-hostable. It's called EmDash and it's actually interesting.

Find out whats taking up all the hdd space

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Your disk is full and du is lying to you. ncdu, df, and find tricks to track down space hogs before your server goes down at 2 AM.

GPU Memory Math: Will This Model Actually Fit?

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Before you download a 70B model, calculate if it fits. The formulas, the gotchas, and a quick calculator you can actually use.

Linux CLI Tarball Extraction — Flags, Formats, Gotchas

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Extract tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.xz — flags demystified, compression compared, directory extraction, and the gotchas that trip you up.

Linux su with custom shell

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Use su with a specific shell to switch users without the default login shell — useful when /etc/passwd points to something unexpected.

Logrotate & Compression

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

logrotate keeps your /var/log from eating the disk — configure rotation schedules, compression, and retention for any service log.

MySQL CLI: From Connection to Maintenance

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Master MySQL from the command line: connect, query databases, manage users, repair tables, optimize—everything you keep Googling, one reference.

Three ways to upload ISOs to Proxmox

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Three ways to upload an ISO to Proxmox — web UI, wget direct download, or SCP from the CLI. When each one wins, plus storage paths and checksum verification.

Recursively delete all empty subdirectories

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Clean up empty directories with find and rmdir — safely prune orphaned dirs left after file migrations.

Remove all old installed but unused kernels

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Old kernels pile up in /boot and eat disk space — safely remove unused kernels on Ubuntu and Debian with apt and dpkg.

Bulk rename files in bash

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Remove spaces and special characters from filenames using bash loops, rename, find, and parameter expansion tricks.

When systemd swallows your service logs

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Service restart not showing logs? systemd hides stdout. Learn journalctl, systemctl status, and debugging workflows for silent systemd failures.

Sed 101

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

sed is the stream editor for making text substitutions, deletions, and insertions in files — the patterns you'll use 90% of the time.

SSH keys and secure file copy

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Generate SSH keys, set up passwordless auth, configure SSH, and transfer files securely with SCP — the foundation of headless Linux work.

Why You Should Switch to ZShell (zsh)

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Switch your default shell to zsh on Linux — why zsh beats bash, installation, Oh My Zsh setup, essential plugins, and the gotcha that still catches everyone.

Steam on Linux: It Actually Works Now

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Steam crossed 5% Linux usage in March 2026. Proton runs most Windows games without touching a config file. Here's the setup that makes Linux gaming not suck.

Beyond RAG: When a Virtual Filesystem Works Better

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

RAG is the default answer for giving LLMs access to documents. But chunking, embedding, and retrieval introduce failure modes that a virtual filesystem sidesteps entirely.

De-Googling: Self-Hosted Replacements for Google Apps

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Google Drive, Gmail, Photos, Calendar, Maps, Analytics — all replaceable with self-hosted alternatives that don't report your life back to Mountain View.

Running Gemma 4 Locally with Ollama

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Google's Gemma 4 is the best open model they've shipped yet. Here's how to pull it, run it, and actually use it for real work with Ollama on your own hardware.

1-Bit LLMs: The Quantization Endgame

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

1-bit models store weights as -1, 0, or 1. That sounds insane until you see them run a 100B parameter model on a laptop CPU. Here's what's actually happening.

ctop and lazydocker: Docker Monitoring Tools

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Forget docker stats. ctop and lazydocker give you real-time container insights with less friction than typing commands.

AMD Lemonade: Local LLM Serving for AMD GPUs

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

AMD finally has a fast, open source local LLM server that uses both GPU and NPU. If you've been jealous of Nvidia users, Lemonade is worth your time.

When to Use Structured Output (JSON Mode) in LLMs

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

JSON mode forces models to output valid JSON. When it's a lifesaver vs. when it's overkill and makes the model worse.

Browser GPU Acceleration on Linux in 2026

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

GPU acceleration in Chrome and Firefox on Linux in 2026 — VA-API, Wayland, WebGPU, and the right flags to make it all actually work.

dotenv Files: The Mistakes That Leak Secrets

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

You committed .env.production once. Your database credentials are in git forever. Here's how to use dotenv without shooting yourself.

Using AI to Find Security Bugs in Your Code

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Claude Code found a Linux vulnerability hidden for 23 years. You can use the same AI code auditing approach to find bugs in your own projects before attackers do.

Private Docker Registry with Harbor

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Stop letting Docker Hub throttle your CI/CD. Run Harbor for RBAC, Trivy scanning, image replication, and a real UI — on infrastructure you control.

Alert Fatigue: Why Your Alerts Are Meaningless

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

You get 50 alerts a day and ignore all of them. That's not monitoring — that's noise. Here's how to build alerts people actually care about.

Docker Manager Showdown: Pick One

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Portainer, Dockge, or Dockhand — three Docker management UIs compared. Find out which one fits your homelab or team setup in 2026.

Cloudflare Workers: Edge Without the PhD

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Cloudflare Workers run your JS at the edge — no servers, no cold starts, 100k free req/day. Here's what they're actually good for.

LLM Temperature and top_p Explained Without the Math

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Temperature and top_p control randomness in LLMs. No probability theory needed. Just practical intuition and how to tune them.

TLS 1.3: Modern Encryption Without the Existential Dread

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 15:16:00 GMT

TLS 1.3 explained without the PhD: faster handshakes, better ciphers, and how to actually configure Nginx and Caddy to use it.

Caddyfile Patterns That Actually Work

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

A practical cookbook of real-world Caddyfile patterns — reverse proxy, auth, redirects, SPA serving, rate limiting, and more.

IPFS: Peer-to-Peer File Storage for People Who've Seen Too Many 404s

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:32:00 GMT

Learn IPFS distributed storage: content addressing, CIDs, installing the IPFS daemon, pinning files, public gateways, and real use cases for resilient self-hosted file storage.

Prometheus Scrape Intervals: The Hidden Tradeoff

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Shorter intervals = more data. But also more storage, CPU load, and potential instability. Here's the tradeoff you're actually making.

Obsidian LiveSync: Self-Hosted Sync Without Paying for the Privilege

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 11:43:00 GMT

Ditch Obsidian's $10/month sync fee. Set up LiveSync with CouchDB in Docker and own your notes completely — encryption included.

Semantic Versioning: The Part Everyone Gets Wrong

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

You think v1.1.0 is backward compatible. Your users think breaking changes are v2.0.0. Both of you are wrong about something.

Let's Encrypt Without Certbot

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Certbot isn't the only ACME client. Explore Caddy, acme.sh, lego, and Step CA — with practical examples for wildcard certs and DNS-01 challenges.

Grafana Dashboard Variables: One Dashboard for All

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Stop maintaining 50 identical dashboards. Grafana variables let you build one dashboard that adapts to any data source, environment, or metric.

Shell Setup in 2026: Starship, Plugins, Fish

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Oh My Zsh had its moment. Here's the 2026 shell setup: Starship prompt, three killer plugins, and when to consider Fish or Nushell.

LLM Backends: vLLM vs llama.cpp vs Ollama

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

vLLM, llama.cpp, and Ollama all run local LLMs — compare throughput, memory use, GPU support, and which fits your hardware.

RAG Chunking: Why Chunk Size Is Everything

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

RAG breaks documents into chunks. But what chunk size? Too small and context is lost. Too large and semantic search fails. Here's how to pick.

The Zero-Trust Home Lab

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Apply zero-trust principles to your home lab — network segmentation, VLANs, identity-aware proxies, and Tailscale as the glue.

HAProxy: Load Balancing Done Right

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

HAProxy is the battle-tested load balancer powering GitHub, Reddit, and Instagram. Here's how to actually use it without reading 500 config options.

Stop Living Dangerously on :latest Docker

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Using :latest in production is a ticking time bomb. Pin your Docker image versions or watch a surprise update break everything at 2 AM.

MySQL & MariaDB CLI in 2026: What Changed

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

MySQL 8.0 broke auth, MariaDB forked hard, and Docker changed how you connect. Here's what still works and what'll bite you.

Alpine vs. Distroless: Choosing Your Minimalist Base

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Alpine gives you a shell and apk; Distroless gives you nothing but the app. Compare attack surface, image size, and multi-stage build complexity.

Cloudflare WAF: Free Tier Firewall Rules

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Cloudflare's free tier WAF is more powerful than most people use. Here's how to actually configure it — rules, rate limits, and all.

Distroless: How to Build Slim, Secure Containers

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Distroless images contain only your app and its runtime — no shell, no package manager, no attack surface. Here's how to build them.

Certificate Pinning: The Nuclear Option for TLS Security (Use With Caution)

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 19:21:00 GMT

Certificate pinning and HPKP explained: what they are, why HPKP destroyed itself, and modern alternatives like CAA records and Certificate Transparency.

.gitignore Entries Every Project Actually Needs

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Stop leaking secrets, dependencies, and OS garbage into git. Here are the .gitignore patterns that save you from disaster.

Multi-Stage Docker Builds: Stop Shipping Your node_modules to Production

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:13:00 GMT

Learn multi-stage Docker builds to slash image sizes by 90%. Practical before/after examples for Node.js, Python, and Go with real size comparisons.

Cloudflare DNS: Beyond Pointing Records

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Stop using your registrar's janky DNS panel. Here's how Cloudflare DNS actually works — proxying, DNSSEC, dynamic DNS, and email records that don't break.

LiteLLM & vLLM: One API to Rule All Your Models

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:18:00 GMT

Stop juggling 17 different LLM SDKs. LiteLLM and vLLM give you a unified OpenAI-compatible API for every model — local or cloud, fast and production-ready.

System Prompts: The LLM Feature Most People Ignore

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

System prompts are your secret weapon. How they work, why they matter more than you think, and 5 patterns that actually change model behavior.

Systemd Socket Activation: Start Services Only When Someone Actually Knocks

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 09:47:00 GMT

Learn systemd socket activation to start services on-demand, save RAM, and cut boot time. Includes .socket unit files, real examples, and testing with systemd-socket-activate.

make for Project Automation (It's Not Just for C Code)

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Forget bash scripts scattered across your repo. make is a simple task runner that's been around for 50 years and works everywhere.

Vault vs Infisical: Secrets Management for Teams Who've Learned the Hard Way

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 09:56:00 GMT

HashiCorp Vault vs Infisical compared: secrets management for DevOps teams, Docker Compose setup, SDK examples, and when complexity is worth it.

Git Hooks You Should Be Using Locally Right Now

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Stop committing broken code. Git hooks catch mistakes before they hit CI, save hours of debugging, and make your team love you.

Traefik: Docker Routing with Labels

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Master Traefik's label-based routing in Docker: entrypoints, routers, middlewares, TLS, and the mental model that makes it all click.

LLM Quantization: Q4_K_M Isn't Always the Best Choice

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Q4_K_M is the default, but it's not magic. When Q3, Q5, or Q6 makes sense. How to benchmark quantization tradeoffs on your hardware.

Docker BuildKit: Stop Waiting for Your Images to Build

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 10:16:00 GMT

Docker BuildKit is the default builder since Docker 23.0 — but most people aren't using it right. Here's how to actually speed up your builds.

Running Multiple Ollama Models Without Running Out of RAM

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Ollama can load one model at a time on limited hardware. How to switch between models, use CPU offloading, and manage VRAM intelligently.

Piper vs Coqui: Text-to-Speech on Your Own Hardware (Because AWS Polly Charges Per Character Like It's 1999 SMS)

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:19:00 GMT

Run local TTS with Piper or Coqui on Linux, Docker, or Home Assistant. Fast, private, offline text-to-speech — no cloud fees, no data leaks, no surprises.

Terraform vs Pulumi: Infrastructure as Code Without the YAML Nightmares

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 18:52:00 GMT

Terraform vs Pulumi compared head-to-head: HCL state files and the plan/apply workflow against real programming languages. Includes OpenTofu and when to choose each for your IaC.

Bulk File Renaming on Linux: rename, vidir, fd

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Master bulk file renaming on Linux with rename, vidir, fd, and mmv. The right tool for every scenario from regex rewrites to visual editing.

Nginx Proxy Manager for Normal Humans

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Set up Nginx Proxy Manager in Docker, get SSL certs, proxy hosts, access lists, and TCP streams — without reading a 40-page nginx manual.

Context Window vs Token Limit: Not the Same Thing

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

What's the actual difference between context window and token limit? Why one model says 8K and another says 128K. A practical breakdown.

Disk Space Tools in 2026: Beyond du and df

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT

du and df still work, but Rust-era tools like dust, duf, and fclones make disk triage faster and way less painful in 2026.

CI Pipeline Caching: Speed Up Every Build

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Your CI job waits 4 minutes for npm install every run. One caching strategy cuts it to 15 seconds. Here's how.

Apache in 2026: It's Time to Move On

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Apache still runs half the internet by default — not by choice. Here's why Nginx and Caddy have lapped it, and when to finally make the switch.

Open Source Licenses Explained: What You Can and Can't Do With Free Software

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 20:41:00 GMT

FOSS licenses explained for developers and self-hosters: MIT vs GPL vs AGPL vs Apache 2.0, copyleft vs permissive, and what recent license changes mean for you.

Self-Hoster's Disaster Recovery: When Everything Goes Wrong at Once

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 12:39:00 GMT

Build a real disaster recovery plan for your home lab: RTO/RPO explained simply, 3-2-1 backup rule, Proxmox backups, Restic to Backblaze B2, and a runbook template you'll actually use.

Compression in 2026: zstd Changed the Game

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT

zstd is as fast as gzip with near-xz compression ratios. Here's why you should drop bzip2 forever and how to use zstd in 2026.

Ollama Memory Management: Why Models Keep Loading

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Why your GPU fills up with Ollama. How to inspect VRAM, tune keep-alive, force-unload models with a single request, and stop the reload pain in 2026.

RAG on a Budget: Building a Knowledge Base with Ollama & ChromaDB

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 16:45:00 GMT

Learn how to build a local RAG system using Ollama and ChromaDB for free. Step-by-step guide with Docker Compose, Python code, chunking strategies, and real-world examples.

Healthcheck vs Restart Policy: The Difference Matters

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Your container crashes and restarts. Your app is broken but says it's healthy. These are two different problems. Here's the distinction.

mTLS Explained: When Regular TLS Isn't Paranoid Enough

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:53:00 GMT

Mutual TLS (mTLS) explained for mortals: how both sides authenticate, setting up step-ca for internal PKI, generating client certs, and configuring nginx with mTLS.

Nginx: The Config That Makes Sense

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Nginx config demystified: server blocks, location matching, proxy_pass gotchas, rate limiting, and Docker Compose setup — with working examples.

Stable Diffusion vs ComfyUI vs Fooocus: AI Image Generation at Home

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 12:10:00 GMT

Compare Stable Diffusion (A1111 & Forge), ComfyUI, and Fooocus for local AI image generation. GPU requirements, Docker setups, workflows, and beginner picks explained.

Appwrite: Your Own Firebase, Minus the Google Surveillance Subscription

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:23:00 GMT

Appwrite self-hosted BaaS setup: auth, databases, storage, and serverless functions on your own hardware. Compare with Supabase and PocketBase.

Linux Suspend and Hibernate: Teaching Your Machine to Take a Nap Without Dying

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 09:56:00 GMT

Linux suspend vs hibernate explained: sleep states, swap setup, initramfs resume hook, wake-on-LAN, lid close behavior, and fixing common hibernate failures on modern Linux systems.

Sysctl Tuning: The Linux Kernel Knobs That Actually Matter

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 13:56:00 GMT

Learn which sysctl parameters actually improve Linux server performance. Network tuning, memory management, and a ready-to-use sysctl.conf for Docker hosts.

VLAN Basics for Home Labs: Segment Your Network Before It Segments You

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 10:59:00 GMT

Learn VLAN basics for your home lab: 802.1Q tagging, trunk vs access ports, managed switch setup, and pfSense VLAN configuration to isolate IoT, guests, and your NAS.

Port Knocking: Simple Obscurity for SSH Access

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Hide your SSH port from scanners with port knocking. It's not a replacement for security, but it's a valid defense-in-depth tactic.

Building CLI Tools in Go: Because Shell Scripts Have a Maximum Complexity

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 16:16:00 GMT

Shell scripts hit a complexity wall. Go gives you a single binary, fast startup, great stdlib, and goreleaser for proper distribution. Here's how to build real CLI tools.

n8n + LLM: Building Automations That Actually Think

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:04:00 GMT

Connect n8n to Ollama or any local LLM to build smart automations that classify, summarize, and triage — not just shuffle data around blindly.

Linux Audio in 2026: PipeWire Replaced Everything

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT

PipeWire replaced PulseAudio and ALSA routing on every major distro. Here's the new audio stack, CLI tools, and how to fix the annoying stuff.

The Reverse Proxy Timeout That Kills Long Uploads

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Your upload works fine locally. It times out through NGINX. The client closes the connection. Here's why.

Time Is a Lie and Chrony Is Here to Fix It: NTP for Home Labs

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 17:36:00 GMT

Set up Chrony for NTP time sync in your home lab. Covers chrony.conf, chronyc tracking, stratum levels, LAN NTP server setup, and why correct time matters more than you think.

SSH Keys in 2026: Ed25519 Is the Standard

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT

RSA SSH keys are aging out. Why Ed25519 is the 2026 default, how to generate one in 30 seconds, and how to audit and rotate your legacy keys safely.

Text Generation Web UI vs KoboldCpp: Power User LLM Interfaces

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 08:29:00 GMT

Compare Text Generation Web UI and KoboldCpp for local LLM inference. Covers setup, model formats, APIs, samplers, performance, and which tool fits your workflow best.

Why Your VPN Isn't Routing What You Think

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

You enabled the VPN but half your traffic still bypasses it. Here's why and how routing actually works.

Your First Open Source Contribution: Less Scary Than You Think, More Useful Than You Know

Sun, 28 Dec 2025 22:04:00 GMT

Make your first open source contribution without embarrassing yourself. Find good first issues, fork correctly, write real PR descriptions, and handle review like a pro.

Watchtower vs Diun: Automating Docker Updates Without Burning Your Stack

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 22:48:00 GMT

Compare Watchtower and Diun for Docker container updates. Learn which auto-update tool fits your homelab with Compose examples, notifications, and filtering tips.

Uptime Kuma: Status Pages, Alerts, and Knowing Before Your Users Do

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 15:20:00 GMT

Advanced Uptime Kuma setup: TCP/DNS/Docker monitors, push monitors, Telegram alerts, public status pages, maintenance windows, and Docker Compose with backups.

Watchtower: Safe Container Auto-Updates

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Tired of manually updating containers? Watchtower handles it. But if you set it wrong, you'll wake up to broken apps. Here's how to do it right.

Chaos Engineering: Break Things on Purpose Before They Break Themselves

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:19:00 GMT

Learn chaos engineering with Pumba for Docker container chaos and Toxiproxy for network failure simulation. Discover failures in staging before your users find them in production.

The Header Your Reverse Proxy Keeps Dropping

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Your backend can't see the client IP because the reverse proxy silently dropped it. Here's why and how to fix it right.

Kernel Live Patching: Security Updates Without the 3am Reboot

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 12:25:00 GMT

Apply Linux kernel security patches without rebooting using kpatch and Canonical Livepatch. Keep servers secure and online simultaneously — here's the practical setup guide.

You Should Be Testing Your Restores

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

You've got backups. Great. But do you know if they actually work? RTO and RPO mean nothing if you've never actually restored.

IPv6 on Your Home Lab: You Should Care (Here's Why)

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

IPv6 isn't just for the future—it's broken on your network right now. Here's why you should care and how to actually set it up.

DNS Over HTTPS and TLS: Encrypt Your DNS Before Your ISP Sells It

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 13:15:00 GMT

Understand DoH, DoT, and DoQ encrypted DNS protocols and set up self-hosted encrypted DNS with AdGuard Home or Pi-hole. Stop your ISP from logging every domain you visit.

Tmpfs vs Ramfs: When Your Disk Is Too Slow and Your RAM Is Just Sitting There

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 18:45:00 GMT

Tmpfs vs ramfs explained: mount RAM-backed filesystems on Linux for blazing fast temp storage. Covers fstab, Docker tmpfs mounts, CI/CD use cases, and the key differences.

Log Rotation for Self-Hosted Apps

Sat, 29 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Your app is logging to a single file. It's 50GB now. Here's how to rotate logs before your disk dies.

ArgoCD vs Flux: GitOps — When Your Git Repo Is the Source of Truth

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 17:33:00 GMT

ArgoCD vs Flux for Kubernetes GitOps: compare UI-focused ArgoCD with automation-first Flux CD. Sync workflows, install examples, and when to use each.

Docker Health Checks: Because "It's Running" Doesn't Mean "It's Working"

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 13:59:00 GMT

Learn Docker health checks for Dockerfiles and Compose. Configure HEALTHCHECK for PostgreSQL, Redis, Nginx, and Node.js with intervals, retries, and depends_on tips.

Prometheus + Grafana on Docker: Know When Your Server Is Crying Before It Dies

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 12:13:00 GMT

Set up a self-hosted Prometheus and Grafana monitoring stack with Docker Compose. Stop flying blind — get metrics, dashboards, and alerts in under 30 minutes.

LangGraph vs CrewAI vs AutoGen: AI Agent Frameworks for Mere Mortals

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 18:37:00 GMT

Confused by AI agent frameworks? Compare LangGraph, CrewAI, and AutoGen with real Python examples, a no-nonsense breakdown, and zero hype. Pick the right one.

tcpdump Basics: Capture Traffic Without Wireshark

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

You don't need a GUI to see network packets. tcpdump on the command line beats opening Wireshark every time.

AppArmor vs SELinux: Mandatory Access Control Without the Existential Dread

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 09:26:00 GMT

AppArmor vs SELinux explained: what mandatory access control actually does, how to write AppArmor profiles with aa-genprof, navigate SELinux labels and audit2allow, and when to use each.

Your Server Doesn't Know What Random Means (And That's a Problem)

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 08:39:00 GMT

Linux entropy explained: /dev/random vs /dev/urandom, entropy pools, haveged, virtio-rng, and hardware RNG. Fix low entropy on VMs and containers for safe crypto key generation.

Restic vs Borg vs Kopia: Backup Tools for People Who've Lost Data Before

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 17:38:00 GMT

Restic vs Borg vs Kopia compared: deduplication, compression, backends, and practical backup scripts. Choose the right tool for your Linux home lab or server backups in 2026.

Docker Logging: From "Where Did My Logs Go?" to Centralized Bliss

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 09:56:00 GMT

Learn Docker logging from basics to centralized stacks. Master docker logs, logging drivers, log rotation, Loki+Grafana, and Fluentd setup with practical examples.

Self-Hosted Email Is Probably a Bad Idea

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

You can run your own mail server. You really, really shouldn't. Here's why.

NocoDB: Because Airtable Doesn't Need to Know Your Business

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 11:25:00 GMT

NocoDB self-hosted: connect to existing Postgres/MySQL, build spreadsheet views, auto-generate APIs, and skip the Airtable subscription forever.

TCP Keepalives: Why Connections Die and How to Fix It

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Long-lived connections dropping randomly? Your OS is killing them. Here's why keepalives matter and how to tune them.

Caddy Advanced: Automatic HTTPS, Plugins, and Config That Doesn't Make You Cry

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 17:04:00 GMT

Advanced Caddy server configuration: wildcard certs, Caddyfile matchers, Docker label integration, rate limiting, forward auth with Authelia, and the JSON API.

Auditd & Audit Logging: Know Exactly Who Touched What on Your Server

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 10:04:00 GMT

Master auditd for Linux audit logging: watch critical files, audit syscalls, use aureport and ausearch, and ship logs to Loki or Elasticsearch for compliance and security monitoring.

Time Sync on VMs: Why NTP Keeps Drifting

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Your VM's clock is off by minutes. NTP is running but your system still drifts. Here's why.

HashiCorp Vault: Stop Hardcoding Secrets Like It's 2012

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 09:54:00 GMT

HashiCorp Vault tutorial: Docker Compose setup, KV v2 secrets, AppRole auth, dynamic database credentials, PKI engine for internal certs, and auto-unseal with cloud KMS.

Woodpecker CI vs Drone CI: Lightweight Pipelines for People Who Hate Waiting

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 08:32:00 GMT

Woodpecker CI vs Drone CI compared: container-native pipelines, YAML syntax, Gitea integration, and why the license drama matters for self-hosters.

Lazy Docker & Dive: CLI Tools That Make Docker Less Painful

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 16:10:00 GMT

Learn how lazydocker and dive make Docker manageable from your terminal. TUI dashboards, image layer analysis, CI integration, and optimization tips.

The MTU Problem Nobody Diagnoses Correctly

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

MTU mismatches silently break large file transfers, backups, and video calls. Here's how to find and fix the wrong frame size on your network.

Open WebUI vs LibreChat: Self-Hosted ChatGPT Alternatives Compared

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 15:32:00 GMT

Open WebUI vs LibreChat: two self-hosted ChatGPT alternatives compared. We cover setup, Ollama integration, multi-user support, RAG, plugins, and which one fits you.

VPN Kill Switch and DNS Leak Prevention: Paranoia, Justified

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 13:03:00 GMT

Set up a WireGuard VPN kill switch and prevent DNS leaks on Linux. Practical iptables rules, resolv.conf locking, and systemd-resolved config.

BGP in Your Home Lab: Dynamic Routing for People Who've Run Out of Static Routes

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 08:37:00 GMT

Run BGP in your home lab with FRRouting. Covers iBGP vs eBGP, FRR installation, basic BGP config, peering with OPNsense, route filtering, and when BGP is actually worth the complexity.

Suricata vs Snort: Intrusion Detection for the Paranoid Home Lab Owner

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 19:34:00 GMT

Suricata vs Snort for home lab IDS/IPS: compare performance, rules, and setup. Includes Suricata installation, suricata.yaml config, EVE JSON logging, and OPNsense integration.

Docker Compose Environment Variable Precedence

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Three ways to set env vars in Docker Compose. Only one wins. Here's which and why it breaks your configs.

Plausible vs Umami: Privacy-Friendly Analytics That Won't Creep Out Your Users

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 19:31:00 GMT

Compare Plausible vs Umami for self-hosted, privacy-friendly web analytics. Ditch Google Analytics and keep your users' data off ad networks.

DNS Troubleshooting from the Command Line

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

DNS broke again. Here's the exact command sequence to figure out what's happening without touching a GUI.

Tailscale Deep Dive: Mesh VPN That Just Works (and Why That's Suspicious)

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 16:42:00 GMT

Go beyond tailscale up with ACL policies, exit nodes, subnet routers, and MagicDNS. Plus: self-host your own control plane with Headscale for full independence.

Podman Quadlets: Running Containers Without the Docker Daemon (or Your Sanity)

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 19:50:00 GMT

Podman runs containers without a daemon — and Quadlets let systemd manage them natively. Here's why that's actually great for self-hosting.

Why Self-Hosted Apps Lose Data After Updates

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

You updated your container and your database is gone. Here's the volume permission mistake killing your data.

nmap for Your Own Network: What You Should Be Scanning

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

nmap isn't just for pen testers. Learn what's actually worth scanning on your home network and what those open ports really mean.

Vaultwarden Organization Sharing: Password Management for Your Whole Household (or Team)

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 14:44:00 GMT

Vaultwarden organizations let you share passwords with family or team members securely. Collections, permissions, CLI usage, and backup — all explained.

LLM Fine-Tuning for Mortals: LoRA, QLoRA, and Your Gaming GPU

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 20:50:00 GMT

Learn LLM fine-tuning with LoRA and QLoRA on a consumer GPU. Practical guide covering dataset prep, Hugging Face, Unsloth, VRAM needs, and common pitfalls.

Ollama Beyond the Basics: Model Management, Custom Models, and Optimization

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:18:00 GMT

Master Ollama with Modelfiles, GPU tuning, API usage, and performance tricks. Stop running 70B models on 8GB VRAM and wondering why everything is slow.

Reverse Proxy SSL: The Cert Chain Mistake Everyone Makes

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Your reverse proxy only has the leaf cert, not the intermediate. Here's why that kills half your connections.

Nextcloud Advanced: Federation, Backups, and Making It Actually Performant

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 12:59:00 GMT

Nextcloud advanced configuration: Redis caching, federation setup, automated backups, occ command deep dive, LDAP, external storage, and PHP-FPM tuning.

Linux Capabilities: Drop Root Without Breaking Everything

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 08:24:00 GMT

Learn Linux capabilities to drop root privileges without breaking your apps. Master cap_drop, cap_add in Docker, and setcap for fine-grained privilege control.

Docker Security Hardening: 15 Things You're Doing Wrong Right Now

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:24:00 GMT

Stop running Docker containers like it's the Wild West. Learn 15 critical Docker security mistakes and practical fixes to harden your containers today.

BookStack vs Wiki.js: Picking Your Self-Hosted Documentation Platform

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 22:03:00 GMT

BookStack vs Wiki.js: different philosophies, same goal. Compare features, Docker setup, editors, SSO, and which one fits your team or homelab.

curl Flags Every Developer Should Know

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Master the curl flags that'll save you hours debugging APIs, downloads, and web requests. From -X to --compressed, here's what actually matters.

Paperless-ngx: Scan It, Forget It, Find It Instantly

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 21:25:00 GMT

Paperless-ngx Docker setup with OCR, auto-tagging, email ingestion, mobile scanning, and a backup strategy for going fully digital with your documents.

Named Pipes (FIFOs) in Shell Scripts

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Named pipes (FIFOs) let you buffer and synchronize between processes. They're underused but solve real problems: queuing, coordination, and complex data flows.

MinIO vs SeaweedFS: Self-Hosted S3 Storage Without AWS Bills

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 15:13:00 GMT

MinIO vs SeaweedFS compared for self-hosted S3 storage: setup, performance, Docker Compose configs, S3 API compatibility, and which one fits your home lab or production workload.

Whisper & Faster-Whisper: Self-Hosted Speech-to-Text That Actually Works

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 14:31:00 GMT

Run OpenAI Whisper or Faster-Whisper locally with Docker. Better privacy, zero API costs, and surprisingly good accuracy — even on a potato CPU.

UFW Advanced: Rate Limiting, Logging, and Rules That Actually Make Sense

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 11:10:00 GMT

Go beyond ufw allow/deny: rate limiting with ufw limit, logging levels, before.rules for iptables, IPv6 handling, Docker bypass fixes, and fail2ban integration.

Bash Arrays: The Feature That Makes Scripts Readable

Sat, 06 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Declare, iterate, and manipulate arrays safely. Use indexed and associative arrays for clean bash code.

Bash Process Substitution: What <() and >() Actually Do

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Process substitution lets you treat a command's output as a file, and feed input to a command as if it were a file. It's weird but powerful.

MinIO + Nextcloud: S3-Compatible Storage That's Actually Yours

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 09:59:00 GMT

Replace Nextcloud's local filesystem with MinIO as an S3-compatible backend. Full Docker setup, bucket policies, performance tuning, and why this scales better.

Ulimit, Cgroups, and the Art of Stopping Processes From Eating Your Server

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 21:00:00 GMT

Control runaway processes with ulimit and cgroups v2: per-process limits, systemd resource controls, Docker cgroup integration, and practical examples to prevent one service from killing your server.

Continue.dev vs Cody vs Tabby: AI Code Assistants That Live on Your Machine

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 18:34:00 GMT

Compare Continue.dev, Cody, and Tabby — three self-hosted AI code assistants that keep your code private, cost nothing per token, and work offline.

CUDA vs ROCm vs CPU: Running AI on Whatever GPU You've Got

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 09:03:00 GMT

CUDA vs ROCm for AI on Linux: NVIDIA's easy path, AMD's emotional journey, and why CPU inference isn't dead yet. Real Docker setups included.

Open Source Security: Scanning Your Dependencies Before They Scan You

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 21:35:00 GMT

Supply chain attacks are real. Use syft, grype, trivy, and osv-scanner to generate SBOMs, scan containers, and find vulnerable dependencies before they find you.

Here Documents vs Here Strings in Bash

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

HandBrake and Video Transcoding: Your Media Library Deserves Better Compression

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 20:55:00 GMT

Stop hoarding 50GB Blu-ray remuxes. Learn HandBrakeCLI, H.265/AV1 trade-offs, GPU encoding, and batch scripts that actually work.

Portainer vs Dockge: Managing Containers Without the Terminal

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 21:59:00 GMT

Portainer vs Dockge: two Docker GUIs for managing containers without touching the terminal. We compare features, setup, and which one fits your self-hosting style.

DDoS Mitigation: Teaching Your Server to Say No Politely (Then Impolitely)

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:15:00 GMT

DDoS mitigation for self-hosters: Nginx rate limiting, Fail2ban, Cloudflare free tier, CrowdSec, and iptables tricks that actually work.

GNU parallel for Embarrassingly Parallel Tasks

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

GNU parallel runs tasks in parallel across CPU cores. It's faster than xargs and easier than writing a job queue. Here's when and how to use it.

LVM Advanced: Snapshots, Thin Provisioning, and Not Losing Your Data

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:17:00 GMT

Master LVM snapshots and thin provisioning on Linux. Learn to create, use, and merge snapshots for backups, and over-provision storage safely.

SSH Hardening: Lock Down Remote Access Without Locking Yourself Out

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 16:28:00 GMT

Harden SSH properly: disable password auth, switch to Ed25519 keys, configure sshd_config, set up SSH certificates with step-ca, add 2FA, and configure ProxyJump for bastion hosts.

WireGuard Is Fast, But You're Leaving Performance on the Table

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 10:27:00 GMT

WireGuard performance tuning: MTU optimization, CPU offloading, AllowedIPs routing, PersistentKeepalive tradeoffs, and iperf3 benchmarking. Squeeze every MB/s from your VPN tunnel.

trap in Bash: Clean Up When Your Script Dies

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

trap EXIT for cleanup, trap INT/TERM for graceful shutdown, trap ERR for errors. Reliable error handling.

Docker Volumes vs Bind Mounts: Where Your Data Actually Lives

Sun, 10 Aug 2025 11:12:00 GMT

Docker volumes vs bind mounts explained: named volumes, anonymous volumes, bind mounts, and tmpfs. Real examples for databases, dev workflows, and production.

Plex Optimization: Remote Access, Transcoding, and Taming the Beast

Sat, 09 Aug 2025 09:15:00 GMT

Make Plex actually fast: enable hardware transcoding, fix remote access without relay, tune Docker env vars, and decide if Jellyfin is calling your name.

Home Assistant + Node-RED: Automate Your Home Without Losing Your Mind

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 20:55:00 GMT

Home Assistant and Node-RED integration guide: Docker Compose setup, complex automation flows, presence detection, webhook triggers, and voice command pipelines.

Debugging Bash Scripts: set -x and Beyond

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

set -x prints every command before it runs. Add PS4 for context. Use trap for cleanup. Here's the toolkit every bash debugger needs.

Traefik vs Nginx Proxy Manager: Reverse Proxies for Humans

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 08:25:00 GMT

Traefik vs Nginx Proxy Manager compared for self-hosters. Docker auto-discovery, SSL certs, GUI vs labels, performance, and when to pick each reverse proxy.

Word Splitting: The Bash Gotcha That Corrupts Filenames

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Unquoted variables split on IFS, breaking loops and file operations. Always quote vars. Here's why.

Proxmox vs XCP-ng: Hypervisors for People Who Like Their Data Center at Home

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 18:06:00 GMT

Proxmox vs XCP-ng compared for homelabbers: KVM vs Xen, ZFS, web UI, VM management, and which hypervisor to pick for your spare rack server.

Wiki.js with GitSync: Documentation That Lives in Version Control Like It Should

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 18:41:00 GMT

Set up Wiki.js GitSync with GitHub or Gitea for docs-as-code. Version-controlled wikis, PR workflows, automated updates, and sane branch strategies.

Docker Compose vs Docker Swarm: When "Good Enough" Beats "Enterprise"

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 19:03:00 GMT

Docker Compose vs Docker Swarm: a practical guide to choosing the right tool. Learn when simple orchestration beats enterprise complexity, with real examples.

String Manipulation in Bash (Without sed or awk)

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Bash has built-in string operations: substring extraction, find-replace, case conversion, and trimming. You don't need sed for basic text work.

Vaultwarden vs Bitwarden: Own Your Passwords Before Someone Else Does

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 14:26:00 GMT

Why trust a cloud with your passwords? Compare Vaultwarden and Bitwarden self-hosted — lightweight vs full-stack, Docker setup, backups, and which one to actually run.

Docker Resource Limits: Stop Letting Containers Eat Your RAM

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 14:22:00 GMT

Learn how to set Docker resource limits for memory, CPU, swap, and PIDs. Practical guide with real-world sizing examples, OOM killer behavior, and cgroups explained.

Flowise vs Langflow: Build AI Pipelines Without Writing a Novel

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 09:42:00 GMT

Flowise vs Langflow compared: self-hosted, Docker-ready visual LLM workflow builders. Build no-code AI pipelines, RAG chatbots, and more — without losing your mind.

bash `set -e` Doesn't Work Like You Think

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

set -e silently fails in subshells, pipes, and conditionals. Learn the gotchas and fix them.

Proxy Chains and Anonymization: What Actually Works and What's Just Theater

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 11:06:00 GMT

Proxy chains, Tor, proxychains-ng, and VPN+Tor combos: an honest breakdown of what actually protects your privacy and what's security theater.

Bash Arithmetic Without bc

Sat, 12 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Bash has built-in arithmetic. You don't need bc for 90% of math. Here's how to do it right.

n8n vs Node-RED: Automate Everything Without Learning to Code (Much)

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 20:26:00 GMT

n8n vs Node-RED: self-host your own Zapier killer. Compare workflow automation tools, Docker setup guides, and real examples for 2026.

Linux Audit Log: What's Really Happening on Your Server

Sat, 05 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

auditd logs every system call, file access, and command. Learn ausearch, aureport, and writing audit rules.

Ventoy: Boot Any OS, Any Time

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Ventoy turns any USB drive into a multi-boot drive — drop ISOs on it and boot any OS without re-flashing the drive each time.

Bash Strict Mode: set -euo pipefail Explained

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

set -euo pipefail makes your bash scripts fail fast instead of silently. Here's what each flag does and why they matter.

The sudoers Mistake Everyone Makes Once

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Never edit /etc/sudoers directly. One syntax error locks everyone out. Use visudo, understand NOPASSWD risks.

awk for Log Parsing: 5 Patterns You'll Actually Use

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

awk is perfect for parsing logs. Here are 5 patterns that handle filtering, summing, counting, splitting fields, and pretty-printing without reaching for Perl or Python.

Why Your TLS Certificate Isn't Trusted

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Incomplete cert chains, wrong order, self-signed certs. How to diagnose trust failures with openssl s_client.

jq One-Liners Every Sysadmin Needs

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

jq is JSON on the command line. Here are 5 one-liners that actually solve real problems: filtering, extracting, transforming, combining, and debugging.

Certificate Expiry: Monitor Before the 3 AM Call

Wed, 28 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Certs expire silently. Check expiry with openssl, automate renewal checks with cron, get alerts before disaster.

xargs vs while read: Which One and When

Wed, 21 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

xargs and while read both loop over input, but they handle arguments, signals, and performance differently. Here's when to use each.

Where Environment Variables Actually Live in Linux

Mon, 19 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Navigate /etc/environment, ~/.bashrc, ~/.profile, and systemd Environment=. When to use each.

The Firewall Rule Order That's Breaking Your Setup

Wed, 14 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Firewall rules are evaluated top-down, first match wins. One misplaced ALLOW rule silently defeats all security.

Sticky Bit, Setuid, Setgid: Linux Special Permissions Explained

Fri, 09 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Understand sticky bit, setuid, and setgid: what they do, how to set them, security implications, and real-world use cases.

Is fail2ban Actually Working? Here's How to Check

Wed, 07 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Verify fail2ban is protecting you: check jails, test bans, monitor logs, common misconfiguration, and unban IPs when needed.

Diagnosing Slow Linux Boot with systemd-analyze

Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Use systemd-analyze to find which services are slowing down boot. Fix the bottlenecks.

Docker CMD vs ENTRYPOINT: The Final Answer

Fri, 02 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

CMD and ENTRYPOINT work together. Learn the difference, exec vs shell form, and when to use the combo pattern.

SSHFS: Ditch SCP & Access Remote Files

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

SSHFS mounts remote filesystems over SSH so you can browse and edit files locally — faster than scp for interactive work.

How to Actually Read `systemctl status` Output

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Decode systemctl status: Active state, CGroup processes, recent logs, loaded/enabled state. What each field tells you.

SSH Agent Forwarding: How It Works

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Understand SSH agent forwarding security risks. When it's safe (almost never), and better alternatives like ProxyJump for jump hosts.

Is Your Linux Server Destroying Its SSD?

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Check SSD health, find excessive write patterns, use noatime, move logs to tmpfs to extend lifespan.

Docker Compose Profiles: Run Only What You Need

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Profiles let you conditionally start services in Compose. Perfect for dev vs prod service splits without multiple files.

journalctl Queries Every Sysadmin Needs

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Essential journalctl commands: -u, -f, --since, -p, -k, -b, --no-pager, JSON output. The queries you need on a broken server at 2 AM.

Why Your SSH Connection Keeps Dropping

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Fix SSH timeouts: ServerAliveInterval, ServerAliveCountMax, ClientAliveInterval. Understand NAT, firewalls, and TCP keepalive.

ss Is the New netstat (And It's Better)

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

netstat is deprecated. ss is faster, shows more, and does everything netstat did—better.

Cleaning Up Docker Disk Space the Right Way

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

docker system prune is useful but risky. Learn what each cleanup command does and how to check disk usage safely.

Why Your Cron Job Is Failing Silently

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

PATH is different in cron, stdout is muted, and MAILTO breaks silently. Learn cron traps and how to debug them.

SSH Multiplexing: Stop Reconnecting Every Time

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Master SSH ControlMaster, ControlPath, and ControlPersist. Reuse connections for lightning-fast SSH, SCP, and rsync operations.

The Linux OOM Killer: Why It's Killing Your App

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Understand the OOM killer, read dmesg logs, protect critical processes with oom_score_adj.

Stop Putting Passwords in Docker ENV

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

ENV bakes secrets into layers visible in docker history. Use BuildKit --secret, runtime vars, or .env files.

find Flags You Keep Forgetting

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Practical find command examples: -mtime, -newer, -type, -exec vs xargs, -not, size filters. The patterns you google every time.

The SSH Config File: The Shortcut You're Not Using

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Master ~/.ssh/config: Host aliases, HostName, User, Port, IdentityFile, ProxyJump. Stop typing long SSH commands. One-line setup.

Why the `latest` Docker Tag Is Lying to You

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

latest doesn't mean newest. Learn why pinning versions and digests matter for reproducible deployments.

Why kill -9 Is the Wrong Default

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Signals explained: SIGTERM vs SIGKILL, graceful shutdown, and when to actually use kill -9.

Multi-Platform Docker Builds with buildx

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Build ARM64 and AMD64 images from one machine using Docker buildx. Setup, syntax, pushing multi-arch manifests, and when you actually need it.

The umask You've Been Ignoring

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Understand Linux umask: what it is, how 022 and 027 work, calculating file permissions, and why it matters for shared directories and security.

Docker Network Aliases: The Feature Nobody Uses

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Network aliases give containers multiple DNS names. Perfect for blue-green deploys and service discovery patterns.

/proc as a Debugging Tool

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The /proc filesystem is a window into running processes. Learn to use it without extra tools.

Docker Healthcheck Patterns That Actually Work

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Master Docker HEALTHCHECK syntax. Learn what checks work, how to tune interval/timeout/retries, and integrate with orchestration.

zram vs Swap: What's Actually Faster for Low-RAM Servers

Sat, 22 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Compare zram (compressed RAM) and traditional swap files. Learn when each works, setup, and real-world performance trade-offs for memory-constrained systems.

Running Docker Containers as Non-Root (And Why You Should)

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Running as root in containers is a security foot-gun. Learn the USER instruction and numeric UID/GID pattern.

strace for Beginners: See What Any Process Is Doing

Sat, 15 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Use strace to trace system calls and debug mysterious errors without reading source code.

Docker Container Labels: The Metadata You're Ignoring

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Docker labels are free metadata for filtering, routing, and documentation. Learn label conventions and leverage them with filters and tools.

Using the Clipboard from the Linux Terminal

Sat, 08 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Copy and paste from the Linux terminal without a mouse. Master xclip, xsel, wl-copy, and integrate clipboard with tmux and SSH.

Why Docker Builds Are Slow: Layer Cache Explained

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Layer caching is your build's BFF. Learn why copying files early kills the cache and how to fix it.

lsof: The Tool That Shows You Everything

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Master lsof to find port conflicts, trace deleted files eating disk, and debug network connections.

Docker Exit Codes: Why Your Container Keeps Restarting

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Decode Docker exit codes: 0 (success), 1 (app error), 125/126/127 (Docker errors), 137 (OOM), 143 (SIGTERM). Debug restarts in minutes.

CPU and I/O Priority with nice and ionice

Sun, 26 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Manage Linux process priority with nice (CPU) and ionice (I/O). Learn priority levels, renice running processes, and avoid tanking server performance.

The .dockerignore File You're Not Writing

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Missing .dockerignore bloats build context, slows builds, and leaks secrets. Here's the one you should copy-paste.

Linux File Descriptor Limits: When 1024 Isn't Enough

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

File descriptors and why that 1024 limit kills your server. How to check, raise, and debug fd exhaustion.

Why Your Docker Logs Are Eating Your Disk

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Docker's default JSON logging driver writes unbounded logs to disk. Learn how to set log rotation and reclaim your storage.

The `at` Command: One-Time Scheduled Tasks in Linux

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Schedule one-off Linux tasks with `at` instead of cron. Learn syntax, queue management, batch jobs, and when to use it for delayed reboots and reminders.

Why Your Docker Container Ignores Ctrl+C

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

PID 1 doesn't receive signals by default. Learn why Ctrl+C fails in containers and fix it with tini or exec form CMD.

Understanding and Optimizing Docker’s daemon.json File

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

daemon.json controls how the Docker daemon behaves — logging drivers, storage drivers, registry mirrors, and the options worth tuning.

Techniques for Writing Robust, Reliable Bash Scripts

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Write bash scripts that don't silently fail — set -euo pipefail, error handling, input validation, and logging patterns for production scripts.

Disabling Discord’s Activity Tracking

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Discord tracks what you're running. Here's how to turn off activity status, game detection, and telemetry so your app habits stay private.

Optimize Ubuntu Logs: btmp Log Rotation

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

btmp logs failed logins and grows forever on internet-facing servers. Set up logrotate to keep it under control before your disk fills up.

Navigating the Storm: Analysis of Intel’s 13th and 14th Gen CPU Instability Issues

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Intel 13th and 14th gen CPUs have a documented instability problem. Here's what's happening, who's affected, and what Intel is doing about it.

Ansible: Task and Role Inclusions for Efficient Automation

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Stop copy-pasting Ansible tasks across playbooks — use include_tasks, import_tasks, and roles to keep your automation DRY and maintainable.

Preserving Bash History in Multiple Terminal Windows

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

By default bash history is lost across multiple terminal sessions. Fix it with HISTAPPEND and PROMPT_COMMAND so nothing gets overwritten.

Finding the PID of a Process Using a Specific Port in Linux

Sun, 21 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Something's squatting on port 8080 and you need to know what. ss, lsof, and fuser one-liners to find and kill the culprit fast.

Differences Between nohup, disown, and & in Linux

Sat, 20 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

nohup, disown, and & all keep processes running after logout — but they work differently. Here's which one to reach for and why.

the lost+found Directory in Linux

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

What is lost+found and why does it exist? fsck puts recovered file fragments there after a crash — and no, you can't delete it.

Understanding printf vs echo in Bash

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

echo is convenient but inconsistent across systems; printf is portable and precise — know when to use each and avoid the gotchas.

Understanding Grep: A Comprehensive Guide

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

grep is more powerful than you think — regex patterns, context flags, recursive search, and piping tricks that save hours of log digging.

The Role of Antivirus and Endpoint Detection and Response Systems

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

AV vs EDR — traditional antivirus signatures vs behavioral endpoint detection. What each catches, what it misses, and what you actually need.

Key Parameters of Large Language Models

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Temperature, top-p, top-k, context length — LLM inference parameters explained so you stop guessing why the model gives weird output.

Switch Ubuntu to Hardware Enablement (HWE)

Sun, 14 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Ubuntu HWE kernel brings newer hardware support to LTS releases — how to switch from generic to HWE and what you gain.

Essential Linux Commands for Daily Use

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Linux commands every sysadmin reaches for daily — file ops, process management, networking, and text manipulation you can't live without.

Ubuntu Debian packages have been kept back error

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Packages have been kept back during apt upgrade — what it means, why it happens, and how to safely install or hold those packages.

Update a Single Package Using APT

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Update one package with apt without upgrading everything else — the exact flag, version pinning, held package handling, and the apt vs apt-get distinction that trips people up.

Certificate Pinning: A Secure Connection Guide

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Certificate pinning locks your app to a specific TLS cert so MITM attackers can't swap in a rogue CA — how it works and when to use it.

Docker Networking Essential Guide for All Skill Levels

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Bridge, host, overlay, macvlan, and none — every Docker network mode explained with real use cases from beginner to production.

Docker Volume Mounts: Essential Flags

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The -v and --mount flags for Docker volumes explained — bind mounts vs named volumes, read-only, propagation, and tmpfs options.

How to Transfer docker Images Without a Repository

Sun, 07 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Move Docker images between hosts without a registry using docker save and docker load — air-gapped deployments made simple.

Understanding CMD and ENTRYPOINT in Dockerfiles

Sat, 06 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

CMD and ENTRYPOINT both define what runs in a container but work differently — exec vs shell form, and how they interact when combined.

Copying Files Between Docker Containers and Host Machines

Fri, 05 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Use docker cp to move files between running containers and your host machine — no volumes needed for one-off file transfers.

Dockerfile: Differences Between COPY and ADD

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

COPY and ADD look similar but ADD auto-extracts tarballs and fetches URLs — know when each is appropriate and why COPY is usually better.

Docker Strategies for Load Balancing and Failover

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Add load balancing and failover to your Docker setup using Swarm, nginx, HAProxy, and Keepalived — high availability without Kubernetes.

Docker Networking: Connecting to the Host from a Container

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Access services on the host machine from inside a Docker container using host-gateway or host.docker.internal — no hardcoded IPs.

Understanding Docker vs. Full Virtual Machines (VMs)

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Containers share the kernel; VMs have their own. Understand the isolation trade-offs, overhead differences, and when to use which.

Understanding the regreSSHion Vulnerability in OpenSSH

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

regreSSHion (CVE-2024-6387) is a remote code execution bug in OpenSSH — what it is, which versions are affected, and how to patch fast.

Multiple Actions with a Single docker exec Call

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Run multiple commands in one docker exec call using sh -c — pipe commands, chain with && or ;, and avoid repeated container roundtrips.

Mastering xargs in Linux

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

xargs turns stdin into arguments — build complex pipelines, run parallel jobs, and handle filenames with spaces without breaking everything.

FFmpeg: Advanced Video & Audio Manipulations

Sat, 29 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Advanced FFmpeg techniques — filter graphs, stream mapping, subtitle burning, speed adjustment, and batch processing scripts.

Executing Commands with Asterisks in Docker

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Shell globbing breaks inside docker exec because of how args are parsed — here's how to pass wildcards and asterisks correctly.

FFmpeg: Comprehensive Audio Processing Techniques

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

FFmpeg audio processing — normalize levels, convert formats, mix tracks, extract audio from video, and apply filters from the command line.

Mastering Vim: Essential Commands and Tips

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

vim survival guide — modes, motions, search and replace, macros, splits, and the config tweaks that make it actually enjoyable to use.

Tmux for Streamlining Dev Workflow

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

tmux sessions, windows, and panes for developers — layouts, plugins, and the .tmux.conf that makes it feel like a proper IDE.

Ansible vs. Terraform: Cloud Infrastructure Management

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Ansible configures servers; Terraform provisions infrastructure — learn when to use each, how they overlap, and why you probably need both.

WordPress, Docker, NGINX, and MySQL via Ansible

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Automate a full WordPress stack deployment — Docker, nginx, and MySQL — using Ansible playbooks instead of clicking through wizards.

Prompts for Image Generation in Stable Diffusion

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Write Stable Diffusion prompts that actually work — style keywords, negative prompts, weights, and the patterns that get consistent results.

DevOps Tools: Ansible vs. Puppet vs. Salt vs. Chef

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Ansible, Puppet, Salt, and Chef all do configuration management — but they're very different. Pick the right one before you commit.

Prompt Engineering for Generative AI 101

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Write prompts that get useful results — role prompting, few-shot examples, chain-of-thought, and the patterns that work across any LLM.

Optimizing Ansible for Faster Playbook Execution

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Speed up Ansible playbooks with pipelining, forks, fact caching, and async tasks — stop watching the spinning wheel on every play.

How to securely deploy Cloudflare Tunnels

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Cloudflare Tunnels expose local services to the internet without open ports — secure setup with zero-trust access controls.

Uptime Monitoring with Uptime Kuma

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Uptime Kuma monitors your services and sends alerts when they go down — beautiful self-hosted alternative to UptimeRobot.

Understanding and Optimizing Performance in Proxmox VE

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Squeeze more out of Proxmox VE — CPU pinning, memory ballooning, IO threads, virtio drivers, and storage tuning for faster VMs.

Advanced UFW Techniques: Enhancing Firewall Security

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Go beyond basic UFW rules — rate limiting, geo-blocking, application profiles, logging, and before.rules tricks for serious firewall hardening.

Automating Docker via Ansible

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Automate Docker container deployment with shell scripts, cron, and Ansible — stop SSHing in and restarting things by hand.

UFW Basics: Setting Up Your Linux Firewall

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

UFW makes iptables manageable — allow and deny rules, app profiles, default policies, and the 5-minute setup for any new Linux server.

LVM The Linux Sysadmin’s Guide to Flexible Storage

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

LVM lets you resize volumes, add disks, and take snapshots without repartitioning — PVs, VGs, and LVs explained with real commands.

Observability and Monitoring for Containers

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Logs, metrics, and traces for Docker containers — Prometheus, Loki, Grafana, and OpenTelemetry to know what's happening inside your stack.

Docker vs Podman: Key Differences

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Docker needs a daemon; Podman doesn't. Compare architecture, rootless support, Compose compatibility, and which one belongs in your workflow.

SSH Tunneling: A Secure Conduit for Your Data

Mon, 03 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

SSH tunnels forward ports over encrypted connections — local forwarding, remote forwarding, and dynamic SOCKS proxy explained.

Socat: The Swiss Army Knife of Networking

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

socat relays data between almost any two endpoints — TCP, UDP, Unix sockets, files, and serial ports. The netcat you didn't know you needed.

User and Group Management in Linux

Thu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Create, modify, and delete users and groups on Linux — useradd, usermod, groupadd, sudo access, and /etc/passwd explained.

Large Language Model Formats and Quantization

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

GGUF, GGML, AWQ, GPTQ — LLM file formats and quantization levels explained: trade-offs between model quality, size, and inference speed.

Exploring the Diverse World of LLM Models

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

LLaMA, Mistral, Falcon, GPT — the LLM landscape is crowded. Compare model families, sizes, licensing, and what each is actually good for.

Ollama: Powerful Language Models on Your Own Machine

Sat, 06 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Ollama makes running local LLMs dead simple — pull a model, start the server, and get a private ChatGPT running on your own hardware.

Unleash the Power of LLMs with LocalAI

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

LocalAI is a self-hosted OpenAI-compatible API — run any GGUF model and connect existing tools without changing a line of client code.

Understanding PostgreSQL Connection URIs

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Decode the postgresql:// connection string — host, port, database, SSL mode, and the gotchas that cause connection refused at deploy time.

Supercharge Your Homelab Monitoring with Zabbix

Sun, 25 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Zabbix is enterprise-grade monitoring that you can self-host — agents, templates, triggers, and dashboards for your entire home lab.

A Guide to LXC/LXD

Sat, 24 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

LXC/LXD runs full Linux environments in lightweight containers — faster to spin up than VMs and perfect for home lab service isolation.

Talos OS: API-Driven, Kubernetes-First OS

Fri, 23 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Talos OS is an immutable, API-driven OS designed purely for running Kubernetes — no SSH, no package manager, pure GitOps.

Linux System Monitoring: Tools and Techniques

Thu, 22 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Monitor Linux servers with htop, iostat, netstat, vmstat, and Prometheus — pick the right tool for CPU, memory, disk, and network issues.

SumGuy’s Guide to Linux Log Analysis

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

journalctl, grep, awk, and tail -f — read your Linux logs like a pro and find the error before it pages you at 3 AM.

Docker Compose: Orchestrating Multi-Container Applications

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Move beyond single containers — Docker Compose lets you define and run multi-service apps with one YAML file and one command.

Linux Home Lab Security: Planning for the Unexpected

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Harden your home lab against real threats — SSH hardening, fail2ban, network segmentation, backups, and preparing for when things go wrong.

Linux Bash Tips and Tricks pt1

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Bash tricks that save keystrokes — history expansion, brace expansion, process substitution, and the shortcuts your fingers will thank you for.

Set the Timezone in Ubuntu with timedatectl

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Set, verify, and sync your timezone in Ubuntu using timedatectl — one command to fix the clock on a newly provisioned server.

Creating Image Slideshows with Voiceovers using FFMPEG

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Build a video slideshow from static images with a voiceover track using FFmpeg — concat filters, fade transitions, and audio sync.

Understanding the Mogrify Tool in Linux: A Guide to Image Manipulation

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

mogrify from ImageMagick batch-processes images — resize, convert, compress, and apply effects to entire directories at once.

Machine Learning models (AI)

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Supervised, unsupervised, reinforcement learning — the ML model landscape explained without drowning in math or hype.

Wiki.js for your documentation in docker

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Wiki.js is a gorgeous self-hosted wiki with Markdown, WYSIWYG, and Git sync — Docker Compose setup with PostgreSQL backend.

NocoDB DB Management System

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

NocoDB wraps any SQL database in a spreadsheet UI — self-host an Airtable alternative on top of MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite with Docker.

Appwrite Backend-as-a-service (BaaS)

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Appwrite is an open-source Firebase alternative you can self-host — databases, auth, storage, and functions without vendor lock-in.

Wireguard VPN Server in Docker

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Run a WireGuard VPN server inside Docker — wg-easy setup, peer config generation, and getting road warrior access to your home network.

Install & use Doxygen via Docker

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Generate code documentation with Doxygen without installing it — run it from a Docker container and get HTML docs from any codebase.

Automatic Backup of Docker MySQL or MariaDB Containers

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Automate MySQL/MariaDB backups from a running Docker container using cron and mysqldump — no downtime, no excuses for losing your data.

WordPress on PHP-FPM & Caddy in Docker

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Run WordPress on PHP-FPM with Caddy as the web server — all in Docker Compose with automatic HTTPS and proper PHP config.

Docker Compose useful commands

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The docker compose commands you actually use daily — up, down, logs, exec, pull, and the flags that make them way more useful.

How to install NextCloud via Docker

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Self-host Nextcloud in Docker with persistent storage and a reverse proxy — your own Google Drive without the Google.

Ed25519 ssh keys

Sun, 26 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Ed25519 is faster and more secure than RSA for SSH keys — generate a key pair, add it to authorized_keys, and ditch the old RSA habits.

Install a php script in PHP-FPM & Caddy via Docker

Sat, 25 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Run PHP apps with PHP-FPM and Caddy in Docker — FastCGI configuration, volume mounts, and the Caddyfile that wires it all together.

Install Caddy reverse proxy via Docker

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Get Caddy running as a reverse proxy in Docker — automatic HTTPS, Caddyfile config, and Docker Compose setup in under 10 minutes.

Access Docker socket via TCP

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Expose Docker's Unix socket over TCP so remote tools and dashboards can connect — daemon.json config for Linux and Windows.

Install docker on Ubuntu/Debian

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT

The official, no-nonsense way to install Docker Engine on Ubuntu and Debian — repository setup, key import, and one command to verify it works.

Enable WebGL on Chrome or Firefox

Sat, 13 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT

WebGL disabled or hardware acceleration broken? Force-enable it in Chrome and Firefox with the right flags and about:config tweaks.

Ubuntu & Bash tutorial & basic utilities

Wed, 03 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Essential bash utilities for Ubuntu newcomers — file management, text processing, process control, and the commands you'll type every day.

Alsa CLI Volume control

Thu, 05 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Control Linux audio volume and mic boost from the terminal with ALSA's amixer — no GUI needed, no remembering cryptic card numbers.

Linux distribution info & kernel info

Mon, 04 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Find your Linux distro version, kernel version, and architecture with uname, lsb_release, /etc/os-release, and hostnamectl.

linux shell argument list too long rsync or cp

Fri, 31 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Fix 'Argument list too long' errors in bash when cp or rsync chokes on thousands of files — xargs and find-based workarounds.

Repair & Optimize all Mysql Databases one liner

Wed, 17 Jul 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Repair and optimize all MySQL databases at once with mysqlcheck — a one-liner that runs on every table without logging into MySQL.

Remove spaces or Edit chracters in filenames

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Rename files to remove spaces and special characters using bash — rename, tr, and parameter expansion patterns for bulk file cleanup.

Archive & Compression utilities

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

tar, gzip, bzip2, xz, zip — demystified. When to use each compression tool, speed vs ratio trade-offs, and the flags you'll actually need.