Staring Into the Void: A Love Letter to Log Files
If you’ve ever stared at a terminal full of log messages, you know: logs are where systems tell the truth. They are noisy, sometimes ugly, but absolutely essential when things…
Winter Mode: Running on Just One Server
Right now I’m only running one of my three servers… thanks to winter season my PV setup isn’t exactly flooding me with power, so I’ve had to consolidate my workloads…
How to Summon an Observability Beast: Installing Icinga 2 + IcingaDB + Web + Director on Debian
A nerdy homelab story featuring Redis, too many databases, and not enough sleep. 📝 Introduction Congratulations, traveler. If you’re reading this, you’ve decided to monitor your homelab like a responsible…
Operation Dustbuster: Upgrading My Homelab Like a True Rack-Wizard
Today was maintenance day in my tiny datacenter—also known as “that noisy metal box in the corner that my wife calls the space heater.” I pulled all three servers out…
How I Managed to Wreck My Firewall Appliance With a Debian 13 Upgrade
Yesterday I proudly hit publish on a post about my super smooth upgrade to Debian 13… feeling like a proper Linux wizard. 🧙♂️ A few hours later, reality slapped me…
🛡️🧙♂️ Deploying Nextcloud: My Ansible Quest for Ultimate Automation ⚔️☁️
⚠️ Heads-up, fellow human (or bot): This post is currently outdated and due for a proper rewrite. Some parts may no longer be accurate, complete, or aligned with the latest…
From Penguin to Windows: Why I’m Running Windows Server 2025 in My Homelab
I’m still very much a Linux fan — that hasn’t changed. I run Linux in VMs, on servers, and I love its flexibility, openness, and CLI-first philosophy. In fact, I…
Keeping It Cool: My DIY Rack Cooling Upgrade
🔧 More Gear, More Heat Over the past few months, I kept adding new components to my rack setup.But here’s the catch: my rack doesn’t have any active cooling. When…
Our Solar Year: From Zero to Megawatt-Hero
About a year ago, I flipped the switch on my photovoltaic system. Now, twelve months later, I can say: 👉 Smartest decision I’ve made — and the most satisfying system…
How I Back Up My Mom’s PC Over VPN — Without the Cloud (or Headaches)
Let’s be honest: keeping family members’ devices backed up is something many of us in tech mean to do — but often don’t. Between the complexity of cloud solutions, the…