The switch connecting your homelab servers together often gets far less attention than the servers themselves, yet a poorly chosen one can quietly bottleneck everything from file transfers to VLAN segmentation. Picking the right network switch for your home lab matters more than it might initially seem, especially once your setup grows beyond a couple…
A brief power flicker that barely dims your lights can instantly crash every VM running on your homelab, potentially corrupting data mid-write in the process. Adding a UPS for your home lab provides battery backup that either rides out short outages entirely or gives your servers time to shut down gracefully during longer ones, protecting…
Not everyone wants to configure Docker Compose files by hand or wrestle with a command-line-only NAS setup. CasaOS offers a much friendlier entry point into home server ownership, wrapping Docker’s power behind a polished, app-store-style interface that feels closer to a phone’s home screen than a traditional Linux server. What Is CasaOS? CasaOS is a…
It’s easy to get overwhelmed browsing homelab forums full of multi-node Proxmox clusters, rack-mounted switches, and 10Gbe networking. This home lab starter guide cuts through that noise, focusing on what you genuinely need to begin — versus what can wait until you actually know what you want to build. Start with One Machine, Not a…
Learning Kubernetes doesn’t require expensive server hardware. Building a Raspberry Pi Kubernetes cluster gives you a genuine multi-node environment to practice real orchestration concepts — scheduling, scaling, self-healing — on a handful of inexpensive boards that together draw less power than a single light bulb. Why Use Raspberry Pi for Kubernetes Hardware Requirements For a…
Nothing ruins a quiet home office or living room faster than a server whirring away in the background 24/7. A well-planned fanless home server build eliminates that noise entirely, using passive cooling and low-power components to run reliably without a single moving part. Why Go Fanless? Traditional servers rely on fans to move air across…
Centralizing your files, backups, and media library onto a dedicated storage device changes how a homelab operates day to day. Learning how to build a home NAS with TrueNAS Scale gives you enterprise-grade storage features — snapshots, data integrity checks, and app hosting — using free, open-source software on hardware you can assemble yourself. What…
Corporate IT departments retire thousands of thin clients every year, and many end up on the secondhand market for next to nothing. Learning how to repurpose a thin client as a home server turns this overlooked, tiny hardware into a surprisingly capable, ultra-low-power addition to any homelab. What Is a Thin Client? Thin clients (like…
Building a homelab doesn’t require a noisy rack server anymore. Today, the best mini PCs for a home lab offer surprising power, low energy consumption, and a small enough footprint to sit quietly on a shelf — making them the go-to choice for self-hosters who want performance without the electricity bill or fan noise of…