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Core Lab Joe

Core Lab Joe

Dad, IT guy, Self-Hosting Evangelist! https://www.reddit.com/r/corelabtech/

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Cyberpunk comic art of a futuristic server engine blending mechanical parts and glowing data streams, serviced by robots in a neon workshop. “Plex Media Server Optimization Guide (2026)” — Tuning the machine behind your media - a cyberpunk fusion engine powers the ultimate Plex performance upgrade.

Plex Media Server

Plex Media Server Optimization Guide 2026

Stop Plex buffering. Fix RAM transcoding, GPU passthrough, Relay limits, and 4K HDR issues with this complete 2026 optimization guide.

A glowing holographic data cube displaying orbiting miniature photo frames, anchored inside a sleek dark homelab server rack cabinet. — Immich - The Local Private Photo Solution of your Dreams!

Immich Deep Dive: The Ultimate Self-Hosted Google Photos Alternative (2026)

Take control of your photos with Immich: facial recognition, maps, Docker setup, GPU acceleration, and importing your Google Photos library.

Cloudflare is everywhere...

Cloudflare Protection for Homelabs: OPNsense, DDNS, & Wildcard Setup

Stop exposing your home IP. Learn how to use Cloudflare's free tier with OPNsense to secure your homelab. Includes DDNS setup, wildcard CNAMEs, and IP masking.

Homelab VLANs Explained: Network Segmentation & Inter-VLAN Routing — Photo by Kirill Sh / Unsplash

Homelab VLANs Explained: Network Segmentation & Inter-VLAN Routing

Learn how VLANs work in a homelab, how network segmentation improves security, and how inter-VLAN routing connects separated networks.

Introductory flow of a homelab network from internet to your selfhosted services. — Introductory diagram of a typical homelab networkIntroductory diagram of a typical homelab network

Homelab Networking Basics: A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Home Networks

Learn homelab networking basics including IP addressing, routers, subnetting, and private ranges. A beginner-friendly foundation before VLANs and routing.

Face/Off - Quick breakdown of the most popular NAS OS in 2026.

The Best NAS OS of 2026: Beyond Synology & Vendor Lock-in

Ditching Synology? Our 2026 guide compares TrueNAS SCALE, Unraid, and OMV8. Build your digital fortress with the best NAS OS for Plex, ZFS, and Docker.

A picture showing on the left side a real castle, and on the right it's being 'digitized' and in cyberspace with blue and purple accents and grids. — Here, you're building your real & digitized castle.

CrowdSec & Fail2Ban: Real-Time Threat Defense for SWAG

Stop brute-force attacks and secure your self-hosted apps. Learn to deploy harden SWAG with CrowdSec for an A+ security rating and Zero Trust access.

Banner titled Securing Digital Infrastructure featuring SWAG and NGINX logos with a firewall shield icon on a digital circuit background. — The Holy Trinity of self-hosting: SWAG combines NGINX, Let's Encrypt, and Fail2ban into a single, hardened container.

Self-Hosting SWAG: Deploying Your Reverse Proxy in Docker (2026)

Forget Nginx Proxy Manager. Learn how to set up LinuxServer.io SWAG with CrowdSec, Authelia, and the new Dashboard Mod for a secure, automated reverse proxy stack.

Layers protecting your services from the evil of the internet, and only allowing authorized through.

The Self-Hosting Roadmap: From Localhost to Public URL (Safely)

From Localhost to Public URL. A step-by-step architecture guide for self-hosting securely using Cloudflare, OPNsense, and Nginx Proxy Manager.

Comic book style picture of an "upright" mounted RTX4090 with the caption "POWERED UP."

The Architecture of Transcoding: NVENC vs. QuickSync & The AV1 Future (2026)

You've seen, read or heard a lot about transcoding since you've begun your streaming media idealization no doubt. Let's break it down shall we? I've been utilizing home media / streaming servers since roughly 2011 and went through XBMC to Android streaming services, through to Emby, an older media server type I forgot about and finally landed on Plex in 2013. Although this can be a wildly deep topic, I'll just explain what matters for transcoding when it comes to streaming media servers like Ple

Split screen showing Plex Media Server library home screen and OpenMediaVault 8 (OMV8) Dashboard workbench interface. — The Perfect Pair: Your media files on the left, and the engine that powers them on the right. OMV8 Synchrony meets Plex.The Perfect Pair: Your media files on the left, and the engine that powers them on the right. OMV8 Synchrony meets Plex.

The Ultimate OMV8 & Plex Media Server Guide (2026): Build Your Own 100TB NAS

Master your home lab with this 2026 update for OpenMediaVault 8. Learn to set up Plex on OMV8 using Docker Compose, optimize ZFS pools, and enable 4K transcoding.

A picture of Core Lab Custom Server/NAS while being built, on a floor beside oragizer bin, with drive cables hanging out and side, top panels removed. — Core Lab Custom Server/NAS while being built.

The "Core Lab" Monster: My 80+TB DIY NAS Build (2026)

A 17-drive, 80TB+ DIY NAS build log: enterprise SAS hardware, ZFS pool design, HBA cards, and the 3.3V pin gotcha that stops drives from spinning up.