⌘K

Self-Hosting

Self-Hosting

Take back your data. Tutorials for building the core infrastructure of your lab: Docker, Nginx, DNS, and more.

All Privacy Hardware NAS ZFS Reverse Proxy SWAG Plex Media Server Self-Hosting CrowdSec Fail2Ban Cybersecurity Networking Jellyfin Docker Automation

Digital image with a lock and the Canadian flag in the background with a camera overlooking the flag with the caption "Higher Powers. Bigger Risks." — With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility...

Canada Is Quietly Dismantling Digital Privacy - And You're Probably Not Paying Attention

Buried inside federal Bills C-22, C-34, and C-9 is a sweeping surveillance architecture. Here is what it means for Canadians and how to self-host your way out.

A digitized and futuristic Core Lab CPU "mascot" ;)

Fighting the AI Slop: Year 1 Metrics, Costs, and Lessons Self-Hosting a Ghost Tech Blog

A raw look at Year 1 metrics, real electricity costs, and traffic sources for an independent, self-hosted Ghost tech blog fighting internet AI slop.

Codex needed a rescue! Now my wallet does, since I need a new UPS system...

When Power Outages Break Everything: Recovering an OMV8 NAS After Filesystem Corruption, Kernel Drift, and DKMS Failure

A complete technical post-mortem and recovery guide for OpenMediaVault 8 after rolling power failures corrupt the boot SSD, drift kernels, and break DKMS blocks.

A picture showing the top of my server showing the USB3.0 enclosure connected to a USB3.0 port on the Fractal Design Define 7 XL. — Top of my server showing the USB3.0 enclosure connected to a USB3.0 port on the Fractal Design Define 7 XL.

The SATA Pivot: Mitigating IOPS Bottlenecks in a 18+ Drive Homelab

Is your ZFS array thrashing under Docker logs? You don't need a new server; you need a better bus. Learn how moving my OS to USB reclaimed SATA III ports for SSD caching - solving IOPS bottlenecks and extending drive life for under $20.

A picture of Core Lab's own Codex NAS & Server, she's a dusty girl before my bi-annual cleaning attack! — Core Lab's own Codex NAS & Server, she's a dusty girl before my bi-annual cleaning attack!

🛠️ The Homelab Physical: A Guide to Annual & Bi-Annual Maintenance

Neglect is the quiet killer of uptime. Don't let dust or "chip creep" sabotage your ZFS pools. This guide covers essential bi-annual routines - from LSI HBA cooling to reseating the "Big Three" - to keep your custom server healthy for the long haul.

A screenshot of Homelable Canvas and WebGUI showing a complex homelab setup with many containers, docker stacks and connections streaming everywhere — Homelable Canvas WebGUI in all it's Glory! Ok, I have more work to do tidying this up!

Homelable Deployment Guide: Visualize Your Network Topology with Docker (2026)

Stop guessing your network map. Learn how to deploy Homelable using Docker Compose to visualize VLANs, device relationships, and topology in your homelab.

A high-tech digital interface performs a surgical, laser-guided scan on a grid of server data blocks, illustrating the cleanup of orphaned images in Ghost CMS.

How to Safely Delete Unused Images in Ghost CMS: The Surgical Guide

🖖These instructions & information are provided without warranty, guarantee of any kind, or support, and used completely at your own risk. Please use due diligence backing up your site before utilizing these steps‼️ I am not a developer, my python script was partially written with AI/LLM. Ghost CMS is famous for being fast, but if you’ve been self-hosting for a while, you’ve likely noticed a "shadow bloat" creeping into your backups. You delete a post, but the images stay. You upload a 5MB her

Grafana dashboard showing a global threat map of cyberattacks and a top 5 attackers bar gauge parsed from OPNsense firewall and NGINX Docker logs. — 🌍 Active Intelligence: A real-time global threat map and "Attacker Leaderboard" generated from OPNsense firewall blocks and NGINX access logs using the Grafana-Loki-Promtail (GLP) stack.

Building a Homelab Mini-SIEM with Grafana, Loki, and Promtail

Stop guessing and start visualizing. Turn siloed OPNsense and NGINX logs into a real-time threat map with the lightweight GLP stack. Includes GeoIP and Discord alerts.

Cyberpunk illustration of a home Plex server securely tunneling to a cloud VPS, bypassing ISP CG-NAT with an encrypted connection. — Secure Plex access over CG-NAT: a home server tunnels through a cloud VPS, bypassing ISP restrictions with encrypted networking.

Plex Media Server

How to Access Plex and Jellyfin Behind CGNAT: A 2026 Guide

Stop Plex Relay throttling! Learn how to bypass CG-NAT using a VPS relay with WireGuard or Headscale (Tailscale). Secure, full-bitrate remote access without port forwarding.

Screenshot of the Jellywatch website showing their icon/mascot (A cartoonish single eyed purple jellyfish!) & brief introduction. — Meet JellyWatch, the Jellyfin mobile management experience we've been waiting for!

JellyWatch Review: The Ultimate Jellyfin Admin Dashboard for Android

Always wanted a mobile native app to manage Jellyfin? Discover JellyWatch - an Android app with "Arr" integration, real-time stats, and a killer "Watch Pass" feature.

The default OpenMediaVault 8 web interface login screen featuring a dark, textured background and a central, minimalist login box for system administration. — The clean, minimal login splash for OpenMediaVault 8 (Synchrony), built on Debian 13.

OpenMediaVault 8 Upgrade Guide: Navigating the Jump to Debian 13 & Kernel 6.17

Master the OpenMediaVault 8 (Synchrony) upgrade. Learn to fix PHP 502 Bad Gateway errors, handle SHA-1 repo issues, and optimize Kernel 6.17 for your homelab.

AI-generated digital art of two sleek robots managing a futuristic server room with glowing blue data displays and media icons for Plex and Sonarr. — The Digital Dragon Duo: Maintainerr (The Curator) and Declutarr (The Foreman) working in tandem to automate your media stack.

The Media Server Janitors: Deploying Maintainerr & Declutarr

Stop manual library cleanup. Learn how to use Maintainerr for Plex pruning and Declutarr for stalled queue management in this comprehensive 2026 guide.