Home lab projects often involve reusing dedicated server hardware or old PCs into experimentation rigs. While these options look tempting at first glance, you’ll have to contend with increased power consumption and large footprints of the full-sized systems.

If you want to monitor your servers, Zabbix is by far one of the best.

My free and secure solution to sync files between Windows and Linux.

You don't need expensive equipment to monitor your home network. All you need is a Raspberry Pi and a little time to set it up.

Preferences change; keep track of yours.

Take the headache out of administering your home lab by setting up a reverse proxy.

We've got some really cool Raspberry Pi projects to share with our readers that are sure to inspire your inner maker for the new year.

Fleet is an open-source platform for IT and security teams managing thousands of computers. It’s designed to work seamlessly with APIs, GitOps, webhooks,

7 reasons you should consider using Docker for your personal projects

Using Linux as the base of your home lab is a great way to open the door to countless software solutions and a lightweight operating system with impressive capabilities. Linux powers most servers in the world, so it's well-positioned to handle all your home lab needs. A great part about Linux is the excellent Docker container support and here are some of my favorite packages used in my own home lab that can help you get off to a good start.

Plex is usually the most recommended media streaming and cataloging app for NAS and general servers. It's a powerful tool that has expanded over recent years into the streaming game with advertisements and all sorts of shenanigans. Jellyfin and other open-source alternatives have been on the radar for some time, but I've never felt like making the switch. It's the trouble with growing comfortable with software you've enjoyed for nearly a decade. But the time has come to move and Jellyfin will now be streaming all our purchased media from the family Synology NAS.

In the realm of Home Assistant, data is king. Understanding how your smart devices behave over time can unlock insights that lead to more efficient smart home management. Automating based on your device history can be key to saving significant amount of energy and optimizing device usage.

Managing web traffic efficiently is crucial for any server administrator, and Nginx Proxy Manager provides a powerful and user-friendly solution for this task. Whether you’re handling multiple domains or just a single website, Nginx Proxy Manager simplifies the process of managing proxy hosts, SSL certificates, and more, all through an intuitive web interface. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of installing Nginx Proxy Manager on Debian 12, ensuring you can harness its full potential to streamline your web traffic management. By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have a fully functional Nginx Proxy Manager setup, ready to handle all your proxy needs with ease.

Nginx Proxy Manager simplifies the configuration and management of Nginx as a reverse proxy by providing a user-friendly web interface. It allows users to easily set up and manage proxy hosts, handle SSL certificates, and configure routing rules for various applications and services.

Netplan is the default network management tool in many modern Linux distributions, like Ubuntu. However, some users might prefer using the traditional /etc/network/interfaces method for managing network configurations.

Debian/Ubuntu HAProxy packages

The Debian HAProxy packaging team provides various versions of HAProxy packages for use on different Debian or Ubuntu systems. The following wizard helps you to find the package suitable for your system.

If you're self-hosting any services, you'll want a reverse proxy as another layer of defense.

In this video, NetworkChuck, alongside new talent Alex, guides viewers through the process of installing RetroPie on a Raspberry Pi. They explain how this compact device can emulate games from nearly every retro console, featuring modern additions like achievements, save states, and online multiplayer. Alex demonstrates the setup step-by-step, from preparing the microSD card to configuring controllers and personalizing game libraries. The video also highlights advanced features such as cheats and retro achievements, culminating in a demonstration of online play between two Raspberry Pi devices, showcasing the impressive capabilities of RetroPie.

Why you need to upgrade PHP

The most obvious reason to upgrade php is security! Older versions are more likely to have security vulnerabilities and outdated code that is not longer supported.

Newer versions may support new features and functionality great for web development. It usually includes performance improvements to make your website load faster!

And, you can generally expect to see a decrease in memory usage when upgrading php from older to newer versions, which is really helpful for server with small amount of RAM.
Step 1: Install PHP 8.4 in Ubuntu 22.04 | 24.04

PHP 8.4 is easy to install in all current Ubuntu LTS releases through Ondrej Sury’s PPA, which is practically “official”, as the maintainer also manages the official php package in Debian.

Pi.Alert Installation Guide

Initially designed to run on a Raspberry PI, probably it can run on many other Linux distributions.

Estimated time: 20'
Dependencies
Dependency Comments
Lighttpd Probably works on other webservers / not tested
arp-scan Required for Scan Method 1
Pi.hole Optional. Scan Method 2. Check devices doing DNS queries
dnsmasq Optional. Scan Method 3. Check devices using DHCP server
IEEE HW DB Necessary to identified Device vendor