Homelab
Automate your Unifi network firewall and traffic rules with Home Assistant
Harness the potential of Unifi network traffic rules for your home network by integrating them with Home Assistant. Let's dive in and unlock!
Chris Kirby
Homelab
Setting up and leveling up your homelab - a comprehensive guide
I'm writing this homelab guide to share some of the things I've learned, so if you're starting out or looking for what to do next, perhaps you can grab an idea or two for your setup. I would always advise starting small, getting comfortable, and then deciding if you are ready for more.
Security
Upgrade your online privacy and security on any budget
I hope to convince you that good personal online privacy and security is essential, accessible, and works on any budget.
DNS
Load balanced and highly available local DNS with DNSDist and Keepalived
Caution: prepare to enter the over-engineering zone! I assert that your homelab can have one local IP address for DNS that will be fast & resilient across a high volume of requests, survive several physical and virtual machine failures, while never failing to resolve or respond.
Artificial Intelligence
Run a free AI coding assistant locally with VS Code
Wouldn't it be awesome to use a local LLM as your personal AI assistant on the daily, subscription-free, completely offline, and even in VS Code? Type "y" to continue.
Homelab
Highly available Pi-hole setup in Kubernetes with secure DNS over HTTPS DoH
Previously, I wrote an article about how to set up two or more Pi-hole instances using Docker Swarm, which has worked quite well for me up to this point. I've since decided this setup was too easy and wanted to move from Normal to Hard mode and bring Kubernetes into the mix.
Remote Work
Remotely access your home computer from anywhere, quickly and easily
I'm a huge fan of reverse proxy tunnels. Accessing private networks, like your home network or homelab, in this way is generally considered more secure than using a VPN or exposing ports to the public internet on your router. This will get you up and running in 5 minutes; anyone can do it.
Gaming
Level up your casual gaming skills with a pro controller
I'm a little older, and my reaction time is a little slower, but I can claw some of that back with a bit of button mapping and retraining. Casual doesn't have to mean settling for the stock option.
Homelab
Web Browser SSH Terminal to Homelab with Cloudflare Zero Trust
I'm continuing to discover new and exciting ways to access my Homelab and home network when I'm away or using a device I don't personally manage...in this case, securely, without a VPN or WARP client
Homelab
Replace your Homelab VPN with Cloudflare Zero Trust
Zero Trust is a platform for small businesses and enterprises to offer secure access to their networks and applications...which sounds perfect for my five-user household 🙂; oh, and it's Free!
Cloudflare
Load balanced highly available Cloudflare tunnels with Docker Swarm
It's to set up your secure tunnels directly to Cloudflare on bare metal or within virtual machines. Why stop there? Let’s make them easier to manage and highly available by containerizing multiple tunnels across several physical devices
Homelab
Use your domain with Cloudflare to securely access services on your home network
This guide will walk you through securely exposing Plex, your NAS, and other services while away from home. All while avoiding UPnP and traditional port forwarding, which is typically less secure and more complex with only one dynamic IP address.