Blog

I have been building my homelab using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) so that VM provisioning and host configuration are repeatable, versioned, and easier to maintain over time. This project combines: Terraform for provisioning virtual machines on Proxmox. Ansible for post-provisioning configuration (base packages, Docker host setup, and future monitoring roles). What is implemented today The current workflow is intentionally simple and predictable: Define Docker host VM parameters in Terraform variables (CPU, memory, disk, network, addressing). Use Terraform to clone VMs from a cloud-init-enabled Ubuntu template in Proxmox. Use Ansible playbooks to apply baseline OS configuration and install Docker. From a technical perspective, the provisioning layer currently uses the telmate/proxmox provider and a proxmox_vm_qemu resource to configure: ...

TL;DR I finally gave my homelab a voice. Not a dramatic one. Not a “panic for every CPU spike” one. Just a calm, useful, slightly judgmental voice that says: a host is down CPU has been high for a while memory is staying under pressure disk is filling up a filesystem went read-only, which is never a fun sentence The alert flow now looks like this: Prometheus -> Alertmanager -> Home Assistant -> phone notification ...

TL;DR To keep myself honest: Metrics: Prometheus scrapes Proxmox, Home Assistant, node-exporter, and cAdvisor. Logs: Grafana Alloy ships Docker container logs into Loki. Traces: Tempo is standing by for OTLP, waiting for me to finally instrument something. UI: Grafana is the “single screen” where it all becomes legible. The Problem: My Homelab Was Talking… Just Not to Me One evening I did the classic homelab ritual: “just a quick update.” Ten minutes later, I was staring at a frozen UI, a loud fan, and a dashboard that basically said: good luck, detective. ...

Cover Story: This Router Writes Like a Columnist My Archer C6 v3 woke up one morning tired of stock firmware and begged for more autonomy. OpenWrt 24.10.2 answered the call, offered a new wardrobe (LuCI dress in dark mode), and gave me back control of every packet that dared traverse the house. This issue is themed “Network Authority”—highlighting the LAN vs. guest standoffs, the WireGuard escape hatch, and the SNMP-powered switch that reports every port squabble to Home Assistant. ...

💡 The Mission The Archer C6 was sitting on my desk, quietly reminding me that it deserved better than the stock firmware it came with. Slow boot times, clunky menus, and a complete lack of configurability were breeding grounds for frustration, so I decided to swap TP-Link’s limits for something more transparent and powerful. OpenWrt promised that control. It promised a leaner web UI, features I was craving, and the freedom to reconfigure DNS, VLANs, and QoS without being stuck in some simplified settings page. This post is the flash process—the moment I traded stock firmware for OpenWrt and finally made the router behave like something worth bragging about. ...

The Challenge: Creating an All-in-One Wireless Audio System It all started with a simple desire: to transform my used LG SK9Y soundbar into a comprehensive wireless audio streaming solution. I wanted to stream audio from multiple sources - my Mac, Apple devices, Windows laptop, and Fire TV - all wirelessly through WiFi and route it to an Alexa home theater setup. The goal was ambitious: create a seamless, multi-protocol audio streaming system that could handle various streaming standards while maintaining high audio quality and minimal latency. ...

The Beginning: Why Kubernetes? It all started with a simple desire to learn Kubernetes. As someone who’s always been fascinated by container orchestration and distributed systems, the idea of managing multiple containers across a cluster was incredibly appealing. However, there was one significant challenge: limited resources. Traditional Kubernetes clusters require substantial computing power and memory, which wasn’t feasible with my current setup. That’s when I discovered K3S - a lightweight Kubernetes distribution designed specifically for resource-constrained environments. ...

The Challenge: Network-Wide Privacy Protection The AdGuard project addresses a fundamental privacy concern: “How can we protect our entire network from tracking, ads, and malicious content?” This isn’t just about browser extensions - it’s about implementing DNS-level protection that works across all devices and applications. 🛡️ What I Built AdGuard provides comprehensive network protection: DNS Filtering: Block ads and trackers at the DNS level Privacy Protection: Prevent data collection and tracking Malware Protection: Block malicious domains and content Parental Control: Filter inappropriate content Custom Rules: Create personalized filtering rules 🛠️ Technical Implementation Docker Deployment version: '3.8' services: adguard: image: adguard/adguardhome:latest container_name: adguard restart: unless-stopped ports: - "53:53/tcp" - "53:53/udp" - "3000:3000" volumes: - ./work:/opt/adguardhome/work - ./conf:/opt/adguardhome/conf DNS Configuration Custom DNS server setup Upstream DNS provider selection Filter list management Query logging and analytics 🎯 Key Benefits Network-Wide Protection: Works on all devices Performance: Minimal latency impact Customization: Flexible filtering rules Privacy: No data collection or logging Reliability: High availability setup 💡 What I Learned DNS protocol and filtering techniques Network security and privacy protection Docker container management Custom rule creation and management Performance monitoring and optimization The AdGuard setup provides essential privacy protection while maintaining network performance and reliability.

The Challenge: Bringing Chess to the Web The Game Chess project was born from a desire to combine classic game logic with modern web technologies. “How can we create an engaging chess experience that works seamlessly in the browser?” This wasn’t just about building a simple game - it was about implementing complex chess rules, creating an intuitive interface, and providing a smooth multiplayer experience. ♟️ What I Built The Chess Game is a comprehensive web application featuring: ...

The Challenge: Scaling Manual Testing The Test Automation Framework project was born from a common problem in software development: “How do we ensure quality at scale when manual testing becomes a bottleneck?” This wasn’t just about writing automated tests - it was about creating a comprehensive framework that could handle complex web applications, provide reliable results, and integrate seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines. The project combines Python’s power with Selenium’s web automation capabilities to create a robust, maintainable, and scalable testing solution. ...