My home lab is where I do my learning!

It consists of a Linux server on repurposed hardware — an old laptop running a multi-service Docker stack that I use every day: media, music, and a document pipeline.

It’s the real system behind “I break things on my own server so nothing breaks on a production one.”

Right Now

                            ┌────────────────────────────┐
  laptop/desktop            │        HOME SERVER         │
  ───────────────           │  Debian 12 - old laptop    │
                            │                            │
  SSH (LAN)       ────────▶│  Docker ┌───────────────┐  │
  SSH over Tailscale  ────▶│         │ Jellyfin      │  │
                            │         │ Navidrome     │  │
                            │         │ Stirling-PDF  │  │
                            │         │ Downtify      │  │
                            │         └───────────────┘  │
                            │       systemd · UFW        │
                            └─────────────┬──────────────┘
                                          │ rsync
                                          ▼
                               config & document backups

Services

Running right now (Oct 2026)

  • Jellyfin - media server, streaming my tv shows and movies library
  • Navidrome - music streaming server, that I connect to using an Android client app called Reasonus (kind of a Spotify clone)
  • Stirling-PDF - a great PDF toolbox complement to the cli-tool pdfunite
  • Downtify - because sometimes it makes sense to store music locally

Other useful apps, not containerized

  • docling - document parsing pipeline (converting pdfs or yt videos to md has been great for learning!)
  • yt-dlp - also, because sometimes it’s easier to digest content if they’re stored locally
  • ollama - testing small local models. wouldn’t it be nice to run local AI models on your consumer devices?
  • rsync - great tool for copying and syncing between devices inside the same network (or even the same device. it’s such a powerfull cp command!)

Apps I tried in the past

  • OpenCloud and NextCloud - in the search for finding a great file sync and sharing between devices
  • Syncthing - same quest as mentioned before (sync across devices)
  • Immich - Self-hosted photo library, a replacement for Google Photos
  • Paperless-ng - I dream on having this service properly setup and fully functional for my needs
  • Pi-hole - I messed up a few times with this. It blocks ads and tracker but it might affect other users on your network (still need to configure it properly)
  • Portainer - it was great to see in a clean web page all the container management, but then I forced myself to be in the CLI

What it taught me

  • Linux administration (systemd, users, permissions, UFW firewall)
  • Remote administration over SSH or SSH via Tailscale — no exposed ports
  • Docker networking and volumes
  • Full container lifecycle: updates, permissions, and health in my hands
  • Backups of configuration and documents kept in sync with rsync
  • Shell scripting for automation
  • Backup strategies and cron jobs

Next

  • extending the lab with Terraform and Kubernetes
  • testing Podman as a Docker alternative
  • evaluating AWS vs Azure as my first cloud target.