Beginners

Most people’s home network looks like this: an ISP-provided router sitting in the corner, doing everything — routing, DHCP, DNS, NAT, and whatever passes for a firewall in consumer networking gear. It works. Until it doesn’t. If you’re running a homelab, self-hosting services, or just care about what’s happening on your network, a proper firewall is one of the most valuable things you can add to your setup. And with tools like OPNsense, it’s more accessible than ever. ...

Proxmox is one of those tools that looks more intimidating than it is. The installation is straightforward, the web interface is clean, and within an hour of starting you can have your first virtual machine running. This guide walks through the full process from scratch. What you’ll need A machine to install Proxmox on (dedicated hardware or a repurposed PC) A USB drive (at least 2GB) for the installer A network connection (wired preferred for the install) A separate machine to access the web interface from Proxmox runs best on dedicated hardware — it’s a Type 1 hypervisor designed to be the only thing running on the machine. Don’t install it alongside another OS. ...

One of the biggest myths about homelabs is that they’re expensive. They don’t have to be. With a bit of patience and the right approach, you can build a capable setup for a fraction of the cost of buying new. Here’s how I do it. Start with what you actually need Before you buy anything, get clear on what you want to run. This sounds obvious but it’s where most people go wrong — they buy hardware first and figure out the use case later. ...