Homelab

11 articles in this pillar

Guide5 articles
·7 min

9 Docker Compose Patterns I Use in Every Homelab Stack

Practical patterns from a production 9-service monitoring stack — environment defaults, health checks, memory limits, and the small details that prevent 3 AM debugging sessions.

·10 min

Monitoring Proxmox with Grafana and Prometheus: A Practical Setup

How to monitor Proxmox VMs, LXC containers, node health, and storage from Grafana using the PVE Exporter and Prometheus, with pre-built dashboards and alert rules.

·10 min

Homelab Monitoring in 2026: Prometheus vs Uptime Kuma vs n8n + AI

A real comparison of three approaches to monitoring 10-30 Docker containers on 1-3 servers. What each tool actually costs, what it misses, and when to pick it.

·6 min

Every Backup Tool Promises Reliability. Here's How to Actually Verify Yours Can Restore.

Why automated restore verification is the missing piece in homelab backups, and how to implement it with temporary containers and health checks. Enterprise-grade confidence at zero cost.

·6 min

The 5 Docker Backup Profiles Every Homelab Needs (and the Label System That Configures Them)

A pattern-based guide to Docker backup strategies: 5 profiles for databases, critical services, configs, media, and general volumes -- all configured through container labels with per-service overrides.

Tutorial3 articles
·21 min

Deploy a Complete Homelab Monitoring Stack with Docker Compose: Grafana, Prometheus, Loki, and 23 Alert Rules

Step-by-step tutorial for deploying a 9-service monitoring stack on any Linux server. Prometheus for metrics, Loki for logs, Grafana for dashboards, Alertmanager for notifications, plus Proxmox and Uptime Kuma. One docker compose up and you have 7 dashboards and 23 pre-configured alert rules.

·11 min

How to Monitor Your Homelab Server with n8n and AI (Step-by-Step Setup)

Step-by-step guide to setting up a 32-node n8n workflow that SSHes into your homelab, collects 30+ metrics, analyzes them with GPT-4o-mini, and delivers a 4-embed health dashboard to Discord every morning.

·7 min

Deploy Automated Docker Backups with Restic: Encryption, Dedup, and One-Command Restore

Step-by-step tutorial for deploying a Docker-label-driven backup stack with restic encryption, automated restore verification, and health scoring. Two services, 11 scripts, 5 profiles, deployed in 15 minutes.

Build Log3 articles
·17 min

I Built a 9-Service Homelab Monitoring Stack and Shipped It as a Product — Here's the Full Build Log

A chronological build log of creating a complete homelab monitoring stack with Grafana, Prometheus, Loki, cAdvisor, Alertmanager, and Uptime Kuma — 9 Docker services, 7 dashboards, 68 panels, 23 alert rules. Every decision and error documented.

·11 min

I Built a Homelab Health Dashboard with n8n and AI — SSH Metrics, Docker Stats, and a Daily Digest That Actually Tells You Something

Build log of creating a 32-node n8n workflow that SSHes into your homelab, collects 30+ system and Docker metrics, analyzes them with GPT-4o-mini, and delivers a 4-embed health dashboard to Discord — plus 5-minute critical alerts.

·9 min

I Built a Docker-Aware Backup Stack with Automated Restore Verification — Here's the Full Build Log

A chronological build log of creating a Docker-label-driven backup orchestration system with restic encryption, deduplication, 5 profiles, and the homelab's first automated restore verification.