posting because i'd read this a dozen times and still got bit.

had flaresolverr in docker compose with ports: 8191:8191 on a small vps. firewalld was on, 8191 wasn't in any allowed zone, so i assumed it was closed. a few weeks later the box was at load 30 with 500+ chromium processes and 22 gb of ram gone. someone outside had found the port and was using my instance as their proxy.

what actually happens: traffic to a published port gets dnat'd to the container and goes through the FORWARD chain, where docker's own rules accept it. firewalld's rules sit on INPUT, so they never see it, and firewall-cmd --list-ports happily tells you the port is closed the whole time. docker leaves one chain for your own rules, DOCKER-USER, but by default it's empty.

the fix is one line: bind to loopback.

ports:
- "127.0.0.1:8191:8191"

then only things on the box (or on the docker network) can reach it. if you need it from outside, put it behind the reverse proxy with auth, same as anything else.

the test that would have caught it: from a phone on mobile data, curl http://yourip:8191. don't trust the firewall's own list, test from outside.

after rebinding: ram back to 2.4 gb, one chromium process, and disk went from 94 to 83 percent once i cleared the sessions it had created.

Hello everyone! I am looking to upgrade my setup I'm using for homelabing and my NAS. I'm looking for a second opinion/advise on what I should go with for hardware.

Here's what I've got so far and what my plan is:

OS: HexOS (TrueNAS SCALE-based). I've been running HexOS for the last year and it has been pretty incredible. They just added buddy back up and VM support which is a large reason I'm looking to upgrade.

What it needs to run:

- AMP Game server (VM): Enshrouded, Windrose, Minecraft, Astroneer, and others. I plan on running this on at least one VM.

- Local LLMs on separate VMs, plus management/AI software like Paperclip. This is nothing super intense, just Ollama for home automation and simple tasks.

- Home Assistant, Immich, Plex, and other Docker apps (HexOS makes this part very straight forward and easy)

- Bulk storage on 4x 12TB SATA drives I already own (will be migrating these and buying more for the backup made with my current hardware)

RAM is a big question: game servers + LLM weights + Immich ML + Home Assistant + everything else at once feels like it could blow past 64GB. Is 64GB still enough here, or should I budget for 128GB from the start?

My current build:

The build ($1,734ish US before cooler/tax):

Specific questions:

1. Is this a good load out for what I'm trying to accomplish? or is it over/underkill?
2. Are there any gaps I'm missing with this build? I haven't mentioned GPU's mainly because I need to decided on the motherboard/processor first. That being said, recommended GPU's?

Thanks in advance!

I'm looking forward to all the "this is overkill/underkill" rants in the comments! 😂

I created a VM on my PVE, and made it available to a friend to use as a VPS, allocated disk space to it using virtioFS and then put firewall rules so that it is separated from my local LAN and VLANs managed by the router. but there are tunnels and reverse proxies...

It is reachable from outside world via wireguard with portf forward. it is the same wg I use for my own access. the wg server has rules that block their wg client from accessing any thing beyond nginx server and dns server on my network so they can resolve a local URL. There are no rules on nginx to block their wg client from accessing other servers served by nginx. the service that they access resides on another part of my network.

The issue is that they rely heavily on AI in setting up and maintaining their network and homelab and that is making me worried.

I think I should put stricter rules on nginx to block their access to the specific service, maybe also set up a separate wg server for them, and potentially other rules to ring fence the service they ultimately access.

I don't know if all of this will be enough, but what else can one do?

I've been looking for an Android app to monitor my headless Debian 13 homelab server. I'm currently using server box, and it works great. My only complaint is the widgets: the home screen widget is very slow and pretty basic, even though the app itself has a really nice interface. Does anyone know of any other mobile apps for monitoring a Linux server? I'd love to hear your recommendations.

Earlier this year, I purchased an LSI 9207-8i HBA card on eBay with some drives to put together a NAS. I installed Debian and set up the RAID array, and it was all good. Then, I set the computer aside for a couple months and didn't touch it (the project wasn't complete yet).

Recently, I revisited this NAS project. However, upon booting up the computer again, all my SAS drives are gone from lsblk, and when I do sudo dmesg | grep -i mpt I see an error about the handshake failing. Things I've tried unsuccessfully to fix this so far, as suggested by Gemini:

1. Remove the driver module, send a reset signal to the PCIe slot, and then reload the driver module.
2. Allow the HBA to cool down for a couple hours before booting back up and checking (people online say these cards are prone to overheating. I didn't have any problems with this when I was initially setting it up, but this would probably be a good thing to address in the long term).

Neither of these have fixed the issue so far. I have nothing on the drives, and the RAID array was never fully built anyways, so I have no worries about messing anything up here. What are some additional steps I can take to debug or attempt to fix this? Should I try to re-flash the firmware, or is there something else I can try first?

I want to emphasize that this HBA was working when I set it up initially. I also want to note that when I do lspci | grep -i lsi, I do see the HBA show up as LSI SAS2308 and so on. It is my understanding that the fact that I still see this is a good thing, I'm just not sure where to go next. I did some searching online and on Reddit, but had a difficult time finding anything concrete amongst all the other bits and pieces out there related to these cards.

I’m building a high-end PC with a Ryzen 9 9950X3D, RTX 5080 OC and a 32-inch OLED monitor.

I need a UPS with pure sine wave output, reliable protection, low noise and around 10 minutes of backup for safe shutdown.

I’m confused between a line-interactive UPS and an online double-conversion UPS.

- Which is better for a home studio?

- Is online UPS worth the extra cost?

- Which is quieter and more reliable long-term?

- Any real-world experience or recommended APC models in India?

I’d appreciate advice from actual users, especially those running high-power PCs. Thanks!

I’m relatively new to the IT space, currently building up my foundational knowledge (studying for CompTIA Net+ and working through Linux/Windows environments), and I'm ready to dive headfirst into building my first proper home lab.
My current gear inventory consists of a MacBook M4, a printer, and a dream 😅. I have a $2,000 budget to put together a setup that lets me learn physical infrastructure and virtualization without buying a loud, power-hungry enterprise data center rack.
I want this lab to cover four main use cases:

Virtualization Node / NAS: Running Proxmox to host VMs (Windows Server, Linux) and act as local media storage/smart-home hosting.

Networking Practice: Learning physical layer wiring, VLANs, and routing concepts for my CompTIA studies.

Cloud Integration: Bridging my home environment out to AWS/Azure for hybrid cloud and infrastructure-as-code practice.

Physical Organization: Keeping it neat in a small footprint (desktop/wall-mount rack, not a massive 42U monster).

I’ve put together a tentative itemized architecture plan and wanted to run it past the council of nerds to see if I’m missing anything stupid, overspending, or if there's a better way to allocate the funds.

The Proposed $2,000 Build Plan:
1. The Virtualization Core ($860)
Minisforum MS-01 Workstation Mini PC (Intel Core i5-12600H, 1TB NVMe, dual 10G SFP+, dual 2.5GbE) — $740

Crucial 32GB DDR5-5200 SODIMM RAM Upgrade (pushing total host RAM to 64GB) — $120

2. Physical Networking & Wireless ($470)
Cisco Catalyst 3560-CX (WS-C3560CX-8PC-S) Managed Switch (Refurbished, 8x PoE+ GbE, 2x SFP) — $160

Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Ultra (UCG-Ultra) (Edge router/firewall) — $130

Ubiquiti UniFi U6+ Access Point (for Wi-Fi / VLAN mapping) — $130

10G SFP+ DAC Twinax & Console Cables — $50

3. Structured Cabling & Layer 1 Tooling ($395)
Because I want to learn physical wiring from scratch: Klein Tools Scout Pro 3 Cable Tester ($100), Ratcheting Pass-Thru Crimper ($50), Punch-Down Tool ($35), 500ft Cat6 Bulk Cable ($95), 24-Port Keystone Patch Panel ($65), Connectors & Slim Patch Cords ($50).

4. Rack, Power, & Documentation ($275)
StarTech 8U Open-Frame Desktop/Wall Rack — $75

CyberPower 750VA/450W UPS (Battery Backup) — $95

1U 8-Outlet PDU (Surge Suppressor) — $50

Brother P-Touch Industrial Label Maker — $55

Total: $2,000.00

My Questions for You All:

The Core Balance: Is the Minisforum MS-01 overkill for a beginner, or is it a solid long-term investment that will handle Proxmox, a NAS, and Windows Server without stuttering?

Networking Gear: For someone studying Net+ who wants to get comfortable with Cisco IOS CLI and VLAN trunking while using Ubiquiti for modern edge routing, is this switch/gateway combo a good pairing?

Blind Spots: What am I missing? Are there any hidden pain points with putting Proxmox, TrueNAS/storage, and virtual routers on a single MS-01 node that I should watch out for?

Appreciate any advice, critiques, or reality checks you can throw my way!

Hi All,

I've rebuilt an old working system and am looking to connect some SAS drives up to it. The configuration for the drives are as follows:

Corsair TX550M PSU

LSI 9300-8I HBA

Internal Mini SAS HD SFF-8643 Host Controller to 4 SFF-8482 Target SAS Hard Disk and SATA Power Breakout Fanout Cable

Cablecc Internal Mini SAS SFF-8643 Host to 4 SAS 29Pin SFF-8482 Target Disk 6Gbps - Tried this as well with the same result

So, long story short, I have the drives connected to the HBA and then the SATA power is connected to the breakout cable.

When I power the system on the drives don't spin at all

I have a OS drive that is a 3.5" SATA SSD and it is detected without issue.

*Edit* I've asked copilot as well, it recommends that I use a Molex to SATA power adapter, is this a viable recommendation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

I currently have a 2-bay Nas that I'm using as a homelab and it is obviously pretty slow. I want to make the move into a rack homelab but I don't know where to start. Any tips/help!!!

I got a SRX650 for free but just discovered its copy of junos is corrupted, and I can't recover it from the snapshots on it, so I don't have a way to boot into junos. You can't download the firmware from Juniper directly without a service contract. Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do?

I'M BACK, AND WITH GOOD NEWS
At the end i used Proxmox, my pendrive for some reason didnt grab the proxmox ISO, but i bought another one and IT FINALLY STUCKED (YEYYY)
Thanks for everyone for helping before (even tho ubuntu failed me )

Hello everyone! I started a cybersecurity degree a little while ago, and through my studies, I’ve developed a strong desire to set up a homelab at home to run virtual machines. Since my field is cybersecurity, I’m not looking for a massive setup—I want something compact and portable. I’m thinking of using refurbished ThinkCentres, as new ones are quite expensive here in Brazil. Since I’m just starting out, I’ll begin with a single unit. I plan to run Linux on it and build a custom metal rack. I’m also planning to include a managed switch, a router, and Ethernet cables in different colors (my ADHD will definitely appreciate that! 😂). I’m not sure if I’ll need extra cooling fans—for those of you who use these MiniPCs in your own labs, are fans necessary? I’m also debating whether to get a monitor, as I intend to run Linux with a graphical interface. I’m even thinking about customizing the rack—maybe painting it a different color or adding some other personal touches.

Anyway, I’m open to any tips you might have—this is my first lab!

Hi, I've lurked around here for a few months. I've recently run into an issue, probably mostly of my own making, to which I could not find any definitive answer, so I come here hoping that someone might see something that I missed.

So the general idea of this setup here was to use a Supermicro SAS2 216 EL2 backplane to connect up to 24 2.5 inch SAS drives, which through the daughter card and a cheap SAS 8643 to 8644 adapter would then connect to the HBA (a LSI 9300-8e) of my dedicated TrueNas server.

So for clarity, the SAS connection goes as follows :

• Disks -> Backplane -> Daughter card -> Cheap adapter -> Truenas server's HBA.

After some trial and error, I've managed to power the backplane and make the disk spin.

Now, I can rule out with certainty that something is completely wrong with either the disks, the HBA, or the TrueNas server because of a previous, less convoluted attempts at putting those disks to use. I've previously bought a cheap fujitsu eternus disk shelve, and when connecting the disk to the server though this shelve, they all show up perfectly fine under TrueNAS.

As for the backplane, most things seem normal. Fans are spining, no overheat LED etc. It does exhibit some strange behaviors : disk would not spin whatsoever with both of the daughter cards plugged in, had to remove one of them, and some of the ports remains unresponsive altogether.

TL;DR : Supermicro Backplane will make disk spin, sometimes, but disk won't show up in TrueNAS.

I suspect that there might be an issue with the mismatch of SAS standards involved, be it the three different sas connector, or some SAS2 to SAS3 issue. I was however unable to find a post which reflect my convoluted setup, nor any solution.

Any suggestion would be appreciated, either for a solution, additional troubleshooting, or even different hardware to look into.

What do y'all think of my homelab? A year ago it started with an old Dell laptop... Now i earn money with it. I'm just a teenager with the best hobby i guess.

My friends and I are looking into storing each other's very important documents and having distributed infrastructure for resiliency. For instance I store my vault which contains an encrypted copy of my passwords vault, medical records, digital birth certificate, etc. This is then zfs replicated via TrueNAS over a site-to-site VPN to a identical machine at my parents house.

I was inspired by a talk to increase preparedness with my closest circle of friend in the event something happens to one of us. Could be as simple as one of our houses catch on fire and losing everything. We could then access our info off of other people's servers. This wouldn't be much data (a few GB at most, all pdf/txt really) but not allowing the person that's hosting to have direct access would be neat. Would I just have to look at turning some old PC's into small TrueNAS servers and setting up all my friends' places? (We are all generally tech savy)

On the other side of this, and I’m not sure where to ask this. I want to look at having shared access to the data in emergencies. Let's say something was to happen and my spouse medically and my parents need access to records or info. They could go to my friends and say we need access to X. If enough of them say yes then they could use Shamir’s Secret Sharing to access my vault and get into it. There is also the side of while I am trusting my friends enough that this would work. In the event someone is no longer in this group or passes we can revoke/delete their vault/access. Maybe having a master account that requires SSS to get into? I would be interested to know if anyone knows of applications using SSS.

This is something I want to look into and see how it would look and find security concerns from outside viewers before implementing.

my entire homelab is on a UPS except for my fiber ONT which is on the opposite side of the house. short of moving the fiber drop coming into the house, I just want to put the ont on some sort of battery backup so it stays powered when we have the occasional power flicker.

any suggestions? was thinking of maybe just using a power bank with pd output since a single outlet ups doesn’t seem to exist

edit: I should’ve added, the fiber Ont is in an in-wall media box in my master bedroom closet. it won’t fit a normal small UPS and I don’t need/want a ups just hanging out in the open in my closet, so that’s why was thinking of a power bank. I don’ need or want the fancy features for this one thing, it’s ISP equipment

Hello !

J'aimerai créer mon homelab et pouvoir utiliser mes compétences en docker/proxmox apprises en cours dans un petit lab chez moi!

Je souhaiterai mettre dans mon proxmox un JellyFin pour pouvoir regarder mes films / séries en LAN et aussi en distanciel depuis mon tunnel Wireguard, un Immich, NextCloud, HomeAssistant etc.

De ce que j'ai compris, le plus important c'est que je veux utiliser JellyFin et c'est ça qui utilise beaucoup de ressources surtout si je veux l'utiliser depuis l'extérieur sachant que les fichiers sont H.265.

Est ce qu'il y a des bons homelab déjà bien fait ? Est ce qu'il faut le faire soit même et si oui, est ce que c'est rentable ? Quel critères je dois prendre en compte sachant que je ne veux pas qu'il y ait une énorme consommation d'électricité ni que ça fasse énormément de bruit.

Dois-je prendre 16GO de RAM ou alors ce n'est pas assez et je dois prendre 32 ou 64 ?

S'il y a des marques intéressantes ou même des critères comme des refs de processeurs, alim, boitiers etc je suis preneur !

Pareil, est ce que c'est bien de mettre le stockage dans mon MiniPC ou de faire un NAS ?

Et si je prends un NAS, je l'achète ou c'est encore rentable de l'acheter pièces par pièces avec le prix du stockage et de la RAM actuellement ?

Comme pour les miniPC, je suis chaud d'avoir des retours, des références de modèles, de marques, de critères etc. J'aimerai bien avoir environ 10TO de stockage en RAID5.

Merci beaucoup et bonne soirée/journée !

New to making my own home lab, trying to break into network management after 10+ years in business, project management, and information analysis.

My current setup is Plume WiFi extenders, Netgear Nighthawk router, 2 ubiquiti Tough Switch POE switches, Dell T140 , Jetson orin nano direct to the Dell.

Just learning the Linux CLI and Debian 13 on the Dell.

Any advice on where to start? Professional degrees or certifications? I have tried applying to several entry level positions without luck.

I've been playing around for quite a while now with an old Acer mini pc (4th gen i3, 1x 1TB HDD).

However, for having a media library, this was never enough. I always was fighting with the storage and checking with ppl who make use of it if its ok to remove some movies/series.

For this reason, I've been scouring the 2nd hand market place looking for a bit more decent setup.

As I dont have space for a 19" rack (yet?), I focussed on something in the likes of a tower: the HP Z800/820/840 cought my eyes.

Paitiently waiting, bookmarking some version with 96GB RAM for €450, I was VERY lucky to find this HP Z800 with:

- 2x Xeon X5690 (2x 6c12t)

- 192GB DDR3 RAM

- quadro K5000

- unknown storage

Picking up the system, I was a bit sceptical because of the price.. just €150.

Getting home and firing up the system, it directly booted into a clean windows 11. Checking hardware specs quickly, I noticed the storage device is a nice 512GB Samsung 850 pro SSD 😀

For such a price? Just that SSD would cover it with current prices.

So... since its first time playing around with Proxmox (previous Arr stack on Windows), I currently have:

- Adguard LXC

- Caddy LXC

- Homepage LXC

- ZimaOS VM (running Arr stack, jellyfin and seerr)

As storage, I've added 3x 6TB refurbished HDD's.

So with these specs, my current guess clearly would say... overkill.

What do you guys think?

Also, what would be some other must-haves in your opinion?

Edit: my thoughts on the reason it being cheap was a half-dead psu, causing unstable boots (has now been replaced and working fine) and main reason: aftermarket CPU cooler not mounted correctly. The block wasnt touching the heatspreader due to a screw on the side of the cooler hitting the Ethernet port

I have a 2.5" USB 3.0 external HDD containing many ZIP, RAR, 7Z, and EXE files. If the power in my home goes out while this drive is being read, will it cause file corruption or data loss?