The homelab, made understandable
Compute, storage, DNS and monitoring on hardware I can learn from. Documenting the decisions is part of operating it.
Debian media VM
Plex · Jellyfin · local ZFS
Pi-hole + Unbound
Monitoring · dashboards
The goal
Run useful services while understanding the dependencies underneath them. Keep service roles, storage ownership and reversible decisions visible.
What is built
A Proxmox host for VMs and LXCs, a Debian media VM, and a Raspberry Pi for lightweight network services. The documented overview records the hardware and service roles.
Architecture & approach
Proxmox provides isolation for the heavier workloads. Debian owns the media storage. The Raspberry Pi separates lightweight services from main-host maintenance. Beszel supplies host metrics; Uptime Kuma records availability.
Important decisions
Keep private access separate from the public site path. Use Tailscale for private remote access, and Cloudflare Tunnel with Nginx for the static site.
Difficulties & solutions
Storage and application boundaries made media troubleshooting harder. The Debian migration reduced those layers. Main-host maintenance motivated moving DNS to the Pi.
Current outcome
The last documented inventory is from August 2026. The lab continues through service changes, migrations and documentation.
Lessons learned
Useful documentation distinguishes an operating map from a recovery plan.
Project notebook
Why I Moved Plex and Jellyfin from TrueNAS to Debian