defoxicator

Brave New Network

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0200

At some point in life there is a time when old connections are long gone and we should embrace the new ones when they come. I am talking about the internet connection of course.

As part of my journey I decided to rebuild my home network. My starting point is a two-storey house and CAT 6 cables in the walls laid down by the construction workers. The rest is up to me. Please come, this article will be pretty basic for network nerds but will give you an insight into what was happening recently.

Choose Your PokeOS

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0200

So, when you start wondering about your operating system it is good to at least understand the options laid before you to make informed decisions. All of the most popular OSes have some advantages and disadvantages and I will try to at least give you my subjective view on them in this article. I will cover the three most popular flavors of desktop OS here: Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS and GNU/Linux in general.

Running in the 90s (Gitlab Runner)

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0200

We are building our own infrastructure to have something personal. So the question comes - should we rely fully on external infrastructure if we do not have to? My answer to this question is simple: If I can run something myself then I will at least try to. That includes the CI/CD infrastructure.

To be frank, I do not feel ready to fully host my own git repository BUT little step is better than none. There comes the GitLab Runner which is being spin up whevener we want to build something using GitLab’s robust CI/CD. That includes the site you are on right now.

Virtually New Machine

Mon, 18 May 2026 08:00:00 +0200

Linux Containers are nice, but sometimes you just need something more. Something more dedicated, something more standalone, something more… similar to a regular server?

There are multiple reasons why you would like to go with a Virtual Machine (VM) over a Linux Container (LXC) in your endeavours. Maybe your service does not work nicely in a shared environment (containers are sharing the kernel with the host :)) or maybe you are just old school and want a dedicated system.

Futro is now, old man (ProxmoxVE)

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0200

Having one system under your control is fun. Having multiple is even better. Having multiple (virtual) systems on your multiple systems is just another level.

To ascend in the homelab space you WANT to have the latter and I am here to bootstrap you for the futro… I mean future. With a hypervisor. Your own. On your own hardware.

Hardware - Fujitsu Futro S920

Wyse Decision (2/2) - PiHole and Traefik

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 19:00:00 +0100

Welcome to the second part of the Wyse Decision series where we tackle the setup of the first HACK server. As we already have the platform done, we can start putting services on it.

Software overview

Ansible

If you would like to read a brief introduction to Ansible I highly recommend this part of the previous article.

Wyse Decision (1/2) - Docker on Ubuntu Server

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 18:30:00 +0100

Today we are going to set up the first node of the homelab.

I got some hardware and would like to turn it into a private DNS server, DHCP server (due to my router’s limitations) and a reverse proxy to have a routing solution for the internal services on URL basis instead of IP addresses. For the DNS / DHCP / AdBlocker we will use PiHole, for reverse proxy Traefik and we will put it there as Docker containers. Of course there will be a twist, namely Infrastructure As Code, because that’s what we are doing here. :)

Homelab As Code, Kid

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0100

So you would like to have a homelab? And keep infrastructure as code? You are a madman… for not trying it earlier!

Also, I needed to come up with some catchy abbreviation for the initiative. Please be introduced to “Homelab As Code, Kid” a.k.a. HACK, because the only more important IT thing than TLA (Three Letter Abbreviations) are TLAE (Three Letter Abbreviations Extended).

First things first. What is a homelab after all?

Blog as Code

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0100

Hello and welcome!

Today I would like to introduce you to the concept of BaC - Blog as Code. Under this name I see the very site you are looking at.

Let’s take a closer look at that construct. The building blocks are as follows:

git - locally installed version control engine
Hugo - static site generator
GitLab - platform that we will be using for our static website. We’ll need an account there
GitLab Pages - a way of hosting static sites on GitLab platform
GitLab CI - a way to deploy (and test) our static page to the world
Sheer curiosity - this is already there, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this :)

If you want to read a little bit more about a subject and / or prefer to hear from the experts instead of some self-proclaimed guy on the web - the links are there upstairs - Have fun!

Hello, World!

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

print("Hello, World!")

I am here now and I intend to stay.
I am Albert, an IT professional and amateur at the same time. On this site I will be sharing some tips, tricks, my homelabbing journey and anything else that will come to my mind and (possibly) is at least computer-related.

“Do or Do Not, There is no Try” - Yoda

With that quote in mind the life goes on. It started my IT career, it started my interest in security, devops, homelabbing and so on. It started THIS website. It is small for now. It is plain. At the same time it is cozy and allows for sustainable growth. The kind that we should all strive for and the one that is getting harder with all the tools and software around us trying to catch our attention and change the life forever. There was a cloud exodus (this one succeeded), there is an AI boom (the future will tell). There are also plenty of COBOL programmers making a living on ‘ancient’ systems.
There are also many shades of grey in between and most of us are falling there. I do at least.