Have you ever sunk a weekend into fixing a Linux system that broke after you applied an update or lost track of configuration tweaks that you made? Maybe you forgot…

The post Why You Need an Immutable Home Lab Server OS appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

I continue to get more and more excited about the mini PC space and what is possible in the small form factor of computing. I am still rocking two MS-01’s…

The post Minisforum MS-02 Ultra Has Insane Home Lab Potential with 256GB RAM, Triple PCIe, and 25Gb Networking appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

What are we talking about? Keep a home lab safe??? Well, it is easy to get carried away when you run a home lab. The whole point of having one…

The post How I Keep My Home Lab Safe While Experimenting with New Tools appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

There is no question that Terraform is my favorite infrastructure as code tool in the home lab for standing up infrastructure. Ansible is my favorite for configuration management. With Terraform,…

The post Best Terraform Modules for Home Labs in 2025 appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

We have exciting times to be able to run a home lab with all the automation, AI, and other tools available to us to use. In fact, I am more…

The post How I Built a Self-Healing Home Lab That Fixes Itself appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

In case you haven’t seen the news, TrueNAS announced a new open beta of a new and exciting app called, TrueNAS Connect. It is a hosted, management interface that is…

The post TrueNAS Connect Open Beta Just Dropped and its A Game-Changer for Home and Enterprise NAS appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

I think all of us are looking for very cool tools that can add modern dashboards to Proxmox and to help monitor what is going on with your Proxmox host,…

The post This Free Tool Gives Proxmox the Monitoring Dashboard It Always Needed appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

Every accomplishment in the home lab starts with curiosity about various technologies. That to me, is the spark that motivates all of us. We want to try new things, break…

The post Weekend Home Lab Challenges to Level Up Your Skills appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

Linux is one of the best choices for self-hosting applications. It is generally very fast, lightweight, and lacks the bloat of other operating systems like Windows Server OS when it…

The post Best Lightweight Linux Distros for Home Server appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

There is no question that one of THE most important parts of your home lab is the networking component. Home labs are like real production environments. If the network is…

The post Home Lab Networking 101: VLANs, Subnets, and Segmentation for Beginners appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

With most running Proxmox or leaning towards running Proxmox in the home lab for the foreseeable future, running Docker containers on top of a Proxmox environment is a given. Proxmox…

The post How to Run Docker on Proxmox the Right Way (and Avoid Common Mistakes) appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

Backups are never the “fun” part of a home lab and honestly it may be one of the last things you think about. I know for me the most exciting…

The post Ultimate Home Lab Backup Strategy (2025 Edition) appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

When I say that my home lab has changed over the years, that is definitely an understatement. It has gone through several iterations of build outs. Most of the upgrades…

The post The 5 Home Lab Upgrades that Changed Everything for Me appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

I have been playing around with and using OPNsense for a while now and it is a rock solid open-srouce firewall that can do just about anything you want to…

The post The OPNsense Plugin You Must Install in 2025: Zenarmor Guide & Review appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

DNS is absolutely one of the core critical services in your home lab environment. It isn’t flashy or the “next new thing” but if DNS isn’t working, nothing else will…

The post Why I run multiple DNS servers in my home lab (and you should too) appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

Since I have moved my home lab now to mostly mini PCs, I definitely keep my eyes open for great mini PC configurations and offerings that make sense for home…

The post MINIX Elite EU715-AI Review The Mini PC Designed for AI and Home Labs appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

Reverse proxies I think are one of the most important services that you can spin up in your home lab. In fact, if you caught my recent blog post and…

The post Why Pangolin is the one reverse proxy I’d pick if I was starting my home lab today appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

Recently, I covered the first services that you should spin up in a home lab, including core services that are needed to make sure things work as expected with apps…

The post The First Hardware I Always Buy for Any Home Lab appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

I have been testing a lot of reverse proxies lately, comparing features, and thinking about which ones are best for which use cases. For a long while, I have thought…

The post Nginx Proxy Manager vs NPMplus Which One is Better for Your Home Lab? appeared first on Virtualization Howto.

Docker Desktop is a great tool to run containers locally. It also provides a great interface to work with your containers and many features. While we may choose to run…

The post Best Docker containers for Docker Desktop in 2025 appeared first on Virtualization Howto.