I'm Ariel, a tech enthusiast and hobbyist coder. Welcome to my blog. I mostly write for my own reference about self-hosting, Linux, web development, and really just anything tech that I've learned over many years of tinkering. Each time I learn how to install or run a new thing, I type it up and publish it here. I hope my writings will be helpful to you. Thanks for visiting!
Featured Articles
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Set up Pi-Hole for network-wide ad blocking and Unbound for recursive DNS (Updated for Pi-Hole v6)
Besides just using a browser extension for ad blocking, I've been using Pi-Hole for years to prevent all devices on my network from getting ads, and stopping smart home devices from phoning home for telemetry and tracking. Pi-Hole will run on almost anything that can run Linux, is very easy to set up, and super effective with the right blocklists.
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Comprehensive guide to setting up Tailscale to securely access your home network from anywhere
Accessing self-hosted services from outside the home can be a challenge, especially when dealing with CGNAT and having to forward ports from the router. It can be complex to manage and potentially dangerous to your home network's privacy and security if not done right, but Tailscale makes it easy to set up encrypted peer-to-peer connections between devices across different networks. In this guide I will explain how I use Tailscale as a VPN for secure remote access to my home network.
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How to securely expose Plex from behind CGNAT using Tailscale and a free Oracle VM
I wrote before about securely exposing Plex for external access, but my previous solution relied on Cloudflare Tunnel and it was technically against their TOS. So I switched to using a Oracle VM on their free-tier, connecting it to my home network with Tailscale, and exposing Plex via reverse proxy. It works like a charm!
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Setting up a reverse proxy for HTTPS with a custom domain using Nginx Proxy Manager, Pi-Hole and Cloudflare
I've used a reverse proxy to access my self-hosted apps and services for years, but I recently re-did everything from scratch and decided to write it down. When done, we'll be able to access our apps and services through a custom domain, with unique sub-domains for each app or service, with full HTTPS and accessible only locally.
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How to use Solid Explorer app to access SMB network shares from an Android device
There are many File Managers/File Explorers on the Google Play Store, but I wanted to easily access the Samba share on my server while on my home network. Solid Explorer is the solution I went with and it works well, so here is a quick guide to setting it up.
Categories
Recent Posts
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Setup Apt-Cacher NG as a caching proxy server in your homelab and configure your other Linux hosts to use it
If your homelab has more than a few servers or VMs running Debian-based distributions, it makes sense to set up a package caching proxy on one of your servers. This guide will show how to set that up, configure your other Linux hosts, and optionally how to use Ansible to automate configuring those other hosts.
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How to remove CasaOS from a ZimaBoard and upgrade to Debian 12 Bookworm
ZimaBoard is an x86 single board server that comes running Debian 11 Bullseye and CasaOS. It's a cool little machine, but after a few months I realizes I don't like CasaOS. Nothing against it, I'm just set in my way of doing things, and their GUI was limiting some of my options. In this post I'll explain how to remove CasaOS and then upgrade to the latest version of Debian.
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How I set up a home server for self-hosting and as a NAS with secure remote access via Tailscale
I turned my old Dell PC into an all-in-one home server and network attached storage to self-host all my data, my photos, and my media library, running Home Assistant, Plex and other services, all securely accessible from outside my home with Tailscale.
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Setting up a reverse proxy for HTTPS with a custom domain using Nginx Proxy Manager, AdGuard Home and Cloudflare
I've used a reverse proxy to access my self-hosted apps and services for years, and used Pi-Hole as my home network DNS for even longer, but recently switched to AdGuard Home. That meant redoing all my DNS records within AdGuard so I could get my reverse proxy back up and running, and I decided to write down the steps I took. When done, we'll be able to access our apps and services through a custom domain, with unique sub-domains for each app or service, with full HTTPS and accessible only locally.
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How to factory restore a ZimaBoard
I've recently been playing around with ZimaBoard, a single board server running Debian and CasaOS. It's a cool little machine, but I accidentally broke something and had to factory reset. It's not a simple option in a some settings menu, the process involves flashing an image on the ZimaBoard, so I wrote down the steps I took.
Recent Links
- Jellyfin Type: self-hosted A personal media server for your videos, like Plex though with less slick UI, but it's fully open-source with no paid features.
- Plex Type: self-hosted A personal media server that provides a slick Netflix-like frontend for all your videos, automatically grabbing metadata, generating posters, etc. However, Plex is closed-source and they some lock features behind Plex Pass.
- Tautulli Type: self-hosted A web app that you can run alongside your Plex Media Server to monitor activity and track various statistics.
- IT-Tools Type: tool A suite of online tools for developers and IT professionals. Use the website or self-host it as a Docker container.
- Paperless Type: tool A document management system that transforms your physical documents into a searchable online archive so you can keep less paper.