Homelab
Foxmox: The Sleepy Proxmox Cluster
In the fall of 2003, I was learning Windows Server on a commuter train. Today, I have a miniature datacenter in my workspace. In my last post, I wrote about the small sparks that quietly shape a career. This is what thirty years of those sparks look like - not because everyone needs a Proxmox cluster, but because everyone benefits from having a place where it’s safe to learn. Continue reading ...
Sparks
We’ve all been asked the question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” My answer was easy – a pyrotechnician. Continue reading ...
Four Weeks with Hermes Agent
Four weeks ago, once the wave of OpenClaw discourse on my LinkedIn feed finally began to subside, I decided it was time to spend some serious time exploring AI agents. Continue reading ...
Minisforum N5 Pro: The Long Overdue Review
The team at Minisforum sent me an N5 Pro last summer, during my time at Lawrence Systems, with a request for a review. Continue reading ...
Homelab DNS Troubleshooting
DNS failures are deceptive. Everything looks broken - and most issues are straightforward once you know where to look. Every issue here is something I’ve run into personally. Continue reading ...
DNS and HTTPS in the Homelab: Moving Beyond IP Addresses
At some point, every Homelab runs into “IP address fatigue.” You start with a couple of services, and your bookmarks suddenly become a chaotic mess of IP addresses and ports that correspond to each service running. Continue reading ...
Homelab DNS: Running BIND with Docker
Getting BIND running in Docker takes minutes. Running it correctly takes a bit more. BIND is widely used and does one thing well; it provides domain name resolution services. It’s straightforward, easy to manage, and how I run BIND on my home network. By the time you’re done walking through the steps in this post, you’ll have multiple BIND servers answering for local domains and providing DNS resolution services on your network. Continue reading ...
Designing Your Homelab DNS
Now that we’ve covered the theoretical intersection of DNS and HTTPS and the benefits that come from each, it’s time to plan a solid DNS strategy. Before you go spinning up containers or editing configuration files, you need a design. Continue reading ...
Understanding DNS Records
A DNS zone is a text file containing a series of Resource Records, each following a standard format: [Name] [TTL] [Class] [Type] [Value] Continue reading ...
The Anatomy of DNS Zones: Roles and Functions
It’s helpful to divide DNS zones into two categories to properly understand them. The first category describes how the data is managed and replicated – the administrative role. The second category describes the direction of the lookup, or the functional role. To a DNS server, a zone is not “a domain” - it’s a boundary of authority. Continue reading ...