Tutorials

Automating Docker Updates: Watchtower vs Diun vs Manual Strategies Your homelab is running smoothly. Twenty containers, all humming along. Then a CVE drops for one of your images, and you realize you haven’t updated anything in three months. Docker containers don’t update themselves. Unlike desktop apps with auto-update prompts or Linux packages with apt upgrade, containers stay pinned to whatever image you pulled at deploy time. Without a strategy, your self-hosted stack slowly drifts into a graveyard of outdated software. ...

Self-Hosting Diun: Docker Image Update Notifications You’re running twenty Docker containers. One of them just got a critical security patch upstream. How long until you notice? If you’re using Watchtower, the answer is “automatically — it’ll update itself.” But automatic updates aren’t always what you want. Maybe you run a database that needs careful migration steps. Maybe you’ve been burned by a breaking change at 3 AM. Maybe you just want to know before you act. ...

Docker Volume Management: Backups, Migration, and Best Practices You’ve got a dozen containers running — Nextcloud, Jellyfin, Paperless-ngx, databases. Each one stores data in Docker volumes. But can you actually back them up? Migrate them to a new server? Clean up the dead weight? If you already understand the difference between volumes and bind mounts, this guide picks up where that leaves off. We’re covering the operational side: how to protect, move, and maintain your Docker volumes in production. ...

Docker Networking Explained: Bridge, Host, and Macvlan Networking is the part of Docker that trips up most self-hosters. Your containers need to talk to each other, to the host, and to the outside world — and Docker gives you several ways to wire that up. The three modes you’ll actually use: bridge (the default), host (skip Docker’s network layer entirely), and macvlan (give containers their own IP on your LAN). Each has tradeoffs, and picking the wrong one leads to hours of debugging. ...

Complete Guide to Docker Volumes and Bind Mounts Every self-hosted container you run — Jellyfin, Paperless-ngx, Nextcloud, your databases — needs to store data somewhere. Kill the container without persistent storage and everything’s gone. Docker gives you two main options: volumes and bind mounts. Understanding when to use each is one of the most important skills for any self-hoster. The Problem: Containers Are Ephemeral By default, any data written inside a container lives in its writable layer. When the container is removed, that data vanishes. This is by design — containers are meant to be disposable. ...

Automating Backups for Your Home Server: Complete Guide You’ve spent hours setting up your perfect home server with Docker containers, configuration files, and precious data. But what happens when a drive fails, ransomware strikes, or you accidentally delete something critical? Without automated backups, you’re one mistake away from losing everything. This guide will show you how to implement rock-solid automated backups for your home server using proven tools and the industry-standard 3-2-1 backup rule. ...

Want to securely access your home server and self-hosted services from anywhere? WireGuard is a modern, fast, and easy-to-configure VPN that’s perfect for home server setups. In this guide, I’ll walk you through setting up WireGuard from scratch. Why WireGuard? WireGuard has become the go-to VPN solution for self-hosters because: Fast: Uses state-of-the-art cryptography and minimal code Simple: Configuration files are just a few lines Lightweight: Runs efficiently on even low-power devices Secure: Modern encryption (ChaCha20, Curve25519, BLAKE2) Cross-platform: Works on Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android Compared to OpenVPN or IPsec, WireGuard is significantly easier to set up and maintain. ...

If you’re looking to break free from Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, Nextcloud is one of the best self-hosted alternatives available. It gives you complete control over your files, calendar, contacts, and more—all running on your own hardware. In this guide, we’ll walk through installing Nextcloud on Ubuntu Server from start to finish. What is Nextcloud? Nextcloud is an open-source, self-hosted file sync and collaboration platform. Think of it as your own private cloud that you fully control. Key features include: ...

Pi-hole is a network-wide ad blocker that works at the DNS level. Install it once, and every device on your network — phones, tablets, smart TVs, even IoT devices — gets ad-free browsing without installing anything on them. Why Pi-hole? Network-wide blocking: Works on every device automatically Blocks trackers: Not just ads, but analytics and telemetry too Faster browsing: Blocked requests = less data to load See what’s happening: Dashboard shows all DNS queries Free and open source: No subscriptions or fees Prerequisites You’ll need: ...