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- TrueNAS restores virtualization features ✨, CC Signals for AI 🤖, Netdata monitoring 📊
TrueNAS restores virtualization features ✨, CC Signals for AI 🤖, Netdata monitoring 📊
Issue 0004 - Defend and observe
👋🏽 Welcome
Welcome back, fellow homelabbers! I love seeing how your setups evolve with each project you share – there's something magical about watching a simple curiosity project transform into something you genuinely rely on.
What starts as a simple file server gradually becomes the backbone of your digital life – hosting family photos, managing home automation, and running critical services. The moment you'd genuinely panic if your homelab went down is when you understand why security matters, yet too often we treat these systems like playgrounds where security is an afterthought.
That's exactly why I've picked security and hardening as the theme for Issue 0004. This isn't about transforming your homelab into Fort Knox or sucking the joy out of experimentation – it's about building smart foundations that let you innovate confidently, knowing you've covered the fundamentals that will keep your lab and everything it protects secure.
Let's dive in.
⚡ News & Deals
Tailscale has announced the general availability of Tailnet Lock, enhancing network control. This feature enables administrators to ensure all nodes are signed by admin-controlled keys before gaining network connectivity. Following a "Trust On First Use" model, Tailnet Lock shifts the center of trust to the customer's network, minimizing reliance on the Tailscale coordination server after initial setup. New webhooks and private disablement secrets further streamline management and security.
TrueNAS is reintroducing the Virtualization management option in its upcoming 25.04.2 Fangtooth release, alongside the Instances. This update addresses community feedback, offering users more familiar KVM-based VM management and ensuring a smoother upgrade path from Electric Eel. The move aims to enhance flexibility and ease of use for virtual machine deployment.
Creative Commons introduces CC Signals, a new framework designed to foster an equitable AI ecosystem. This initiative allows creators to signal their preferences for content reuse by machines, acting as a technical, legal, and social tool. It aims to sustain the digital commons in the AI age, with public feedback currently sought ahead of a November 2025 alpha launch.
AOOSTAR is set to launch the WTR MAX at the end of March for $699. This professional-grade NAS features a PRO 8845HS processor with ECC memory support, accommodating 11 drives (5 SSDs, 6 HDDs). It includes dual 10G and 2.5G Ethernet ports, Oculink, USB4, and a front display for monitoring, positioning it as a versatile home NAS.
💬 Discussions & Tutorials
Jay from Learn Linux TV has released an 8 part series on Netdata, a comprehensive server monitoring solution, offering true real-time metrics and AI-driven root cause analysis. Its distributed architecture ensures unparalleled visibility, while keeping data at the edge significantly reduces costs and enhances operational efficiency. The platform also supports complete data sovereignty, ensuring compliance by keeping all data on-premises.
For maintaining home lab uptime and protecting against power outages, Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) are crucial. Network UPS Tools (NUT) enable automatic, safe system shutdowns when power is lost. A custom solution named WOLNUT by Hardware Haven can automatically restart systems using Wake-on-LAN once power is restored, utilizing a low-power Raspberry Pi to manage these critical functions, ensuring continuous operation and data integrity.
Automation Avenue walks us through self-hosting n8n, an open-source AI automation workflow software, allowing users to leverage its capabilities for free. AA provides three installation methods: a simple docker run command, a more persistent docker-compose.yml setup, and deployment as an LXC container on a Proxmox server using a community helper script. Each approach offers a distinct path to running n8n locally.
NetworkChuck recently prompted users on LinkedIn to share innovative n8n automation examples, and the community delivered. Submissions include graceful VM shutdowns via VMware vCenter API, scheduled Docker stack updates, and RSS feed scraping for threat intelligence sent to Discord.
🧰 Resources & Tools
Aralez, a reverse proxy and service mesh built with Rust on Cloudflare's Pingora, offers world-class performance and security. Key features include dynamic config reloads, automatic WebSocket and gRPC support, built-in authentication, and various load balancing strategies. It provides hot reloading and automatic TLS upstream detection, aiming to simplify complex network configurations and enhance efficiency.
Technitium is an open-source solution enabling users to self-host their DNS for enhanced privacy and security. It effectively blocks ads and malware network-wide, supports encrypted protocols like DNS-over-TLS/HTTPS/QUIC, and offers network insights with improved performance via caching. This versatile server provides greater control and works across various platforms with minimal configuration. It might just be time to switch away from Pi-Hole.
New pfSense installations can benefit from essential post-setup adjustments to enhance security and stability. Hayden James at Linux Blog outlines critical steps involved in expanding local and cloud backup configurations, switching to Kea DHCP, and enabling hardware crypto. Further system hardening includes leveraging RAM disks for temporary files, installing a service watchdog, securing the WebGUI, disabling the default admin user, and tightening login protection.
Frigate offers an open-source NVR solution for security cameras, leveraging local AI object detection to significantly reduce false positives. By processing feeds on-device, it enhances privacy and provides real-time alerts based on specific objects and zones. It seamlessly integrates with popular home automation platforms, offering robust, privacy-focused monitoring without cloud dependencies.
✨ Miscellaneous
Unraid marks its 20th anniversary, reflecting on its evolution from a home server solution to a global platform. Co-CEO Tiffany Jones and Director Eli Bosley discuss the shift to software, sustainable business models, and managing remote teams. Future plans include a public API, UI overhaul, and enhanced security, offering insights into Unraid's past, present, and upcoming developments.
DB Tech offers a comprehensive tour of his 2025 self-hosted homelab, revealing nearly 20 applications from essential tools like Vaultwarden and AdGuard Home to AI integration with Home Assistant. He details his Proxmox-based setup, including container management, update strategies, and reflections on retiring less-used services, providing valuable insights for both new and experienced self-hosters.
The Solidigm D5-P5336 122.88TB NVMe SSD sets a new benchmark for capacity, offering an immense 122.88TB in a 2.5" U.2 form factor. This PCIe Gen4 drive, utilizing 192-layer QLC NAND, features an impressive write endurance of 0.6 DWPD over five years, enabling substantial daily data writes. It is positioned as a high-capacity solution for server environments, prioritizing storage density.
Google has launched Gemini CLI, an open-source AI agent integrating Gemini directly into developers' terminals. This versatile tool offers free access with significant usage allowances, enabling tasks from coding and debugging to content generation and research. It's designed to enhance the command line experience and is extensible for customization.