Run a Proxmox QDevice on Unraid with Docker
Shut down half a four-node Proxmox cluster without losing quorum, using a corosync QDevice built with Docker and hosted on Unraid.
Latest
Ansible Vault, Roles and the Road to Production
Encrypt secrets with Ansible Vault and keep them out of logs, refactor playbooks into a role, lean on lint and CI, and name what actually changes when this becomes real infrastructure.
Ansible Templates and Safe Configuration Rollouts
Render per-host configuration from Jinja2 templates, validate it before the service reloads into it, and roll the change across a fleet one host at a time with serial.
Deploy nginx with Ansible: Handlers, Reloads and Health Checks
Install nginx, deploy a page and meet handlers: the Ansible mechanism that reloads a service only when something actually changed, with a health check that fails the run when the service does not answer, verified against real systemd.
Manage Users, SSH Keys and Sudo with Ansible
Onboard and offboard users across a group of Linux servers with one playbook: accounts, SSH keys and sudo rules defined as data, applied with loops and validated before they land.
Write Your First Real Ansible Playbook: Baseline a Linux Server
Turn ad-hoc commands into a repeatable playbook that brings Linux servers to a known baseline, with check mode, diff mode and idempotence explained properly.
Understand Ansible Inventory, Facts and Ad-Hoc Commands
Learn how Ansible decides which hosts to manage, how to run ad-hoc commands against groups, and how to use facts to answer real operational questions.
Set Up an Ansible Practice Lab with Docker in Under 10 Minutes
Learn how to build a local, multi-host Ansible practice lab using Docker in under 10 minutes. Perfect for Windows, macOS, or Linux. No heavy VMs required.
Meet EkkoJS: The JavaScript Runtime That Doesn't Apologise for Starting Fresh
EkkoJS is a JavaScript and TypeScript runtime that trades backward compatibility for a cleaner slate. No CommonJS, no node_modules, no URL imports. This is a hands-on introduction covering the architecture, the permission model, and a working S3 demo built entirely from built-in modules.
Deploying Azure locally with OpenTofu and floci-az: my real test run
A practical walkthrough of running the OpenTofu azurerm provider against floci-az, including TLS, certificate trust, provider discovery, version notes, and what local Azure testing can and cannot prove.
Run AWS on Your Laptop: A 9-Part LocalStack Build Series (Part 8 - Terraform, tflocal, and GitHub Actions CI)
Provision the LocalStack stack from Parts 1-7 with Terraform, apply it with tflocal, and run integration tests in GitHub Actions CI. The capstone turns the series into a repeatable, tested workflow.
Run Your Own AI at Home and Access It Anywhere with LM Studio and LM Link
Run an AI model on your home PC or homelab with LM Studio, connect it with LM Link, and use it from an iPhone, iPad, laptop, or work PC without opening ports.
AWS
Run AWS on Your Laptop: A 9-Part LocalStack Build Series (Part 7 - Secrets Manager, KMS, and Secret Rotation)
Store API keys properly on LocalStack with Secrets Manager and a customer-managed KMS key. Build a Lambda that reads the secret at request time, rotate it, and watch the new value go live without a redeploy.
AWS
Run AWS on Your Laptop: A 9-Part LocalStack Build Series (Part 6 - EventBridge and Step Functions Photo Workflow)
Build a real Step Functions workflow on LocalStack: validate, fan out across parallel Lambdas, then notify via SNS. Trigger it manually, then wire it to an EventBridge schedule and watch it fire automatically.
SNS
Run AWS on Your Laptop: A 9-Part LocalStack Build Series (Part 5 - SQS, SNS, and a Dead-Letter Queue)
Build a real async job pipeline on LocalStack with an SNS topic, an SQS queue, and a DLQ. Watch a poison message retry three times, land in the DLQ, and inspect what to do next.
DevOps
Floci and Local AWS Emulation: A Tool I’m Curious to Try
After using LocalStack for years and publishing the first four parts of my local AWS series, Floci caught my eye: MIT licensed, no account required, and built around the same localhost:4566 workflow.
AWS
Run AWS on Your Laptop: A 9-Part LocalStack Build Series (Part 4 - API Gateway, Lambda, and JWT Auth)
Put a real HTTP API in front of the URL shortener from Part 2. API Gateway HTTP API, Lambda, a small JWT authoriser, and curl-based verification running on LocalStack.
AWS
Run AWS on Your Laptop: A 9-Part LocalStack Build Series (Part 3 - Lambda S3 Thumbnailer Pipeline)
Wire Lambda to S3 upload events on LocalStack. Upload a photo, get a 256px thumbnail in another bucket automatically, and learn the `localhost.localstack.cloud` networking gotcha before it wastes an evening.
AWS
Run AWS on Your Laptop: A 9-Part LocalStack Build Series (Part 2 - DynamoDB URL Shortener Data Layer)
Build the DynamoDB layer for a URL shortener on LocalStack: table design, atomic click counters, fixture loading, and a small Node CLI you can reuse. Part 3 detours into Lambda, then Part 4 wraps the shortener in an HTTP API.
AWS
Run AWS on Your Laptop: A 9-Part LocalStack Build Series (Part 1 - S3 Photo Uploader with Presigned URLs)
Build the first real app in the LocalStack series: an S3 bucket, CORS, presigned PUT URLs, and a tiny browser photo uploader.
AI
Docker's MCP Catalog and Toolkit: What It Is and Why It Matters
Docker has shipped a Toolkit and Catalog for the Model Context Protocol, plus a Gateway that fronts the lot. Containerised MCP servers, signed images, OAuth handled in-browser, and Profile Templates added in March 2026. Here's what it actually does and where it fits.
AWS
Run AWS on Your Laptop: A 9-Part LocalStack Build Series (Part 0 — Setup)
Photo uploads, a URL shortener, async jobs, scheduled workflows — all running on LocalStack on your laptop, all free. Part 0 of a 9-part series walks through the setup: Docker, auth token, AWS CLI, init-hooks. About 30 minutes from a fresh laptop to a working S3 bucket.
Fedora
Fedora 44 Is Out: GNOME 50, GCC 16, Ruby 4.0, and Wine That Just Works
Fedora 44 released 28 April 2026. GNOME 50, kernel 6.19, NTSYNC for Wine, GCC 16, Ruby 4.0, CMake 4 with ninja. What changed and how to upgrade safely.
Secure Self-Hosted OpenClaw AI Assistant: Step-by-Step Proxmox Template Guide with Tailscale Integration
Originally called Clawdbot, now rebranded as OpenClaw, it's an open-source AI that actually does things instead of just chatting. So this weekend, I set it up on my Proxmox homelab.