Homelab
A self-built private cloud running open-source services on low-power hardware.
A small mini PC at home that I turned into my own private cloud. It's where I put the Linux, networking, and security skills from my course into practice.
Stack and tools
Architecture
Setup
Proxmox VE on a Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny (i5, 32 GB RAM) with 20 TB of external storage, running virtual machines and LXC containers.
What it runs
Self-hosted media, photo backup, and music streaming, plus a local LLM agent sized to fit the hardware.
What I learned
Linux administration, containers and virtualisation, secure remote access, authentication, and getting the most out of limited hardware.
Key outcomes
- No inbound ports open on my router: private access goes over Tailscale, and the few public services go out through Cloudflare Tunnels.
- Every public service sits behind GitHub sign-in.
- A local LLM runs on CPU alone, with no dedicated GPU.