Home Lab
Networking, NAS, self-hosting, UPS and power, rack gear, and home server infrastructure that actually earns its rack space.
How to Make a UPS Shut Down a Home Lab Cleanly
A practical NUT plan for graceful home-lab shutdowns: size the UPS, protect the network path, set thresholds, and test recovery before an outage.
Oct 28, 2026
Do You Need a 2.5GbE Switch for a Home Lab? My Upgrade Rule
A practical 2.5GbE home lab upgrade guide: when a faster switch helps, when it does nothing, how to plan ports, PoE, VLANs, and uplinks without wasting money.
Oct 21, 2026
How to Choose a 2.5GbE Switch for a Home Lab
A 2.5GbE switch is not automatically an upgrade. I explain port counts, uplinks, management, cooling, and the NAS traffic that actually benefits.
Oct 19, 2026
How I Monitor a Home Lab UPS in Home Assistant
Connect a NAS or home server UPS to Network UPS Tools, expose battery and runtime sensors to Home Assistant, and get useful power-failure alerts without alert fatigue.
Oct 12, 2026
Do You Need a 2.5GbE Managed Switch for a Home Lab?
A 2.5GbE managed switch is useful for the right home lab, but not every NAS needs one. I explain uplinks, VLANs, PoE, heat, and when gigabit is enough.
Oct 9, 2026
How I Test a Home Lab UPS Before Trusting It
A practical UPS test routine for a NAS and home server: battery health, runtime, graceful shutdown, NUT alerts, and safe failure testing.
Oct 7, 2026
My 2.5GbE Home Lab Network: VLANs, Switches, and the Layout That Works
A practical 2.5GbE home lab network design with VLANs, managed switches, Wi-Fi, NAS traffic, and the mistakes that make fast networking unreliable.
Sep 25, 2026
How I Added VLANs to a 2.5GbE Home Lab Network
A practical 2.5GbE VLAN design for a home lab: isolate Home Assistant, servers, guests, and trusted devices without slowing NAS traffic.
Sep 14, 2026
Best 2.5GbE Managed Switches for a Home Lab in 2026
The best 2.5GbE managed switches for a home lab, with PoE, SFP+, VLAN, and fan-noise trade-offs explained for NAS and fast internet upgrades.
Sep 11, 2026
Wi-Fi 7 Travel Routers in 2026: What Changed Beyond Speed
Wi-Fi 7 travel routers are climbing Amazon's router list. Here is what changed, which features matter, and whether Beryl 7, Slate 7, or Roam 7 fits.
Sep 8, 2026
Can a Portable Power Station Replace a UPS for a Home Lab?
A portable power station can back up a NAS and home server, but transfer time and shutdown support matter more than battery size. Here is when it works.
Sep 7, 2026
You Do Not Need a 2.5GbE Router for Fast NAS Transfers
Upgrade a PC and NAS to 2.5GbE without replacing your gigabit router. The exact switch topology, parts, limits, and tests for faster local transfers at home.
Sep 4, 2026
Building a 2.5GbE OPNsense Firewall on a Protectli Vault: My Fanless Router Build
A real build log: OPNsense on a fanless Protectli VP2420 with four 2.5GbE ports. Hardware choices, install gotchas, and whether it beats a consumer router.
Sep 2, 2026
Beelink EQ14 Review: A 6-Watt N150 Mini PC That Runs My Home Lab
A hands-on Beelink EQ14 review: Intel N150, dual 2.5GbE, low idle power, and whether this cheap fanless-ish mini PC belongs in your Proxmox home lab.
Aug 31, 2026
I Built a Silent 2.5GbE NAS on an N100 Mini PC for Under $300
A build log for a fanless-quiet, low-power 2.5GbE NAS on a Beelink N100 mini PC. Hardware picks, why I skipped a real NAS, TrueNAS vs OMV, and real transfer speeds.
Aug 21, 2026
YuanLey 8 Port 2.5G Switch Review: The Cheap SFP+ Uplink That Anchored My Home Lab
Hands-on YuanLey 8 port 2.5G switch review: eight multi-gig ports, a 10G SFP+ uplink, fanless and silent. How the budget off-brand switch held up wiring a NAS and mini PCs.
Aug 17, 2026
Best 10GbE SFP+ Switch for a Home Lab in 2026: 5 Affordable Picks
The best affordable 10GbE SFP+ switches for a home lab in 2026, from the MikroTik CRS305 to QNAP and TP-Link, ranked by real value, noise, and fiber versus copper.
Jul 30, 2026
Best Budget NAS for Self-Hosting and Plex in 2026: 5 I Would Actually Buy
The best budget NAS for self-hosting, Plex, and a home lab in 2026, ranked by real transcoding, storage, and app value, with the Synology transcoding trap called out.
Jul 30, 2026
Best Mini PC for a Proxmox Home Lab in 2026: 5 Nodes I Would Actually Buy
The best mini PCs for a Proxmox home lab in 2026, from cheap used ThinkCentres to the Minisforum MS-01, ranked by real virtualization value, not spec-sheet hype.
Jul 30, 2026
Best PoE Switch for Home Lab Cameras and Access Points in 2026
The best PoE switches for home lab cameras and access points in 2026, from the UniFi USW Lite to budget TP-Link and Netgear picks, ranked by real power budget and value.
Jul 30, 2026
Building a Quiet Home Lab Mini Rack: My 10 inch Setup That Hides in Plain Sight
How I built a quiet 10 inch mini rack home lab: DeskPi RackMate T1, silent cooling, cable management, a rack PDU, and the mistakes I made so you can skip them.
Jul 30, 2026
Upgrading a Home Network to 2.5GbE on a Budget Without Ripping Out Cat5e
A practical build log for moving a home network and NAS to 2.5GbE cheaply, what actually needs upgrading, and where 2.5 gigabit is worth it and where it is not.
Jul 29, 2026
How to Pick a UPS for Your NAS and Home Server Without Overspending
A practical guide to choosing a UPS for a NAS or home server, sized correctly, wired to NUT for automatic safe shutdown, and monitored in Home Assistant.
Jul 29, 2026