// Finance
Actual Budget
Personal zero-based budgeting so I know exactly where my hardware and domain funds went.
FreeBSD Environment
Self-Hosted
Personal Lab
Hello, welcome to my homelab.
A small corner of the internet where I run, break, rebuild, and learn from self-hosted services. Everything here is configured by hand, maintained with genuine technical curiosity, and running until I decide to tweak something at 2 AM.
Operational State
Sometimes stable. Always educational.
Host Platform
UNIX / FreeBSD Stack
Visibility
Selected Public • Private Preserved
Currently Running
What's living in the lab
A collection of self-hosted services currently running in this environment that make sense to share publicly.
// Dashboard
Homepage
A unified, clean jumping-off point for services living across the local network.
// Observability
Gatus
Automated service and endpoint health monitoring to watch what should stay alive.
// Notifications
ntfy
Self-hosted push notifications dispatching alerts from lab scripts directly to my phone.
// Audio
Navidrome
Lightweight personal music streaming server for curated local albums and late-night focus.
// Media
Jellyfin
Open-source media system serving movies, series, and anime without telemetry or commercial tracking.
// Storage
Copyparty
Fast, remarkably portable file server for quick file sharing and transfers without bulky overhead.
// Telemetry
Cacti
Classic SNMP network monitoring and interface bandwidth graphing to analyze traffic patterns.
// Resolver
DNS Stack
Local recursive resolving and ad filtering stack ensuring fast, private, and deterministic queries.
// Ingress Gateway
Reverse Proxy
The entry gateway managing TLS certificates, edge security headers, and reverse routing for selected services.
Behind the Scenes
What about the rest?
This isn't everything running in the lab. A few other services are humming along privately behind the scenes and aren't listed on this page. They seem much happier that way, and honestly, so am I.
The OS Choice
Why FreeBSD over Linux?
Linux is everywhere, but FreeBSD possesses an architectural coherence and engineering discipline that, once understood, is hard to leave behind.
Inspiration & Homage
Andy Hidayat // Lord Daemon
Inspired by Andy Hidayat (Lord Daemon)
My journey into FreeBSD was sparked by Andy Hidayat, widely known as "Lord Daemon" in the Indonesian networking community. His dedication to teaching foundational UNIX principles, BSD network architecture, and unbloated computing proved that architectural elegance and rock-solid reliability always triumph over transient hype.
// Architecture
A Complete OS, Not Just a Kernel
Linux is a kernel distributed with ever-shifting init systems and userlands. FreeBSD is engineered as one unified whole: kernel, core libraries, user utilities, and documentation all moving together in lockstep.
// Isolation
Native ZFS & VNET Jails
Lightweight, battle-tested isolation with its own independent network stack per jail (VNET) and first-class ZFS snapshots baked directly into the base system—zero heavy container daemon overhead.
// Networking
Predictable Networking & PF
Packet Filter (PF) syntax is clean, logical, and human-readable. FreeBSD’s network stack provides deterministic routing, high throughput, and zero surprising iptables/nftables layer complexity.
// Documentation
The FreeBSD Handbook
Official documentation is treated as a core product. Every knob in rc.conf and loader.conf is documented with authoritative clarity, eliminating guesswork and out-of-date blog tutorials.
Lab Ethos
Why this exists
Running a homelab is less about reaching a final finished state, and more about the ongoing process of understanding systems from the ground up.
01 // OWN
Own the Stack
Hosting services locally means knowing exactly where data resides, how it is stored, and how packets flow.
02 // LEARN
Understand Mechanics
Plain text configs and readable man pages beat opaque cloud dashboards whenever you want real fundamentals.
03 // BREAK
Break with Purpose
Breaking something during late experiments can be inconvenient, but troubleshooting the root cause is where knowledge sticks.
04 // REBUILD
Rebuild It Better
Iterating on mistakes leads to simpler architectures, cleaner networks, and systems that consume fewer watts.