Home Networking
Native IPv6 on OPNsense: DHCPv6-PD & VLAN Subnets
Configure native IPv6 on OPNsense: DHCPv6 prefix delegation, SLAAC on subnetted VLANs, firewall rules, and how to verify the delegated prefix works.
Building a home network and a lab that behave, using gear a household can actually justify buying.
Network Services & Security
WireGuard VPN: Route Traffic Through Home, Then Verify It
Set up a WireGuard road-warrior tunnel with protected keys, working DNS, scoped forwarding, and explicit IPv4/IPv6 verification.
Home Networking
OPNsense Multi-WAN Failover That Actually Works: Gateway Groups, Sticky Connections, and DNS
Multi-WAN failover tutorials promise resilience but deliver flaky fallback, broken DNS, and dead sessions when a link flaps.
Network Services & Security
When Pi-hole Blocks a Site You Need: Whitelist, Wildcards, and Regex That Actually Work
Fix Pi-hole overblocking: learn exact whitelisting, wildcard rules, and regex overrides—plus the query log step most people skip.
Network Services & Security
How to Block DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) on Your Network to Enforce Pi-hole
DoH tunnels DNS through port 443, bypassing Pi-hole entirely. Block it at the network with firewall rules, DNS hijacking, and domain poisoning.
Home Automation
Automated Home Assistant Backups to a Remote NAS with Samba and the Backup Integration
Set up automated Home Assistant backups to a remote NAS over Samba. Off-device snapshots, no cloud fees, and a restore drill for real recovery.
Network Services & Security
Migrating from Pi-hole to AdGuard Home: DNS-over-HTTPS and Advanced Filtering
Step-by-step migration: Pi-hole to AdGuard Home for native encrypted DNS, advanced filtering, and fewer moving parts. Back up, convert lists, verify.
Home Networking
OPNsense Firewall Rules: Isolate IoT Devices with Aliases and Schedules
Block IoT devices from your LAN and restrict internet by schedule using OPNsense aliases. A 30-second auditable ruleset with zero raw IPs.
Home Networking
Bridging the VLAN Gap: Set Up an mDNS Repeater for Cross-VLAN Discovery in Home Assistant
When your IoT VLAN breaks discovery, an mDNS repeater is the fix. Set one up so Home Assistant sees all your devices, no firewall rules needed.
Home Automation
Integrating Zigbee2MQTT with Home Assistant: Local Control Without the Vendor Hub
Stop juggling vendor hubs. Use Zigbee2MQTT and a USB dongle to bring every Zigbee device under local Home Assistant control—no cloud accounts needed.
Home Lab & Self-Hosting
The SMR Drive Trap: Slow ZFS and How to Avoid It
Shingled magnetic recording drives can silently cripple ZFS pools with timeouts, faults, and multi-day resilvers. Here's how to spot and avoid them.
Network Services & Security
Encrypt All Home DNS with a dnsdist DoH Proxy
Set up a lightweight dnsdist proxy to encrypt all home DNS over HTTPS. No per-device changes—ditch ISP snooping with one privacy-respecting forwarder.
Home Lab & Self-Hosting
Self-Host Your Bookmarks with Linkwarden: Beat Link Rot
Deploy Linkwarden with Docker, preserve bookmarks as local archives, and back up its database, captures, and search data.