Most home servers do not start with a reverse proxy. They start with one service on one port. Then another one appears. Then Uptime Kuma is on :3001 , a dashboard is on :8080 , something else wants :9443 , and before long the router has more port forwards than I am comfortable admitting. That is the point where a reverse proxy stops being a nice extra and becomes part of the basic plumbing. A reverse proxy gives you one clean front door for web services on a home server. It listens on normal web ports, handles HTTPS, receives requests for names like uptime.example.com or photos.example.com , and forwards each request to the right container or local service behind the scenes. Last updated: June 2026 This is not an enterprise load-balancer guide. It is a practical homelab comparison of Caddy , Nginx Proxy Manager and Traefik for Linux home servers, Docker hosts, old workstations, mini PCs and self-hosted services that should be reachable without exposing chaos. If you are ...

Last updated: June 12, 2026 SSH is usually the front door of a Linux home server. It is the thing you use when the web dashboard is broken, when Docker is misbehaving, when a service refuses to start, or when you need to fix something from another room with a laptop balanced on your knees. That also means SSH deserves more attention than most people give it. A home server does not need enterprise paranoia. It does not need a ten-page access policy, a hardware security module, and a dashboard full of red lights. But it does need a sensible SSH setup: key-based login, no direct root login, no password login when practical, firewall rules that limit who can connect, and a recovery plan so you do not lock yourself out of your own machine. This guide is the SSH hardening article I would follow for a small Linux home server, cheap homelab box, old workstation, mini PC, laptop server, or self-hosting machine running Docker services at home. If you are building the whole security s...

Most home servers do not fail loudly. They fail quietly. A Docker container stops. A dashboard becomes unreachable. A reverse proxy breaks. A disk fills. A service is technically running, but the web page is dead. You only notice when you actually need it, or when someone in the house complains that “the thing is not working again”. That is why I like Uptime Kuma . Uptime Kuma is a self-hosted monitoring tool that gives you a simple dashboard, uptime checks, response times, notifications and status pages without needing a full Prometheus/Grafana setup. The official project describes it as a “fancy self-hosted monitoring tool”, and for a Linux home server or homelab, that is exactly the sweet spot. This post is split into two parts: Part 1: the short install-and-ready-to-go version; Part 2: the more technical setup with Docker Compose, UFW, reverse proxy, alerts, backups, monitor design and hardening tips. If you just want Uptime Kuma running quickly, start with t...

If you run anything at home that is always on — a Linux box, an old workstation, a mini PC, a laptop quietly serving files — you are running a server. And a server that is reachable, unpatched and forgotten is a problem waiting to happen. Last updated: May 27, 2026 This is the hub page for everything on this blog about building and securing a Linux home server . Instead of one giant 10,000-word wall of text, it is organised as a path: start at the top, follow the links into the detailed guides, and come back here when you want the next step. Whether you are hardening a cheap homelab box or turning a retired enterprise machine into a homelab monster, this is the map. New here? You may also want the short Start Here page and a little context about this blog . 1. Pick the hardware (cheap or ridiculous, both work) A home server does not need to be expensive. It can be an old desktop, a thin client, or a retired workstation found for the price of a coffee. For the budget...