Infrastructure

question: “What are the minimum specs for 24/7 Docker hosting?” answer: “2GB RAM minimum for a basic setup with 5-10 containers. 4-8GB is comfortable.” question: “How do I update Docker containers without downtime?” answer: “Watchtower automates updates. For manual control: pull new image, docker stop, docker rm, docker run with same arguments.” question: “Can I run Docker on a Raspberry Pi?” answer: “Yes. Most popular containers have ARM64 images. Performance is limited but fine for DNS filters and lightweight services.” question: “How do you handle container crashes?” answer: “Docker restart policies handle most failures (–restart unless-stopped). Check logs with docker logs for persistent issues.” TL;DR These five containers run non-stop on my homelab: AdGuard Home (DNS-level ad blocking), Nginx Proxy Manager (reverse proxy + free SSL), Uptime Kuma (real uptime monitoring), Portainer (container management), and Cloudflare Tunnel (secure external access without punching holes in my firewall). Together they cost about 15W idle and have saved me countless hours of manual work. ...

The Real Setup Every homelab guide shows you a perfect network diagram with enterprise hardware, rack mount servers, and clean cable management. This isn’t that. This is a homelab that grew organically over two years, running on a $200 used Dell OptiPlex, a consumer-grade managed switch, and whatever else was sitting around. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s a network that works reliably, is segmented enough to contain damage, and doesn’t require constant maintenance. ...