• merox merox he/him

    HPC System Administrator. Linux, Kubernetes, homelab.

Posts

  • One Identity Provider for Everything #security#homelab

    Replacing scattered logins with Authentik on Oracle Cloud. Google login everywhere, proxy auth for Guacamole, OAuth2 for Portainer, and a K8s outpost for cluster services.

  • The Update Routine #homelab#automation

    A practical guide to keeping a multi-node Proxmox cluster, Talos Kubernetes, Synology, pfSense, and Docker services updated — rolling upgrade strategy, Renovate automation, and a cadence that doesn't consume your weekends.

  • pfSense Boot Troubleshooting #networking#homelab

    Three separate failures from a single accidental reboot — CAM disk detection delay, serial console locking the keyboard out, and NIC enumeration mismatch. Documented as it happened.

  • The Axios Supply Chain Attack #security#javascript

    A compromised maintainer pushed poisoned axios versions containing a cross-platform RAT.

  • Proxmox GPU Passthrough Guide #ai#homelab

    Step-by-step GPU passthrough on Proxmox VE 8 — IOMMU groups, VFIO binding, NVIDIA driver quirks, ROM dumps, and Tesla P40 for AI inference workloads.

  • Synology HyperBackup to Oracle Cloud #storage#homelab

    How to configure Synology HyperBackup with Oracle Cloud's Always Free Ampere instance using rsync over Tailscale — including the SSH override that breaks most setups.

  • Deploying OpenClaw on Proxmox #ai#homelab

    Deploy OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot/Clawdbot) on Proxmox in an unprivileged LXC — setup, security hardening, and post-breach recommendations.

  • merox-erudite: A Customized Astro Theme #automation#open-source

    A fork of astro-erudite v1 with comments, analytics, SEO schemas, and an enhanced homepage — built for production blogging.

  • Migrating Longhorn Backup from MinIO to Garage #storage#docker

    How to replace MinIO with Garage as the S3 backend for Longhorn backups — setup, bucket config, Kubernetes secret, and HelmRelease update.

  • SSH Hardening - Securing Your Linux Servers #security#ssh#linux

    Practical SSH hardening for production Linux servers — key-based auth, sshd_config, 2FA, host-based auth, fail2ban, and log monitoring.

  • Restoring from Longhorn Backups #kubernetes#storage

    How to restore Kubernetes applications from Longhorn backups — scale down, remove empty PVCs, restore volumes, create PVs/PVCs, and bring everything back up.

  • From Rack to Cloud — My Infrastructure in 2026 #homelab#kubernetes

    A full breakdown of my infrastructure in 2026 — Proxmox cluster, Talos Kubernetes, GitOps with Flux, Oracle Cloud VPS, Tailscale mesh, and a full DR plan.

  • SMB Authentication with AD on Linux #security#linux

    How to integrate Linux SMB file servers with Active Directory using SSSD, Samba, Kerberos, and realmd — tested on RHEL 8 and OpenSUSE 15.6.

  • Networking Specialist: My CCNA Journey #career#networking

    Follow my complete journey from networking beginner to CCNA certified professional - including study methods, practical labs, challenges, and how this certification opened doors to cybersecurity opportunities.

  • Dual Boot Guide: Windows 11 and Ubuntu #linux

    Step-by-step guide to dual booting Windows 11 and Ubuntu — partitioning, installation, GRUB, and common fixes.

  • From WordPress to Hugo: My Setup Explained #automation

    Why I moved from WordPress to Hugo, and how the site runs today — GitHub Actions, GitHub Pages, and Cloudflare.

  • Inside Google's Offices #career

    A deep dive into Google's Warsaw HUB, exploring its work culture, amenities, and high-tech environment. During my business trip to Warsaw, I had the unique opportunity to visit Google's impressive offices

  • 3-2-1 Backup Strategy for Your Homelab #storage#homelab

    A practical guide to the 3-2-1 backup rule — what it means, how to implement it, and how to actually recover when things go wrong.

  • How to Set Up a K3S Cluster in 2025 #kubernetes#homelab

    Rebuilding my K3s cluster from scratch with Ansible — VM provisioning via Cloud-Init on Proxmox, HA across three nodes, and full automation.

  • My First Steps in IT Career #career

    How I went from skipping university classes to landing my first sysadmin job — the CV, the interview, and the questions they asked.

  • How to Set Up Your Own AI at Home #ai#homelab

    Running Ollama, OpenWebUI, and Stable Diffusion on a CPU-only homelab server — installation, configuration, and integration.

  • Setting Up Dell R720 Server in the Home Lab #homelab#hardware

    How I integrated a Dell PowerEdge R720 into my homelab — fan control via IPMItool, firmware updates, Proxmox migration over NFS, RAID storage, and UPS integration with PowerPanel.

  • Tailscale site-to-site pfSense - Linux #security#networking

    How to set up a Tailscale site-to-site L3 connection between a pfSense homelab subnet and a Linux cloud VM subnet.