A blog about self-hosting, web development, Linux, and more.

I'm Ariel, a tech enthusiast and hobbyist coder. Welcome to my blog. I mostly write for my own reference about self-hosting and related topics that I've learned over many years of tinkering. Each time I learn how to install or run a new thing, I type it up and publish it here. I hope my writings will be helpful to you. Thanks for visiting!

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Featured Articles

How to upgrade from Debian 12 Bookworm to Debian 13 Trixie

My old Dell Optiplex has been a great desktop PC for just minimal interneting and coding. I've been running Debian 12 Bookworm on it since it became available. Now that Debian 13 Trixie is available I upgraded to it, and it was a smooth and painless transition. Here's the process.

Bypass the Plex Pass and Remote Watch Pass requirements for Plex remote access by using Tailscale

Beginning April 29th, 2025 the pricing for Plex Pass increased at the same time that remote access got paywalled behind it. Plex no longer allows streaming your own content outside of your home network without paying for Plex Pass, or the new Remote Watch Pass. You can bypass these paywalls, at least for now, by using Tailscale.

How I set up a home server for self-hosting and as a NAS with secure remote access via Tailscale

I turned my old Dell PC into an all-in-one home server and network attached storage to self-host all my data, my photos, and my media library, running Home Assistant, Plex and other services, all securely accessible from outside my home with Tailscale.

Setting up a reverse proxy for HTTPS with a custom domain using Nginx Proxy Manager, AdGuard Home and Cloudflare

I've used a reverse proxy to access my self-hosted apps and services for years, and used Pi-Hole as my home network DNS for even longer, but recently switched to AdGuard Home. That meant redoing all my DNS records within AdGuard so I could get my reverse proxy back up and running, and I decided to write down the steps I took. When done, we'll be able to access our apps and services through a custom domain, with unique sub-domains for each app or service, with full HTTPS and accessible only locally.

Comprehensive guide to setting up Tailscale to securely access your home network from anywhere

Accessing self-hosted services from outside the home can be a challenge, especially when dealing with CGNAT and having to forward ports from the router. It can be complex to manage and potentially dangerous to your home network's privacy and security if not done right, but Tailscale makes it easy to set up encrypted peer-to-peer connections between devices across different networks. In this guide I will explain how I use Tailscale as a VPN for secure remote access to my home network.

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Recent Posts

Using a Google TV streaming device with Tailscale to remotely stream my Plex library while on vacation

 

I have a Plex Pass subscription, unfortunately Plex's built-in remote access won't work behind CGNAT, so I use Tailscale to securely access my Plex library and entire home network when I'm not home. Aside from streaming music or video from my phone or tablet at work, I've also started taking a Google TV stick on vacation with me, and with the Tailscale and Plex apps I can to stream my library of movies, TV shows and music from anywhere that has a TV and Wi-Fi.

How to upgrade from Debian 12 Bookworm to Debian 13 Trixie

 

My old Dell Optiplex has been a great desktop PC for just minimal interneting and coding. I've been running Debian 12 Bookworm on it since it became available. Now that Debian 13 Trixie is available I upgraded to it, and it was a smooth and painless transition. Here's the process.

Bypass the Plex Pass and Remote Watch Pass requirements for Plex remote access by using Tailscale

 

Beginning April 29th, 2025 the pricing for Plex Pass increased at the same time that remote access got paywalled behind it. Plex no longer allows streaming your own content outside of your home network without paying for Plex Pass, or the new Remote Watch Pass. You can bypass these paywalls, at least for now, by using Tailscale.

Setup Apt-Cacher NG as a caching proxy server in your homelab and configure your other Linux hosts to use it

 

If your homelab has more than a few servers or VMs running Debian-based distributions, it makes sense to set up a package caching proxy on one of your servers. This guide will show how to set that up, configure your other Linux hosts, and optionally how to use Ansible to automate configuring those other hosts.

How to remove CasaOS from a ZimaBoard and upgrade to Debian 12 Bookworm

 

ZimaBoard is an x86 single board server that comes running Debian 11 Bullseye and CasaOS. It's a cool little machine, but after a few months I realized I don't like CasaOS. Nothing against it, I'm just set in my way of doing things, and their GUI was limiting some of my options. In this post I'll explain how to remove CasaOS from the ZimaBoard and then upgrade it to Debian 12.

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Recent Links

Dozzle Type: self-hosted A realtime log viewer for containers, supports Docker and K8s.
FileBrower Quantum Type: self-hosted A web-based graphical file browser for Linux servers.
Gluetun Type: self-hosted VPN client in a container that works with multiple VPN providers.
Jellyfin Type: self-hosted A personal media server for your videos, like Plex though with less slick UI, but it's fully open-source with no paid features.
Plex Type: self-hosted A personal media server that provides a slick Netflix-like frontend for all your videos, automatically grabbing metadata, generating posters, etc. However, Plex is closed-source and they some lock features behind Plex Pass.
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