Networking
Zigbee vs Thread for Home Assistant: Which Mesh Should You Build?
Keep a working Zigbee mesh and add Thread when a required accessory needs it. Compare exact Home Assistant support, radio placement, controller dependencies and recovery before changing household routines.
Smart Home VLAN, Guest Wi-Fi, or Second SSID?
Smart-home isolation can improve security, but it can also break discovery, Matter, Thread border routers, casting, and app setup.
Local-First Smart Home Without Becoming a Sysadmin
Build a smart home that keeps working when the internet is down without turning the house into a fragile homelab.
Direct Play vs Transcoding in Plex and Jellyfin: What the Dashboard Proves
Use Plex or Jellyfin dashboard and log evidence to isolate container, codec, audio, subtitle, HDR, bitrate, client, and network playback triggers.
What Should Happen to Your Homelab During a Power Outage?
Plan outage shutdown by dependency: stop applications and VMs before their storage, and preserve the signaling network until shutdown finishes. Restart after stable power with networking and storage ready first.
How Much Does a Homelab Really Cost in Electricity?
Estimate homelab electricity costs from representative energy use and the applicable tariff. Define the meter boundary so networking equipment, storage and UPS losses are counted once rather than overlooked or duplicated.
2.5GbE vs 10GbE: Which Home Network Upgrade Is Worth It?
Keep existing Ethernet when it meets the workload. Compare 2.5GbE and 10GbE against measured client, storage and uplink bottlenecks, then check exact cabling, port support and cooling before buying.
What Is the Right VLAN Layout for a Beginner Homelab?
Build a small set of explainable trust zones with explicit firewall, DHCP and DNS plans. Keep experimental workloads separate from infrastructure management when their access needs differ, and preserve a recovery path.
Remote Access Without Opening Router Ports: Safer Homelab Access With Tailscale and Cloudflare Tunnel
Reach homelab services remotely with tailnets, tunnels, access policies, DNS, MFA, and clear rules for what should stay private.
OPNsense, pfSense, UniFi, or Consumer Router: Which Should Run Your Homelab?
Compare router platforms by ISP requirements, policy, VPNs, enabled-feature workload and recovery. Evaluate exact models and releases rather than treating a dashboard, feature list or integrated management as proof of throughput or isolation.