Homelab

A copy of a file is not automatically a backup, and a backup is not automatically a preservation system. Self-hosting becomes much easier to reason about when these three jobs are kept separate. Synchronisation keeps copies convenient Synchronisation keeps data available on more than one device. Syncthing is useful for this kind of direct device synchronisation, and it makes working files available where I need them. But synchronisation also copies mistakes. If a file is deleted, corrupted or encrypted, that change may travel to the other copy. Synchronisation improves availability; it does not replace a backup. ...

Self-hosting is often presented as an answer to every problem. I do not think it is. A service can be open source, privacy-friendly and technically interesting while still being the wrong thing for me to operate. Every service adds updates, storage, monitoring, backups, permissions and another failure mode. The aim is not to recreate every cloud product at home. The aim is to keep control where control is valuable without turning the homelab into a second job. ...

A useful project is not automatically worth adding just because it is new, popular or active on GitHub. I look for a clear problem, sensible deployment, useful documentation, a workable backup path and enough maintenance history to justify the time spent learning it. This list deliberately excludes tools already used here, including Beszel, Dockhand and youtube-dl workflows. Karakeep is also excluded as a recommendation because it is already in use and has proved to be good in practice. ...