Homelab · Smart home · IT
Real setups, real fixes
How-tos, troubleshooting and experiences from running my own servers, smart home and network.
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Traefik GeoBlock locked out my own AI assistant: allowing a published IP range
After switching on GeoBlock, Claude’s connector to Home Assistant stopped working while everything else was fine. The logs showed why, and one allowedIPAddresses entry fixed it.
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Authentik: “The request is otherwise malformed” after creating a provider through the API
Every login through a new Authentik provider failed with invalid_request. The cause was one missing field in the API call, and the browser error points the wrong way.
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Nextcloud in Docker behind Traefik: my configuration explained
My Nextcloud setup in Docker: PostgreSQL, Redis and cron, the reverse proxy settings that matter behind Traefik, single sign-on with Authentik, Nextcloud Office with the built-in Collabora server, and nightly…
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Monitoring my Docker host with Home Assistant: containers, disks, HTTP checks and alerts
Home Assistant watches the Docker host like the rest of the house: Portainer and SSH integrations, a container-down alert, HTTP checks that expect the right answer, disk space, backups and…
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How I back up my homelab: snapshots, database dumps and an offline copy
Nightly rsync snapshots of every service, databases as checked dumps, a third copy that a laptop pulls onto an encrypted SSD, alerts in Home Assistant and a tested restore script.
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Hardening Traefik: geo-blocking, CrowdSec and single sign-on
Part 2 of my Traefik setup: GeoBlock for the countries you need, CrowdSec with its web application firewall, Authentik forward auth in front of apps, container basics and how to…
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Traefik as a reverse proxy for Docker: my configuration explained
One Traefik container in front of all self-hosted services: entrypoints, labels, routes for VMs, Let’s Encrypt certificates and the dashboard, explained line by line.
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The paperless office: a practical guide with Paperless-ngx, GoBD and retention periods
How to go paperless in a small German office: Paperless-ngx setup, e-invoices, daily routines, GoBD process documentation and the current retention periods.
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Heating automations in Home Assistant: per-room logic, TRV calibration and the issues we hit
Twelve SONOFF TRVZB valves in nine rooms: Toggle, Target Sync and Calibration per room, a door and window pause, safety nets, and the problems that taught us each of them.