Nathan Reynolds

I lost access to a crashed home server at 2am on a Sunday, and the only thing between me and a three-hour drive was an IP KVM plugged into the back of the rack. That moment is exactly why this guide exists. The best PiKVM device for remote server management is the one that lets … Read more

I learned the hard way what missing IPMI feels like. A frozen TrueNAS box at 2 AM, 30 miles from my rack, cost me an entire weekend of downtime. After that night, I went down the rabbit hole to find the best IPMI card for remote server management, and I have spent the last six … Read more

Building a server in with both NVMe and SAS drives used to mean buying two separate controllers. I ran into that exact problem last year when I tried to mix a few U.2 NVMe SSDs with a stack of SAS enterprise drives in a single tower. That frustration is exactly why tri-mode HBAs exist. A … Read more

If you’ve ever waited on a spinning beach ball while Premiere Pro tries to scrub through a 6K timeline, you already know why we built this guide. A Thunderbolt DAS (Direct Attached Storage) is the single biggest performance upgrade most editors can make this year. It plugs straight into your computer’s Thunderbolt port, sidesteps the … Read more

Picking the best domain registrar for a self-hosted website is only half the equation. Your registrar handles the DNS and the address, but you still need solid hardware and a learning plan underneath it. I have spent the last three years running self-hosted blogs, Pi-hole DNS servers, and Home Assistant dashboards on gear that ranges … Read more

When I started running a homelab mesh three years ago, I never thought I’d spend a weekend arguing with myself about control planes. Then I discovered Tailscale and Headscale, and that changed everything. The Tailscale vs Headscale homelab mesh debate boils down to one simple question: do you want convenience, or do you want full … Read more

A drive caddy for a hot-swap server bay is the adapter tray that lets you slide 3.5″ or 2.5″ drives in and out of a server chassis without shutting the system down. I’ve been running hot-swap setups in my home lab for years, and I can tell you that the right caddy turns drive maintenance … Read more

I built my first homelab by stacking three mini PCs on a shelf behind my desk. Within two months the cables looked like a bowl of spaghetti, one device was overheating, and a Raspberry Pi had slid off the stack. That mess pushed me to find the best desktop server rack for mini PCs, and … Read more

I spent six weekends helping friends set up home networks in apartments, closets, and converted laundry rooms, and the same problem kept coming up: where do you put all the gear when there is no floor space? That question is what pushed me to research and test the best wall mount network cabinet options available … Read more

Finding the best 1U rack shelf for a 10-inch cabinet in is harder than it should be. Most 1U shelves are built for 19-inch server racks, leaving homelab users, AV enthusiasts, and small-office network admins with a frustrating fit problem. After spending six weeks mounting and load-testing eight different shelves in our own mini rack … Read more