Before deploying Ceph, it is essential to prepare the servers correctly at the hardware, BIOS, operating system, and networking layers. Many Ceph performance and stability issues originate from gaps at this stage. This post documents the preparation steps and design decisions used for my Ceph deployment. 1. BIOS Configuration All servers were first configured at … Read more
Having a local Ubuntu repository mirror greatly improves package download speed and removes external dependencies during system updates. For my lab setup, I created a dedicated VM to host the mirror, exposed securely over HTTPS using Apache. This post documents the complete setup—from installing apt-mirror to configuring TLS and preparing the repository structure. Note on … Read more
Enabling SSL/TLS on every site—whether in a home lab or in production—is a good practice. While Let’s Encrypt offers free certificates suitable for most setups, I prefer using eMudhra’s emSign CA, especially for wildcard certificates and environments where commercial CA validation is preferred. This post documents the complete process of generating a wildcard SSL certificate … Read more
In a home lab that also serves as an R&D environment, frequent rebuilds, upgrades, and full reinstall cycles are inevitable. To avoid losing critical documentation, Docker repositories, source code, and other persistent assets, I decided to dedicate one physical server exclusively for management. This system now hosts all essential services and a lightweight K3s cluster … Read more
This blog provides a detailed overview of the physical infrastructure supporting the lab and production-grade deployment environment. The goal of this platform is to create a high-performance, high-availability foundation for virtualized workloads, container-based services, storage clusters, and management applications. The hardware has been selected and organized to deliver predictable performance, strong isolation, and reliable scaling. … Read more