How this site is hosted

In the realm of home lab hacking, every stumble and triumph is a chapter in the grand saga of self-sufficiency. My journey began with a humble RockPi 5B board this board sports 8 arm based cpu cores and 16gb of ram and a 256gb SSD, a promise of limitless possibilities marred by frequent restarts. Little did I know, the key to its stability lay not in its hardware, but in the intricacies of power supply negotiation. A lesson learned the hard way, indeed – a PD power supply was the elixir it craved, delivering a steady 12 volts to keep it humming along.

With the hardware hiccup resolved, it was time to breathe life into this silicon soul. Armbian emerged as the chosen vessel, a robust OS offering the stability and compatibility needed for the journey ahead. And thus, the foundation was laid for a digital empire.

Enter Kubernetes – the beating heart of my DIY hosting setup. K3s, with its lightweight footprint and seamless deployment, became the backbone of my infrastructure. But no fortress is complete without guardians at its gate. ArgoCD stood sentinel, ensuring the continuous delivery of my digital creations. Cert-manager, a stalwart ally in the battle for security, fortified the ramparts with its SSL certificates.

Yet, even the most fortified castle is but a shadow without a beacon to guide the weary traveler. Thus, Ghost was summoned – an ethereal presence to weave tales and illuminate the digital expanse.

But every sovereign domain craves an audience, and thus, the quest for a public face began. Cloud.co.za, with its modest offering of a R100-a-month VPS, became the cornerstone of this endeavor. With PiVPN as my trusted steed, I traversed the digital realm, bridging the gap between my sanctuary and the outside world. And lo, with a public IP address in hand, my humble abode became a citadel open to all who dared to venture forth.

In this journey of DIY hosting, every trial and tribulation becomes a testament to resilience, and every triumph a celebration of ingenuity. As the Ghost of my home lab whispers tales of digital conquests, I stand ready to embark on the next chapter of this odyssey – a voyage fueled by curiosity, powered by perseverance, and boundless in its ambition.