This episode explores the official Docker installation on Proxmox and breaks down the anatomy of a Docker Compose file, emphasizing the best practice of keeping one stack per folder. It also discusses the book 'Containers Without the Chaos' for troubleshooting common issues.

Chapters:

• Cold open: this week
• New tech this week
• Where Docker Lives on Proxmox
• Install Docker the Official Way
• Anatomy of a compose
• One Stack per Folder
• App spot: OctoPulse
• Listener question: When Things Break
• Merch, ebooks and the newsletter
• Outro: three takeaways

New tech this week sources:

• Microsoft's Azure Linux gets 470-plus security fixes in one almighty patching session (The Register, 2026-11-09): https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/11/09/microsofts-azure-linux-gets-470-plus-security-fixes-in-one-almighty-patching-session/5308434
• Cyanogen co-founder unveils Kora, a Linux OS that splits AI models across the CPU, GPU, and NPU (Tom's Hardware, 2026-11-11): https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/cyanogen-co-founder-unveils-kora-a-linux-os-that-splits-ai-models-across-the-cpu-gpu-and-npu-snapdragon-x2-elite-and-hexagon-npu-get-full-support-first
• AMD Talks Up Their MEXT Software Amid RAM Crisis - Linux Support But Not Open-Source (Phoronix, 2026-11-10): https://www.phoronix.com/news/AMD-MEXT
• Kernel prepatch 7.4-rc2 (LWN, 2026-11-09): https://lwn.net/Articles/1106300/

Links:

• Blog and show notes: https://chartmann1590.github.io/homelab-the-right-way/
• Ebooks (free sample chapters): https://payhip.com/HomelabtheRightWay
• Merch: https://homelab-the-right-way.printful.me/
• Free weekly newsletter: https://chartmann1590.github.io/homelab-the-right-way/newsletter/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HomelabTheRightWay

Maya, Sam and Theo are fictional AI hosts: their voices and this script are AI-generated, written from the Homelab the Right Way books (Containers Without the Chaos this week) for Charles Hartmann's Homelab the Right Way. As an Amazon Associate the show earns from qualifying purchases.

This episode covers the essentials of monitoring your homelab, including how to use Uptime Kuma to check if services are up, setting up phone alerts with ntfy, and building a metrics stack with Prometheus and node_exporter. It also discusses how to handle alerts when they fire, referencing the book 'Watch Your Homelab', and covers recent news on ransomware, new single-board computers, and a blog post on backdooring Bash.

Chapters:

• Cold open: this week
• New tech this week
• Three Questions Every Homelab Should Answer
• Is It Up? Uptime Kuma
• Alerts on Your Phone with ntfy
• The Metrics Stack: Prometheus, node_exporter and cAdvisor
• App spot: Ollama AI Chat
• Listener question: When the Alert Fires: Runbooks, Budgets and the Monthly Review
• Merch, ebooks and the newsletter
• Outro: three takeaways

New tech this week sources:

• Synology warns of C3RB3R ransomware attacks targeting NAS devices (BleepingComputer, 2026-11-02): https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/synology-warns-customers-of-ongoing-c3rb3r-ransomware-attacks/
• Banana Pi BPI-M8 – An Allwinner A733 SBC inspired by the Raspberry Pi 5 with PCIe FFC connector, UFS module socket (CNX Software, 2026-11-02): https://www.cnx-software.com/2026/11/02/banana-pi-bpi-m8-an-allwinner-a733-sbc-inspired-by-the-raspberry-pi-5-with-pcie-ffc-connector-ufs-module-socket/
• OpenShot 4.1 Released With Auto-Optimize, CLI Automation & ARM64 Linux Builds (Phoronix, 2026-10-31): https://www.phoronix.com/news/OpenShot-4.1-Released
• How We Could Have Backdoored Bash (Hacktron blog) (LWN, 2026-10-31): https://lwn.net/Articles/1104262/

Links:

• Blog and show notes: https://chartmann1590.github.io/homelab-the-right-way/
• Ebooks (free sample chapters): https://payhip.com/HomelabtheRightWay
• Merch: https://homelab-the-right-way.printful.me/
• Free weekly newsletter: https://chartmann1590.github.io/homelab-the-right-way/newsletter/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HomelabTheRightWay

Maya, Sam and Theo are fictional AI hosts: their voices and this script are AI-generated, written from the Homelab the Right Way books (Watch Your Homelab this week) for Charles Hartmann's Homelab the Right Way. As an Amazon Associate the show earns from qualifying purchases.

Three fictional AI hosts, one hallway light that ignored Theo, and the second six months of Home Assistant. This week it's book 6, Automations That Just Work: local first (the five-minute WAN unplug test and one naming scheme forever), Zigbee that stays up (the USB 3 noise trap, channels 15/20/25, routers in every room, pair in place), automations that mean something (triggers, conditions, actions, the four modes, the motion light done properly, 'for:' on flappy sensors, traces), a listener whose family muted the house (notifications that don't cry wolf: three kinds, tags, actionable buttons, one battery report, quiet hours, the alert integration), and a one-minute update routine with a 30-second way back. Plus this week's tech news with sources, the Pantry Tracker app spot and a Zigbee coordinator gear break.

Show notes, chapters and every link: https://chartmann1590.github.io/homelab-the-right-way/posts/podcast-ep-3-automations-that-just-work/

Chapters

• 00:00 Cold open: the hallway light that leaves you in the dark, and welcome
• 01:38 New tech this week: PHP's critical fix, OpenBSD 8.0, Everything Smart Home joins Works with Home Assistant
• 04:58 A home that works when the internet doesn't: local first, and one naming scheme forever
• 08:55 Zigbee that stays up: the USB 3 trap, channels on purpose, and routers in the right places
• 14:03 Automations that mean something: the sentence, the mode, and the motion light done properly
• 19:30 App spot: Pantry Tracker
• 20:56 Gear break: a Zigbee coordinator, and the cable that matters more
• 21:41 Listener question: my family muted the house. How do I make notifications people don't ignore?
• 25:28 Merch, the ebooks, and the free weekly email
• 26:54 Update night without the panic, three takeaways, and where everything lives

New tech this week (sources)

• PHP security advisory: critical remote code execution vulnerabilities, update now (PHP 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36, 8.2.35): https://www.php.net/archive/2026.php
• PHP informational advisory: set session.upload_progress.enabled=0 until the next bugfix release: https://www.php.net/
• Self-Host Weekly: PHP bugs leaked ahead of patches; OpenBSD 8.0 highlights; Torvalds first AI-assisted kernel patch: https://selfh.st/weekly/2026-10-23/
• OpenBSD 8.0 released (61st release): https://www.openbsd.org/80.html
• Everything Smart Home joins Works with Home Assistant (Everything Presence Lite/One/Pro, ESPHome): https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/10/27/everything-smart-home-joins-works-with-home-assistant/

App spot: Pantry Tracker, free on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chartmann.pantrytracker

Gear mentioned (affiliate link; we may earn a commission): SONOFF ZBDongle-E (EFR32MG21) Zigbee USB coordinator: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B6P22YJC?tag=homelabrightw-20

As an Amazon Associate the show earns from qualifying purchases.

The book and the whole series (free sample chapters): https://payhip.com/HomelabtheRightWay

Podcast merch: https://homelab-the-right-way.printful.me/

Free weekly email: https://chartmann1590.github.io/homelab-the-right-way/newsletter/

AI disclosure: Maya, Sam and Theo are fictional AI hosts. Their voices and the script are AI-generated and edited by a human. Every technical fact comes from the Homelab the Right Way books; the news segment cites its sources above.

Three fictional AI hosts, one flat home network, and the week Theo's cast button went grey. This week it's book 5, Lock Down Your Home Network: think in zones, lock the firewall's front door (admin alias, HTTPS on management only, TOTP, named admin, SSH by key or off), VLANs from the wire up, firewall rules that mean something (where rules apply, first match wins, default deny, aliases first), IoT that still works (the mDNS repeater, narrow call-back rules, Home Assistant on a second network card), a listener question about locking yourself out (change log, snapshot, one change, test card, and WireGuard as your way back in), the LiveCaptionN app spot and a managed-switch gear break.

Show notes, chapters and every link: https://chartmann1590.github.io/homelab-the-right-way/posts/podcast-ep-2-lock-down-your-home-network/

Chapters

00:04 Cold open: the cast button is grey, and welcome

01:49 New tech this week: TP-Link lawsuits, OPNsense 26.7.7, Home Assistant 2026.10

06:22 Think in zones, then lock the front door

13:22 VLANs from the wire up, and rules that mean something

21:36 IoT that still works: why the cast button goes grey, and the Home Assistant leg

28:29 App spot: LiveCaptionN, live captions that can run on your own server

30:53 Gear break: the managed switch

32:13 Listener question: I locked myself out of my own firewall. How do I never do that again?

39:04 Merch, the ebooks, and the free weekly email

40:18 Three takeaways, and where everything lives

New tech this week (sources)

• Four more US states sue TP-Link; TP-Link denies the claims: https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/tp-link-sued-by-four-more-us-states.html and https://www.tp-link.com/us/press/news/22570/
• OPNsense 26.7.7 released (Oct 13): https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=53145.0
• Home Assistant 2026.10 "You are here": https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/10/07/release-202610/
• Self-Host Weekly, Oct 16 (Bitwarden dual licensing): https://selfh.st/weekly/2026-10-16/

Links

• The book: Lock Down Your Home Network, and the whole Homelab the Right Way series with free sample chapters: https://payhip.com/HomelabtheRightWay
• Podcast merch (The Green Check Lies tee, Go Restore Something hoodie and more): https://homelab-the-right-way.printful.me/
• Free weekly email (Sundays; one-page homelab checklist when you join): https://chartmann1590.github.io/homelab-the-right-way/newsletter/
• App spot: LiveCaptionN on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.charles.livecaptionn
• Gear: NETGEAR GS308E 8-port gigabit Plus (managed) switch: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PLFCQVK?tag=homelabrightw-20 (we may earn a commission)
• Episode 1: https://redcircle.com/shows/homelab-the-right-way/episodes/55cb28a3-0a54-4fc3-952d-70a2fedea93f

As an Amazon Associate the show earns from qualifying purchases.

Maya, Sam and Theo are fictional AI hosts with AI-generated voices; the script was written with AI and edited by a human. Every technical fact comes from the Homelab the Right Way books.

Three AI hosts, real homelab answers. In the first episode Maya, Sam and Theo dig into why the green check on a Proxmox backup job proves almost nothing, the 3-2-1 plan, keep-daily=7, the backup job that silently skips new VMs and the four restore drills; the NFS share that fills your root disk, why RAID is not a backup, and sanoid + syncoid pull replication for ZFS; what a /24 actually means and why a 2-node Proxmox cluster freezes (and the QDevice fix); the six self-hosting traps around Immich, Nextcloud and Vaultwarden; the Home Assistant motion light that turns off on you and the one Zigbee fix that beats any setting; and the turtle-tank ESP32 wire that can fry the board plus the DS18B20 readings that are not temperatures.

Show notes, chapters and every article mentioned: https://chartmann1590.github.io/homelab-the-right-way/posts/podcast-ep-1-the-green-check-lies/

Gear mentioned (as an Amazon Associate the show earns from qualifying purchases): TP-Link TL-SG105 5-port gigabit switch https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A128S24?tag=homelabrightw-20 and the Kasa Smart Plug Ultra Mini EP10 2-pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091FXQQMQ?tag=homelabrightw-20

Chapters

• 00:04 — Cold open and welcome
• 02:39 — Backups: the green check lies
• 14:36 — Storage: RAID is not a backup, the NFS trap, and ZFS done right
• 19:39 — Gear break: the first switch
• 21:09 — Networking: what a /24 means and why your 2-node cluster freezes
• 27:04 — Self-hosting your photos, files and passwords the safe way
• 32:43 — Home Assistant: the motion light that turns off on you, and the Zigbee fix
• 36:17 — Gear break: the smart plug that reboots things
• 37:36 — The turtle tank: the wire that fries an ESP32, and the sensor that lies
• 44:29 — Three things we'd tell a beginner, and where to find all of this

Disclosure: Maya, Sam and Theo are fictional AI hosts; their voices and faces are AI-generated and the script was written with AI and edited by a human. Facts come from the Homelab the Right Way books and blog: https://chartmann1590.github.io/homelab-the-right-way/