Self-hosting has become easier than ever. Docker Compose, one-click installers, and container-focused operating systems make it possible to deploy dozens of applications in minutes. For many people, that is enough. However, some self-hosted applications benefit from capabilities that containers cannot provide on their own. Features such as snapshots, GPU passthrough, advanced networking, PCI device assignment, kernel customization, and filesystem flexibility often make a virtual machine the better choice. This is where Proxmox stands out.

Anyone building a homelab today has more choices than ever. A few years ago, Unraid was often the first recommendation for anyone who wanted to store files and run Plex. It made home servers approachable, especially for users who did not want to learn enterprise virtualization.

I got into self-hosting earlier this year after building my first NAS, and what started as a fun little hobby quickly turned into an addiction. The more apps I added to my Docker stack, the more value I got from the relatively small amount of money I spent putting everything together.

Are you ready for another batch of fun (and useful) homelab projects to try out this weekend? From building your own speed test server to some media server maintenance, here are three projects for you to finish before Monday rolls around.

When it comes to single-board computers, you have other flavors of Pi to choose from than just Raspberry these days. The Orange PI series of competing products might lack the vast community support and software library of the Raspberry Pi, but when it comes to one specific use case, the choice is much less clear.

For over a decade, Plex was the undisputed choice for anyone looking to self-host a media server. Unlike its alternatives, Plex was polished, feature-rich, and years ahead of the competition.