Dedicated pgBackRest TLS on RHEL 8 with Ansible—before Postgres
Stand up a dedicated pgBackRest TLS repo host on generic/rhel8 with Ansible-issued certs, then prove server-ping and mTLS from a client VM.
~90 min first bring-up (TCG + dnf)
Topic
Self-hosted ops
Want a free VPN, remote desktop, or mailbox for your domain? Follow-along OSS setups for WireGuard, RustDesk, and Stalwart on a Linux VPS.
If you already have a cheap Linux VPS and a domain, you do not need a SaaS subscription for a VPN, a remote desktop, or mail. These three tutorials use fully open-source tools — WireGuard via wg-easy, RustDesk, and Stalwart — with a compose file you can copy, DNS and firewall steps, and the one mistake that usually wastes the afternoon.
5 posts
All writingamd64 Vagrant labs on Apple Silicon without broken host networking
Apple Silicon labs that boot still fail host and mesh ping when you use aarch64 boxes or park the VMs on your Wi‑Fi subnet.
~60–90 min first bring-up (TCG is slow)
A free mailbox for your domain with Stalwart
Want a free mailbox for your domain? Run Stalwart on Docker, skip ACME when 443 is taken, publish SPF/DKIM/DMARC, and prove a Gmail round-trip.
~60 min hands-on
A free VPN on your VPS with WireGuard
Want a free VPN you actually control? Pin wg-easy to :15, mount /lib/modules, keep the UI off 80/443, and prove traffic exits from your VPS.
~25 min hands-on
A free private remote desktop with RustDesk
Want a free private remote desktop? Self-host RustDesk on Docker, open UDP 21116, pin the key, and keep sessions past the public cutoff.
~30 min hands-on