Uses
The hardware, software, and tools I use to run my home lab and build production systems. Updated regularly.
Infrastructure
Proxmox Cluster (3 Nodes)
| Node | CPU | RAM | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| srv01 | 2x Xeon E5-2680 v4 (28C/56T) | 220 GB | Primary compute, Ceph storage (14 OSDs) |
| srv02 | Xeon X3470 (4C/8T) | 32 GB | Secondary compute, Ceph storage (6 OSDs) |
| srv03 | i7-4810MQ (4C/8T) | 32 GB | Frigate NVR, GPU passthrough, Ceph (1 OSD) |
Storage
- Ceph Cluster — 21 OSDs, ~22 TiB raw (15 HDD + 7 SSD), replicated across nodes
- TrueNAS — 4x 12TB IronWolf in 2x mirror, ~22 TiB usable for media and backups
- Proxmox Backup Server — CephFS-backed datastore for VM/CT backups
Networking
- UniFi Dream Machine Pro — Router, firewall, IDS/IPS
- UniFi Switches — Managed L2/L3 with VLANs
- UniFi Access Points — WiFi 6 coverage
- Pi-hole — DNS-level ad blocking (secondary DNS)
- Cloudflare — DNS, CDN, tunnels
AI & ML
Workstation
| Component | Spec |
|---|---|
| GPU (Primary) | NVIDIA RTX 5090 — 32GB VRAM |
| GPU (Secondary) | NVIDIA RTX 3050 — 8GB VRAM |
| LLM Runtime | Ollama with 34 models |
| UI | Open WebUI |
AI Stack
- Ollama — Local LLM inference (Llama, Mistral, CodeLlama, Phi, Gemma, DeepSeek)
- Open WebUI — Chat interface with RAG, web search, model management
- n8n — Workflow automation, content pipeline, AI agent orchestration
- Pydantic AI — Structured AI agent framework (Python)
- Azure OpenAI — GPT-4o for Frigate GenAI descriptions
Docker Environment
95+ containers running on Ubuntu Docker host (VM 100, 32GB RAM). Key categories:
Monitoring & Observability
- Grafana — 34 dashboards, unified metrics visualization
- Prometheus — Metrics collection with 40 alert rules
- Loki + Alloy — Centralized log aggregation
- Uptime Kuma — 67 service monitors
- Dozzle — Real-time Docker log viewer
Security
- Wazuh SIEM — Agents on all Proxmox nodes, file integrity monitoring
- Suricata IDS — Network intrusion detection via SPAN port
- Greenbone/OpenVAS — Vulnerability scanning
- Trivy — Container image vulnerability scanning (weekly cron)
- CrowdSec — Collaborative threat intelligence
- Authentik — SSO/identity provider
- Vaultwarden — Password management
Home & Media
- Frigate NVR — AI-powered camera system with face recognition, LPR, audio detection
- Home Assistant — Smart home automation hub
- Jellyfin — Media server
- Immich — Photo management
- Paperless-ngx — Document management
Infrastructure Tools
- Nginx Proxy Manager — Reverse proxy with SSL
- Portainer — Container management UI
- Watchtower — Automatic container updates
- NetBox — IPAM/DCIM documentation
- Gitea — Self-hosted Git
Development Tools
- VS Code + Claude Code — Primary editor with AI pair programming
- Python — FastAPI, Pydantic, Azure SDK
- TypeScript — React, Next.js
- Azure CLI — Cloud resource management
- Docker Compose — Container orchestration
- Ansible — Configuration management
- Git — Version control (GitHub + self-hosted Gitea)
Cloud (Azure)
- Azure Container Apps — This blog (Ghost CMS)
- Azure MySQL Flexible Server — Blog database
- Azure OpenAI Service — GPT-4o API access
- Azure Document Intelligence — Document processing pipelines
- Azure Data API Builder — Instant REST/GraphQL from databases
Inspired by uses.tech. Have questions about any of this? Find me on GitHub.