Running a Plex or Jellyfin server: what to know before starting
Running your own media server sounds like a fun weekend project: point Plex or Jellyfin at a folder of movies, and suddenly you’ve got your own private Netflix.
The reality is still fun, but early decisions matter. The difference between a server that “just works” and one that constantly buffers is usually not the app you picked. It often comes down to whether your devices can Direct Play, whether your storage plan is sane, and whether you accidentally turned your server into an internet-facing security project.
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Self-hosting basics: what it means and whether it’s for you
Self-hosting is when you run an app or service yourself instead of paying a hosted provider. Your data lives on hardware you control, and you access it over your home network (and sometimes the internet).
It sounds hardcore, but it doesn’t have to be. Self-hosting can be as small as one app on a spare computer, or as big as a home lab with monitoring and battery backup.
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Setting up Pi-hole for home network ad blocking
Pi-hole is one of those rare “set it once, enjoy it every day” home network upgrades. Instead of installing ad blockers on every browser and every phone, you put one small device on your network and tell everything to ask it for DNS.
In this guide you’ll set up Pi-hole, point your network at it, and avoid the handful of common foot-guns like DNS settings that silently bypass it.
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Understanding your router's QoS settings
QoS (quality of service) is one of those router features that sounds like it should be a magic switch: flip it on, and suddenly your Zoom calls stop glitching while someone else is downloading a game update.
In reality, QoS works best when you understand what problem you’re solving. Most “my internet feels bad” moments at home aren’t caused by your Wi‑Fi being slow. They’re caused by latency spikes when your connection is busy, which is exactly what QoS can help with.
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What a reverse proxy does (and why it’s useful at home)
If you’ve ever tried to access a self-hosted service from outside your house and ended up with something like http://your-ip-address:8123, you’ve already run into the problem a reverse proxy is meant to solve. It’s the classic self-hosting speed bump: you have the service running, but getting to it is clunky, insecure, and requires memorizing a string of random numbers.
A reverse proxy is a small piece of software that sits at the edge of your network and acts as a single “front door” for your apps. It can route requests to the right place, handle HTTPS certificates in one spot, and give you a central place to add a little safety—like access logs, basic authentication, or IP allowlists.
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