arcthrift
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From ESXi to Proxmox: Why I Switched My Hypervisor
When I first set up my homelab, VMware ESXi 8 felt like the obvious choice. It’s polished, enterprise-grade, and easy to administer. Between the web console and VMware Workstation integration, spinning up VMs was painless. For a while, it was perfect. But over time, I realized ESXi was giving me more than I actually needed—and…
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The Turbo Router, Part 2: Why I Switched to OpenWrt
When I first built the turbo router on RouterOS, I thought I’d cracked the code. Finally—a router with enterprise-level features, running on repurposed PC hardware, without the limitations of consumer gear. And for a while, it was everything I wanted. Then came the day my router refused to boot. One power flicker later, I was…
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The Turbo Router: Why I Built My Own Router on RouterOS
Most people let their ISP give them a router – or maybe they go out and buy a decent consumer-grade model and call it a day. I went in a different direction. I built my router from scratch using a Dell OptiPlex 3040 SFF, installed MikroTik RouterOS, and turned it into what I call my…
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Synology’s drive lockdown: smarter hardware or vendor trap?
Synology’s latest NAS models are now limiting support to their own branded drives. As a DS923+ owner, I explore what this means for homelab builders, why vendor lock-in is a growing concern, and what alternatives I’m already considering. Synology has recently started locking down drive compatibility in their latest NAS models — most notably, requiring…
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Introducing my new blog
Hi, I’m Rudy Valencia, a Northern Colorado native. I am a technologist at heart who is looking to grow into a career in Information Technology and Systems Administration. This blog will be a great resource with content about technology and how it can improve our lives. I decided to start this blog to serve as…