About
IT technician, passionate about infrastructure
Introduction
I'm m4nifest0, an IT technician. This site is dedicated to server systems, networking, and virtualization.
I'm passionate about server systems and system administration, virtualization with Proxmox VE and LXC containers, Linux and Windows Server, networking, storage and backup, cybersecurity, self-hosting, and automation. I'm also interested in artificial intelligence applied to IT infrastructure.
I run a homelab that I use as a test environment: the place to experiment, break things safely, and understand how they really work before applying that knowledge in production environments.
Why this site
It collects projects, guides, and the homelab documentation. The goal is to explain not only what you do but why: every guide and every homelab entry describes the problem, the choices, and the checks, with commands ready to copy.
For security reasons I don't publish IP addresses, hostnames, credentials, or detailed firewall configurations: diagrams and homelab entries convey the principles, not the map of the network.
How I work
The sections that follow summarize the areas I work in, the technologies, and the principles I bring to designing and managing an infrastructure.
Skills
Areas of interest and expertise
The fields where I design, experiment and document. Each area leads to the related projects.
System administration
Linux and Windows Server
Installing, configuring and maintaining servers: services, roles, updates and documentation.
See the projects
Virtualization and containers
Proxmox VE and LXC
Proxmox VE clusters, virtual machines and LXC containers, with attention to resources, isolation and recovery.
See the projects
Networking
VLANs, firewalls, DNS and VPN
Network segmentation, access rules between segments, name resolution and secure remote access.
See the projects
Storage and continuity
NAS, backup and disaster recovery
Data storage, verifiable backup strategies and recovery plans after a failure.
See the projects
Cybersecurity and monitoring
Hardening and observability
Reducing the attack surface, access control, logs and alerts on the state of the infrastructure.
See the projects
Self-hosting and automation
Repeatable infrastructure services
Services hosted at home, provisioning and configuration managed as code, versioned and reproducible.
See the projects
Enterprise hardware
Resource optimization
Enterprise-class servers and components: power draw, noise, redundancy and efficient use of CPU, RAM and disks.
See the homelab
AI for IT infrastructure
Models run locally
Artificial intelligence to analyze logs and metrics, keeping data inside your own infrastructure.
See the projects
Technologies
Technologies I use
The technology areas I work with, grouped by field.
Virtualization
- Proxmox VE
- LXC containers
Operating systems
- Linux (Debian)
- Windows Server
Networking
- VLAN 802.1Q
- NethSecurity
- AdGuard Home (DNS)
- WireGuard (VPN)
Storage and continuity
- NAS
- Proxmox Backup Server
- Disaster recovery
Security and observability
- fail2ban
- nftables
- Prometheus
- Grafana
- Uptime Kuma
Services and automation
- Ansible
- cloud-init
- Nginx Proxy Manager
- NethServer 8
Hardware
- Enterprise servers
Artificial intelligence
- AI applied to IT infrastructure
Method
Approach to design and operations
8 principles that guide how an infrastructure is designed, built and maintained.
Start from those who already solved the problem
Public guides, official documentation and projects already shared by others are the most common starting point: adapting them to your own environment is faster and safer than reinventing the configuration from scratch.
Segment and reduce privileges
Each component sees only what it needs: separate networks, dedicated accounts and the bare minimum of access.
Backups you can actually restore
A backup only really exists after a restore has been tested. Disaster recovery drills and backup checks stay a fixed step, even when they take the time you'd rather save.
Document while you build
Diagrams, decisions and procedures updated together with the infrastructure, not afterwards: in six months they will be the only memory you have.
Automate what repeats
Configuration as code, versioned and reproducible: rebuilding a service should be a procedure, not an ordeal.
Dig deeper, don't stop at the symptom
The order of troubleshooting depends on the kind of failure and follows no fixed pattern: the constant is not settling for the first plausible explanation, but tracing back to the real cause.
No security shortcuts
Shared accounts, weak or reused passwords and systems left behind on updates cost you later: avoid them even when they cost more time up front.
Simplicity before complexity
An extra component is added only if it solves a concrete problem and you can maintain it over time.
Background
Experience, education and certifications
Certifications
Cybersecurity Awareness – NIS2, ISO 27001, ISO 27018, ISO 27017
Complaion · 2026
Proxmox Course
MiniServer.it · 2026
Describe the core architectural components of Azure
Microsoft · 2026
Get started building with Power BI
Microsoft · 2026
Implement Hyper-V Replica
Microsoft · 2026
Implement hybrid backup and recovery with Windows Server IaaS
Microsoft · 2026
Migrate VMware vSphere resources from on-premises to Azure VMware Solution
Microsoft · 2026
Migrate on-premises workloads to Azure
Microsoft · 2026
Prepare on-premises workloads for migration to Azure
Microsoft · 2026
Prepare to migrate VMware resources to Azure by deploying Azure VMware Solution
Microsoft · 2026
Work smarter with Microsoft Copilot Chat (Basic)
Microsoft · 2026
NethSecurity Advanced Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2026
NethSecurity 8 Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2026
NethServer 8 Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2026
NethService 8 Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2026
NethVoice 8 Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2026
Get started with Microsoft Copilot Chat (Basic)
Microsoft · 2026
NethService Basic Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2024
NethVoice Basic Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2024
Linux and NethServer Basic Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2024
Cloud Log Manager Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2024
Vulnerability Assessment Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2024
Sales Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2024
NethSecurity Basic Course Certificate
Nethesis · 2024