SumGuy's Ramblings
The art of wasting time.
Docker, self-hosting, AI/LLM, Linux, and DevOps — explained by someone who learned the hard way. No fluff, no enterprise jargon, just practical stuff that actually works on real hardware.
Recent Posts
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systemd Credentials: Secrets Without Env
Stop putting passwords in Environment=. systemd credentials hand secrets to services as locked-down files, encrypted at rest. Setup plus a demo you can run.
12 min read -
LLM Semantic Caching: Stop Paying Twice
Exact-match vs semantic caching for LLM calls: a small Python cache, LiteLLM and RedisVL setups, and real scores showing why restart and stop nginx collide.
16 min read -
Reverse Proxy TLS: What the A+ Hides
Same A+ before and after hardening, yet nginx drops from 25 TLS 1.2 suites to 3, and an old curve list silently strips post-quantum key exchange on all three.
16 min read -
PUID and PGID: Container Permission Fights
Why Sonarr, qBittorrent and Jellyfin fight over bind-mounted files, how PUID/PGID works in the image, when Docker's user: fits better, and how to share media.
12 min read -
systemd-run: Units Without Unit Files
systemd-run starts transient services, scopes, and timers with resource limits and sandboxing, no unit file needed. Replace nohup, at, and ulimit habits.
13 min read -
My 125B Local Run Ran Out of Weekend
A 125B MoE ran an agent job locally for 72 hours and made real progress. A free 120B cloud route finished the same job in 7. Here is where the time went.
14 min read -
What the B in 12B Actually Means
What the B in 7B, 12B and 125B means, how MoE total vs active parameters differ, and why quantization changes the memory math. A guide for local LLM users.
12 min read -
What Your Reverse Proxy Leaks by Default
Stock nginx shows its exact version on every response and hands your real cert to bare-IP scanners. We audited nginx, Caddy, and Traefik and fixed each leak.
17 min read -
PrivateBin vs Hemmelig: Secrets That Burn
PrivateBin and Hemmelig both share secrets that self-destruct. Compare encryption, features, and upkeep, plus tested Compose files and the archived-repo catch.
14 min read -
Shlink vs YOURLS: Self-Hosted Short Links
Shlink or YOURLS for your own short-link domain? Docker Compose setups for both, tested, plus API, analytics, multi-domain, backups and a clear verdict.
13 min read -
K8s Requests vs Limits in a Home Lab
What Kubernetes requests and limits actually do on a small k3s cluster: QoS classes, OOMKills, CPU throttling, node reservations, and the settings I'd pick.
14 min read -
sudo vs doas vs run0 on Linux
sudo, doas, and run0 all get you root. We compare how each one works, the config syntax, the attack surface, and which one belongs on your home-lab server.
12 min read
