# Homelab Articles | Ankra Blog Canonical: https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab 8 articles on Homelab from the Ankra blog: practical guides on Kubernetes, GitOps, and platform engineering. [All posts](https://ankra.ai/blog) Topic # Homelab 8 articles tagged with Homelab. [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 3: Back Up etcd and Restore a Lost Control Plane](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way-backup-restore) Back up a Kubernetes 1.37 cluster by hand with etcd snapshots, then delete the control plane and restore it. Includes the encryption key trap, all tested. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 25, 2026 12 min read [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 5: Certificates, Expiry and Renewal Without Downtime](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way-certificates) Read every Kubernetes certificate, watch one expire, and renew them all by hand. Most components reload a renewed certificate with no restart at all. Tested. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 25, 2026 9 min read [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [GitOps](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/gitops) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 6: GitOps by Hand, a Reconcile Loop With Git and kubectl](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way-gitops) Build GitOps from scratch on Kubernetes 1.37. A Git repository, a reconcile loop with kubectl server-side apply and pruning, drift repair, rollback, all tested. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 25, 2026 8 min read [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 2: A Highly Available Control Plane](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way-high-availability) Build a Kubernetes 1.37 control plane that survives losing a server. Three control planes, etcd with TLS, a load balancer, and failure drills, all tested. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 25, 2026 13 min read [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way, Part 4: Pod Networking by Hand, Without a CNI Plugin](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way-networking) Build Kubernetes pod networking by hand with network namespaces, veth pairs, a bridge, routes and NAT, then call a CNI plugin yourself and trace a Service. Tested. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 25, 2026 11 min read [Comparisons](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/comparisons) [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Platform Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/platform-engineering) [## Kubernetes on Proxmox VE in 2026: Every Way to Run It, Compared](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-on-proxmox-options-2026) Proxmox VE has no built-in Kubernetes. Seven ways to run it in 2026, from Talos, Cluster API and Terraform to Cloudfleet and Ankra, and what each leaves to you. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 23, 2026 13 min read [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [Engineering](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/engineering) [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [## Kubernetes the Hard Way in 2026: Kubernetes 1.37 From Scratch](https://ankra.ai/blog/kubernetes-the-hard-way) Kubernetes the Hard Way, updated for Kubernetes 1.37 and Debian 13. Every command tested end to end, on local machines and on Hetzner Cloud. [Mattias Åsell](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/mattias-asell) October 23, 2026 30 min read [Homelab](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/homelab) [Kubernetes](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/kubernetes) [DevOps](https://ankra.ai/blog/tag/devops) [## The Minimalist’s Guide to Homelab Setup](https://ankra.ai/blog/minimalist-guide) Deploy your favourite and essential homelab applications with Ankra in just a few clicks [Shiva Swaroop N K](https://ankra.ai/blog/author/shiva-swaroop) August 11, 2025 4 min read