3 more homelab projects to try this weekend (May 29 - 31)

Are you ready for another set of homelab projects? It's all about backups and optimizations this weekend, as I show you how important game server and GitHub backups are, as well as how to optimize the downloading of updates and apps across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Set up game server backup snapshots

Quickly roll back to a specific point in time after someone uploads a bad mod

I host several game servers for friends in my homelab, as well as a few for myself . At one point, a server I was hosting for a friend of mine stopped working. They lost a bunch of progress due to a configuration error that I couldn't recover the server from.

Thankfully, they could just restart, as it was a game where progress wasn't a huge deal, and you could always choose a different route, so the replayability was great. However, that prompted me to properly set up backups for games from that point onward.

Backing up game servers can be done in quite a few ways. The way I do it now is by backing up the virtual machine in Proxmox , but you can also often set up backup tasks within the game server software itself.

The best way to back a game server up is to use the game server software, as then you can just restore a single server if something goes wrong. Whenever I'm running a bunch of servers, that's the method I primarily use, with the VM backup functioning as just a secondary layer of protection in case the game server software corrupts for some reason.

This type of project doesn't take very long to do, but it'll save you quite a bit of headache down the road if you have a game server that crashes for whatever reason. So, don't be like me and have game server backups set up before you need them.

Speed up OS installs and updated with a local cache server

Stop downloading macOS 26 or Windows 11 fully for every update on every computer

Do you have multiple computers in the house that all take forever to download each and every update they receive? If the computers share an operating system at all, then you can speed up updates by setting up a local cache server.

Some platforms handle this automatically. Apple Content Caching is how Apple handles sharing updates across a local network to other Apple devices that need to update. You set this up with just a few clicks. Simply go to Settings, General, Sharing, Content Caching and turn it on. I limited my Content Caching to 50GB so it doesn't take up a ton of space on my computer, though you can set yours to any amount.

Windows is similarly easy to set up, and it's often enabled by default. Just head to Settings, Windows Update, Advanced Options, Delivery Optimization and make sure to tick the checkbox for "Allow downloads from other computers." This feature has been known to take up more RAM than it should in the past, so you might want to monitor it after enabling the feature.

Linux users will definitely benefit from Apt-Cacher-NG. Basically, once set up, Apt-Cacher-NG keeps a local cache of every .deb file you download in your network. If another system goes to download that exact binary at a later point, Apt-Cacher-NG serves the cached version so that you're not re-downloading it again.

Setting it up is fairly simple, as it doesn't replace apt itself nor is it a full mirror. It only captures what you're actively downloading. Once you get Apt-Cacher-NG set up on one system, you need to add an Apt proxy configuration to subsequent machines to point to the primary server. That typically looks like this:Acquire::http::Proxy "http://SERVER-IP:3142";.

Then, whenever a client runsapt installorapt update, it checks the proxy server first to see if the package exists there, and, if it doesn't, then it pulls the package fresh from the internet and keeps it in the cache for the next time it's needed.

Lastly, there's LanCache , which is one of the best game caching platforms out there. It works with many game launchers and downloading platforms, allowing you to speed up distribution of games to multiple systems in your home. This really only benefits you if there are multiple gaming desktops in the house, as it doesn't really work with consoles, sadly.

However, if you do have more than one gaming PC, then this can really speed up subsequent downloads once a game is already downloaded. It was originally designed for LAN parties, but works great in normal household usage as well.

Be prepared for anything by backing up your GitHub locally

You never know when you're going to need a local backup of your code

The world of GitHub has been a little shaky recently. From increased downtime and unreliability to major players leaving the platform , there's definitely a reason to want to keep all of your GitHub information stored locally.

So, instead of trying to do manual backups of git repos, or trying to remember to add a secondary remote and remembering to push to it, just set up Gickup on a system in your homelab.

With Gickup, you can automate backing up your GitHub to a local server or to any other source. It's actually a pretty simple, yet powerful piece of software. Officially, it supports both downloading from and uploading to GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, Gitea, remote S3 buckets, local, and several others.

So, before you lose access to GitHub, set up Gickup and keep a copy of everything local. It's better safe than sorry when it comes to your code, and this is the best way to keep it safe.

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That old desktop sitting in your closet is the perfect homelab companion

A lot of people think they need high-end or new hardware to run a homelab, but that's simply not the case. One of my coworkers here at How-To Geek recently repurposed an old laptop he had lying around with a broken screen into the start of his homelab.

So, if you have an old desktop sitting in the closet, a laptop under the bed, or a little bit of a budget and the desire to surf Facebook Marketplace, then you're ready to start a homelab and enjoy any of the projects above.