Create a DevOps HomeLab Server

Paul Pietzko

26 min read

·

Jul 28, 2026

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Turn an old laptop into a self-hosted platform with Docker, Coolify, Tailscale, CoreDNS, Traefik, Prometheus, Grafana and Restic.

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From my school days I still have an old Surface Book 3 lying around. Right now it is only gathering dust, but with a few tweaks it can become my own HomeLab server — a permanent, always-on machine I fully control.

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In this story we will turn that laptop into a small but complete platform: a place to deploy side projects, reach them from anywhere under real hostnames, watch what the machine is actually doing, and back everything up automatically.

Surface Book 3
│
├── Tailscale VPN            (private network, no open ports)
│
├── CoreDNS                  (*.homelab → server)
│
├── homelab-proxy (Traefik)  (owns :80 / :443, routes everything)
│   │
│   ├── coolify-proxy ──── Coolify apps
│   ├── Grafana
│   └── Prometheus
│
├── Docker
│   ├── Coolify
│   └── Node Exporter
│
└── Restic Backup → USB

By the end you will be able to:

• Host your own services on hardware you own
• Reach the server from anywhere over a private VPN, without opening a single router port