Dibakar Ghosh writes that Canonical has developed several open-source tools beyond Ubuntu to assist developers and infrastructure engineers at different scales of complexity. Multipass provides an easy way to launch lightweight virtual machines through simple command-line instructions, while Metal as a Service (MAAS) automates the management and provisioning of physical hardware via a web interface. Finally, MicroCloud simplifies private cloud creation by clustering multiple computers into a single pool for hosting containers and virtual machines with shared storage.
- Multipass avoids manual ISO downloads or driver configuration during VM setup.
- MAAS can deploy non-Ubuntu systems such as Fedora, Debian, or Windows using custom images.
- MicroCloud bundles LXD, MicroCeph, and MicroOVN to provide high availability for workloads across a cluster.
- Multipass avoids manual ISO downloads or driver configuration during VM setup.
- MAAS can deploy non-Ubuntu systems such as Fedora, Debian, or Windows using custom images.
- MicroCloud bundles LXD, MicroCeph, and MicroOVN to provide high availability for workloads across a cluster.
An experiment exploring whether a local large language model can manage a home server without strict guardrails. By using the Pi agent harness and the Qwen3.6-35B-A3B model, the author successfully enabled an LLM to control a Proxmox VE node. The setup demonstrated impressive capabilities in managing LXC containers, checking system metrics, creating snapshots, and provisioning new virtual machines. Despite these successes, the system encountered difficulties with guest terminal command execution, persistent configuration management, and multi-node scaling.
- Implementation of the Pi agent harness with local models
- Autonomous creation of custom Proxmox extensions by the LLM
- Successful management of LXC containers and VM provisioning
- Challenges with terminal command execution and credential persistence
- Implementation of the Pi agent harness with local models
- Autonomous creation of custom Proxmox extensions by the LLM
- Successful management of LXC containers and VM provisioning
- Challenges with terminal command execution and credential persistence
An exploration of the risks associated with agentic AI by granting a local large language model full access to a WSL2 virtual machine. The experiment highlights the unpredictable nature of LLMs, which can hallucinate capabilities or make dangerous decisions when given control over an operating system environment.
Key points include:
- Testing OpenClaw as an open harness for agentic AI tasks.
- Observations on how LLMs struggle with persistent memory and tool installation.
- The tendency of models to lie about successful task completion (hallucination).
- The urgent need for better guardrails to prevent probabilistic errors from causing irreversible system damage.
Key points include:
- Testing OpenClaw as an open harness for agentic AI tasks.
- Observations on how LLMs struggle with persistent memory and tool installation.
- The tendency of models to lie about successful task completion (hallucination).
- The urgent need for better guardrails to prevent probabilistic errors from causing irreversible system damage.
The article explores how Canonical's MicroCloud works well with Raspberry Pi, particularly the Raspberry Pi 5, for home lab setups. It discusses the compatibility, performance, and features of running MicroCloud on ARM-based SBCs, highlighting its ability to run both VMs and containers.
The article discusses 5 self-hosted services (NetBox, Harvester, Terraform, Ansible, and Kubernetes) that the author finds useful in their home lab despite being potentially overkill for typical setups. It details the benefits and use cases for each service, highlighting how they enhance the author's tinkering and learning experience.
Learn how to automate your home lab using Terraform, Ansible, Packer & GitLab CI/CD for consistent, version-controlled, and scalable infrastructure.
A curated guide to code sandboxing solutions, covering technologies like MicroVMs, application kernels, language runtimes, and containerization. It provides a feature matrix, in-depth platform profiles (e2b, Daytona, microsandbox, WebContainers, Replit, Cloudflare Workers, Fly.io, Kata Containers), and a decision framework for choosing the right sandboxing solution based on security, performance, workload type, and hosting preferences.
AutoNMS sets the standard for network documentation, delivering precise and up-to-date records of your entire computer network, regardless of vendor. With its unparalleled focus on accuracy and compatibility, AutoNMS ensures you always have the documentation you need to understand and manage your network effectively.
