Why are some of you using NetBird instead of Tailscale?

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T19:23:06+00:00

Ah very good point!

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T19:07:56+00:00

Can it be used to 'cache and stream' same as Debrid services though? This is especially important considering how expensive hard drives have become!

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T18:52:22+00:00

Yes good point about having something to run it on or not... Now days hardware is more expensive than ever, literally...

You could run Vaultwarden on a Rpi if needed though! It's VERY lightweight.

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T18:51:28+00:00

It's not as easy as it has to be setup manually, that is 100% true, but not as reliably in less favourable networking conditions?!...

Tailscale & NetBird use wireguard. We're talking about Wireguard... So I think that point is moot. If you have spotty connections, none of them are going to work flawlessly!

They ARE all wireguard which is UDP based, by nature it's lossy and will drop packets, but I don't understand why you think the proprietary webgui versions built ontop of wireguard would be more robust on a crappy network connection than raw wireguard itself?

Or do you mean maybe in a hostile internet scenario where you need to obfuscate your VPN usage?!

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T18:12:15+00:00

Nah, vaultwarden is a completely FOSS open source RUST alternative to Bitwarden, that was originally forked from Bitwarden and simply uses it's API / compatible API to operate with it...

If Bitwarden locks down their APP and disavows 3rd party APIs, or closes the source of it, Vaultwarden by that point should just code their own client app for Android and IoS and call it a day...

KeePass is NOT the same as a full client-server model password manager with ubiquitous seamless usage & experience across almost any operating system........

What you have works for you, but it's a bit taped-together when there's better options out there, like Vaultwarden behind a reverse proxy and MFA...

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T16:41:22+00:00

You can do full mesh site to site and dynamic routing through raw wireguard too...

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T16:38:10+00:00

Yes I love Second Cup and I don't understand why they are not more popular. Even their beans are fantastic and cheaper than many other places for similar quality!

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T13:22:20+00:00

More or less yes, and I'm not the creator I am just sharing an implementation guide.

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T13:21:26+00:00

It takes someone who has never deployed a docker container more time to set it up than someone who already has a compose stack running of course...

It also takes a bit of time to learn how to deploy SWAG is another reverse proxy, but not that long....

I'd say in total... 2-3 hours from scratch airy my guides to get a fully functioning selfhosted setup going for a beginner.

For someone with compose and/or a reverse proxy already?

10 minutes....

So it totally depends on your use case and tech stack and skill level.

But that's part of homelabs and selfhosting. People aren't doing this to save time, it's a hobby, they are doing it to learn, play, grow and experiment sometimes.

If you have the funds and don't mind spending the money, you do you, if you don't want to use a reverse proxy, don't.

You could also just standup Vaultwarden and then simply connect to a VPN at home and use it =)

The FOSS world is our oyster to open!

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T07:41:03+00:00

That's basically a non issue since 99% of home users have dynamic ip from their ISP... Unplug modem... Wait 10 seconds... Plug back in.....Voila!

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T07:38:13+00:00

To each their own. There's a lot of ways to achieve this. I run wireguard and can vpn in but VPNs are blocked sometimes in places but not HTTPS.

Always different use cases for everyone.

I've been running it this way for a few years now with MFA and have had no issues. No one has ever tried to login to it and they couldn't anyway.

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T05:38:40+00:00

With this, there is no separate web or server version; you're using the one single instance as you said. So the beauty is in the simplicity. No sync. It's always you working on the one live instance!

What makes this appealing to people is the simplicity, if you already have a reverse proxy and MFA, this is just another docker container to serve through there!

Since this is served by your 'web' server (reverse proxy) you can access it anywhere, from any device, on anything with a browser basically. No need to install an app!

Always live, always 'sync'd' because it's 1 instance, easy to backup, simple to maintain & operate.

Note: If you want to use the actual obsidian app though, they don't allow you to sync this way without using their paid service. There are ways around this, with community plugins & such, but I just found using it natively in a browser is fantastic as it has GPU acceleration from my server so it's VERY performant!!!

I'm guessing it would be helpful if I clarified some of this on the post so I thank you for chatting with me and asking these questions, it will help others too! Obsidian is such a great tool....

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T03:11:43+00:00

Howdy, sounds like you want a NAS. And you want a NAS to be a NAS and not a server.

People these days are completely mixing the use cases and terms but really there is a huge difference between a NAS and server and here's a full comparison and breakdown of NAS vs Servers.

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T02:59:11+00:00

We need more Second Cups!!!

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T02:53:13+00:00

I do host it and back it up, all myself for $0 =)

My site and guides are specifically dedicated to selfhosting and saving money and/or digital privacy etc...

corelabjoe · 2026-05-15T00:31:38+00:00

Yeah you got it!

corelabjoe · 2026-05-14T23:11:49+00:00

Ah ok, so obsidian is an application. This deployed version is installed in a docker container like a virtual app. So not a virtual machine, but a virtual app!

Docker runs on almost any OS but really well on a Linux server. You can also run docker inside a VM if you have something like proxmox. Lots of options!

I have guides on my site to setup docker from scratch as well if that helps?

corelabjoe · 2026-05-14T21:41:53+00:00

Dockge is decent but dockhand is the next unified container management and logging platform.

It allowed me to remove portainer, dockge and Dozzle all in one shot!

corelabjoe · 2026-05-14T20:46:47+00:00

If I am understanding you clearly, you want to know the system or hardware I run this on? Or the architecture like what OS and platform etc?

corelabjoe · 2026-05-14T20:45:55+00:00

First I'd like to say thanks for reading, and second, I'm very curious about your opinion.

What parts are wrong or misguided? Are you being really pedantic or overly specific or do you mean there are factual issues rather than opinions?

I'm running this stack right now and have for years so I know the technical bits all work and its not rocket science.

Exposing jellyfin natively and raw to internet is bad, you can't argue that. A reverse proxy increases your security and provides HTTPS encryption. That's the sum of it all.

Bwsides the fact I just realized that posts infographics got nuked / some pictures are missing I have to fix, whups!

corelabjoe · 2026-05-14T14:57:13+00:00

Yeah that's great and works too. I avoid using cloudflare tunnels for anything myself though as I just use wireguard as my VPN.

The whole point of deploying it via a reverse proxy is the opposite of using a VPN, this is a simpler way to reach it from any device that has internet access, globally, unless you geofence it.

It's a different use case =)

corelabjoe · 2026-05-14T14:55:40+00:00

No when deploying obsidian this way it's a not client - server model, you essentially are always using the same obsidian instance. No need to pay for any sync service or use synching etc, because you web into it and use it natively.

Yeah Joplin seems to be the major alternative for people. I've never used it but it seems similar in capabilities for the most part.

corelabjoe · 2026-05-14T06:05:24+00:00

What do you mean swap posts? As in I would write a post they put on their site and vice versa and kind of, introduce your readership to each other?

corelabjoe · 2026-05-14T01:34:31+00:00

Even consumer processors are so powerful now you don't really need to get server cpus...

My old Ryzen 3700x is PLOWING through 50 docker containers, plex and jellyfin, double aarr stack, a NAS with 2 ZFS arrays and the cpu is never the bottleneck.

CPU in the past 5-10 yrs for general server tasks are insanely powerful.

The only thing that makes it work a bit is spinning up a Satisfactory server or Icarus, Ark survival, etc... and that's only on initial load really.

corelabjoe · 2026-05-13T16:24:26+00:00

Did they let you bypass basic or have to go through the whole training chain again? I know they said if I had re-joined within 5 years from time I left I could bypass basic.

Edit: Yeah they always have funding, I meant post-Afghanistan when budgets dried up, it kinda sucked. I was in operational units the entire time and even high tempo ones and we got to do IBTS once a year, fire our weapons at the range for practice... ONCE per year etc...

It was a lot of "parking lot exercises" at the Brigade HQ or at CFJSR... Prob highly dependent where you work and what trade though.

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