lab projects for training and development
This article describes a practical, locked-down workflow for installing a LangGraph development sandbox inside Docker on Ubuntu. It uses localhost only and with minimal echo graph. By Kevin Wells Tested stack – example only: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Docker 28.x Compose v2.39.x LangGraph 0.6.8 langgraph-cli 0.4.2 langgraph-checkpoint-sqlite 2.0.11 langchain-core pinned Date: 2025-09-30 Pin these versions for … Read more
Lab Projects · by Kevin Wells Executive summary This project documents a production-grade backup and restore system for a small Linux web stack hosting multiple WordPress sites. The design goal was reliability over cleverness: full nightly snapshots, 7-day retention, fast verification, and a restore process you can execute at 03:00 without problems. Objectives Back up … Read more
Objective Set up a WordPress development mirror that is reachable only over VPN, mirrors the production site (kevwells.com), and is safe for testing theme, plugin, and content changes without public exposure or SEO duplication. Design Principles Single Apache, multiple vhosts: no second web server. Isolation via a dedicated VirtualHost. VPN-only access: bind the dev vhost … Read more
This Lab Project documents a two-track backup system for a workstation or homelab server. It delivers encrypted, space-efficient snapshots of a LUKS-protected data volume alongside independent snapshots of the home directory. Tooling is intentionally boring – LUKS, ext4, rsync, cron – because boring is reliable. Contents Objectives High-level architecture Naming and paths Exclusion policy Backup … Read more
A precise, scriptable workflow to mirror a live WordPress instance to a local network node for testing and development without leaking secrets or damaging production. Contents Quick start Why this design Architecture at a glance Prerequisites Setup and configuration Replication workflow Sanitised automation script Operational playbook Security notes and threat model Troubleshooting Extensions and variants … Read more
Audience: Linux systems engineers and SREs Tested on: Ubuntu 22.04/24.04, NFSv4.2 Scope: Single NFS server exporting multiple encrypted volumes to VPN-attached clients Why this design I wanted a storage tier that is private by default, simple to operate day-to-day, and fast enough for workstation workflows. The result is an NFSv4.2 stack that sits entirely … Read more
By Kevin Wells · 23 September 2025 Estimated reading time: 7-10 minutes (25 minutes for a line-by-line script audit). Quick Start Set your paths. Replace <user> and /mnt/backup with your own. Install everything in one go. Paste this into your shell command line as root. It creates the snapshot script, exclude lists, a cron schedule, … Read more
By Kevin Wells · 22 September 2025 · Estimated read time: 12-15 minutes This article documents a compact, CPU-only Artificial Intelligence (AI) stack deployed on an Intel NUC server. It is written for IT professionals who want something reliable, maintainable, and security-aware – without handing attackers a treasure map. Identifying details (hostnames, IPs, cert paths) … Read more
