Learning outcomes

Overview

By the end of Homelab Academy, the learner can:

1. Select and operate virtualization (Type 1/Type 2) with snapshots, networking evidence, and safe guest isolation.
2. Author and recreate Compose stacks with persistence, health, and rollback.
3. Design Docker networks using DNS service discovery and deliberate host-port publishing.
4. Operate containers as a system (logs, updates, health, rollback runbooks).
5. Integrate Prowlarr with Sonarr/Radarr using service contracts and authorized sources only.
6. Write and test a quality policy with Custom Formats, cutoff, and upgrade-until behavior.
7. Automate ARR configuration with backup → dry-run → apply → drift → rollback.
8. Model Home Assistant objects (device/entity/area/integration) with tested backups.
9. Build testable automations (trigger/condition/action) with positive and negative cases.
10. Provide secure remote access without publishing admin panels; prove denial.
11. Diagnose local voice pipelines stage-by-stage.
12. Deploy local STT/TTS (Whisper/Piper/Wyoming) with measured tradeoffs.
13. Prove a private smart speaker path with internet disconnected.
14. Build guarded n8n automations with cardinality literacy and human approval before mutation.
15. Read IPv4 address/mask/gateway, contrast classful vs classless, and decide same-LAN vs via-gateway.