adze
Free, Open-Source Tools & Resources for Digital Building
Your workshop for digital infrastructure — self-hosting guides, backup strategies, networking, hardware reviews, and best practices for building resilient systems.
The Digital Toolshed
Practical guides for building your own infrastructure.
Self-Hosting Guide — Run Your Own Services
A complete beginner-to-advanced guide for self-hosting file storage, media servers, email, DNS, and more on your own hardware.
💾Backup Strategies — Protecting What Matters
The 3-2-1 backup rule, automated solutions, off-site replication, and long-term archival strategies for home and small business infrastructure.
🌐Networking & Routing — Build a Proper Network
VLANs, DNS, reverse proxies, VPNs, firewalls, and network segmentation for self-hosters and home lab enthusiasts.
🔌Hardware Reviews — NAS, Servers, Routers & Storage
In-depth comparisons and reviews of NAS devices, mini PCs, routers, UPS units, and storage drives for home labs and self-hosting.
📦Containers & Orchestration — Docker, Podman & Compose
A practical guide to Docker, Podman, Docker Compose, and container orchestration for self-hosters — from first container to production stacks.
🔒Security & Hardening — Protect Your Infrastructure
SSH hardening, TLS certificates, fail2ban, access control, and security best practices for self-hosted services and home servers.
🗄️Data Retention — Policies, Automation & Archival
How to build a data retention strategy — what to keep, when to delete, automated lifecycle policies, and compliance-aware approaches.
✅Best Practices & Standards — Build It Right
Naming conventions, documentation standards, maintainable configurations, and professional habits for self-hosters and home-lab builders.
⚖️Product Comparisons — Side-by-Side Reviews
Detailed comparisons of NAS devices, routers, backup software, DNS solutions, VPN services, and other infrastructure tools.
🐧Linux Essentials — The Self-Hoster's OS
A practical Linux guide for self-hosters — distributions, essential commands, file permissions, systemd, and troubleshooting.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about self-hosting, home labs, backup strategies, networking, and digital infrastructure — answered clearly.
📖Glossary — Digital Infrastructure Terms
Plain-English definitions of networking, self-hosting, Linux, and infrastructure terminology for beginners and experienced builders alike.
Welcome to the Toolshed
The internet wasn't built to depend on someone else's server. Yet most of us have handed the keys to our digital lives — photos, documents, email, calendars, code — to a handful of corporations. When their services go down, we go down with them.
adze.uk is a workshop for people who want to take that control back.
Whether you're setting up your first home server or hardening a production stack, you'll find practical, tested guides for building infrastructure that belongs to you.
What You'll Find Here
- Self-Hosting Guides — Step-by-step instructions for running your own services: file storage, media, email, DNS, and more
- Backup Strategies — The 3-2-1 rule and beyond — how to protect data that matters
- Networking & Routing — VLANs, reverse proxies, DNS, VPNs, and firewall configuration
- Hardware Reviews — NAS devices, mini PCs, routers, UPS units, and storage drives compared
- Containers & Orchestration — Docker, Podman, and Compose for self-hosters
- Security & Hardening — SSH keys, fail2ban, TLS certificates, and access control
- Standards & Best Practices — Naming conventions, documentation habits, and maintainable setups
- Data Retention — Policies, automation, and long-term archival strategies
Why Self-Host?
There are good reasons to let someone else handle your infrastructure — and there are excellent reasons not to. Self-hosting gives you:
- Ownership — Your data lives on your hardware, under your control
- Privacy — No third party reading your files, scanning your photos, or training models on your content
- Resilience — Your services don't disappear because a company pivots or gets acquired
- Learning — Nothing teaches networking, Linux, and systems thinking like running your own stack
- Cost control — A one-time hardware purchase often beats years of subscription fees
The Tools Matter
The name "adze" comes from one of humanity's oldest tools — a simple, effective blade used to shape wood for thousands of years. The best digital tools share those qualities: simple, effective, and built to last.
Every tool and resource recommended on this site is:
- Free and open source (or has a genuine free tier with no data harvesting)
- Self-hostable where possible
- Well-documented with active communities
- Tested — we don't recommend anything we haven't used
Start Building
Browse the guides by topic, check out our hardware comparison tables, or jump straight to the self-hosting section if you're ready to get things running. Every page includes real configuration examples, hardware specifications, and links to official documentation.
adze.uk is independently operated and not affiliated with any hardware manufacturer, hosting provider, or software vendor. Product links may include affiliate partnerships — see our affiliate disclosure for details.