RackNotes is a publication focused on practical homelab and sysadmin work — Proxmox, backup and disaster recovery, identity and authentication, and the rest of the day-to-day IT stack.
It exists because most of what’s online about these topics in 2026 is either vendor marketing, AI-generated filler with no real testing behind it, or YouTube videos that take 20 minutes to say what a 4-paragraph article could.
We try to be the opposite of that.
What this site is
A place to document real deployments, real failures, and real decisions about the tools sysadmins actually use. Articles here are research-heavy when the topic calls for it, hands-on when we have a lab to test on, and clearly labeled when they’re one or the other.
We focus on:
- Proxmox VE and virtualization — comparisons, deployments, migration realities
- Backup and disaster recovery — Veeam, Proxmox Backup Server, Acronis, real recovery scenarios
- Identity and authentication — Authentik, Keycloak, AD, SSO patterns
- Sysadmin tooling and infrastructure — monitoring, automation, networking, the boring stuff that runs production
The shared theme is what actually works in small-to-medium deployments. Not Fortune 500 architecture. Not toy demos.
Who’s behind it
RackNotes is maintained by a small editorial team with 10+ years of combined experience in IT operations and systems administration, including hands-on enterprise infrastructure work and team leadership at sysadmin level.
We don’t pretend to be a 50-person publication. We don’t have certifications listed in the footer. We’re practitioners who got tired of low-quality tech writing and decided to make the kind of articles we wished existed when we were figuring this stuff out the first time.
How we write
Full breakdown of our methodology is in the Editorial Policy. Short version:
Editorial standards we hold to:
- No AI-generated content without editorial review. AI tools are useful for drafts and structure. They’re not used to publish unsupervised content here.
- No clickbait headlines. No “ULTIMATE GUIDE.” No “You won’t believe what Proxmox does next.” If a headline overpromises, the article underdelivers — we know how that pattern feels as readers.
- No fabricated experience. When we haven’t personally deployed something, we say so. Articles are clearly framed as either “tested in our lab” or “research-based with cited sources.”
- No sponsored content masquerading as editorial. If we ever publish sponsored placement, it will be labeled clearly at the top of the article. Affiliate links are disclosed — see Affiliate Disclosure.
- No filler listicles. “10 Best X for Y” articles are written when there’s a real reason for that format, not as a generic SEO play.
- No vendor-pleasing reviews. If a product is mediocre, we say so — even if there’s a commission attached. If we have a real preference, we explain why.
- Honest negative space. What we don’t cover matters too. We don’t write about topics where we don’t have either deployment experience or strong reference material. There’s enough confident-sounding nonsense online already.
Corrections and updates
When we get something wrong, we fix it visibly. Articles include “Last updated” dates, and significant changes get a note explaining what changed and why. If you spot a factual error, tell us — we’d rather get it right than win an argument.
What this site doesn’t do
- We don’t sell consulting services, courses, or paid memberships.
- We don’t run display ads (currently).
- We don’t track readers beyond standard Google Analytics for traffic understanding. See Privacy Policy.
- We don’t accept guest posts. The byline on the site is a small editorial team, not an open submission platform.
- We don’t republish vendor press releases as “news.”
Contact
Found a factual error, have a question about an article, or want to suggest a topic? Contact us.
For business inquiries (sponsorship, partnerships, etc.), same form — but please include “Business” in the subject line so we can route it appropriately.