Self hosted

Welcome to the Self-Hosted section of PHP Systems Blog. Here, I share how I run my own infrastructure - from hosting web apps and game servers to managing automation, backups, and security. Whether you’re looking to reclaim control from the cloud or just enjoy the challenge of running your own services, you’ll find tutorials, walkthroughs, and real-world setups here.

Running Containers on a Synology DS1821+: How to Install Firefly III with Portainer

Take control of your personal finances with Firefly III on Synology. Learn how to deploy Firefly III via Portainer and manage your money securely at home.

Running Containers on a Synology DS1821+: Install Paperless-ngx with Portainer

Turn your Synology NAS into a powerful document management system with Paperless-ngx. Learn how to install and configure Paperless-ngx using Portainer and Docker.

Running Containers on a Synology DS1821+: Getting Started with Portainer

Turn your Synology DS1821+ into more than just a file server - run Docker containers with ease! Learn how to set up Docker, install Portainer as your first container, and unlock the full power of self-hosted applications.

Zen and the art of IPv6

Running Zen Internet with a Cisco router? You get a native /64 IPv6 by default—but request a /48 for proper subnetting. Enable IPv6, add Google’s DNS, and configure DHCPv6 PD with ipv6 dhcp client pd ZEN-PD. Test with ipv6.google.com. Clean, native IPv6—no tunnels, no hacks.

Uptime Kuma and kestra - Fixing issues within minutes.

Integrating Uptime Kuma with Kestra via webhooks enables real-time issue detection and automated remediation. Uptime Kuma monitors services and triggers Kestra workflows to resolve incidents, reducing manual intervention, improving reliability, and ensuring faster, more efficient operations.

Ad removal

This post is not intended to be definitive on how to remove all ads anywhere more just the things I do to make life a little less cluttered. Ads are somethimes badly placed and a potential source of malware.

Fixing my PPPOE configuration on PfSense

I am moving from a virtual machine on VMWare to a physical host for my firewall. There are many reasons. This machine was the last hold out of my move. I also was upgrading from Pfsense version 2.5.2 to version 2.7.2 as well, which did complicate matters.

pfSense and Tor

I have recently moved from a pfSense vm to dedicated hardware. I may move back, but while I was evaluating the system, I installed TOR ( The Onion Router) package on to my firewall to allow me to route traffic.

Using Kestra to update my proxmox IPSet

I've been using Kestra for a while now to automate some of the more mundane tasks around my network. One of these tasks is keeping the firewall up to date. This blog sits behind cloudflare, and as such, only cloudflare needs to access it. All other sources should be be denied (except internally).

FreePBX and Zen Digital Voice

As part of a money saving effort along with improving my internet speeds, I needed to do something with the telephone number coming in to my house. Fortunately, I have been playing with Asterisk for quite a few years now.

About the author

Tim Wilkes is a UK-based security architect with over 15 years of experience in electronics, Linux, and Unix systems administration. Since 2021, he's been designing secure systems for a telecom company while indulging his passions for programming, automation, and 3D printing. Tim shares his projects, tinkering adventures, and tech insights here - partly as a personal log, and partly in the hopes that others will find them useful.

Want to connect or follow along?

LinkedIn: [phpsytems]
Twitter / X: [@timmehwimmy]
Mastodon: [@timmehwimmy@infosec.exchange]

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