- The author's homelab had issues with a machine called 'nibbler' that was unreliable and likely defective, purchased as refurbished.
- Kubernetes was abandoned due to complexity and maintenance difficulties; the author reverted to using Docker Compose as a simpler solution.
- Current homelab setup includes: 'lrrr' (Proxmox host), 'morbo' (TrueNAS SCALE for storage), 'nibbler' (revamped as the main non-critical service machine), and an external VM 'ord-router' for public ingress.
- The deployment system uses Docker Compose stacks enhanced with Ruby libraries, Rake, and YAML for features like cron jobs, secrets management, ingress via Caddy, IPv6 networking, and cross-stack dependencies.