Recent content on Melson's Blog
Learn Kubernetes Part 1: Development with kind Using Docker Registry 
 This blog walks through deploying and scaling a small NGINX-based application in Kubernetes using kind. It covers Pod replication, Services, load balancing, Ingress routing, autoscaling, and a few debugging scenarios including how to identify which Pod actually served a given request. 
 Kind is a tool for running local…
This is a continuation of my previous post . The goal of this part is to understand in a simple way how Tailscale works behind the scenes on Windows using a L3 adapter called Wintun . 
 How Tailscale Peer-to-Peer Works 
 Majority of Tailscale’s code is open source, including DERP server which acts as a relay for peers when direct connection fails. 
 Since Tailscale’s…
Understanding Kubernetes DNS and SRV-Based Service Discovery 
 I have been reading about Kubernetes DNS and going through its official specification available on GitHub
 Kubernetes DNS specification 
 After studying the documentation, I understood how Kubernetes performs internal service discovery using DNS. This led me to an interesting idea. 
 
 Can I build my own…
As a Network Engineer, I always wanted a network and service monitoring system that brings all the necessary tools into a single dashboard. Ever since I started self hosting services on my Raspberry Pi, my goal has been to run everything on it. Most tools are open source and available as separate services, but what really fascinated me was a network monitoring solution called Domotz which was…
Since I started self hosting a few services, I wanted a custom dashboard something like Grafana Canvas where I could monitor my entire infra and visulaize all my devices and their status on a
single screen. 
 At first, I thought, “Hey, I’ll just design the whole device model with CSS!” 
 But then reality hit me… that would probably take a decade for someone like me who…
After self hosting my mail server at home on a Raspberry Pi, I frequently encountered internet stability issues. Sometimes, my fiber connection would get damaged due to nearby construction work, and other times, my ISP would schedule maintenance, causing outages that lasted for an hour or more. 
 These incidents made me realize that hosting my email server at home was risky, I could lose…
Introduction 
 After self hosting a few services at home, I found myself repeatedly logging into my domain registrar’s portal to add or map new IPs and subdomains. This back-and-forth process quickly became tedious. To simplify it, I decided to implement an authoritative name server for my own domain, hosted directly from home. Using an API driven approach, DNS records can now be updated…
DNS: how It All Works 
 Ever wondered how DNS resolves domain names? How does it work behind the scenes? Well, In this blog, we’ll explore the fascinating world of DNS resolution. Whether it’s Google’s famous (8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4) or Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1, you’ll finally understand what’s happening when you type a domain into your browser. 
 DNS: Your Internet’s Phonebook 
 DNS (Domain Name…
Even RaspberryPi Deserve to Be Heard 
 After self-hosting a few services and monitoring their state like the Raspberry Pi’s temperature, RAM, and disk usage I wanted a solution that could send me real-time notifications when certain thresholds were reached. I needed something reliable and privacy-focused, without relying on third-party platforms like Telegram bots that handle my data…
$(whoami) 

 


 Network Research Engineer by profession, hobbyist developer, tinkerer, and tech enthusiast. 
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Introduction 
 As a Network engineer, I’ve always dreamed of announcing my own BGP routes and peering with others. I wanted the experience of running a decentralized BGP network not just in a lab environment, but in a real, persistent setup that could run indefinitely. After some research, I discovered DN42, a community driven platform that makes this possible without requiring expensive ASNs…
Introduction 
 I’ve been using Tailscale for years to access my home lab without the need for a public IP. Tailscale can be installed on almost any device, allowing you to securely connect and access them from anywhere. It works as a peer-to-peer, mesh-style VPN, is opensource , and completely free for up to 100 devices and 10 users. They also offer a business plan for larger setups. 
…
Introduction 
 I came across a few posts on the subreddit r/selfhosted about running personal mail servers on cloud VPS. That got me thinking why not self-host my own email server at home instead of relying on a cloud provider’s VPS? 
 This led me to wonder what I’d need to set up a fully functional email server for personal use. Rather than using a traditional server-grade PC. I decided…
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