Once I got comfortable with self-hosted services, I decided to set up a home lab to play around with different apps and tools related to servers, networking, virtualization, etc. While the process was slightly intimidating initially, accompanying documentation with most services made it simple to figure things out every time something went wrong. However, things started to get confusing when the volume of tools and services increased, because it only meant more documentation, notes, processes, and steps to set them up. Don't even get me started on the terminal commands and troubleshooting methods to fix issues. I wanted something to consolidate everything in one place and simplify it for me. This was around the same time I first decided to try NotebookLM to improve my productivity.
I was impressed with the output, especially since it was quite different compared to your standard LLM chatbot. You could have different notebooks for various topics and ideas, while using AI to process the data and simplify it. That's when it struck me that I could use NotebookLM to simplify my home lab, document it, and even troubleshoot issues. Turns out, it's actually fantastic at performing these tasks -- thanks to its organizational features and its ability to churn out step-by-step instructions to carry out a process. If you've just dipped your toes into the world of experimentation, here's how NotebookLM can help you.
The perfect aggregator you need
Combines all documentation in one place
I like having all my assets in one place. Perhaps that's a big reason why I still use Excel to track my invoices, payouts, schedule, projects, etc. There may be better tools out there, but I like services that allow me to do multiple things in one place. That's exactly why I also like NotebookLM. It's a centralized knowledge hub for multiple topics -- in one place. Since you can have multiple notebooks for different topics, it's best to allot one for your home lab and upload all the supporting documentation there. For instance, you can upload manuals, PDFs with instructions, links to YouTube tutorials, GitHub guides, etc. Once you have all of it in one place, you can ask questions and get relevant answers in a jiffy. Without NotebookLM, you would have to manually peruse through hundreds of pages or videos to find the answer you're looking for. Now, it only takes a couple of seconds.
NotebookLM cross-references all the sources you've added, so the responses you receive will be comprehensive. Apart from asking questions, you can also use NotebookLM to get a list of hardware you would need for a project, what the time required to build would be, any assistance with the code required to deploy it, etc. Then, there's summarization, which is helpful if you have massive documents with hundreds of pages. Audio overviews can be used to listen to responses when you're not in the mood to read, etc. Essentially, treat NotebookLM like a knowledge aggregator that can even answer FAQs once it has access to all your data.
How I use it to improve my home lab
From learning to troubleshooting
Let me explain some practical examples that indicate how I effectively use NotebookLM regularly to improve my home lab experience. Let's consider a scenario consisting of a router and some IoT devices. I can upload details about my router, the type of IoT devices I have, documentation about the protocols they support, any notes about compatibility with Home Assistant, and the relevant configuration files to deploy Home Assistant on my local network. I can then ask questions like: "Which is the best way to interface my IoT devices without worrying about privacy, and how do I use Home Assistant to achieve it?"
Another similar use case would be fixing issues when trying to deploy containers in Docker. With the Docker documentation uploaded, I can ask questions surrounding why a container isn't running, what its port number is, what a certain Docker command indicates, etc. Using all the uploaded info, you can also ask NotebookLM to create detailed guides for you that you can follow to set up services, troubleshoot issues, and even help someone else set up their own self-hosted lab for experimentation.
NotebookLM is slowly becoming my favorite AI tool
Technically, NotebookLM is a research assistant that you can use to collate multiple documents, links, and other sources of information in one place. You can then ask questions regarding the content, ask NotebookLM to perform tasks such as writing essays, reports, etc., from the various sources, and even ask it to explain complex concepts in a simple manner. While these features provide students with academic aid and working professionals with an easy solution to improve their workflow, they also work surprisingly well for home lab enthusiasts who want to simplify their documentation and get any sort of help to fix an issue. Try it out for yourself, and I'm sure you'll start using NotebookLM more often, even in several other ways.
