15 Linux Troubleshooting Commands Every Home Lab Admin Should Know

Linux troubleshooting is one of the most valuable skills you can build for a home lab, especially as you start running Proxmox, Kubernetes, Docker containers, and self hosted services. In this video I walk through the core commands you can use to diagnose issues quickly. This includes reading system logs and checking service health to spotting resource bottlenecks. Also, tracking down storage problems, and seeing kernel level errors. If you're trying to figure out why a container crashed, why a disk vanished, why a service won’t start, or why your cluster is running slowly, this walkthrough gives you a practical toolkit of Linux commands to troubleshoot across any Linux distribution you run in your home lab. Read the written blog post for this one: https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2025/11/15-troubleshooting-commands-every-linux-home-lab-admin-should-know/ A recommended Proxmox mini PC: https://geni.us/zs83Eif (affiliate link) Check out the VHT forums to get your questions answered: https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/community/ ★ Skool Community https://www.skool.com/homelabexplorers/about?ref=25f64c297b724689ae81c7dd30ba2c21 ★ Substack URL: bleevht.substack.com ★ Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrxcWtpd1IGHG9RbD_9380A?sub_confirmation=1 ★ My blog: https://www.virtualizationhowto.com ★ Twitter: https://twitter.com/vspinmaster ★ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-lee-vht/ ★ Github: https://github.com/brandonleegit 0:00 Intro: Why Linux troubleshooting matters in the home lab 1:18 journalctl: Reading system logs 2:29 systemctl: Understanding and fixing service issues 3:24 top, htop, btop: Checking resource usage 4:31 dmesg: Kernel and hardware troubleshooting 5:28 lsblk: Identifying storage devices 6:23 df -h: Finding disk usage problems 7:12 du -sh: Tracking down large folders 8:15 free -h: Understanding memory pressure 8:56 ss: Network and port troubleshooting 9:33 ps and kill: Managing processes 10:23 nginx -t: Validating proxy configurations 10:58 kubectl get events: Kubernetes debugging 11:44 zfs list and zpool status: ZFS pool insights 12:22 pveperf: Proxmox performance checks 12:59 smartctl: Disk health diagnostics 13:43 Wrap up and final thoughts