--- title: A $25 smart plug became my home lab's most reliable... description: A $25 smart plug turned out to be one of the most practical additions to a headless home lab setup. By routing the server through a smart plug, you gain the... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-25-smart-plug-became-my-home-lab-s-most-reliable-emergency-fix-9vgnuzuzy twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A $25 smart plug became my home lab's most reliable emergency fix | daily.dev og:description: A $25 smart plug turned out to be one of the most practical additions to a headless home lab setup. By routing the server through a smart plug, you gain the... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-25-smart-plug-became-my-home-lab-s-most-reliable-emergency-fix-9vgnuzuzy og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/9vgnUZUZy.png og:image:alt: A $25 smart plug became my home lab's most reliable emergency fix og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A $25 smart plug became my home lab's most reliable emergency fix **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A $25 smart plug turned out to be one of the most practical additions to a headless home lab setup. By routing the server through a smart plug, you gain the ability to remotely power cycle it from anywhere when SSH or remote desktop fails. Beyond emergency restarts, it also enables safe power-off while traveling, reduces risk during experimentation, and supports scheduled power cycling. While not an elegant solution, it serves as a reliable last-resort fallback for unresponsive servers. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Smart plugs are secretly the best troubleshooting tools you already own](https://daily.dev/posts/smart-plugs-are-secretly-the-best-troubleshooting-tools-you-already-own-fx0kf63rv) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [The one smart home device I'd tell any beginner to buy first, and it isn't a speaker](https://daily.dev/posts/the-one-smart-home-device-i-d-tell-any-beginner-to-buy-first-and-it-isn-t-a-speaker-k0nlyz3ws) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Smart plugs are replacing smart appliances, and your decade-old washing machine just became future-proof](https://daily.dev/posts/smart-plugs-are-replacing-smart-appliances-and-your-decade-old-washing-machine-just-became-future-p-vbcfpckau) · XDA Developers · 34 upvotes · 9 comments - [I connected these 4 devices to smart plugs, and automation changed everything](https://daily.dev/posts/i-connected-these-4-devices-to-smart-plugs-and-automation-changed-everything-8mt5cuzld) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The cheapest thing in my smart home does more work than everything else combined](https://daily.dev/posts/the-cheapest-thing-in-my-smart-home-does-more-work-than-everything-else-combined-6oxqo6ut3) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#iot](https://daily.dev/tags/iot), [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-25-smart-plug-became-my-home-lab-s-most-reliable-emergency-fix-9vgnuzuzy) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A $25 smart plug became my home lab's most reliable emergency fix","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-25-smart-plug-became-my-home-lab-s-most-reliable-emergency-fix-9vgnuzuzy","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-25-smart-plug-became-my-home-lab-s-most-reliable-emergency-fix-9vgnuzuzy"},"datePublished":"2026-04-01T17:31:25.054Z","dateModified":"2026-04-01T17:33:08.618Z","description":"A $25 smart plug turned out to be one of the most practical additions to a headless home lab setup. 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