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Homelab Organization

Hi all!

So I want to get back into self hosting, but every time I have stopped is because I have lack of documentation to fix things that break. So I pose a question, how do you all go about keeping your setup documented? What programs do you use?

I have leaning towards open source software, so things like OneNote, or anything Microsoft are out of the question.

Edit: I didn't want to add another post and annoy people, but had another inquiry:

What ReverseProxy do you use? I plan to run a bunch of services from docker, and would like to be able to reserve an IP:Port to something like service.mylocaldomain.lan

I already have Unbound setup on my PiHole, so I have the ability to set DNS records internally.

Bonus points if whatever ReverseProxy setup can accomplish SSL cert automation.

suswrkr ,

I run a k3s cluster for selfhosted apps and keep all the configuration and docs in a git repo. That way I have history of changes and can rollback if needed. In that repo I have a docs folder with markdown documents about common operations and runbooks.

There are other ways to do this, but I like keeping docs next to the code and config so I can update them all at the same time. Deployed several wikis in the past but always forget to update them when I change things.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

I really should spend time familiarizing with maintaining a git repo. I'll likely find one I can self host.

suswrkr ,

https://forgejo.org selfhosted has been good for me, FOSS fork of Gitea.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

Thank you for the suggestion. The fact that it's FOSS wins my vote. I have been trying to go all open source where possible.

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

If you want a git "server" quick and low maintenance then gitolite is most likely the best choice. https://gitolite.com/gitolite/index.html

It simply acts as a server that you can clone with any git client and the coolest part is that you use git commits to create repositories and manage users as well. Very very or no maintenance at all. I've been using it personally for years but also saw it being used at some large companies because it simply gets the job done and doesn't bother anyone.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

I will have to check out gitolite. Thank you!

traches , (edited )
  • caddyserver for reverse proxy
  • docker-compose for ~75% of documentation
  • logseq for notes, though I don’t keep much.

Docker and docker-compose are nice because every service you want to run follows the same basic pattern. You don’t need much documentation beyond the project docs and the compose files themselves

Edit: caddyserver can do automatic certs, even behind a firewall if you set up the api call method. Varies by registrar

TCB13 ,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

So I want to get back into self hosting, but every time I have stopped is because I have lack of documentation to fix things that break. So I pose a question, how do you all go about keeping your setup documented? What programs do you use?

Joplin or Obsidian? Or... plain markdown files with your favorite text editor.

brownmustardminion ,

I use Joplin and it works great for this exact thing. Anytime I discover a new command that fixes something I’ll throw it into my Joplin notebook. “New Server Cheatsheet” goes to list in order common operations and commands for setting up SSH, UfW, making a non-root user, configuring wireguard, etc. I have hundreds of notes by now and they’re easily found via search bar.

cvf ,

My documentation problem was largely fixed by using Nixos. The actual OS instances are self-documenting that way.

As far as the documentation for the network setup itself goes, a simple wiki does the rest of the trick for me.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

I still want to get familiarized with NixOS and the concepts behind it. Just haven't taken the time.

Strit ,
@Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show avatar

My documentation is a folder with the docker compose files I am using. And some notes in Nextcloud Notes if needed.

My reverse proxy is Traefik, since it's docker aware. :)

bjornsno ,

Came to write basically this. I would try caddy but my compose file is 600 lines long now and half of that is traefik labels, I can't be arsed with the migration.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

Traefik or Caddy are the 2 I am bouncing back and forth between currently.
I may spin up a nextcloud instance.

theRealBassist ,

This might be a bit late, but from my perception Traefik has a touch more of a learning curve, but it integrates much better with solutions like Authlia/Authentik and Prometheus than Caddy does.

I might be wrong, I've never used Caddy, but that's my perception.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

Good to know. Thank you!

vahirua , (edited )

I'm adding documentation about what I do in Joplin and I'm using Nextcloud to keep it synced.

For reverse proxy I use Nginx Proxy Manager for its simplicity. I really don't need anything more fancy.. https://nginxproxymanager.com/

rand_alpha19 ,

You could try Logseq, it's like Obsidian but open source. I use Obsidian for most notes and I also have a personal wiki built with Otterwiki.

I use NGINX for my reverse proxy, you could check out NGINX Proxy Manager which uses Certbot to automate the SSL certificates.

I've heard a lot of people also like Caddy and Traefik. Can't remember which is easier to use, maybe Caddy.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

I will likely dabble with Logseq.

I used NGINX Proxy Manager for a while, then had some issues that ultimately killed my homelab setup, so not sure that I want to go down that route again, or if I want to investigate Caddy, Traefik, or another.

rand_alpha19 ,

Yeah, I could never get NPM to work right on my system either. I use the NGINX Docker image and set up my certs manually.

If I were to do it all over again today, I would probably go with Caddy since it now has a bunch of that stuff built in with automatic HTTPS by default and the basic reverse proxy setup is literally 2 lines of code.

earth_walker ,
@earth_walker@lemmy.world avatar

I use markdown text files which are synced to my nextcloud instance.

This is somewhat tangential to your post, but I think using infrastructure as code and declarative technologies is great for reliability because you aren't just running a bunch of commands until something works, you have the code which tells you exactly how things are set up, and you can version control it to roll back to a working state. The code itself can be a form of documentation in that case.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

I think I need to utilize this strategy because I get lazy and don't update external documentation.

earth_walker ,
@earth_walker@lemmy.world avatar

Some examples of technologies which follow that paradigm are docker compose, ansible, nixOS and terraform. But it all depends on your workflow.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

I think I am going down the docker compose route. When I started using docker, I didn't use compose, however, now I plan to.
Though, Ansible has been on my list of things to learn, as well as nixOS.

earth_walker ,
@earth_walker@lemmy.world avatar

Another suggestion for you, I highly recommend specifying a version for the docker image you are using for a container, in the compose file. For example, nextcloud:29.0.1. If you just use :latest, it will pull a new version whenever you redeploy which you may not have tested against your setup, and the version upgrade may even be irreversible, as in the case of nextcloud. This will give you a lot more control over your setup. Just don't forget to update images at reasonable intervals.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

That is good advice, and honestly never really occurred to me to set specific versions for containers.

Artemis , (edited )

Personally I use Linkwarden for keeping snapshots of websites as well as a bookmark manager and Memos for a simple note-taking app. Both can be installed on mobile as PWAs, so it makes it easier to access on-the-go.

I'm using Nginx Proxy Manager, which I highly recommend for new users due to how simple it is get set up and running! NPM renews SSL certs automatically before they expire as well (afaik). You just gotta make sure that your different Docker containers' ports don't collide with each other.

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

Today I learned about Linkwarden, and I am so excited to check it out. Thank you!

NPM I did use, however it was ultimately the catalyst as to why I quit homelabbing. But when it did work, it was simple even for SSL cert renewal.

Artemis ,

I hope you have fun with Linkwarden!

If you don't mind me asking, why did NPM push you to quitting homelabbing?

Hellmo_Luciferrari OP ,

I ran into an issue where I changed nothing, and all of a sudden none of my SSL certs worked on top of most of the hosts were not working through the reverse proxy. I had not even changed ip addresses on any of them. I am not sure what was going on.

It was more of a "I didn't want to troubleshoot" and gave up, so I shut down my servers.

SeeJayEmm ,
@SeeJayEmm@lemmy.procrastinati.org avatar

Wiki.js
Nginx Proxy Manager.

vegetaaaaaaa ,
@vegetaaaaaaa@lemmy.world avatar
  • ansible playbook for automated/self-documenting setup
  • for one-off bugs or ongoing/long-term problems, open an issue on my gitea instnce and track the investigations and solutions there.
bmarinov ,

I'm also using ansible everywhere in my home / private infra and lab. Occasionally I get slightly annoyed that I have to open an inventory file or a role var to find something. But in general I'm so grateful that there is one place to find this information, and the same is used to set up everything from scratch.

Is it extra work to write the roles and playbooks? Yes. Does it solve the documentation and automation problem completely? Absolutely. 10/10 would recommend. And for the record, most things I host run on containers, but the volumes and permission management alone make it worth your time.

Tywele , (edited )

I have an Ansible playbook that I use to setup everything and all troubleshooting steps I ever had to take to fix something get written down in an Obsidian.md vault.

thayer , (edited )

I write everything in markdown, and I mean just about everything. Tech notes, recipes, work procedures, shopping lists...everything. If you check my comment history from today, you can see a quick example of the kind of tech notes I keep (firewalld in this case).

I keep all of my plain text files synced across multiple devices using Syncthing. For desktop editors, I use mostly vim and VSCodium (though Kate is nice too), and I use Markor on Android. This workflow has been highly efficient for many years now, and I no longer waste time constantly reviewing the latest note-taking app.

lambda ,
@lambda@programming.dev avatar

I use obsidian for my notes/wiki. I use the git plugin to backup/sync my notes. I self-host forgejo as my gut server. Works great!

Caddy is my favorite reverse-proxy. The setup is just a config file.

tvcvt ,

Dokuwiki (dokuwiki.org) is my usual go-to. It’s really simple and stores entries in markdown files so you can get at them as plain text files in a pinch. Here’s a life lesson: don’t host your documentation in the machine you’re going to be breaking! Learned that the hard way once or twice.

For reverse proxies, I’m a fan of HAProxy. It uses pretty straightforward config files and is incredibly robust.

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