Are you ready to take your homelab to the next level this weekend? Here are three projects to try out as we head into the Thanksgiving weekend.
From automatically updating Docker containers to monitoring your servers and even setting up an ultra-secure password manager, it’s time to start tinkering in your homelab.
Get Watchtower set up to automatically update your Docker containers
Credit: Watchtower
I’ve written about Watchtower before, but I really need to sit down and get it properly set up. Since this is a long weekend for many in the US, now’s the perfect time to dial it in for me—and you too.
If you’ve never heard of Watchtower, it’s essentially a Docker container to automatically update other Docker containers. It can be configured in a number of different ways, ranging from just notifying you that a container has an update available to full-blown updating the containers automatically.
I used to have Watchtower deployed in my setup, but I had a few automatic Docker updates cause some issues in my container stack, so I retired it. When I set it up again (and when you set it up for the first time), there are a few configuration options to take note of and use.
The main configuration flag I want to utilize is filter by enable label. This allows you to flag certain containers to be updated automatically by Watchtower, and anything without that flag will simply not be touched. Another flag to use is the monitor only label, which does exactly what it says: monitors if a container has an update and notifies you if it does.
My ideal setup (and the one I plan to build out whenever I sit down to work on my Docker server again) will utilize both of these labels. Some containers will be automatically updated as soon as an update is published (and Watchtower checks for an update), and other containers will just send me a Telegram message when a container has an update.
This allows my non-mission-critical services to stay updated, and puts me in the driver’s seat for when mission-critical services are updated.
Take some time this weekend and set up Watchtower—your Docker containers will thank you.
Set up Pulse to monitor your Proxmox and Docker servers
I just recently found out about Pulse, and it’s on my list of services to deploy in my own homelab. If you’re like me and have never heard of Pulse before, it’s a single gateway to view stats, metrics, logs, and alerts from Proxmox and Docker.
The UI is pretty great and setup seems pretty straightforward. Once set up, you can configure alerts via Discord, Slack, Telegram, email, and more if something happens on one of your servers. Imagine getting a Telegram message because one of your VMs crashed on Proxmox, or a Docker container stopped responding.
Pulse seems like such a useful service that I can’t wait to deploy it in my homelab. The only thing is, be sure that it’s deployed on a server that is known to be reliable. If you’re running Pulse on your main Proxmox or Docker host, then you won’t get any notifications when something goes down.
I have a Raspberry Pi 3b that stays on 24/7/365 as a backup Pi-hole server, and that’s where I plan to deploy Pulse to. That system is very rarely offline, making it the ideal place to host this uptime monitor.
So, get ahead of problems and set up Pulse in your homelab today so that way you can monitor your servers with ease and know if or when something goes down.
Stay secure with a self-hosted password manager
Credit: Lucas Gouveia/How-To Geek
While I personally pay for my password manager, you might want to keep everything in-house—and I don’t blame you. Not all password managers take security seriously, so making you the head of security for your passwords might be appealing.
Self-hosting a password manager definitely has some caveats that you need to think of, but it’s not all that difficult to set up. I’d recommend checking out Bitwarden, which does offer hosted plans, but they also open source their code so you can self-host your own installation of it.
Related
Why I Use Bitwarden
The best of the bunch (for me).
The Bitwarden server that’s provided on GitHub gives you the full-stack—APIs, databases, and other core infrastructure that’s needed to run your own password manager. It’s deployable in Docker, and can be up and running fairly quickly.
You’re actually able to hook up the official Bitwarden apps to your own self-hosted Bitwarden server, so long as you port forward and set up a reverse proxy for the server. These tasks aren’t all that difficult, but they do open some security holes in your network, so be sure that you’re ready to open your server to the internet before doing so.
If you want to have the most secure setup possible, then keep the Bitwarden server local only—though that means you won’t be able to access passwords when you’re not at home. This could be a great option for passwords that you’ll only ever use at home, like online banking information.
OS
Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android
Supported Desktop Browsers
Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Brave
The best free password manager is also one of the best password managers out there with its minimalist and straightforward interface. It’s also open-source, and even the premium version is a bargain at only $10 per year.
These three projects are just scratching the surface of what’s possible in a homelab. You’re able to self-host all kinds of services, making it a very valuable skill to learn. My homelab is truly one of the most useful things in my house at this point, and I think yours will be too once you get it set up.
