The Start To My First Homelab

# The Start To My First Homelab

Welcome to the journey of setting up a self-hosted infrastructure, also known as a homelab. This guide will walk you through creating your initial setup, focusing on automation and open-source technologies, catering to experienced sysadmins and DevOps engineers who aim to enhance their skillset in building and managing their own IT infrastructure.

Prerequisites

To follow along with this tutorial, ensure that you have:

1. A system running Ubuntu 20.04 or later (with at least 8GB RAM recommended)
2. Sufficient disk space for your VMs and containers (minimum of 50GB free space suggested)
3. Docker CE version 5.0.8 or higher installed: apt install docker-ce=5.0.8
4. Kubernetes version 1.20.0 or higher installed: snap install kubectl --classic
5. A text editor like VS Code, Atom, or Nano

Setting Up Docker

Docker will serve as the foundation for our homelab. Let’s start by creating a new user with restricted permissions:

adduser docker
usermod -aG docker $USER

Next, configure the system to start Docker automatically upon reboot:

systemctl enable docker.service
systemctl start docker.service

Configuring Docker Compose

Create a docker-compose.yml file in your preferred text editor and add the following content:

version: '3'
services:
  myapp:
    image: myapp:latest
    ports:
      - "8000:80"
    environment:
      - DB_USER=myuser
      - DB_PASSWORD=mypassword

This configuration tells Docker to spin up a container based on the myapp image, exposing port 8000 and setting two environment variables for database connection details.

Installing Kubernetes

Now, we’ll set up Kubernetes to manage our containers:

1. Install the Kubernetes server components with this command:

   snap install kubeadm --classic
   snap install kubelet --classic
   snap install helm --classic
   

2. Initialize your Kubernetes cluster using these commands:

   sudo kubeadm init --pod-network-cidr=10.244.0.0/16
   

   Save the output starting with kubectl configuration to a file called kubeconfig.yaml.

3. Apply the Pod network:

   kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/coreos/flannel/master/Documentation/kube-flannel.yml
   

4. Add your user to the kubectl configuration:

   mkdir -p $HOME/.kube && cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/config \
   && chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config
   

5. Verify the installation:

   kubectl get nodes
   

Deploying Your First Application with Helm

With Kubernetes set up, we can now deploy our application using Helm:

1. Create a new Helm chart for your app in a separate directory (e.g., myapp):

   helm create myapp
   

2. Modify the values.yaml file inside the myapp folder to include the image name, ports, and environment variables:

   image:
     repository: myapp
     tag: latest
   ports:
     - name: http
       port: 80
   env:
     - name: DB_USER
       value: "myuser"
     - name: DB_PASSWORD
       value: "mypassword"
   

3. Install the Helm chart using this command:

   helm install myapp ./myapp
   

4. Verify the deployment with:

   kubectl get pods -n default
   

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues during setup, check the Docker, Kubernetes, and Helm official documentation for troubleshooting guides.

Conclusion

This guide covered setting up a basic homelab using Docker, Kubernetes, and Helm. As you continue to build your infrastructure, be aware of potential security considerations like restricting network access, implementing strong authentication methods, and keeping your software up-to-date. For performance optimization tips, refer to the official documentation for each tool.

Common pitfalls include misconfigurations leading to data loss or exposure, insufficient hardware resulting in slow performance, and neglecting regular maintenance tasks such as updating images and upgrading components. By following best practices and staying informed about new developments in DevOps, you can create a powerful self-hosted infrastructure that will serve your needs for years to come.