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2024

Home Lab Infrastructure

A Proxmox-based home lab running around two dozen self-hosted services as version-controlled Docker Compose stacks, with a reverse proxy, local DNS, VPN access, automatic updates, and scripted backups.

  • Proxmox
  • Docker
  • Docker Compose
  • Tailscale
  • Nginx
  • Self-Hosting
View code

Overview

A self-hosted home lab that replaces a stack of paid cloud subscriptions with services I run and control myself. Everything is defined as code: each service is its own Docker Compose stack, so the whole setup is reproducible, easy to version, and quick to rebuild or move between machines.

Platform

The lab runs on Proxmox. A set of helper shell scripts (an lxc command with bash-completion, plus install and uninstall scripts) spins up and manages LXC containers consistently, while a shared environment file keeps common configuration in one place. Portainer provides a UI over the running containers, and Watchtower keeps images up to date automatically.

Services

Around two dozen services run across the lab, grouped roughly by purpose:

  • Media: Jellyfin, the *arr media-automation stack, Navidrome for music, and Audiobookshelf for audiobooks and podcasts.
  • Photos & files: Immich for photo backup, and OpenCloud with Collabora / OnlyOffice for documents.
  • Productivity: Paperless for document management, Obsidian LiveSync, Vaultwarden for passwords, and code-server for browser-based development.
  • Home & car: Home Assistant for automation, plus TeslaMate and an A Better Route Planner integration for vehicle logging.
  • Dashboards & gaming: Homarr as the landing dashboard and RomM for a game-ROM library.

Networking

Nginx Proxy Manager sits in front as a reverse proxy, Pi-hole provides local DNS and network-wide ad-blocking, and Tailscale gives secure remote access to everything without exposing services to the public internet.

Backups

A set of rsync and rclone jobs back up the important state, including Immich, OpenCloud, and the Proxmox host. Each job has its own script alongside a matching dry-run script, so a backup can be rehearsed safely before it actually runs.