homelab

A Kubernetes based setup to run a home server.

getting started

I had also created a video where I show how I set the homelab up for my use.

requirements

• Linux nodes (a VM, Raspberry PI, Tower PC)
• Docker installed on the node
• systemd configured on the nodes (this is because k3s runs as a systemd service)
• ssh configured with a keypair - password based authentication is not supported

terminology

• Any reusable part of this project will be an atom.
• Various parts of the setup are put into different terraform modules to be used as a workspace, each. This is also called a molecule.

software to run the terraform molecules

• terraform installed on the agent which will execute terraform (can be the node itself as well) - currently required_version = ">=1.3.0"
• terraform-backend-git if you want to use a git repository to store terraform state.

order of molecules

1. k3s
2. cluster-resources

running the molecules

Only if you are using a remote backend

• Fill .envrc with all the required values. Place one .envrc in each molecule, this will help segregate their values and also because each molecule should have its own state file, so export TF_BACKEND_GIT_GIT_STATE= will change. I use state-<MOLECULE_NAME>.json as the pattern
• Import all environment variables by running . .envrc in the directory of the molecule
• Run the terraform init as follows - terraform init -backend-config="address=${BACKEND}" -backend-config="lock_address=${BACKEND}" -backend-config="unlock_address=${BACKEND}" the BACKEND env var is setup based on the other env vars in .envrc

If you use local backend

• Remove the backend "http" {} from all molecules and init the molecules terraform init
• Now run terraform apply -var-file=inputs.tfvars (modify the inputs.tfvars as per your liking)

Read any specific requirements per molecule in their readme.

test bed

I'm using my Raspberry Pi 4 as my home server and all testing is done on it.

• Raspberry Pi 4
• Ubuntu Server 22.04
• docker 20.10.12

apps

jellyfin

Jellyfin is a media server. Play all your local video content.

pihole (looking at other alternatives too)

Local DNS

nextcloud

File Sharing

setting up your machine

You can either use k3d to try out locally, or like I am, using a server. I have k3s installed on my Raspberry Pi 4.

k3s setup

Run the following to setup the cluster.

$ curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | INSTALL_K3S_VERSION='v1.21.14+k3s1' sh -

Now you can run terraform -chdir=iac plan to check what's getting installed.

Finally, run terraform -chdir=iac apply --auto-approve to install everything.