A few months ago, I really got into the idea of automating my home and monitoring my energy usage. I had previously done some automation and integration of my smart devices, but it was mostly through the respective apps - there wasn't much automation across brands or products.
Then, I jumped in the deep end. I had just decided to get solar panels installed and to trade in my car for an EV, and with that wanted to monitor my home energy usage. After some research, I came across Home Assistant, which is able to aggregate data from many different services and take action on that data.
Though the initial idea was to monitor energy usage, I immediately got my raspberry pi out, set up Docker, got Home Assistant running, and integrated my various IoT devices. It was truly like falling down a rabbit hole - one thing lead to another, and before you know it, I now have a dedicated server running OpenMediaVault and over 50 Docker containers.
In addition to Home Assistant and the energy monitoring, I have transformed how I ingest information. I send interesting links to Wallabag to read later; create to-dos in Vikunja; save recipes to Tandoor; take quick notes in Benotes; and write long-form documentation in BookStack. I've even changed (improved) how I keep home records by saving everything important to Paperless-ngx.
To support all of these different apps, I have learned quite a bit about setting up and maintaining a server. In particular, I've leaned into Docker and Docker Compose to run the various services; use Traefik to route requests and manage SSL certificates; use Duplicati to backup each service's data; and use Technitium on my local network to provide DNS services. Additionally, I use WireGuard and a virtual private server to provide secure, public access to my locally hosted services.
All this to say, I've learned quite a lot in the past few months and am eager to get it down in writing so I don't forget it all! I plan to publish various articles regarding my setup, and as much as I hope it helps someone else, it's also here for my own reference!
So, until next time - happy homelabbing!
