My home lab has a mild amount of complexity and I’d like practice some good habits about documenting it. Stuff like, what each system does, the OS, any notable software installed and, most importantly, any documentation around configuration or troubleshooting.
i.e. I have an internal SMTP relay that uses a letsencrypt SSL cert that I need to use the DNS challenge to renew. I’ve got the steps around that sitting in a Google Doc. I’ve got a couple more google docs like that.
I don’t want to get super complicated but I’d like something a bit more structured than a folder full of google docs. I’d also like to pull it in-house.
Thanks
Edit: I appreciate all the feedback I’ve gotten on this post so far. There have been a lot of tools suggested and some great discussion about methods. This will probably be my weekend now.
I write down everything I built so for plus future plans in OneNote. This kind of defeats the purpose of self hosting but I want to keep a written copy complete off site in case if a complete loss. Plus I like OneNote. It’s actually a well designed product.
Scripts, docker compose files and such are in GitHub.
Gotcha. Git is useful in so many way, but it can be confusing to learn. I don’t have a guide on hand but searching for ‘getting started with git’ will get you pretty far.
Another great way to do this that I just thought of this second is using Notion. It is in markdown.
There are tons of tutorials around, but the basic gist is that you only use a couple of commands (or even a good frontend) in git, especially when it’s a one (wo)man show.
Well, whatever you end up using for documentation, print it out and actively maintain an up to date paper hard copy in a 3-ring binder somewhere. That way when all your shit falls over and you have a nonfunctional LAN you can still remember how everything was set up. Don’t ask me how I know…
Documentation is not worth much if you can’t access it when needed. So yes, either print it out or store it somewhere else what you can access even if your own hardware is completely dead.
This is interesting. I already just keep a collection of markdown files… might as well make it an internal documentation site so it’s easier to browse 🤔
I use a combination of netbox for the physical/logical network and server connectivity, and outline for text documentation of the different components.
I think I looked at netbox a while back. I may circle back to it for the actual physical layer. If I remember the ipam didn’t include network scanning tho.
I’ve been using Obsidian for a lot of other purposes for a couple years now, so I was comfortable adding my documentation into my existing vault there. I made a couple templates that I fill out for any hardware/software/networking equipment.
Since the app’s selling point is storing all your notes in plain text I wouldn’t put anything security-related in there without some encrypted container. I use KeePass for that part, and keep the file it generates in the same folder as Obsidian so I can link to it within notes. Click the link in the note, KeePass opens the vault and asks for its password.
I love Mermaid, although I don’t think you can currently do network diagrams. I’ve seen Kroki recommended here for doing that, which supports Mermaid plus many similar markup-based diagrammers.
I would not consider Mermaid complete enough for network diagramming. The very basics are possible, but try to describe anything more complicated throws off the placement and makes the pathing whacky.
Straight flow charts are the closest you can get to a network diagram, so if you try to draw a link that travels back up the chart, it breaks mermaid’s brain trying to figure out the order of decision points (network devices).
The allure of text based diagrams is so tantalizing - but if you need them to be functional, it’s not going to happen
There’s an issue tracking the need a new diagram type to handle it.
I left everything in, so no doubt there’s stuff in there specific to my vault you won’t need like metadata - adjust these to your needs or use them as a starting point for something new. There’s no network device template, I usually use the hardware one and just delete the irrelevant bits.
+1 for WikiJS. As a bonus you can have WikiJS back itself up to plain text MarkDown files, so if things explode you can always just read those from wherever.
Another great feature I use is to have WikiJS back itself up into git. If I am going to a place with no internet access I can do a quick git pull and have a complete copy of my wiki including files on my laptop.
I made myself a wiki in my helpdesk system - I use osticket to send me various email alerts to so I can track issues I need to fix, and they have a little wiki option.
Then one day that host was down and I needed some info and I was very irritated. Now all of those notes are in my Apple notes backed up in iCloud and searchable on whatever I’ve got handy so if I need info I can get the info
I played with GLPI just long enough to realize that was way more than I wanted or needed. I’d like to track changes but I don’t want to run a full ticketing/chg mgmt system to do it.
What is it that you all are documenting? I’m just getting started and have so far just set up docker and several containers (Plex, the *arrs, qbittorrent, gluetun) and not sure if I should be writing something down?
I’d like to document what I have, and what I need to do it spin it back up with minimal effort should I need to. Esp, anything that’s unique to my setup or that I did to work around a problem. I’ve shot myself in the foot many a time where I go back to something 6 months later and I’ve long since forgotten what I did. So, if it’s not commented in a config I’m figuring it out all over again.
I document my proxmox configuration, and again for each service running on it; ports, fqdn, let’s encrypt etc. Any problems or deviations from the standard installation and how I resolved it. How I mounted my media drive and and made it accessible in Plex and Jellyfin. Any configuration that I had to search for the solution, including the actual steps and not just links that might be gone in the future. The more services you accumulate the harder it is to start the documentation, so it’s a good idea to start sooner than later.
I run wiki.js for documentation for my home lab, but also things like the custom rom setup for my phone. However it’s hard to keep it up to date as I forget it exists. I mostly use it to document setting up windows server core with different roles as I don’t need to do that often, but most tutorials on the web are SEO optimised with low quality
I use draw.io for diagrams. Netbox to keep track of devices, IP addresses, and cables. MediaWiki for how to articles. Both Netbox and MediaWiki live on a VM both at home and offsite and they sync nightly.
In all honesty, it is a hodge podge. Some are in my dokuwiki, some are plain text, some are markdown, some in my phone, lots on scraps of paper. Just about the time I get it all in one place I scrap my systems and start over.
Mine is, er, self-documenting, and my partner has instructions, in the event that I die, to plug the wifi router into the modem and unplug all the other crap. The router has a sticker saying ROUTER and the modem has a sticker saying MODEM.
As I move to more self hosting, it’s becoming more and more important to create a “what to do if I die” procedure for my wife (or even children) to follow. I mean it’s not big deal if the plex server goes down and doesn’t come back up, I’m thinking more along the lines of all of our photos, important documents, password manager, those type of things. I have 3 - 2 - 1 backups for the important stuff and have tested them, but that means nothing to my wife if I wasn’t around to get that stuff back if something happened… I wonder some days if I should document it all and put a print out with a step by step guide on how to get everything back that a semi tech savvy person could follow.
Yes, I really need to do this too. It’s a fairly daunting task because my significant other is not at all comfortable with even slightly complicated operations on a computer. I need to figure out a way to make a really easily accessible backup of everything.
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I write down everything I built so for plus future plans in OneNote. This kind of defeats the purpose of self hosting but I want to keep a written copy complete off site in case if a complete loss. Plus I like OneNote. It’s actually a well designed product. Scripts, docker compose files and such are in GitHub.
I won’t argue. I do think OneNote is a good product and I use it a lot for work.
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Why not push it up to GitHub? Then you also get a commit history to see your changes overtime.
Seems a lot of people are doing that.
Wow that sounds convinient, where can i find a guide describing this? Has zero experience with git 😅
Gotcha. Git is useful in so many way, but it can be confusing to learn. I don’t have a guide on hand but searching for ‘getting started with git’ will get you pretty far.
Another great way to do this that I just thought of this second is using Notion. It is in markdown.
There are tons of tutorials around, but the basic gist is that you only use a couple of commands (or even a good frontend) in git, especially when it’s a one (wo)man show.
I highly recommend it!
Well, whatever you end up using for documentation, print it out and actively maintain an up to date paper hard copy in a 3-ring binder somewhere. That way when all your shit falls over and you have a nonfunctional LAN you can still remember how everything was set up. Don’t ask me how I know…
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+1 for hard copy. Hang/tape right on or next to the rack.
Documentation is not worth much if you can’t access it when needed. So yes, either print it out or store it somewhere else what you can access even if your own hardware is completely dead.
Git based static site generator, like gohugo or Jekyll.
This is interesting. I already just keep a collection of markdown files… might as well make it an internal documentation site so it’s easier to browse 🤔
I use a combination of netbox for the physical/logical network and server connectivity, and outline for text documentation of the different components.
Woah thanks for the NetBox shout! Gonna check that out
I think I looked at netbox a while back. I may circle back to it for the actual physical layer. If I remember the ipam didn’t include network scanning tho.
I’ve been using Obsidian for a lot of other purposes for a couple years now, so I was comfortable adding my documentation into my existing vault there. I made a couple templates that I fill out for any hardware/software/networking equipment.
Since the app’s selling point is storing all your notes in plain text I wouldn’t put anything security-related in there without some encrypted container. I use KeePass for that part, and keep the file it generates in the same folder as Obsidian so I can link to it within notes. Click the link in the note, KeePass opens the vault and asks for its password.
I use obsidian too. It supports mermaid too so you can make your network diagram with it.
This is the 2nd ref I’ve seen to mermaid. I need to check that out.
I love Mermaid, although I don’t think you can currently do network diagrams. I’ve seen Kroki recommended here for doing that, which supports Mermaid plus many similar markup-based diagrammers.
[Edit: added link and more info]
This is the first I’ve heard of Kroki. A quick glance at their site and wow! So many options for markup. I’ll be trying this out for sure
I would not consider Mermaid complete enough for network diagramming. The very basics are possible, but try to describe anything more complicated throws off the placement and makes the pathing whacky.
Straight flow charts are the closest you can get to a network diagram, so if you try to draw a link that travels back up the chart, it breaks mermaid’s brain trying to figure out the order of decision points (network devices).
The allure of text based diagrams is so tantalizing - but if you need them to be functional, it’s not going to happen
There’s an issue tracking the need a new diagram type to handle it.
Mind sharing your template?
Sure.
I left everything in, so no doubt there’s stuff in there specific to my vault you won’t need like metadata - adjust these to your needs or use them as a starting point for something new. There’s no network device template, I usually use the hardware one and just delete the irrelevant bits.
Thanks!
I use WikiJS for documentation. Simple, powerful and has a lot of features
+1 for WikiJS. As a bonus you can have WikiJS back itself up to plain text MarkDown files, so if things explode you can always just read those from wherever.
Another great feature I use is to have WikiJS back itself up into git. If I am going to a place with no internet access I can do a quick git pull and have a complete copy of my wiki including files on my laptop.
Git, MinIO, Amazon S3, Filesystem and many more options to for backup🐱
Can’t wait for v3 finally
That sounds pretty handy.
I made myself a wiki in my helpdesk system - I use osticket to send me various email alerts to so I can track issues I need to fix, and they have a little wiki option.
Then one day that host was down and I needed some info and I was very irritated. Now all of those notes are in my Apple notes backed up in iCloud and searchable on whatever I’ve got handy so if I need info I can get the info
I played with GLPI just long enough to realize that was way more than I wanted or needed. I’d like to track changes but I don’t want to run a full ticketing/chg mgmt system to do it.
What is it that you all are documenting? I’m just getting started and have so far just set up docker and several containers (Plex, the *arrs, qbittorrent, gluetun) and not sure if I should be writing something down?
I’d like to document what I have, and what I need to do it spin it back up with minimal effort should I need to. Esp, anything that’s unique to my setup or that I did to work around a problem. I’ve shot myself in the foot many a time where I go back to something 6 months later and I’ve long since forgotten what I did. So, if it’s not commented in a config I’m figuring it out all over again.
I document my proxmox configuration, and again for each service running on it; ports, fqdn, let’s encrypt etc. Any problems or deviations from the standard installation and how I resolved it. How I mounted my media drive and and made it accessible in Plex and Jellyfin. Any configuration that I had to search for the solution, including the actual steps and not just links that might be gone in the future. The more services you accumulate the harder it is to start the documentation, so it’s a good idea to start sooner than later.
I run wiki.js for documentation for my home lab, but also things like the custom rom setup for my phone. However it’s hard to keep it up to date as I forget it exists. I mostly use it to document setting up windows server core with different roles as I don’t need to do that often, but most tutorials on the web are SEO optimised with low quality
Thoughts and Prayers.
The real enterprise solution.
I use draw.io for diagrams. Netbox to keep track of devices, IP addresses, and cables. MediaWiki for how to articles. Both Netbox and MediaWiki live on a VM both at home and offsite and they sync nightly.
In all honesty, it is a hodge podge. Some are in my dokuwiki, some are plain text, some are markdown, some in my phone, lots on scraps of paper. Just about the time I get it all in one place I scrap my systems and start over.
I’m kinda like that too. But I’m redoing my setup and I wanted to try and redo the way I document things. Or at least try.
Mine is, er, self-documenting, and my partner has instructions, in the event that I die, to plug the wifi router into the modem and unplug all the other crap. The router has a sticker saying ROUTER and the modem has a sticker saying MODEM.
Self documenting, eh? I may be familiar with the same process.
You just follow all the wires and read all the config files. Easy!
Exactly. It’s documented in the config files!
As I move to more self hosting, it’s becoming more and more important to create a “what to do if I die” procedure for my wife (or even children) to follow. I mean it’s not big deal if the plex server goes down and doesn’t come back up, I’m thinking more along the lines of all of our photos, important documents, password manager, those type of things. I have 3 - 2 - 1 backups for the important stuff and have tested them, but that means nothing to my wife if I wasn’t around to get that stuff back if something happened… I wonder some days if I should document it all and put a print out with a step by step guide on how to get everything back that a semi tech savvy person could follow.
Yes, I really need to do this too. It’s a fairly daunting task because my significant other is not at all comfortable with even slightly complicated operations on a computer. I need to figure out a way to make a really easily accessible backup of everything.