Selfhosted-Apps-Docker

guide by example

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• caddy_v2 - reverse proxy
• bitwarden_rs - password manager
• bookstack - notes and documentation
• borg_backup - backup utility
• ddclient - automatic DNS update
• dnsmasq - DNS and DHCP server
• homer - homepage
• nextcloud - file share & sync
• portainer - docker management
• prometheus_grafana - monitoring
• watchtower - automatic docker images update
• arch_linux_host_install

The core of the setup is Caddy reverse proxy.
It's described in most details.

Some docker basics and some info

Compose and environment variables

You do not need to fuck with docker-compose.yml to get something up, simple copy paste should suffice.

You do need to fuck with .env file, that's where all the variables are.

Sometimes the .env file is used as env_file

• .env - actual name of a file, used only by compose.
  It is used automatically just by being in the directory with the docker-compose.yml
  Variables set there are available during the building of the container, but unless named in the enviroment: option they are not available in the running containers.
• env_file - an option in compose that defines an existing external file.
  Variables in this file will be available in the running container, but not during building of the container.

So to not have polluted huge ass compose file, or to not have multiple places where changes need to be made when adding a variable... env_file: .env BAM.

Only issue is that all variables from .env are available in containers that use this.
That can lead to potential conflicts and clashes, looking at you nextcloud.

In those cases variables names are declared per container.

But env_file: .env is just easier, prettier... and mostly painless.

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Images latest tag

All images are without any tag, which defaults to latest tag being used.

This is frowned upon, but feel free to choose a version and sticking with it once it goes to real use.

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Bind mount

No docker volumes are used. Directories and files from the host are bind mounted in to containers.
Don't feel like I know all of the aspects of this, but I know its easier to edit a random file on a host, or backup a directory when its just there, sitting on the host.

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SendGrid

For sending emails free sendgrid account is used, which provides 100 free emails a day.

The configuration in .env files is almost universal, apikey is really the username, not some placeholder. Only the password changes, which you generate in apikey section on SendGrid website.

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Cloudflare

For managing DNS records. The free tier provides lot of managment options and benefits. Like proxy between your domain/subdomain and your server, so no one can get your public IP just from your domain name. Or 5 firewall rules that allow you to geoblock whole world except your country.

How to move to cloudflare.