Author Archives: ArchDave

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About ArchDave

Retired Support Engineer Homelab Linux Admin

How to homelab?

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The joy of homelabbing!

A homelab is a home-based laboratory where you can experiment, learn, and test various technologies, usually related to computer science, networking, and IT. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you get started:

Why create a homelab?

  1. Learning and experimentation: A homelab provides a safe environment to try new technologies, test ideas, and gain hands-on experience.
  2. Career development: It can help you develop skills and build a portfolio of projects to showcase to potential employers.
  3. Personal projects: You can work on personal projects, such as building a home automation system or a media server.
  4. Fun and hobby: Homelabbing can be a fun and rewarding hobby, allowing you to tinker and explore new technologies.

Setting up your homelab

  1. Dedicate a space: Allocate a specific area in your home for your homelab, ideally with good ventilation, power supply, and minimal distractions.
  2. Choose your hardware: You can start with old or repurposed hardware, such as:
    • Old computers, laptops, or servers
    • Virtualization hosts (e.g., VMware, VirtualBox)
    • Networking equipment (e.g., routers, switches, firewalls)
    • Storage devices (e.g., hard drives, SSDs, NAS)
  3. Select your software: Depending on your interests, you may want to explore:
    • Operating systems (e.g., Linux, Windows, macOS)
    • Virtualization platforms (e.g., VMware, VirtualBox)
    • Containerization tools (e.g., Docker)
    • Cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)
  4. Connect your devices: Set up a network infrastructure, including:
    • A router
    • Switches
    • Cables and connectors
  5. Power supply and cooling: Ensure you have a reliable power supply and adequate cooling for your equipment.
  6. Noise reduction: Consider noise reduction measures, such as soundproofing or using quiet equipment.

Ideas for homelab projects

  1. Virtualization: Set up a virtualization platform and create multiple virtual machines.
  2. Networking: Experiment with network protocols, routing, and switching.
  3. Storage: Test different storage solutions, such as NAS, SAN, or cloud storage.
  4. Cloud computing: Explore cloud platforms and deploy applications or services.
  5. Security: Test security tools and practices, such as firewalls, intrusion detection, and penetration testing.
  6. Home automation: Build a home automation system using IoT devices and platforms.
  7. Media server: Create a media server for streaming videos, music, or photos.
  8. Gaming server: Set up a gaming server for online gaming with friends.
  9. DevOps: Practice DevOps concepts, such as continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD).
  10. Machine learning: Experiment with machine learning frameworks and libraries.

Tips and best practices

  1. Start small: Begin with a simple project and gradually expand your homelab.
  2. Document your progress: Keep a journal or blog to track your projects and experiences.
  3. Join online communities: Participate in online forums, Reddit, and social media groups to connect with other homelabbers.
  4. Be mindful of power consumption: Monitor your energy usage and take steps to reduce your carbon footprint.
  5. Keep your homelab organized: Label cables, use cable management systems, and maintain a clean workspace.
  6. Have fun: Enjoy the process of learning and experimenting!

Remember, homelabbing is a hobby that requires patience, dedication, and a willingness to learn. Start with a clear idea of what you want to achieve, and don’t be afraid to ask for help or try new things. Happy homelabbing!

More Notes

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There are several free and open-source software tools that can be valuable for individuals studying DevOps practices.
These tools cover various aspects of the DevOps lifecycle, including
automation,
continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD),
infrastructure as code (IaC),
containerization,
monitoring,
and more.
Here are some popular ones:
------------------------------------------------------------
-- Version Control:
Git: Widely used distributed version control system for source code management.
GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket: Platforms to host Git repositories, collaborate on code, and manage projects.
------------------------------------------------------------
-- Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD):
Jenkins: Automation server for building, testing, and deploying software.
Travis CI: CI/CD service that integrates with GitHub repositories.
CircleCI: CI/CD platform that offers both cloud-based and self-hosted options.
------------------------------------------------------------
-- Configuration Management and Automation:
Ansible: Automation tool for configuration management, application deployment, and orchestration.
Chef: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tool for managing and automating server configurations.
Puppet: Configuration management tool for automating server setup and management.
------------------------------------------------------------
-- Containerization and Orchestration:
Docker: Platform for developing, shipping, and running applications in containers.
Kubernetes: Open-source container orchestration platform for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
------------------------------------------------------------
-- Infrastructure as Code (IaC):
Terraform: IaC tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure.
AWS CloudFormation: Service for defining and provisioning AWS infrastructure using templates.
Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Templates: Infrastructure provisioning for Microsoft Azure resources.
------------------------------------------------------------
-- Monitoring and Observability:
Prometheus: Open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit.
Grafana: Visualization and monitoring platform that integrates with various data sources.
ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana): Log and event data analysis and visualization.
------------------------------------------------------------
-- Collaboration and Communication:
Slack: Team collaboration tool for communication and file sharing.
Mattermost: Open-source, self-hosted alternative to Slack.
Microsoft Teams: Collaboration platform for communication and collaboration.
------------------------------------------------------------
-- Versioning and Package Management:
Maven: Build and dependency management tool for Java projects.
npm (Node Package Manager): Package manager for JavaScript and Node.js libraries.
------------------------------------------------------------
-- Continuous Monitoring and Security:
SonarQube: Continuous code quality and security analysis.
OWASP ZAP: Security testing tool for finding vulnerabilities in web applications.
------------------------------------------------------------
-- Cloud Platforms (Public and Private):
AWS Free Tier: Amazon Web Services' free tier for cloud resources.
Google Cloud Platform Free Tier: Google's free tier for cloud services.
Microsoft Azure Free Tier: Microsoft Azure's free tier for cloud services.
------------------------------------------------------------
These tools cover a broad spectrum of areas relevant to DevOps practices.
Depending on your focus and goals within the DevOps field, you can explore and use these tools to gain practical experience and enhance your skills.
Keep in mind that the DevOps landscape is constantly evolving, and new tools and technologies emerge regularly.

DevOps, Notes on “Stuff to Learn”:

1 Reply
  • Software Development and Deployment, and Automating manual processes
  • Software Development – the process of creating software
  • Software Deployment – the process of getting software to end users
  • Automating Manual Processes
  • Define your goals and understand your objectives
  • Identify the target processes
  • Establish process boundaries
  • Map your process
  • Identify the tasks that can be automated
  • Create your automation wishlist
  • Access your capabilities
  • Configure your automation
  • Linux OS
  • Shell Commands
  • File Systems and File Permissions
  • SSH Key Management
  • Localization
  • Networking
  • Firewalls
  • IP Addressing
  • Learning resources
  • Simplilearn
  • Caltech Post Graduate Program in DevOps
  • Learn top tools and skills with DevOps Training Course
  • Certification
  • Git Software Tools
  • Top Two Tools
  • Terraform (Hashicorp, Provision and manage infrastructure in any cloud)
  • Ansible (Red Hat, Software provisoning, configuration management and application deployment)
  • Others Tools
  • Maven (Apache, Project management and comprehension tool)
  • Jenkins (Kohsuke Kawaguchi, Automation server for software development related to building, testing and deploying, integration and delivery)
  • kubernetes (Originated by Google, now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Automating deployment, scaling and management of containerized applications)
  • docker (Mirantis acquired Docker’s Enterprise Business and team, Accelerated container application, build, share and run container apps)
  • TeamCity (JetBrains, Continuous integration and deployment tool)
  • Nagios (Ethan Galstad, Monitors systems with alerts, networks and infrastructure)
  • JUnit (Kent Beck, Erich Gamma, Software unit testing framework for JAVA)
  • CVS (Concurrent Versions System, program that lets a code developer save and retrieve different development versions of source code)
  • Git Hub (Now owned by Microsoft, a platform and cloud-based service for software development and version control, storage and management of code)
  • Git Lab (A DevOps software package which can development, secure, and operate software)
  • Bitbucket (Git-based source code repository hosting service owned by Atlassian, commercial and free accounts)
  • Subversion (Apache, Version control system, maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages and documentation)
  • Chef (Automation tools, enables the coded enterprise to overcome complexity with infrastructure, security and application automation)
  • Puppet (Automation solution for configuration management, compliance, CI/CD, patch management, IT automation, and more …)
  • circle ci (Continuous Integration and Delivery)
  • Travis CI (Hosted continuous integration service used to build and test software projects hosted on GitHub)
  • Indusry Projects
  • Branching Development Model
  • Defines your branching strategy in Git, determines when and how developers make changes and commit them back to your codebase.
  • Architecting Jenkins Pipeline for Scale
  • You must architect a scalable Jenkins Pipeline for building and testing the software stack.
  • Containerizing application and scanning its Docker image with DTR
  • Docker Security Scanning indexes the components in your DTR (Docker Trusted Registry) and compares them against a known CVE Database
  • Cloud
  • Industry Clouds
  • aws (Amazon Web Services)
  • Azure (Microsoft Cloud Computing Services)
  • Google Cloud (Google Cloud Computing Services, duh)
  • IBM Cloud (with RedHat)
  • Oracle Cloud
  • [SaaS] Software as a Service
  • [PaaS] Platform as a Service
  • [IaaS] Infrastructure as a Service
  • Containerization
  • docker (containers)
  • kubernetes (deploying docker containers)
  • CICD – Continuous Integration & Continuous Deployment
  • Providing new features
    Providing bug fixes for errors
    Jenkins (see above)
    GitLab (see above)
    circleci (see above)
    Travis CI (see above)
  • Software Monitoring
  • Infrastructure Monitoring
  • Collect Logs
  • Visualize data
  • Prometheus (systems monitoring and alerting toolkit)
  • Grafana (analytics and interactive visualization web application, provides charts graphs, and alerts for the web when connected to data sources)
  • amazon CloudWatch (collects and visualizes real-time logs, metrics, and even data in automated dashboards to streamline your infrastructure and application)
  • ELK Stack (log analytics, document search, security information and event management, and observability, provides the search and
  • analytics engine, data ingestion, and visualization)