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Setting up a home server is a good practice i am aspiring to become a devops engineer and would like help from people who are in this field i would appreciate you messaging just a casual hi on my linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarthak-singh-a0aa62322?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app
Setting up a personal home server can be a game-changer for those who want to self-host applications, manage cloud services, or create a test environment. In this guide, I will walk you through how I set up my server using a Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p, featuring:
CentOS Server Installation
Strict networking configuration
Cloudflare Tunnel for secure remote SSH access
Installing and configuring Kubernetes and Docker
Setting up Prometheus and Grafana for monitoring
Hosting applications and jobs efficiently
Let’s dive into the details of how I built this home server and made it accessible from anywhere securely.
I used a Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p with the following specifications:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4570
RAM: 24GB
Storage:
1TB HDD for general storage
256GB SSD for the operating system
This setup is powerful enough for running multiple containers and handling monitoring tasks efficiently.
To keep things lightweight and secure, I installed CentOS Stream 9 as the operating system.
Download the CentOS Stream 9 ISO from the official website.
Create a bootable USB using dd on Linux or use Rufus Software.
Boot from the USB and follow the installation wizard.
Choose Minimal Installation to keep the system lightweight.
Configure a root password and create a new user account.
Complete the installation and reboot the system.
To enhance security, enable firewalld if not:
sudo systemctl start firewalld
sudo systemctl enable firewalld
sudo systemctl status firewalld
To allow only essential traffic:
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=22/tcp # SSH Access
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=6443/tcp # Kubernetes API Server
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
Cloudflare Tunnel allows you to access your home server from anywhere securely.
sudo yum install -y cloudflared
cloudflared tunnel login
This command opens a browser to authenticate with Cloudflare.
cloudflared tunnel create my-home-server
cloudflared tunnel route dns my-home-server myserver.example.com
sudo cloudflared service install
Now, you can SSH securely into your server using:
ssh -o ProxyCommand="cloudflared access ssh --hostname myserver.example.com" user@myserver.example.com
sudo yum install -y containerd kubelet kubeadm kubectl
sudo kubeadm init --pod-network-cidr=10.244.0.0/16
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
sudo cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/config
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/flannel-io/flannel/releases/latest/download/kube-flannel.yml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: prometheus
namespace: monitoring
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
matchLabels:
app: prometheus
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: prometheus
spec:
containers:
- name: prometheus
image: prom/prometheus:latest
ports:
- containerPort: 9090
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: grafana
namespace: monitoring
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
matchLabels:
app: grafana
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: grafana
spec:
containers:
- name: grafana
image: grafana/grafana:latest
ports:
- containerPort: 3000
After applying these configurations, you can access:
Prometheus: http://<server-ip>:9090
Grafana: http://<server-ip>:3000
By following this guide, you now have a fully functional home server running Kubernetes, Docker, and a monitoring stack. With Cloudflare Tunnel, you can securely access your server from anywhere.
Deploy self-hosted apps using Helm charts.
Set up automatic backups.
Experiment with CI/CD pipelines on your home server.
Let me know your thoughts, and happy self-hosting! 🚀