Setting up my own Home lab: Software

With the homelab hardware set up, it is time to start preparing the machines so they can work together. As I intend to use my homelab as a safe and easy to use “IT playground”, I have decided that the following elements would need to be setup:

• Static IP address on each machine. This facilitates troubleshooting as well as easing the communication between the machines.
• Remote control software and SSH. This facilitates troubleshooting my “remote” machines without having to hook a keyboard+mouse+monitor to them.
• An Ads and Internet tracker blocking service. This should add extra network protection.
• Containerization software. This should facilitate the deployment of code as well as reduce issues with package dependencies.

1. Setting up static IP address (in Raspbian)

Setting up a static address in a Raspbian machine is quite straightforward.

1. Get Raspberry Pi’s IP address by typing: hostname -I.
2. Get my router’s IP address by typing: ip r
3. Get Raspberry Pi’s DNS IP address by typing: nano /etc/resolv.conf
4. Edit the following lines in the dhcpcd.conf file by typing: nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf:

   interface eth0
   static ip_address=192.168.0.132/24
   static routers=192.168.0.1
   static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1
   

   (Note that your IP address values may be different)
5. Save changes by pressing ctrl + x.
6. Restart the machine.
7. (Optional) Add the static IP address tags to the machines.

2. Setting SSH and Remote control software

Follow next steps:

1. Click main menu.
2. Click Preferences.
3. Click Raspberry Pi Configuration.
4. Select the tab Interfaces.
5. Activate SSH and VNC.

(Note that in order to connect via VNC, I will have to install a VNC remote control software. In my case, I use VNC viewer due to its simplicity and availability in my Ubuntu OS).

3. Installing Ads and Internet tracker blocking service (Pi-Hole)

Follow next steps:

1. Visit https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/basic-install/ and follow the instructions.
2. Visit https://firebog.net/ and note down the lists (urls) wanted to be added into Pi-Hole.
3. Visit Pi-Hole’s address (http://192.168.0.132/admin in my case).
4. Add noted down urls in the Adlist section.
5. Open a terminal window to add recently added lists to Pi-Hole by typing: pihole -g.
6. Go into your specific router’s admin page and make sure to setup the Pi-Hole’s IP address as your primary DNS.

4. Installing Containerization software (Docker)

Follow next steps:

1. Update package manager index: sudo apt update
2. Upgrade packages: sudo apt upgrade
3. Download Docker “installer” script: curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
4. Execute Docker “installer” script: sudo ./get-docker.sh
5. (Optional) Add user to Docker usergorub to avoid having to type sudo everytime a command needs to be executed: sudo usermod -aG docker [username]