I’m a grumpy linux greybeard type, so I went with… plain text files.

Everything is deployed via docker, so I’ve got a docker-compose.yml for each stack, and any notes or configuration things specific to that app is a comment in the compose file. Those are all backed up in a couple of places, since all I need to do is drop them on a filesystem, and bam, complete restoration.

Reverse proxy is nginx, because it’s reliable, tested, proven, works, and while it might not have all those fancy auto-config options other things have, it also doesn’t automatically configure itself into a way that I’d prefer it didn’t, either.

I don’t use any tools like portainer or dockge or nginx proxy manager at this point, because dealing with what’s just a couple of config files on the filesystem is faster (for me) and less complicated (again, for me) than adding another layer of software on top (and it keeps your attack surface small).

My one concession to gui shit for the docker is an install of dozzle because it certainly makes dealing with docker logs simple, and it simplifies managing the ~40 stacks and ~85 containers that I’ve got setup at the moment.

I run a k3s cluster for selfhosted apps and keep all the configuration and docs in a git repo. That way I have history of changes and can rollback if needed. In that repo I have a docs folder with markdown documents about common operations and runbooks.

There are other ways to do this, but I like keeping docs next to the code and config so I can update them all at the same time. Deployed several wikis in the past but always forget to update them when I change things.

So I want to get back into self hosting, but every time I have stopped is because I have lack of documentation to fix things that break. So I pose a question, how do you all go about keeping your setup documented? What programs do you use?

Joplin or Obsidian? Or… plain markdown files with your favorite text editor.

I use markdown text files which are synced to my nextcloud instance.

This is somewhat tangential to your post, but I think using infrastructure as code and declarative technologies is great for reliability because you aren’t just running a bunch of commands until something works, you have the code which tells you exactly how things are set up, and you can version control it to roll back to a working state. The code itself can be a form of documentation in that case.

• caddyserver for reverse proxy
• docker-compose for ~75% of documentation
• logseq for notes, though I don’t keep much.

Docker and docker-compose are nice because every service you want to run follows the same basic pattern. You don’t need much documentation beyond the project docs and the compose files themselves

Edit: caddyserver can do automatic certs, even behind a firewall if you set up the api call method. Varies by registrar

My documentation problem was largely fixed by using Nixos. The actual OS instances are self-documenting that way.

As far as the documentation for the network setup itself goes, a simple wiki does the rest of the trick for me.

I’m adding documentation about what I do in Joplin and I’m using Nextcloud to keep it synced.

For reverse proxy I use Nginx Proxy Manager for its simplicity. I really don’t need anything more fancy… https://nginxproxymanager.com/

Personally I use Linkwarden for keeping snapshots of websites as well as a bookmark manager and Memos for a simple note-taking app. Both can be installed on mobile as PWAs, so it makes it easier to access on-the-go.

I’m using Nginx Proxy Manager, which I highly recommend for new users due to how simple it is get set up and running! NPM renews SSL certs automatically before they expire as well (afaik). You just gotta make sure that your different Docker containers’ ports don’t collide with each other.

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• ansible playbook for automated/self-documenting setup
• for one-off bugs or ongoing/long-term problems, open an issue on my gitea instnce and track the investigations and solutions there.

My documentation is a folder with the docker compose files I am using. And some notes in Nextcloud Notes if needed.

My reverse proxy is Traefik, since it’s docker aware. :)

Traefik for reverse proxy. Tag your container with the route and let traefik take over.

I write everything in markdown, and I mean just about everything. Tech notes, recipes, work procedures, shopping lists…everything. If you check my comment history from today, you can see a quick example of the kind of tech notes I keep (firewalld in this case).

I keep all of my plain text files synced across multiple devices using Syncthing. For desktop editors, I use mostly vim and VSCodium (though Kate is nice too), and I use Markor on Android. This workflow has been highly efficient for many years now, and I no longer waste time constantly reviewing the latest note-taking app.

Dokuwiki (dokuwiki.org) is my usual go-to. It’s really simple and stores entries in markdown files so you can get at them as plain text files in a pinch. Here’s a life lesson: don’t host your documentation in the machine you’re going to be breaking! Learned that the hard way once or twice.

For reverse proxies, I’m a fan of HAProxy. It uses pretty straightforward config files and is incredibly robust.

I have an Ansible playbook that I use to setup everything and all troubleshooting steps I ever had to take to fix something get written down in an Obsidian.md vault.