Should I stick with Docker Swarm for self-hosting?
Should I stick with Docker Swarm for self-hosting?
Hi! I'm starting out with self-hosting. I was setting up Grafana for system monitoring of my mini-PC. However, I ran into issue of keeping credentials secure in my Docker Compose file. I ended up using Docker Swarm since it was the path of least resistance. I've managed to set up Grafana/Prometheus/Node stack and it's working well.
However, before continuing with Docker Swarm, I want to check if this is a good idea or will I potentially dig myself into a corner? Some of the options I've found while searching:
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Continue with Docker Swarm and look into automation of stack/swarm in future
- Ansible playbook has plugins for Docker Swarm.
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Self-hosted vault: I want to avoid hosting my own secret/password manager at the moment.
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Kubernetes (k8s / k3s) - I don't wanna š
- More seriously, I'm actually learning this for work but don't see the point of implementing it at home. The extra overhead doesn't seem worth it for a single node cluster.
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Live dangerously - Store crdentials in plaintext. Also useadminas password for everything
Edit: Most of the services I'm planning on hosting will likely be a single replica service.
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I run k3s in my homelab as a single node cluster. Iām very familiar with kubernetes in general, so it's just easier for me to reason with a control plane.
Some of the benefits I find useful:
- ArgoCD set to fire and forget will automatically update software versions as they happen. I use nix to lower the burden of maintaining my chart forks. Sometimes they break, but
- VictoriaMetrics easily collects all the metrics from everything in the cluster with very little manual tinkering, so I am notified when things break, and
- zfs-localpv provides in-cluster management for data snapshots, so when things do break I can easily roll back to a known good state.
k3s is, of course, a memory hog, I'd estimate it and cilium (my CNS of choice) eat up about 2Gb ram and a bit under one core. It's something you can tune to some extent, though. But then, I can easily do pod routing via VPN and create services that will automatically get a public IP from my endless IPv6 pool and get that address assigned a DNS name in like 10 lines of Yaml.
I'm curious about your IPv6 setup, how does that work with services you don't want to be publicly available? Or if it does need to be public, how do you interact with your firewall to allow the right ports for the new IP?