From Scratch to Self-Hosting

Here I post a step-by-step guide to have a home server from a newly bought minipc.

Let’s install Ubuntu

First of all, prepare a USB device for Ubuntu OS installation. Thanks to Ventoy, we can download Ubuntu and create a bootable USB drive for it. Then, just install Ubuntu, alongside Windows if your minipc has it already installed or just erase the disk. I prefer the later to have more usable memory for my stuff.

Things to install in Ubuntu

sudo apt update

sudo apt purge whatever_package -y
sudo apt autoremove

Here I have listed all commands needed to install all my stuff in my minipc to have it working as a home server:

Curl

sudo apt-get install curl

Tailscale

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

Then, to make sure you can connect to your server, run:

sudo systemctl status ssh

If inactive (dead), then run:

sudo systemctl enable --now ssh

This will start the service immediately and ensure it starts on boot. After all, you will be able to connect to you server terminal by running in cmd or Powershell:

ssh username@100.x.y.z

Podman

apt install podman
podman --version # just to make sure it is correctly installed

Docker

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sh get-docker.sh
docker version

After installation, check if Docker gets started at system boot:

sudo systemctl is-enabled docker

It should prompt as output enabled. If not, run:

sudo systemctl enable docker

Test your installation by running:

docker run hello-world

Then, install Docker Compose 2:

DOCKER_CONFIG=${DOCKER_CONFIG:-$HOME/.docker}
mkdir -p $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins
curl -SL https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.27.0/docker-compose-linux-x86_64 -o $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins/docker-compose

If the last command line returns “No such file or directory”, then you have to add to your system’s PATH where to find docker-compose:

nano ~/.bashrc

Then, add at the end of the file:

export PATH=$PATH:~/.docker/cli-plugins

Save the file (Ctrl+O), exit the editor (Ctrl+X) and apply the changes to your current session by sourcing the file:

source ~/.bashrc

Finally, start and run Portainer, a graphical user interface (GUI) that sits on top of your Docker setup. By running this command, you’re essentially installing a user-friendly control panel:

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 9000:9000 --name=portainer --restart=always -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v portainer_data:/data portainer/portainer-ce
docker restart portainer

Now, navigate to server_IP:9000 and you can create your admin user.

htop

sudo apt install htop

Git

Git should have been installed by now, but if not:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git

Now, it’s time to configure your Git user information:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "youremail@example.com"

Replace “Your Name” and “youremail@example.com” with your GitHub name and email.

Once you have configured your Git information, choose an authentication method; I have chosen SSH key:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "youremail@example.com"

Then, copy the output of the following command line:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

and go to Github > Settings > SSH and GPG Keys > New SSH Key > Key field. Paste the output there and give it a title. After all, test the connection:

ssh -T git@github.com

To sync all your projects without having to be logged in, just create the pull script and timer, then run the timer with systemd. Follow these steps:

Create the script:

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/git-pull-all

Paste the following code:

#!/bin/bash

# Path to your projects directory
PROJECTS_DIR="/home/jlleongarcia/projects"

# Check if the directory exists
if [ ! -d "$PROJECTS_DIR" ]; then
  echo "Projects directory not found at $PROJECTS_DIR"
  exit 1
fi

# Change to the projects directory
cd "$PROJECTS_DIR" || exit

# Loop through each directory and pull the latest changes
for repo in */; do
  if [ -d "$repo/.git" ]; then
    echo "Syncing $repo..."
    cd "$repo"
    git pull
    cd ..
  fi
done

Make the script executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/git-pull-all

Create a systemd Service:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/git-sync.service

Add the service configuration:

[Unit]
Description=Git synchronization service
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/git-pull-all
User=jlleongarcia
Group=jlleongarcia

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Create a systemd Timer:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/git-sync.timer

Add the timer configuration:

[Unit]
Description=Runs git-sync.service every day at 8am

[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* 08:00:00
RandomizedDelaySec=15m
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Finally, enable and start the Timer:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start git-sync.timer # Start the Timer
sudo systemctl enable git-sync.timer # Enable the timer to run on boot

To check the status of your timer, run:

sudo systemctl status git-sync.timer