README

This project was created to help you build your own home lab where you can test your applications and configurations without breaking your workstation, so you can learn on cheap devices without paying for more expensive cloud services.

The project contains code written for the tutorial, but you can also use parts of it if you refer to this repository.

Tutorial on YouTube in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9grKS335Mo&list=PLzMwEMzC_9o7VN1qlfh-avKsgmiU8Jofv

Tutorial on YouTube in Hungarian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmg7lYsj374&list=PLUHwLCacitP4DU2v_DEHQI0U2tQg0a421

Note: The inventory.yml file is not shared since that depends on the actual environment, so it will be different for everyone. If you want to learn more about the inventory file, watch the videos on YouTube or read the written version on https://dev.to. Links in the video descriptions on YouTube.

You can also find an example inventory file in the project root. You can copy that and change the content, so you will use your IP addresses and usernames.

cp inventory-example.yml inventory.yml

Optionally, if you want to start an SSH agent, run:

ssh-agent $SHELL

If you generated an SSH private key at ~/.ssh/ansible it will be added automatically when you source the homelab env scripts. Otherwise, you need to run:

ssh-add $PATH_OF_THE_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY

Use the actual path of the SSH private key instead of the variable.

Since Ansible 8.0.0 requires a recent Python version, if you are on Ubuntu 22.04 for example you can install Nix and run the following command to create the Python environment using Python 3.11:

./create-nix-env.sh venv

or

./create-nix-env.sh venv-linux

If you created a python virtual environment with the name "venv", you can activate it using

source homelab-env.sh

Override the HOMELAB_ENV variable to customize the environment:

HOMELAB_ENV=custom-env source homelab-env.sh

If you want venv-linux on linux and venv-darwin on macOS, you can run

source homelab-env-os.sh

Run any playbook:

./run.sh playbook-hello.yml

Existing playbooks:

• playbook-hello.yml: Just a demo playbook for beginners to create a file.
• playbook-system-base.yml: Installation of common tools on the hosts, including useful command line tools
• playbook-lxd-install.yml: Installation of LXD to run virtual machines and containers.
• playbook-lxd-remove.yml: Remove LXD
• playbook-lxd-docker-vm.yml: Create and start a virtual machine