A Guide to Homelab: Your FIRST container - Docker & Portainer

[@arseniobrown7744]

I must say, your video series is the absolute best! As one of your 686 subscribers, I eagerly anticipate the day when your channel reaches the milestone of 1.5 million. I have no doubt that your channel will become a favorite for many. Keep up the fantastic work!

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks so much for your comment, Arsenio. Messages like this make all the hard work so worthwhile.

[@HowlYeYe]

Thank you for making homelabbing less intimidating. I've honestly never felt so incompetant - but your tutorials make the fundamentals easy and far less demotivating. Have a great day.

[@Jims-Garage]

@@HowlYeYe everyone starts somewhere, even me. Thanks for the comment and reach out if you need assistance. Good luck 🤞

[@TheStevenWhiting]

I like the fact you're not just pasting the commands and be done, you're explaining what they are doing at the same time, so many people don't bother with that in their guides.

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks, that's one of the key reasons I am doing this series. I want as many people to have access to homelabbing as possible, but sometimes it just takes a little bit more time to sit down and really explain things (I know it did for me!). Lots of times I found myself just copying and pasting without actually understanding what and why I was doing certain things...

[@mattb7895]

I would love to know more about your technical education and professional life. If you arent formally educated in IT I would be shocked.

[@webpkric]

I love your videos, refreshing among all the click-baits. It feels like reading a book by an author who cares about the reader. Keep it up.

[@Jims-Garage]

Glad you like them!

[@24ZuluTime]

Stumbled across this channel trying to get in to Linux and homelab'ing - seems like just the level for me to slowly learn and follow along. One suggestion though; at these high resolutions, following along in the CLI is really hard. Consider scaling up/zooming into that area so people can easily read along with the commands.

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks, that's welcome feedback. I'll be sure to do that in the next video.

[@tightning]

Great explanation of all the terms and configuration, very useful

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks, I often find people copy, paste, and run commands they probably don't understand (that was me!).

[@Pkroc138]

hey thanks, i alsmot die when i start to build my first homelab and discover about docker. It was a really easy to understand explanation. Greetings from Chile_!

[@KameraShy]

As always, very clearly and carefully explained.

[@Jims-Garage]

Thank you for your support.

[@rayjames7360]

Just discovered this channel, which I am finding very interesting so far. Just one small point. At 5:05 you state that APT stands for Aptitude. This is not correct, it is short for Advanced Package Tool. Aptitude is a tool which is built onto Apt.

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks for the feedback and the correction. Always so much to learn and remember 👍

[@mrd4233]

Excellent and easy tutorial to follow!! Thank you so much!

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks, Mr. D. Lots more to come.

[@mrd4233]

@@Jims-Garage Bell notification turned on :D I really enjoyed the Docker and Portainer demo, as i'm junior with container technology!

[@Working_LAN]

Thanks, i appreciate this video!

[@Jims-Garage]

Glad it was helpful!

[@zuko9085]

Perhaps this is addressed in later videos, one area of feedback is to zoom in on the area where you are working so it is easier to see.

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks, yes, addressed in a few videos!

[@zuko9085]

​@@Jims-GarageAwesome! I appreciate your videos. I am on a similar path where I have recently upgraded to a dedicated computer at least and installed proxmox. But I feel like I am still missing some foundational knowledge. Thanks for going over things in detail. A lot of the big tech channels miss some of the smaller things because it is second nature to them at this point.

[@Jims-Garage]

@@zuko9085 you're welcome, reach out on Discord if you need anything

[@TheStevenWhiting]

I'm so rusty although don't use Linux much so that doesn't help but a good thing to add, if possible would be the follow issue: Following along in VMWare Workstation we do this with the NIC in NAT mode. This then isolates the machine from the rest of the internal network but allows it to get to the Internet. Also appears to allow the PC (in my case a laptop) that VMWare workstation is running on to access that docker and portainer setup. However, because of the NAT setup, none of the other devices in the house can access that VM so can't access services on it. So I switch the VM NIC into Bridge mode, however, this then means the VM gets a new IP address and of course that breaks the portainer setup. Could you do a video on setting a static IP in Ubuntu Server or is it possible to change the IP settings for docker and portainer once they are setup. Currently doing the setup again but with the NIC in bridge mode as I'm testing Jellyfin out which my mobile couldn't access even on the same WIFI because of the VM NAT being set. I think I might play around with VMWare's virtual switch settings as well as I did that years ago which I think worked, you could leave NAT on but the virtual switch allowed me to still access the VMs.

[@Jims-Garage]

I touch on this issue by setting static IPs within Sophos XG using the machine's MAC address. Essentially you want to assign the VM a MAC address, and then assign this MAC address to a static IP in Sophos XG (or whatever DHCP server you are using). Should be a quick fix, let me know how you get on.

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Looking to implement this at work on Hyper-v so I can hopefully install WordPress to create a FAQ for IT.

[@Jims-Garage]

Awesome 👍 let me know how you get on with it.

[@brewland]

If it is going to be your next video topic, do you have any preparations you'd recommend to do initialize a desktop rig for bare-metal Proxmox?

[@Jims-Garage]

2 options. You can install proxmox in hyper-v which will enable you to explore many of the features (I show this in the video), or; You can install bare metal. In which case burn the proxmox iso to a USB and install the same way as any operating system. The VM installation process I show is exactly the same as a physical machine. Make sure virtualization is enabled in the BIOS.

[@ManuelMas]

I’m on a Mac. Are there any alternatives to Putty for the use case shown in the video ? I am unable to paste to the Debian VM command line in Proxmox right now.

[@Jims-Garage]

Mac should just be able to use command line and specify the key. I suspect there will be a putty equivalent as well if needed (sorry I'm not familiar with Mac)

[@ManuelMas]

@@Jims-Garage thanks Jim. I was able to do it using the native Mac terminal. It has an option for remote connection via SSH. I had to activate SSH in the VM.

[@patho977]

You can also take a look at crossover which allows you to run windows software on your mac, its what I use. But as Jim says, the terminal is al you need on Mac.

[@Dreamwoodinternational]

Another brilliant video and enjoying the HomeLab journey, thank you. My Proxmox dash (4 core @5%, 32 GB, 7.64 TiB) shows Memory = 63% and Storage = 67% with only Win10 and Ubuntu 22.04 VMs so far. So I don't know how long it will be before a metal upgrade is required 😉. I'm probably over-reacting but at 22:55, you 'cd' directly into 'docker/compose' from your 'home' directory. At 20:51, WinSCP showed a 'home/docker' directory, so I understand the 'docker-compose' directory goes into the 'docker' directory. I'm wondering therefore, why the 'cd' at 22:55 doesn't say 'cd docker/docker-compose/nginx' etc. I obviously haven't taken 'Linux 101' yet 😁.

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks, you're always one step away from needing an upgrade with homelabbing haha... Regarding the directories; I split my compose and data folders. I store docker compose files in /docker-compose/container-name and it's data within docker/container-name You can obviously do it however you wish, it just helps me split things up in my head.

[@Dreamwoodinternational]

@@Jims-Garage I just realised your first 'docker' that appears after '/home' in the WinSCP shot is your Login name

[@martshal]

I really like your content, and subscribed to help get your numbers up, but I've got to say: "You've GOT to do something about your sound editing." I tried to watch a couple of your videos on a smart TV, and had to max out the sound system just to hear you. I tried to listen on my main laptop (a windows gaming laptop with a decent sound system), and with the sound turned all the way up, I could barely hear you. I finally tried my head phones, and the sound is barely to the level of a conversation with everything turned way up. This is done in comparison to other youtube content. I mean this as constructive criticism and hope you'll take it that way. Good fortune!

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks, appreciate the sub. Hopefully that sound issue is fixed in a couple of videos' time (as well as the camera!). Let me know if you still have issues and I'll look to address.

[@docmalitt]

I tried alone... god only knows how much I've tried. And I always cherished the failures as necessary and very useful tool towards success. But damn it I really need a guidance because my previous versions of homelab weren't so bad, but they lack(ed) good foundations and consistency. So let's start again from scratch and see where it leads us (me). I'm just confused because I noticed every pro is running windows and I'm just a bit over few years into Linux and thb would't go back for a million ... money. It's not that I don't like Windows or some moral bs (too old for that.. although I do support as a principle Open Source) but I started to enjoy my rig. Anyways, not the issue I came here for so.. I'm ready. let's start.. BTW, watched few of your videos and am very surprised how/why the ratio of quality of your videos and level of your knowledge doesn't reflect on the number of subscribers. It is baffling. The world is getting dumber and dumber by the hour. In few years there will be only tik-tak for masses of morons and probably irc channels for us geeks. Sorry, us normal ppl... that is definitely what I meant.

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks for the feedback. You'll be happy to know that I move onto Linux in a couple of videos (Proxmox). I also go pretty deep into kubernetes if that is something you are wanting to learn. Hop into Discord if you have any questions

[@docmalitt]

@@Jims-Garage thank you. I did just install Proxmox and clean Ubuntu server (I have 3 laptops and 1 R-pi) hence the need for good and reliable foundations so I can build without a need to destroy everything every time I need an update or I find something new. I can make a snapshot or spin a clone... Plus like I said I did check your channel briefly recently but (stubbornly) I needed to try for myself.. yet sometimes it is much better and at the end easier, with a "little help from a Pro"... thx for all your effort and although I just subscribed, the titles sound like I will have a full schedule during holidays.

[@Redsundog]

So for the last 4 days I've been going up and down your video list and back. Thanks for everything as I start my journey. - Vigorous_goldberg

[@Jims-Garage]

Great, hope you find them useful ☺️

[@brewland]

Hi Jim, I'm able to follow the guide until deploying nginx with Docker Compose. When executing the .yml config file within (docker@docker:~/docker-compose/nginx$) with the command (sudo docker compose up -d), I get the following error: validating /home/docker/docker-compose/nginx/docker-compose.yml: services must be a mapping I did add version '3' and change the port to 80:80 before saving. Do you know what the error might be?

[@Jims-Garage]

Check your indents, you need two spaces on the line after services. Be sure not to use tab.

[@Jims-Garage]

I will be setting up a documentation site soon so you will be able to copy working configs.

[@Jims-Garage]

version: '3' services: web: image: nginx volumes: - ./templates:/etc/nginx/templates ports: - "80:80" environment: - NGINX_HOST=foobar.com - NGINX_PORT=80

[@brewland]

@@Jims-Garage That did the trick! I was missing a space. Up and running, and verified with a browser.

[@Jims-Garage]

@@brewland great 👍

[@AkshayKattukandathil]

Can you copy pasta the long line commands in descriptions of your video i get docker: invalid reference format when i run sudo docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 9443:9443 --name portainer --restart=always -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v portainer data:/data portainer/portainer-ce:latest edit:i was missing an underscore in portainer data should be portainer_data that fixed it for me

[@Jims-Garage]

Thanks, I will try to do that over the weekend.