Docker is awesome, and you should definitely be using it in your home setup. I have a Synology DS918+ NAS, and it supports docker. In fact docker support was the first item on my checklist while looking for a NAS. Even though the Docker UI on DSM is pretty decent, I think this is an area where Portainer really shines! It’s essentially a Docker management UI. I have been using it for ages now, it it has been wonderful. You can find tutorials on how to get started with Portainer on your platform. All of the services running on my home network are all running as docker containers. Here’s the list of what I run:

  • Caddy - Use this as a reverse proxy for all my docker containers.
  • Cloudflared - I use this to securely host some of the services publicly. I think Cloudflare tunnels deserves a separate blog post in itself.
  • Code-Server - This is just visual studio code in a browser. Comes in very handy to modify any configuration files.
  • Home Assistant - Home assistant runs my smart home. I recently switched from Homey, and Home Assistant truly has been a joy compared to that!
  • homepage - This serves as a dashboard with links to all services running on my home network.
  • librespeed - Self hosted speed test.
  • mosquitto - This is just the MQTT broker used by Zigbee2MQTT to bridge my Zigbee devices to Home Assistant.
  • Portainer - Of course Portainer also runs as a Docker container!
  • SyncThing - Nice way to synchronize files between two remote systems.
  • Unifi Controller - This manages all my Unifi network equipment (Switches and Access Points). For the firewall, I run OpnSense.
  • Uptime-Kuma - This a self hosted uptime monitoring tool. Use this to monitor some of my services.
  • Zigbee2MQTT - This makes all my Zigbee devices available to Home Assistant

So there you have it! This is what I run dockerized in my home network. Let me know if I miss something really nice!