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:

  • Continue with Docker Swarm and look into automation of stack/swarm in future

    • Ansible playbook has plugins for Docker Swarm.

  • Self-hosted vault: I want to avoid hosting my own secret/password manager at the moment.

  • Kubernetes (k8s / k3s) - I don’t wanna 😭

    • 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.

  • Live dangerously - Store crdentials in plaintext. Also use admin as password for everything

Edit: Most of the services I’m planning on hosting will likely be a single replica service.

  • RegalPotoo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    5 months ago

    I was in the same place as you a few years ago - I liked swarm, and was a bit intimidated by kubernetes - so I’d encourage you to take a stab at kubernetes. Everything you like about swam kubernetes does better, and tools like k3s make it super simple to get set up. There _is& a learning curve, but I’d say it’s worth it. Swarm is more or less a dead end tech at this point, and there are a lot more resources about kubernetes out there.

  • MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    5 months ago

    I’m using k8s at work and am planning to set up k3s at home, because even though PVCs and Ingresses are not the easiest to grasp and write in templates, I think the way I want to do storage is beyond the capabilities of podman which I used earlier. Also, Kubernetes on either end so knowledge transfer is ready

  • lal309@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    5 months ago

    I don’t have an answer for you but I have one instead. When I attempted to do swarm my biggest challenge was shared storage. I was attempting to run a swarm with shared storage on a NAS. Literally could not run apps, ran into a ton of problems running stacks (NAS share tried SMB and NFS). How did you get around this problem?

  • phillipgreenii@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    5 months ago

    My personal experience with swarm has been terrible. I would not recommend it for anyone. For me it is full of foot-guns. I found it difficult to debug when things go wacky. The last time I checked, the project was dead, but it feels like it. It doesn’t seem to be many people using it, because I find it difficult finding answers. In addition, there was a docker swarm python script originally, but then it was kinda/sorta implemented into docker itself. They work similarly, but not the same. I often got hung up following directions from the wrong one. I’m in the middle of migrating to k3s and nix.

    Others have talked about a good experience with it, but that wasn’t my story. Is docker and docker compose work for you, then stick with it. If you want something more, I would recommend looking at k3s before jumping into docker swarm.

    On additional note, I have multiple nodes, which is why I went to docker swarm instead of sticking with docker compose. Having only one node might hide some of the issues I had/have with docker swarm .