Useful programs and scripts for your Home Server

linux Mar 17, 2020

Running multiple home servers in many form-factors for several years I came across dozens of useful programs that may help you to set it up or maintain it. Here I will list some of them - and for each a quick guide on the installation and maybe some useful commands - as a reference for myself and others. I will also update it from time to time if I find some new. As I am using mostly my Raspberry Pi's I will use the user pi, the user and group id 1000 in all commands.

Also before using any scripts in general I want to remind you that you should always examine downloaded scripts before running them.

docker

Installation using convenience script

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh
sudo usermod -aG docker pi # relog after this

Useful commands
docker run hello-world
docker ps
docker logs <container id>

docker-compose

Installation
sudo apt install docker-compose
Useful commands
docker-compose up -d (without -d for logs)
docker-compose down

Example docker-compose.yml

version: '2.0'
services:
  web:
    build: .
    ports:
    - "5000:5000"
    volumes:
    - .:/code
    - logvolume01:/var/log
    links:
    - redis
  redis:
    image: redis
volumes:
  logvolume01: {}

NodeJS 13.x

Installation

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_13.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Useful commands
node <file>
npm run
npm init

nodemon
- Description
  nodemon restarts your application after a change in the current folder
- Installation
  npm i -g nodemon
- Usage
  nodemon <file>
pm2
- Description
  pm2 is a process manager with load balancer
- Installation
  npm install pm2 -g
- Useful commands
  pm2 status
  pm2 logs <id>
  pm2 start <file>
  pm2 start <file> -- <extra parameters>
ssh tunnel
- Description
  while ssh is already installed on most systems its tunnel feature can be used as a cheap way to forward traffic from a local host behind a firewall over a vps to the public
- Usage
  ssh -tt -R 0.0.0.0:<server port>:localhost:<local port> [email protected] -i /home/pi/.ssh/id_rsa -N
- Server settings
  Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and set GatewayPorts yes