kenpat
1e8319ee75
Complete documentation suite for KiteStacks covering all 11 services across 2-host active-active architecture. Includes beginner track (with AI, 8 files) and advanced track (without AI, 7 files) with time estimates, real troubleshooting cases, and command-by-command explanations. Updates certifications roadmap to reflect July 7 2026 A+ Core 2 exam goal. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
109 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
109 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
# KiteStacks Homelab — Master Guide
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**Owner:** kenpat
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**Domain:** kitestacks.com
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**Status:** Live and running
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**Last Updated:** 2026-06-19
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---
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## What Is KiteStacks?
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KiteStacks is a self-hosted homelab — a real, production web platform running on two computers
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that serves eleven public websites to the internet, 24 hours a day, even when the home machine
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is off.
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It is not a tutorial project. It is not a demo. It runs at a real domain, with real users,
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real uptime monitoring, and real failover. Every service is protected by single sign-on (SSO),
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meaning one account unlocks everything. All traffic goes through Cloudflare's global network —
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no ports are open on the home router, and the home IP address is never exposed.
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### The One-Paragraph Summary
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> *KiteStacks is a self-hosted homelab running eleven public-facing services behind Cloudflare
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> Tunnel with no open ports on the home router. All logins are handled by Authentik — a
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> self-hosted identity provider using OIDC/OAuth2, so one account unlocks every service.
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> A Hetzner cloud VPS (kscloud1) acts as a permanent cloud replica: if the home machine (monk)
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> goes offline, kscloud1 keeps everything running with zero downtime. Both hosts share a single
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> Postgres and Redis database over a private Tailscale VPN, so SSO logins always work regardless
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> of which server answers. Monitoring runs via Prometheus, Grafana, Uptime Kuma, and a desktop
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> Conky widget that shows live kscloud1 service health at a glance.*
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---
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## The Two Computers
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| Name | What It Is | Role |
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|------|-----------|------|
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| **monk** | Home PC (ThinkPad T14s) | Development machine. Code and configs are built here, then pushed to kscloud1. |
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| **kscloud1** | Hetzner VPS in Germany | Always-live production server. Receives what monk pushes. Stays up even if monk is off. |
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A third machine — the **Samurai desktop** — will eventually join as a second home connector,
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adding more redundancy when it is running.
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---
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## The Eleven Public Services
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| Service | URL | What It Does |
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|---------|-----|-------------|
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| **Portal** | www.kitestacks.com | The homepage — links to everything, live system stats |
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| **Authentik** | auth.kitestacks.com | SSO login provider — one account for all services |
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| **Forgejo** | gitforge.kitestacks.com | Self-hosted Git — stores all code and documentation |
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| **Open WebUI** | ai.kitestacks.com | AI chat interface (ChatGPT-style, self-hosted) |
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| **Karakeep** | links.kitestacks.com | Bookmark and read-it-later manager |
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| **Kavita** | kavita.kitestacks.com | eBook and manga library |
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| **Grafana** | grafana.kitestacks.com | Monitoring dashboards — CPU, RAM, network |
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| **Uptime Kuma** | status.kitestacks.com | Service uptime status page |
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| **BookStack** | wiki.kitestacks.com | Self-hosted wiki and documentation platform |
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| **OSTicket** | tasks.kitestacks.com | Help desk and ticket tracking system |
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| **Portainer** | portainer.kitestacks.com | Docker container management dashboard |
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---
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## Navigation
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| Section | What Is Inside |
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|---------|---------------|
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| [architecture/overview.md](architecture/overview.md) | How the whole system is wired together — diagrams, traffic flow |
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| [architecture/services.md](architecture/services.md) | Every service: container name, port, volume, command reference |
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| [architecture/decisions.md](architecture/decisions.md) | Why each technology was chosen over the alternatives |
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| [build-guide/README.md](build-guide/README.md) | How to build this from scratch — choose beginner (AI) or advanced |
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| [concepts/docker.md](concepts/docker.md) | What Docker actually is and how containers work |
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| [concepts/networking.md](concepts/networking.md) | DNS, ports, TLS, Tailscale, Cloudflare Tunnel, firewalls |
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| [concepts/oauth2-oidc.md](concepts/oauth2-oidc.md) | How SSO works — OAuth2, OIDC, JWTs explained simply |
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| [concepts/linux.md](concepts/linux.md) | Linux commands, file ownership, sudo, SSH tunnels |
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| [certifications/roadmap.md](certifications/roadmap.md) | Cert path from A+ to CKA — what to study and in what order |
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| [interview-prep/explain-the-project.md](interview-prep/explain-the-project.md) | What to say to hiring managers — model answers |
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| [learning-path/README.md](learning-path/README.md) | Structured study plan, free resources, daily habits |
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---
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## Where to Start
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**If you want to understand what you built:**
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→ [architecture/overview.md](architecture/overview.md)
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**If you want to rebuild it from scratch:**
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→ [build-guide/README.md](build-guide/README.md) — pick your track
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**If you have an interview coming up:**
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→ [interview-prep/explain-the-project.md](interview-prep/explain-the-project.md)
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**If you want to understand the tech behind it:**
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→ Pick a topic in [concepts/](concepts/)
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**If you want to know what certifications to study next:**
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→ [certifications/roadmap.md](certifications/roadmap.md)
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---
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## Certification Progress
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| Cert | Status |
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|------|--------|
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| CompTIA A+ Core 1 | ✅ Passed — highest score in class (22 people) |
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| CompTIA A+ Core 2 | 🔄 In progress — exam goal July 7, 2026 |
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| CCNA | 📅 Next after A+ Core 2 |
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| AWS Solutions Architect Associate | 📅 After CCNA |
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| CKA (Kubernetes) | 📅 After AWS certs |
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