Self-Hosters Prepare for Outages with Unraid, Passkeys, and Local Power - Episode Hero Image

Self-Hosters Prepare for Outages with Unraid, Passkeys, and Local Power

Self-Hosted · · Listen to Original Episode →
Original Title: 148: Homelab Disaster Prep

TL;DR

  • A week-long power outage highlighted that essential home infrastructure like heating and hot water are entirely dependent on electricity, necessitating backup power solutions beyond typical consumer UPS systems.
  • Self-hosters can prepare for extended power outages by integrating Generlink transfer switches with generators for seamless home and server room power, mitigating reliance on grid electricity.
  • Unraid's 7.1 release offers robust ZFS support and improved VM capabilities, enabling easier migration from other platforms and simplifying the deployment of complex homelab applications.
  • Passkeys, when integrated with OIDC providers like Pocket ID, offer a passwordless authentication method for self-hosted applications, simplifying user management and enhancing security.
  • Home Assistant's potential deprecation of container installations and 32-bit architectures signifies a strategic shift towards formalizing support for Home Assistant OS, streamlining maintenance and development.
  • The Unraid community provides extensive support and a vast app store, enabling users to easily install and manage a wide range of self-hosted services, from media servers to AI applications.
  • Tailscale's reverse proxy solution, tsdproxy, simplifies accessing multiple self-hosted services via subdomains rather than port numbers, enhancing user experience and network management.

Deep Dive

A week-long power outage in the northern Toronto area highlighted the critical need for self-hosters to prepare for extended disruptions, revealing that even essential infrastructure like cellular towers can fail, and underscoring the value of robust, localized power generation and network solutions. This event also served as a practical test for Unraid's upcoming 7.1 release, demonstrating its improved boot stability and user-friendly installation process, while also reinforcing the importance of community-driven integrations like Home Assistant for managing self-hosted environments.

The experience of a week-long power outage underscored the fragility of modern conveniences and the necessity of proactive preparation for self-hosters. Stephen Schattin's account of losing power for seven days revealed that not only basic amenities like heating and hot water became immediate concerns, but also that critical infrastructure, such as cellular towers, are not always equipped with sufficient backup power, leading to widespread communication failures. This situation directly influenced his decision to invest in a Generlink transfer switch and a Honda generator for his home and data center, prioritizing self-sufficiency in power generation to maintain essential services. The incident also prompted a broader discussion on simulating such outages in a controlled environment to identify and address vulnerabilities before they become critical, emphasizing the need for backup heating, water supply, and reliable power sources beyond the grid.

Concurrently, the podcast explored the advancements in Unraid 7.1, positioning it as a user-friendly solution for individuals with limited time and technical expertise looking to build a home lab. Its simplified installation process, ability to manage mismatched drive sizes, and growing support for modern file systems like ZFS make it accessible for migrating existing data or setting up new storage solutions. The integration of Unraid with Home Assistant further enhances its utility, allowing for centralized monitoring and control of server functions, including container and VM management, directly from a familiar smart home dashboard. This synergy between Unraid's robust storage and management capabilities and Home Assistant's automation features offers a powerful, albeit complex, ecosystem for self-hosters.

The discussion also touched upon the evolving landscape of digital security, specifically the emergence of passkeys as a passwordless authentication method. While acknowledging the resistance to adopting new security paradigms, the introduction of Pocket ID, an OIDC provider that exclusively uses passkeys, presents a compelling self-hostable solution. This approach simplifies authentication across multiple self-hosted applications, mitigating the need for individual account management and offering a more secure and streamlined user experience, provided the applications support OIDC or OAuth.

Finally, the episode highlighted the importance of community and sustainable development in the self-hosting space. The feedback section underscored the value of accessible resources for newcomers, the ongoing relevance of community platforms like Discord and Lemmy, and the financial support provided through Bitcoin boosts. The discussion around Unraid's pricing model, emphasizing its unique license structure that includes ongoing updates, alongside the potential for lifetime licenses, suggests a commitment to long-term development and support. This, combined with the active development of integrations and community apps, indicates a vibrant ecosystem dedicated to empowering users to manage their digital lives more autonomously.

Action Items

  • Audit Unraid USB flash drive strategy: Identify 3-5 reliable drive models and implement automated backup for OS configuration settings (ref: Unraid Docs).
  • Implement Pocket ID for self-hosted apps: Configure OIDC provider to use passkeys for authentication across 3-5 services (e.g., Gitea, FreshRSS).
  • Design generator power plan: Calculate fuel consumption for 12-hour data center operation and establish a fuel cycling schedule.
  • Create Home Assistant integration plan: Identify 3-5 critical Unraid metrics to monitor and automate alerts based on system performance.

Related Episodes

Key Quotes

"You get your colors, nice formatting, big improvement, new column display and all that. Yes, this is my hot take, Alex, but I think if App 3.0 had been in Pop!_OS when Linus tried it on Linus Tech Tips, I think he probably would have noticed he was about to destroy his desktop because it makes it really clear now you're about to screw things up."

The author is highlighting a new feature in App 3.0 that improves its user interface with better formatting and clear indicators. This author believes this improved clarity would have prevented a user from making a critical error on a previous occasion, suggesting the update enhances user safety and usability.

"I think that's a fair question because you and I, you know, we, we dabble and deploy systems with Nix or does Brent now. And so I don't know if it's targeted squarely at us. I think it's, I picture it as somebody who's very busy. You probably have a day job, you've got a family and you hear us talk about these great applications on the show. You know, we talk about Jellyfin and you want to try it out, but you don't have a ton of time to dedicate to this."

The speaker is defining the target audience for Unraid, suggesting it is not primarily for highly technical users who build systems from scratch. Instead, the speaker believes Unraid is best suited for busy individuals with day jobs and families who want to easily deploy applications like Jellyfin without a significant time investment.

"I think that really speaks to, really for me, the best use case for Unraid is you've got that old desktop system that maybe is just sat in a closet or something and you think, well, what do I do with this? I surely I can be doing something fun or tinker with this. Or you've got a couple of hard drives that aren't the same size or you just, just a bunch of random hardware that you've either acquired over the years or whatever. Like it doesn't, don't really know where it comes from. It doesn't matter. But you know, you can take mismatched drive sizes and you can run it on a potato CPU and use all those disks for storage."

This speaker is explaining a key advantage of Unraid: its ability to utilize older hardware and mismatched storage devices. The speaker emphasizes that Unraid allows users to consolidate various hard drives, regardless of size, and use them as a single storage pool, making it ideal for repurposing old computers and existing drives.

"The process is so straightforward and it lets you immediately start playing with some of the things we talk about. Lots of choices too. If you want to throw a GPU in there, Unraid makes it very straightforward not only to share that GPU with your system, but there's a lot of LLM applications that are just one click away that are ready to access your GPU right there on your LAN and keep your data private."

The speaker is highlighting the ease of use and flexibility of Unraid, particularly with its 7.1 release. The speaker notes that Unraid simplifies the process of integrating hardware like GPUs, making advanced applications, such as those for large language models (LLMs), easily accessible and securely runnable on a local network.

"The licensing does give you updates as you keep for a year, right? Mhm, mhm. And then after a year, it sounds like you can pay an optional what they call an extension fee, which is like $36 a year. Yeah, so I guess you, you get it for a cheaper price. So I guess that's not a subscription. You're renewing a license. Hmm. They also have lifetime licenses if that's your thing. Hmm."

The speaker is clarifying Unraid's licensing model, distinguishing it from a traditional subscription. The speaker explains that the initial purchase includes a year of updates, after which an optional extension fee can be paid annually, or a lifetime license can be purchased, framing these as license renewals rather than ongoing subscriptions.

"I finally have a pretty good system with passwords where I have unique passwords for my sites. I've got two factor for a lot of stuff. Like it's kind of been in the last year or two, I've finally got all that worked out. And now I have to switch. So I'm a little resistant, but I'm, if it's something, you know, I could self-host myself and manage, I'd probably be a little more comfortable with it."

This speaker expresses hesitation towards adopting passkeys due to an existing, well-established security system involving unique passwords and two-factor authentication. The speaker indicates a preference for self-hosting and managing their own security solutions, suggesting a potential willingness to adopt passkeys if they can be managed in a decentralized or self-hosted manner.

Resources

External Resources

Books

  • "Project Van Rescue" - Mentioned as the name of a project to retrieve a van.

Articles & Papers

  • "148: Homelab Disaster Prep" (Self Hosted) - The title of the podcast episode.
  • "Perfect Media Server" (YouTube) - Mentioned as a series of videos.

People

  • Alex - Co-host of the podcast.
  • Brent - Co-host of the podcast.
  • Chris - Co-host of the podcast.
  • Steven - Guest discussing a power outage.
  • Linus - Mentioned in relation to a review of Pop OS on Linus Tech Tips.
  • Jeff - Producer of the show.
  • John Pelanzo - Mentioned in relation to Hexo S.
  • Paulus - Founder of Home Assistant.
  • Derek - Mentioned in relation to Vice Grip Garage.
  • Scott - Listener who wrote in with feedback.

Organizations & Institutions

  • Pop OS - Operating system mentioned in relation to Linus Tech Tips.
  • Linus Tech Tips - YouTube channel.
  • Jupiter Broadcasting - The network producing the podcast.
  • Nabu Casa - Organization related to Home Assistant.
  • Open Home Foundation - Organization related to Home Assistant.
  • Hexo S - Mentioned in relation to John Pelanzo.
  • Home Assistant - Smart home automation platform.
  • NixOS - Linux distribution.
  • Ubuntu - Linux distribution.
  • Proxmox - Virtualization management platform.
  • TrueNAS - Network-attached storage operating system.
  • OpenSUSE - Linux distribution.
  • Instacart - Company that uses Tailscale.
  • Hugging Face - Company that uses Tailscale.
  • Duolingo - Company that uses Tailscale.
  • Gitea - Software that supports OIDC.
  • FreshRSS - Software mentioned in relation to testing OIDC.
  • Carrot - Software mentioned in relation to testing OIDC.
  • Plex - Media server software.
  • Jellyfin - Media server software.
  • OpenAI - Mentioned in relation to emulating their API.
  • Generac - Generator company.
  • Honda - Generator manufacturer.
  • Home Depot - Retail store.
  • Apple - Mentioned in relation to Time Machine backups.
  • Intel - Mentioned in relation to modern chips.

Websites & Online Resources

  • Jupiter Garage - Website for Self Hosted merch.
  • Tailscale.com/selfhosted - Website for Tailscale.
  • Unraid.net/selfhosted - Website for Unraid.
  • Lemmy.world - Fediverse platform with a self-hosted community.
  • Selfhosted.show/contact - Contact page for the podcast.
  • Selfhosted.jupiterbroadcasting.com - Contact page for the podcast.
  • Meetup.com/jupiterbroadcasting - Meetup page for Jupiter Broadcasting.
  • Linux Unplugged - Podcast.
  • Self Hosted Show Discord - Discord server.
  • Matrix - Messaging protocol with a Self Hosted room.

Tools & Software

  • App 3.0 - Release of an application.
  • Generlink - Product for connecting generators to a house.
  • Unraid - NAS operating system.
  • Docker - Containerization platform.
  • Ollama - LLM inference server.
  • Pocket ID - OIDC provider that works with passkeys.
  • Open Web UI - Application that supports knowledge base implementation.
  • Obsidian - Note-taking application.
  • Llama - LLM model.
  • Taby Dog - User who sent a boost.
  • Self hosting is life - User who sent a boost.
  • Sat stacker 7 - User who sent a boost.
  • Outdoor Geek - User who sent a boost.
  • Mount Bread - User who sent a boost.
  • Tristan O'Leider - User who sent a boost.
  • Tsd Proxy - Community project acting as a reverse proxy for Tailnet.
  • Nabu Casa Cloud - Home Assistant cloud subscription.
  • HA Unraid - Custom integration for Home Assistant and Unraid.
  • Hass Unraid - Docker container for Unraid to MQTT.
  • WLED - Software for controlling LED lights.
  • Home Manager - Configuration management tool.
  • Firefox - Web browser.
  • Apple Time Machine - Backup software.

Other Resources

  • Dad Hat - Type of merchandise.
  • Mug - Type of merchandise.
  • T-shirt - Type of merchandise.
  • Poster - Type of merchandise.
  • Chris and the Badger T-shirt - Specific merchandise item.
  • Coder Robes - Specific merchandise item.
  • UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) - Power backup device.
  • Bonded Ground - Electrical concept.
  • Ground Loops - Electrical concept.
  • Inverter Generator - Type of generator.
  • Extension Cord End - Electrical component.
  • Neutral and Ground Pins - Electrical connector parts.
  • Ice Storms - Weather event.
  • Forest Fires - Weather event.
  • Battery Systems - Energy storage devices.
  • Solar Power - Renewable energy source.
  • Data Center - Facility for computing infrastructure.
  • Servers - Computer hardware.
  • Plex Transcoding - Media processing task.
  • Fuel - Substance for generators.
  • Sea Foam - Fuel additive.
  • Gas Stabilizer - Fuel additive.
  • Heat Pump - HVAC system.
  • Cell Phone Towers - Communication infrastructure.
  • Generators - Power generation devices.
  • Starlink Mesh Tastic - Radio communication device.
  • Coaxial Cable - Type of cable.
  • Fiber Optic Cable - Type of cable.
  • Fireplace - Heating appliance.
  • Wood - Fuel for fireplaces.
  • WireGuard - VPN protocol.
  • LLM (Large Language Model) - AI model.
  • GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) - Computer hardware.
  • ZFS - File system.
  • Btrfs - File system.
  • XFS - File system.
  • RiserFS - File system.
  • ECC Memory - Error-correcting code memory.
  • Quicksync - Intel technology for media processing.
  • Passkeys - Authentication method.
  • OIDC (OpenID Connect) - Authentication protocol.
  • Oauth - Authentication protocol.
  • Touch ID - Biometric authentication.
  • Docker Compose - Tool for defining and running Docker applications.
  • Environment Variables - Configuration settings.
  • VM (Virtual Machine) - Emulated computer system.
  • USB Thumb Drive - Storage device.
  • RAM Disk - Memory used as storage.
  • License - Software authorization.
  • Community Apps - Software extensions.
  • Plugins - Software extensions.
  • Parity Calculation - Data redundancy technique.
  • Cache Drive - Storage device for speeding up access.
  • Mover Script - Automated file transfer process.
  • APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) - Software interfaces.
  • Webinar - Online presentation.
  • LLM Applications - Software using large language models.
  • AI (Artificial Intelligence) - Technology.
  • Voice Assistant - AI-powered assistant.
  • MQTT - Messaging protocol.
  • Dashboards - User interface for data visualization.
  • Subscription Products - Services requiring recurring payment.
  • Lifetime Licenses - Perpetual software licenses.
  • Extension Fee - Fee for license renewal.
  • FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) - Information resource.
  • GUI (Graphical User Interface) - Visual interface.
  • Console - Command-line interface.
  • Browser - Software for accessing the internet.
  • AC Adapter - Power supply.
  • DC Power - Direct current power.
  • Sats - Unit of Bitcoin.
  • Boosts - Financial contributions.
  • Baller Booster - Term for a significant contributor.
  • Hybrid Sarcasm - User comment.
  • Knowledge Implementation - Feature within Open Web UI.
  • Workspace - Area within Open Web UI.
  • Custom Model - User-defined AI model.
  • LLM (Large Language Model) - AI model.
  • Ollama - LLM inference server.
  • API - Application Programming Interface.
  • Obsidian Vault - Collection of notes in Obsidian.
  • Obsidian Sync - Feature for synchronizing notes.
  • Plugins - Extensions for Obsidian.
  • Chat with Notes - Feature for interacting with notes.
  • OIDC Client - Software that uses OIDC.
  • Linux Fest Northwest - Event.
  • Van Rescue - Project name.
  • Bus - Vehicle.
  • Working Brakes - Vehicle safety feature.
  • Oil Leak - Vehicle mechanical issue.
  • Radiator Hose - Vehicle component.
  • Wobble - Vehicle instability.
  • Dashboard Tablet - Device for displaying information.
  • Bench Seat - Vehicle seating.
  • X86-based - Processor architecture.
  • Raspberry Pi - Single-board computer.
  • Linux Unplugged - Podcast.
  • Home Assistant OS - Operating system for Home Assistant.
  • 32-bit Architecture - Processor architecture.
  • Greens and Blues - Unspecified system.
  • Industrial X86 PC - Type of computer.
  • QuickSync - Intel technology.
  • Gigabit Ethernet Ports - Network interface.
  • Hardened Device - Device designed for security.
  • Industrial Applications - Use cases in industry.
  • DC Power - Direct current power.
  • Trash Bin - Waste receptacle.
  • Upgrades - Improvements to hardware.
  • ECC Memory - Error-correcting code memory.
  • ZFS - File system.
  • Kilowatt Hours - Unit of energy.
  • Watts - Unit of power.
  • AC Adapter - Power supply.
  • DC Power - Direct current power.
  • Intel Chips - Processors.
  • Feedback - Listener input.
  • Messages - Listener input.
  • Self Hosting Services - Services hosted by users.
  • Audiobook Shelf - Application.
  • Did Chimplex - Application.
  • Apple Consultant - Professional role.
  • Linux Literate - Skill level.
  • Docker - Containerization platform.
  • Ad Hoc Basis - Method

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