Homelab Automation with Ansible and Docker

Why Automate Your Homelab?

Manual server configuration is time-consuming and error-prone. With Ansible, you define your infrastructure as code - repeatable, version-controlled, and self-documenting. Rebuild your entire homelab in minutes, not hours.

Ansible Basics

# Install Ansible
pip install ansible

# Create inventory file (hosts.yml)
all:
  hosts:
    homelab:
      ansible_host: 192.168.1.100
      ansible_user: admin
      ansible_ssh_private_key_file: ~/.ssh/homelab_key

Docker Installation Playbook

# playbooks/setup-docker.yml
---
- name: Setup Docker on Homelab
  hosts: homelab
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: Install prerequisites
      apt:
        name:
          - apt-transport-https
          - ca-certificates
          - curl
          - gnupg
        state: present
        update_cache: yes

    - name: Add Docker GPG key
      apt_key:
        url: https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg
        state: present

    - name: Add Docker repository
      apt_repository:
        repo: deb https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu jammy stable
        state: present

    - name: Install Docker
      apt:
        name:
          - docker-ce
          - docker-ce-cli
          - containerd.io
          - docker-compose-plugin
        state: present

    - name: Add user to docker group
      user:
        name: "{{ ansible_user }}"
        groups: docker
        append: yes

Deploy Docker Compose Stack

# playbooks/deploy-services.yml
---
- name: Deploy Homelab Services
  hosts: homelab
  tasks:
    - name: Create homelab directory
      file:
        path: /opt/homelab
        state: directory
        mode: '0755'

    - name: Copy docker-compose file
      copy:
        src: ../docker-compose.yml
        dest: /opt/homelab/docker-compose.yml

    - name: Copy environment file
      copy:
        src: ../secrets/.env
        dest: /opt/homelab/.env
        mode: '0600'

    - name: Start Docker Compose stack
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_src: /opt/homelab
        state: present
        pull: yes

Running Playbooks

# Test connection
ansible homelab -m ping

# Run playbook
ansible-playbook playbooks/setup-docker.yml

# Deploy services
ansible-playbook playbooks/deploy-services.yml

# Update all containers
ansible-playbook playbooks/update-containers.yml