Uptime Kuma: Free Monitoring for Your Homelab Services

Know Before Your Users Do

Services fail. Networks hiccup. Containers crash. The question is: will you find out from your monitoring system or from a frustrated family member?

Uptime Kuma is a beautiful, self-hosted monitoring tool that watches your services and alerts you instantly when something goes wrong.

Why Uptime Kuma?

• Beautiful UI: Clean, modern dashboard
• Multiple protocols: HTTP, TCP, DNS, Docker, and more
• Many notifications: Telegram, Discord, Slack, email, webhooks
• Status pages: Public or private status pages
• Lightweight: Single container, low resources

Quick Setup

version: "3.8"

services:
  uptime-kuma:
    image: louislam/uptime-kuma:latest
    container_name: uptime-kuma
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"
    restart: unless-stopped

Access the dashboard at http://your-server:3001 and create your admin account.

Types of Monitors

HTTP(S) Monitor

Check if a web service responds correctly:

• Verify status codes (200, 301, etc.)
• Check for specific text in response
• Monitor response time
• SSL certificate expiry alerts

TCP Port Monitor

Check if a port is open and accepting connections - great for databases, SSH, etc.

Docker Container Monitor

Monitor container status directly (requires socket mount):

• Check if container is running
• No need to expose ports for monitoring
• Works for internal services

DNS Monitor

Verify DNS resolution is working correctly.

Setting Up Notifications

Configure alerts so you know immediately when something fails:

Telegram (Recommended)

• Create a bot with @BotFather
• Get your chat ID
• Add notification in Uptime Kuma settings

Discord

• Create a webhook in your server
• Paste webhook URL in Uptime Kuma

Email

• Configure SMTP settings
• Works with Gmail, Sendgrid, etc.

Status Pages

Create a status page to share with family or publicly:

• Group monitors logically
• Custom domain support
• Incident history
• Password protection option

What to Monitor

Essential monitors for a typical homelab:

• All public-facing services (Nextcloud, Plex, etc.)
• Internal services (Pi-hole, databases)
• Reverse proxy health
• SSL certificate expiry
• Internet connectivity (monitor an external site)
• DNS resolution

Stay Informed

Uptime Kuma gives you confidence that your homelab is running smoothly. When something fails, you'll know immediately - not hours later when someone complains.