Applications-Overview.md

Step 6. Services & Apps - Configuration

Your services will run isolated in Docker containers. The setup is easy with the provided docker-compose.yml file, which is a declarative way to pull the images from the internet, create containers and configure everything with a single command!

See the subguide for Docker Compose on how to get up and running. this is the unique part of this guide, a complete and carefully built working Docker-Compose.yml file with variables.

The best, well-maintained docker images have been selected, sometimes you spend hours finding the right one as there are often multiple available.

• You can easily find other applications via https://hub.docker.com/
• For VPN through WireGuard, Remote Desktop through RDP and terminal access through SSH, the host OS, Manjaro Gnome, is leveraged.
• To remove the complexity of configuring Wireguard VPN, a friendly VPN-Portal webservice is included and the most complex part of a VPN server configuration is already taken care of in the docker-compose.yml file!

Below a description and recommended or required configuration of each service that are in Docker-Compose.yml. Choose the ones you need.

Server Management & Monitoring

Container management via Portainer

A complete overview of your containers and related elements in a nice visual UI, allowing you to easily check the status, inspect issues, stop, restart, update or remove containers that you launched via Docker Compose. Strangely, the tool cannot inform you of updates.

• Required configuration: none.
• Recommended configuration: Settings > Environment > Local, Public IP. Change this value to your local domain name, as configured in AdGuard Home>DNS Rewrites or your systems hosts file (/etc/hosts), more details below in the AdGuard Home section.

Secure Web Proxy via caddy-docker-proxy - documentation

Access your services via a pretty domain name, accessible via the internet through HTTPS or locally only.
For online access, Caddy takes care of all required steps, obtaining and renewing SSL certificates etc. 100% hassle free!
Caddy-Docker-Proxy is the same as official Caddy but allows you to configure Caddy via Docker Compose file, instead of managing a seperate configuration file (caddyfile). Caddy-Docker-Proxy will dynamically built the caddyfile based on labels in your Docker Compose file.

Only services that absolutely need to be accessed online should be exposed to the internet. These are Vault Warden (Bitwarden password manager), FileRun (file and photo cloud) and Firefox Sync (browser profile and configuration syncing).
All other services can still be accessed via a pretty domain, one that is only accessible within your LAN or when connected to your server via VPN.

• Required configuration: Caddy is near-zero configuration but does require you to do your homework first.
  • To access services via internet securily:
    • Complete Step 3. Network Configuration of the main guide.
    • personalize the docker-compose file by editing the .env file and setting your own registered domain name and email address.
    • (Optional) personalize the docker-compose file by changing the subdomains (files., vault., firefox.) to your liking, matching the configuration of your domain provider.
  • To access local services via a pretty domain name:`
    • (Optional) personalize the docker-compose file, changing the caddy label under each service to a domain name of your liking. For example, to access Portainer, http://docker.o/ is used, you could also use http://docker.home/ or something else instead.
    • Add all the local domain names as they appear in the compose file to AdGuard Home (see below) or to your system /etc/hosts file, each one pointing to the same LAN IP address of your server, no port numbers (DNS translates domains to IP addresses, ports are not involved here, Caddy makes sure the right service is connected to each domain).

Safe browsing ad- and malware free via AdGuardHome - documentation

Your own recursive DNS server to stop sharing your browsing history with the world Unbound - documentation_

Unbound is a recursive DNS resolver. By using Unbound, no 3rd party will know the full URLs of the sites you are visiting (your ISP, local and international DNS providers).
AdGuardHome is a DNS based malware & ad filter, blocking ad requests but also blocking known malware, coinmining and phishing sites!

After AGH filters the requests, the remaining DNS requests are forwarded to Unbound, which chops it up in pieces and contacts the end-point DNS providers to get the necessary IP for you to visit the site.
This way, not 1 company in the world has your complete DNS requests. Compare this to the hyped encrypted DNS (DoH): your request is decrypted at the provider, the provider and all end-point DNS providers see your un-encrypted request.

By blocking on DNS request level, you easily block 5-15% of internet traffic requests, significantly reducing the data needed to load websites, run apps and play games.
All devices connected to your router such as home speakers, smart devices, mediaplayer etc are automatically protected.
This setup can also be used used remotely via split tunnel VPN (see PiVPN). This means you have 1 adfiltering and DNS resolver for all devices, anywhere in the world.

• Required configuration:
  • walkthrough the first time wizard at http://serverip:3000
  • Settings>DNS Settings: Upstream DNS servers should only contain your unbound service: 127.0.0.1:5335
  • Filters>DNS blocklists: click Add blocklist, select OISD Blocklist Basic, hit save, then uncheck others and only check OISD Blocklist Basic.
  • Filters>DNS Rewrites: Add DNS rewrites for each local (not online exposed) service you want to access via a local domain instead of having to type ip:port all the time. For example, add docker.o, 192.168.88.2 to access Portainer by going to http://docker.o/, if your server lan IP is 192.168.88.2, and do the same for example for vpn.o to access the Wireguard Portal where you will manage VPN clients, jellyfin.o to access you media etc.
    • Browsers convert addressess automatically to HTTPS. Disable this in your browser security settings. Type a / at the end of the address (if that's not enough also add http:// in front of it) to force it to use http instead. HTTPS TLS encryption is not necessary (and more work to setup for local services) since these domains only work within your LAN (or via VPN which is already encrypted).
    • For services (like Adguard Home!) using network_mode: host in docker-compose, this works only when accessing the domain on other devices within your LAN. To access such services in a browser on your host system, add the domain in the /etc/hosts file of your server.

VPN Portal via wireguard-ui - documentation

Wireguard VPN protocol runs natively on your host system, it is part of the Linux Kernel. A configuration file containing the VPN server configuration and encryption keys should be generated and stored in a file /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf. Clients can be configured by generating keys and adding them to that file.

This webservice does 1 thing: it provides a VPN-Portal, a friendly user interface to add/manage clients and manage global default settings for server and clients. This means all it does is edit the configuration file.

Most of its configuration is already taken care of, see the docker-compose file.

The server-prep.sh script will ensure the system monitors the config file for changes and restart the host Wireguard VPN program for changes to immediately become effective.

Note your server IP when connected via VPN will be 10.0.0.0 and clients will start at 10.0.0.1.

Server configuration

• Personalize docker-compose by editing your (hidden) /home/username/docker/.env file see example.
  1. Set a user/pw for VPN-Portal access
  2. Generate a key for VPN-Portal access encryption key WGPORTALSECRET, see the command listed in the file under section TOKENS.
  3. your registered domain name yourdomain.tld (see Step 3. Network Configuration)
  4. your SMTP provider credentials, required to sent clients a QR code or conf file for access.
  5. verify WGPORT is properly forwarded in your router and LAN_ADDRESS_RANGE corresponds with your router DHCP range.
  6. Set the correct LAN network device in POSTUP and POSTDOWN by changing eno1 to yours, can be found via command ip route, the value next to "dev" on the 'default' or first line.
  7. In Terminal, verify no errors have been made: docker-compose config and check all values from .env are present. Then run docker-compose up -d.
• Go to the vpn portal via yourip:5000 or http://vpn.o/ and verify your .env values are filled in.
• Go to Clients and add clients.
  • keepalive should only be used for non-mobile clients, its purpose is access from server >> client (instead of vice versa) by keeping the outgoing (client>>server) connection alive.
  • Change AllowedIPs to your liking: 10.0.0.0/24 = access to server and VPN peers, 192...../24 = access to all LAN devices (like printer, camera). If you just want all traffic of the client to go through VPN, also internet traffic: 0.0.0.0, ::/0 (= all IPv4 and IPv6 traffic). If you only want to allow access to 1 IP instead of a whole range use /32. Also see this range calculator.
    • You can always change AllowedIPs, later, on your client itself. If you want to prevent clients from having access to certain IP addresses or server ports, change the POST UP and POST DOWN lines, as this configures the server firewall. For inspiration, see here.
• Do not forget to hit Apply Config. This will save the changes to /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf.
• Open a Terminal, verify WireGuard starts correctly (no errors): sudo wg-quick up wg0, if there were no errors, stop it again sudo wg-quick up wg0.
• Enable starting it as service (will autostart at boot): sudo systemctl enable [email protected] and sudo systemctl start [email protected].
• To automatically apply changes made via VPN-Portal, Wireguard needs to be restarted when the wg0.conf file is modified by VPN-Portal. File monitoring and restarting is done via 2 services created by the prep-server.sh script. All you have to to is enable & start them: : systemctl enable wgui.{path,service} and systemctl start wgui.{path,service}. This will run sudo systemctl restart [email protected] when the wg0.conf file is modified.

Client configuration

• You can easily ensure Android devices are always using your server DNS (and have access to all local non-exposed services!) by installing the Wireguard app, adding the configuration through QR code or file, which you can share via the VPN-Portal via email to your devices Portal.
• To automatically connect to your VPN when you leave your home WiFi and disconnect when you are back home, install the Automate app, go to Community and find and install this flow. Follow the instructions in the description. This is tested to work flawlessly on Android 12 devices!
• Wireguard apps are available for all systems. For Linux, install wireguard-tools and use the command wg-quick up wg0 after you have put the client conf file (accessible via the VPN-Portal) in /etc/wireguard/.

Remote Admin Access via RDP and SSH

You can manage your server remotely, within LAN or, when not at home via VPN. This can be done through the terminal or simply by accessing the desktop, by sharing the desktop through RDP. Manjaro Gnome has Gnome RDP builtin by default and the post-install.sh script already installed it and allowed you to set the credentials.

• Required Configuration:
  • Go to Settings > Sharing. Enable it at the top and enable Remote Desktop (=RDP) and Remote Login (= SSH).
  • If you need to, you can change the Remote Desktop credentials. Only use letters and numbers for password.
• Optional:
  • For terminal access, open a console or terminal and simply use ssh [email protected] which is your server IP when connected through VPN.
  • On Android, terminal SSH access is easy via the Termius app. File access through FTP-over-SSH (SFTP) is easy via the CX Explorer app, which also has webDAV support (for your FileRun filecloud) and is a great Android Filemanager, very user friendly.
  • For Remote Desktop via a MacOS, use the Remmina app.
  • For Remote Desktop via Manjaro Gnome or other Gnome distribution: use Gnome Connections (post-install.sh script installs this already).

Cloud Services

Password Manager via Vaultwarden documentation

Mobile App: Bitwarden Easily the best, user friendly password manager out there. Open source and therefore fully audited to be secure. The mobile apps are extremely easy to use.
Additionally allows you to securely share passwords and personal files or documents (IDs, salary slips, insurance) with others via Bitwarden Send.
By using bitwarden_rs, written in the modern language RUST, it uses exponentially less resources than the conventional Bitwarden-server.

• Required documentation:
  • Follow the documentation to login to the admin environment (hint: the secret in your .env file).
    • User registeration is disabled by default, you can invite users via email.
    • Fill in your SMTP credentials first and perform the test. See E-mail notifications in Step 3. Network Configuration.

Files cloud via FileRun - documentation and support_

Mobile Apps: CX File Explorer (for file browsing) and FolderSync (for 2-way or 1-way sync, automated or scheduled) or Goodreader for iOS.

• FileRun is a very fast, lightweight and feature-rich selfhosted alternative to Dropbox/GoogleDrive/OneDrive. Nextcloud, being much slower and overloaded with additional apps, can't compete on speed and user-friendliness. Also, with FileRun each user has a dedicated folder on your server and unlike Nextcloud, FileRun does not need to periodically scan your filesystem for changes.
• FileRun support WebDAV, ElasticSeach for in-file search, extremely fast scrolling through large photo albums, encryption, guest users, shortened sharing links etc. Limits compared to Nextcloud: It is not open-source and the free version allows 10 users only. I use it for myself and direct family/friends only. It has no calendar/contacts/calls etc features like Nextcloud.

• Required configuration: walk through the Control Panel and personalize at will.
• In Thumbs and Previews enable all options except LibreOffice and hit "Check version", output should be green.
• In Plugins, enable what you need, disable overlapping stuff that you do not need. In defaults it is recommended to use Office web viewer for Office documents instead of alternatives.
• OnlyOffice DocumentServer unfortunately does not work properly, otherwise you could configure OnlyOffice as default to edit office documents (having your own google docs/office online alternative!).

How to sync devices, external users laptops

• Filerun supports webDAV, see helpful tips. This way you benefit from instant file indexing (for search) and server-side photo thumbails & previews. Consider using webDAV to sync your User files with your mobile devices.
• For mobile devices FolderSync or Goodreader (iOS) are the apps to use for syncing when you run your own filecloud, since they properly support webDAV.
• For mobile devices, to surf through your files, CX File Explorer is very user-friendly.
• For desktops and laptops and to keep your parents PC user files in-sync, consider webDAV as well. For Linux, the NextCloud Desktop client is the obvious choice as it is the only tool that does 2-way sync.
• The Nextcloud mobile app works with FileRun but CX File Explorer (4.8 stars) is so much better and easier to use. It is a swift and friendly Android file manager that allows you to add your FileRun instance via WebDAV. Compared to the Nextcloud app, it allows you to easily switch between your local storage and your cloud, copying files betweeen them.
• Alternatively, Setup NFS a zero-overhead solution used in datacenters, the fastest way to share files/folders with other devices (laptops/PCs) via your local home network.

Your own browser sync engine via Firefox Sync - documentation

By running your own Firefox Sync server, all your history, bookmarks, cookies, logins of Firefox on all your devices (phones, tablets, laptops) can be synced with your own server instead of Mozilla.
Compare this to Google Chrome syncing to your Google Account or Safari syncing to iCloud. It also means you have a backup of your browser profile. This tool has been provided by Mozilla. This is the only browser that allows you to use your own server to sync your browser account!

• Required Configuration:
  • Test your sync server is running properly by visiting the subdomain firefox.yourdomain.tld.
  • by default, new accounts cannot register to your server. You can control this in your docker-compose file via FF_SYNCSERVER_ALLOW_NEW_USERS: make sure to set it to false after all users have registered, to prevent strangers from using your sync server.

Remote Desktop Web Client Guacamole

Access any desktop (your server or your parents laptop) through RDP via your browser (mobile browsers supported as well) after connecting to VPN.
Instead of using an app, you can simply go to https://desktop.yourdomain.com and use the web application to login to the desktop of any server/desktop/laptop that has RDP configured.
You still need to be connected to your server VPN.
You can connect all computers that you want to support (like, parents) to your server VPN. Then, when they need help, you simply open a browser, login to Guacamole to see and use their desktop.

• Decide whether you need the web client, since you can just as well use desktop applications (Remmina on Linux, Mac and Android, Windows RDP in Windows 10/11).
• If you do need it, decide whether or not you want to expose the client to the internet or only access the client through LAN and VPN. Remember, to actually connect to your server you will need to connect to VPN anyway.
  • Since 18/07/2022 the docker-compose.yml example exposes it by default + enables 2FA for this web app.
  • If you do not want to expose it, remove the 2 caddy labels (or replace them for local proxy, to access via http://desktop.o/ within your LAN/VPN) and remove the TOTP in the Extensions section.

How to Configure Guacamole?

• login with guacadmin/guacadmin.
• Find Settings in the top-right menu, Settings > Users > New User and create a user for yourself.
• Logout, login with your own user, go back to Settings > Users and delete user guacadmin.
• Settings > Connections > New Connection: Name = your server name, protocol = RDP, Concurrency limits = 1,
• Section Parameters > Network fill in hostname (= a LAN hostname that you created in AdGuard or LAN IP or VPN IP), Port = 3389. Under Authentication your server RDP username/password. Hit Save.

Media Server

Qbittorrent through VPN-proxy via PIA Wireguard VPN - documentation_

Downloading files should always be done through a proper VPN provider, one that allows for port forwarding otherwise finding peers will be difficult.
The docker-wireguard-pia image created by thrnz automatically connects/reconnects/finds fastest server and even updates the forwarded port in QBittorrent, as your PIA provider will change it often.

• Required configuration:
  • Open the file /home/username/docker/VPN-proxy/pia-shared/updateport-qb.sh and fill in your QBittorrent username & password and the LAN IP of your server. This way, this script can access QBittorrent to automatically update the forwarded port when PIA changes it (happens after every reboot, restart or reconnect).

Series/Movies/Subtitles/Music via Sonarr/Radarr/Bazarr/Lidarr and torrentsites proxy Prowlarr - Documentation

A visual, user-friendly tool allowing you to search & add your favourite TV shows (Sonarr) or Movies (Radarr) and subtitles (Bazarr), see a schedule of when the next episodes will air and completely take care of obtaining the requires files (by searching magnets/torrents via Jackett, a proxy for all torrentsites) and organising them, all in order to get a full-blown Nextflix experience served by JellyFin.| For years I have messed with FlexGet, but it can't beat Sonarr.

• BLACK app for Android: all-in-1 app allows you to perform most popular actions in your "*arr" apps.
• NZB360 app for Android: all-in-1 app allows you to discover new content, find/add/remove content, view status and manage all your "*arr" services and downloads in 1 single app. User friendly and completely replaces the need to access your web apps.

Media server via Jellyfin - documentation

A mediaserver to serve clients (Web, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Tizen, LG WebOS, Windows) your tvshows, movies and music in a slick and easy to use interface just like the famous streaming giants do.
Jellyfin is user-friendly and has easy features that you might miss from the streaming giants such as watched status management etc.
The mediaserver can transcode media on the fly to your clients, adjusting for available bandwith. It can use hardware encoding capabilities of your server.
By using the Gelli app, Jellyfin competes with music servers such as SubSonic/AirSonic. Gelli is more slick and in active development.
Allows you to listen to your old AudioCDs! A HiRes Audio alternative to Spotify/Apple Music etc.