Overview
This handbook documents a production Docker Swarm cluster designed for homelab use, consisting of four nodes running 18 containerized services across mixed ARM64 and x86_64 hardware. The documentation provides comprehensive coverage of architecture decisions, operational procedures, and maintenance practices developed through real-world deployment and management experience.
The cluster architecture emphasizes reliability, maintainability, and cost-effectiveness while providing enterprise-class services including authentication, file storage, document management, monitoring, and web applications.
Handbook Structure
- Getting Started - Audience, prerequisites, and conventions
- Architecture - Hardware, cluster topology, and service distribution
- Networking - Overlay networks, Traefik, and domain management
- Storage - Volume management and persistent storage patterns
- Services - Complete catalog of all 18 services
- Deployment - Stack procedures, scaling, and configuration
- Operations - Monitoring, backup, and security maintenance
- Advanced - Cluster expansion, performance tuning, and troubleshooting
- Appendices - Command reference and configuration templates