Setting up Home Ops
The Setup site walks you through six steps and keeps a checklist at the top until each one is done. You can stop at any point and come back. Each step below has a live demo you can click through: it runs in your browser on a made-up home lab, and nothing you press changes anything.
Before you start
- One machine to run Home Ops: Ubuntu or Debian, an LXC on Proxmox, or a VM.
- A router and firewall. Home Ops is built around OPNsense; it can use the one you have or build you a new one.
- Optional: a managed switch (Home Ops reads and changes it over SNMP), Wi-Fi access points, and more machines.
1 · Name your site
Give the install a name and a time zone, and say who your internet provider is (pages and alerts mention it). The domain, such as example.lab, is chosen when Home Ops is installed: every site lives under it, like monitor.example.lab.
2 · Add people
Everyone signs in with their own name and password. Pick a role for each person:
| Role | Can |
|---|---|
| Admin | Everything: arm actions, change the setup and firewall, manage people. |
| Member | See every page, use Drive and Docs, keep their own vault entries. No setup changes. |
People change their own password under Your account, and see where they're signed in.
▶ Demo: People3 · Add your machines
+ Add a machine gives you one command to run on it. It installs the Home Ops agent, and the machine shows up by itself, with what it has (Proxmox, Docker, Kubernetes, KVM, big disks) and what it could install, each with an Install button.
Network gear that won't take an agent, like an eero or a plain switch, is added as hands-off: Home Ops watches it from outside and tells you what to set on it by hand.
▶ Demo: Machines4 · Plan the network
The network plan describes your firewall in plain terms. Each network has a purpose, and the firewall rules come from those, so you never write rules by hand.
| Purpose | Reaches |
|---|---|
| Servers | everything |
| Home | everything except guest networks |
| Guest | the internet only |
| Kept apart (IoT, cameras, games) | the internet and DNS, plus Plex if you allow it |
Already have OPNsense? Read from OPNsense fills the plan in. Starting fresh? Plan a new network asks about your internet connection (including a provider's box in front, or a shared address), your networks, the VPN and Plex. One flat network is a complete plan too.
▶ Demo: Network plan5 · The router
Keep your OPNsense, or build a new one from the plan. A new router is built staged, on private networks, then switched in where your old one is:
- The machine running it arms a timer before anything moves.
- Home Ops checks the new router answers at the gateway with its own name and has its internet side up, then confirms.
- If it can't confirm in time, or the machine reboots first, the old router comes back by itself.
6 · Place the services
Tell Home Ops where each service runs: OPNsense, AdGuard (DNS), the hub, Drive and git, backups. Add standbys on a second machine and the important parts keep working when one goes down. Home Ops checks each service really answers.
▶ Demo: ServicesChanging things later
When the plan and your firewall differ, Setup lists exactly what would change, in words. Try on a copy first runs it on a sealed copy of your own firewall; Apply keeps a restore point and puts it back if the check afterwards fails; Undo reverses the last change.
The phone app
Add a phone from Agents → Add a phone. The app has every site as a tab, gets your alerts, and has Setup and People too, so you can add someone from the couch.