Software developer here and I had to learn k8s for work (small startup, we didn’t have devops people). We manually were provisioning Debian servers to add more api backends, and it took us one hour per instance. Figured there had to be a better way. So in no particular order:

• docker / containerization.
• secure certificates for everything: nginx / reverse proxy / certificates.
• k8s.

Super steep learning curve. Easier to do on the cloud than it is in the homelab. In the homelab:

• segmenting home network into different VLANs, firewall rules.
• Tailscale for multi-site access.
• cloudflare zero-trust tunnel for secure off-site access by friends.
• reverse proxy backed by let’s encrypt TLS for secure private connections.
• getting all the *arrs setup via docker. plex on nuc, media share on NAS, accessible via NFS. Orchestrating so that either restarting is recoverable.
• Prometheus / grafana for monitoring
• setting up alerts for everything

Current project:

• migrate off docker into k3s on top of metallb for ingress, longhorn for persistent storage, helm for charts, argocd for gitops, ansible for automation. I never want to SSH into a server again. And I want to manage all my infrastructure through a git repository. Totally overkill for the homelab but guaranteed to get you multiple offers in Silicon Valley.