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Dave edited this page Mar 27, 2021 · 29 revisions

Cloud Pi

Summary

Cloud Pi is my attempt to have a cloud-like infrastructure in my home without spending a lot of money in install it or a lot of time maintaining it.

My primary goal is to provide file hosting and automatic synchronization, similar to Dropbox or One Drive. I'm also hoping the few Apple devices on my network will integrate as well, since they refuse to do traditional CIFS/SMB file sharing with Samba.

Secondary goals include a Home Assistant home automation system. I would like to have this running as a Docker container, rather than as a dedicated stand-alone piece of hardware. Along with Home Assistant, I want a message queuing server (MQTT) to integrate with Internet of Things (IoT) devices that support it. A containerized version of Node Red will be installed as well to enable more complex automation than Home Assistant supports out of the box.

Hardware and Software

The system is comprised of a Raspberry Pi model 4 running Raspberry Pi OS Lite on a microSD. There is also a USB flash drive for data storage. The network connections is hardwired. (Wireless operation may be possible, it's just not covered in the documentation.)

All other software is free / libre / open-source and most of it comes from the standard apt repositories.

Getting Started

I'm going to assume that this isn't your first Raspberry Pi project and you know enough about Ethernet and TCP/IP to administer a small home network. If you've got the skills and this sounds like something you'd like to do, head on over to the hardware and OS install page page get started.

Order of Steps

  1. Hardware and OS Install
  2. Ansible Installation and System Updates
  3. Preparing a USB Flash Drive for /opt/docker ...