Build a Home Lab Monitoring Stack

What you will build

One Docker Compose stack under /opt/stacks/monitoring.
Uptime Kuma on port 3001.
A static dashboard page on port 8089.
A documented backup path for monitoring data.
A validation checklist you can rerun after updates.

Assumptions

This walkthrough assumes a Debian utility VM with Docker Compose already installed. If you need that base first, use the Docker Compose sample lesson.

Create the stack folder

sudo mkdir -p /opt/stacks/monitoring/dashboard
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /opt/stacks/monitoring
cd /opt/stacks/monitoring

Docker Compose file

cat > compose.yml <<'EOF'
services:
  uptime-kuma:
    image: louislam/uptime-kuma:1
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"
    volumes:
      - ./uptime-kuma:/app/data

  lab-dashboard:
    image: nginx:alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8089:80"
    volumes:
      - ./dashboard:/usr/share/nginx/html:ro
EOF

Simple dashboard page

cat > dashboard/index.html <<'EOF'
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <title>Home Lab Status</title>
    <style>
      body{font-family:system-ui;margin:0;background:#f6f7f5;color:#151a17}
      main{max-width:840px;margin:auto;padding:48px 20px}
      .grid{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(auto-fit,minmax(220px,1fr));gap:12px}
      a{display:block;border:1px solid #d9dfda;border-radius:8px;background:#fff;padding:16px;color:#173b34;font-weight:800;text-decoration:none}
      p{color:#65716a}
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <main>
      <h1>Home Lab Status</h1>
      <p>Replace these links with your actual hostnames or IP addresses.</p>
      <div class="grid">
        <a href="http://YOUR-UTILITY-VM-IP:3001">Uptime Kuma</a>
        <a href="https://YOUR-PROXMOX-HOST:8006">Proxmox</a>
        <a href="http://YOUR-NAS-IP">NAS</a>
      </div>
    </main>
  </body>
</html>
EOF

Start the stack

docker compose up -d
docker compose ps
curl -I http://localhost:3001
curl -I http://localhost:8089

Add Uptime Kuma checks

Monitor	Type	Suggested name
Router gateway	Ping	`router-gateway`
Proxmox host	Ping or HTTPS	`proxmox-host`
NAS	Ping or HTTP	`nas-main`
Dashboard	HTTP	`lab-dashboard`
Public site	HTTPS	`public-site`

Backup notes

Back up the stack folder, especially /opt/stacks/monitoring/uptime-kuma.

sudo tar -czf ~/monitoring-stack-backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz /opt/stacks/monitoring

Store the archive somewhere outside the utility VM. For a real lab, this should land on NAS storage or a Proxmox Backup Server-backed VM backup.

Validation checklist

docker compose ps shows both services running.
Uptime Kuma loads from another device on the LAN.
The dashboard page loads from another device on the LAN.
At least three monitors are green.
One safe failure test creates an alert or visible down state.
A backup archive exists outside the VM.

Rollback

cd /opt/stacks/monitoring
docker compose down

This stops the stack without deleting data. Remove the folder only after confirming you no longer need the monitoring history.

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