Okay, so I’ve been wanting to set up a simple, good-looking dashboard for my home server for a while now. You know, something to keep an eye on things, have quick access to my services. I stumbled upon this thing called “Homerun Park,” and I figured, why not give it a shot? I’m not a coder, more of a tinkerer, so bear with me.
Getting Started
First things first, I needed Docker. I already had Docker and Docker Compose installed on my server, but I did update the installation to the latest version, just to make sure that i’m using the latest and greatest. So, that was easy enough.
The YAML Struggle
Next up, the configuration. Homerun Park uses a YAML file, which, honestly, I’m not a huge fan of. Spaces and tabs matter, and it’s easy to mess things up. I grabbed the example configuration from their documentation.
I spent a good chunk of time just staring at this YAML file, trying to figure out what to change. I wanted to add my existing services, like Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, you know, the usual suspects.
Adding My Services
This is where I started to pull my hair. I had to figure out the icons, the URLs, and how to group things. Slowly but surely, I started adding my services one by one. I used some of the built-in icons, and for others, I just grabbed some images I had laying around from other projects.
- Plex: That was easy, I knew the URL and port.
- Sonarr/Radarr: Same deal, pretty straightforward.
- My Custom Stuff: Here I was, messing around with image file name.
Making It Look Decent
After getting the basic services in, I started messing with the layout. I wanted different sections for different types of services. “Media,” “Downloads,” that kind of thing. I played around with the columns and rows, just moving things around until it looked somewhat organized.
The Final Result (For Now)
Finally, after a couple of hours of fiddling, I had something that I was kind of happy with. It’s not perfect, it’s definitely a work in progress, but it’s functional. I can see the status of my services, and I can access them with a single click. Much better than bookmarking everything in my browser!
I’m sure I’ll keep tweaking it, adding more services, maybe even learning more about YAML so I can do some more advanced stuff. But for now, I’m calling this a win. My home server dashboard is up and running, and it actually looks pretty cool, thanks to Homerun Park.
