Welcome to Part 6 of the Ubuntu home lab series. Now that we have several apps running on different ports, it’s time to simplify access using Nginx as a reverse proxy. This lets us use URLs like http://jellyfin.myserver.home instead of IP:port combos.
🧠 Tip: Use your router or hosts file to map custom domains (e.g., myserver.home) to your server’s IP.
🌐 Step 1: Install Nginx
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nginx
Check if it’s running:
sudo systemctl status nginx
I decided to install Nginx locally on the server as it would be able to access port 80 of my server and route traffic to various apps/containers.
📁 Step 2: Set Up Config Directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx/conf.d
📝 Step 3: Create Reverse Proxy Config
sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/myserver.conf
Add entries like the following for each service:
Jellyfin
server {
listen 80;
server_name jellyfin.myserver.home;
location / {
proxy_pass http://<your-server-ip>:8096;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}
}
This will map http://jellyfin.myserver.home to http://<your-server-ip>:8096
Repeat similar blocks for other apps:
PostgreSQL (pgAdmin)
server {
listen 80;
server_name postgres.myserver.home;
location / {
proxy_pass http://<your-server-ip>:9876;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}
}
Node-RED
server {
listen 80;
server_name nodered.myserver.home;
location / {
proxy_pass http://<your-server-ip>:1880;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}
}
Homarr
server {
listen 80;
server_name dashboard.myserver.home;
location / {
proxy_pass http://<your-server-ip>:7575;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}
}
🔍 Step 4: Test and Apply Nginx Config
1. Test configuration:
sudo nginx -t
2. Restart Nginx:
sudo systemctl restart nginx
🧭 Step 5: Add Hostname Mapping (on client machines)
Edit /etc/hosts (on Linux/macOS) or C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (on Windows) and add:
192.168.1.100 jellyfin.myserver.home postgres.myserver.home nodered.myserver.home dashboard.myserver.home
Replace 192.168.1.100 with your server’s actual IP.
Now you can access:
http://jellyfin.myserver.home
http://postgres.myserver.home
http://nodered.myserver.home
http://dashboard.myserver.home
✅ Final Notes
Your home lab is now:
You can keep extending it with apps like Kavita, FreshRSS, Calibre-Web, or even GitLab. Just follow the same Podman + volume + Nginx proxy pattern.
Thanks for following along! 🧑💻
Feel free to share your thoughts or improvements at artofcoding.dev!
