homelab-optimized/docs/admin/maintenance-schedule.md

Maintenance Calendar & Schedule

Homelab maintenance schedule and recurring tasks

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Overview

This document outlines the maintenance schedule for the homelab infrastructure. Following this calendar ensures service reliability, security, and optimal performance.

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Daily Tasks (Automated)

Task	Time	Command/Tool	Owner
Container updates	02:00	Watchtower	Automated
Backup verification	03:00	Ansible	Automated
Health checks	Every 15min	Prometheus	Automated
Alert notifications	Real-time	Alertmanager	Automated

Manual Daily Checks

• Review ntfy alerts
• Check Grafana dashboards for issues
• Verify Uptime Kuma status page

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Weekly Tasks

Sunday - Maintenance Day

Time	Task	Duration	Notes
Morning	Review Watchtower updates	30 min	Check what's new
Mid-day	Check disk usage	15 min	All hosts
Afternoon	Test backup restoration	1 hour	Critical services only
Evening	Review logs for errors	30 min	Focus on alerts

Weekly Automation

# Run Ansible health check
ansible-playbook ansible/automation/playbooks/health_check.yml

# Generate disk usage report
ansible-playbook ansible/automation/playbooks/disk_usage_report.yml

# Check certificate expiration
ansible-playbook ansible/automation/playbooks/certificate_renewal.yml --check

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Monthly Tasks

First Sunday of Month

Task	Duration	Notes
Security audit	1 hour	Run security audit playbook
Docker cleanup	30 min	Prune unused images/containers
Update documentation	1 hour	Review and update docs
Review monitoring thresholds	30 min	Adjust if needed
Check SSL certificates	15 min	Manual review

Monthly Commands

# Security audit
ansible-playbook ansible/automation/playbooks/security_audit.yml

# Docker cleanup (all hosts)
ansible-playbook ansible/automation/playbooks/prune_containers.yml

# Log rotation check
ansible-playbook ansible/automation/playbooks/log_rotation.yml

# Full backup of configs
ansible-playbook ansible/automation/playbooks/backup_configs.yml

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Quarterly Tasks

Month Start: January, April, July, October

Week	Task	Duration
Week 1	Disaster recovery test	2 hours
Week 2	Infrastructure review	2 hours
Week 3	Performance optimization	2 hours
Week 4	Documentation refresh	1 hour

Quarterly Checklist

• Disaster Recovery Test

  • Restore a critical service from backup
  • Verify backup integrity
  • Document recovery time

• Infrastructure Review

  • Review resource usage trends
  • Plan capacity upgrades
  • Evaluate new services

• Performance Optimization

  • Tune Prometheus queries
  • Optimize Docker configurations
  • Review network performance

• Documentation Refresh

  • Update runbooks
  • Verify links work
  • Update service inventory

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Annual Tasks

Month	Task	Notes
January	Year in review	Review uptime, incidents
April	Spring cleaning	Deprecate unused services
July	Mid-year capacity check	Plan for growth
October	Pre-holiday review	Ensure stability

Annual Checklist

• Annual uptime report
• Hardware inspection
• Cost/energy analysis
• Security posture review
• Disaster recovery drill (full)
• Backup strategy review

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Service-Specific Maintenance

Critical Services (Weekly)

Service	Task	Command
Authentik	Verify SSO flows	Manual login test
NPM	Check proxy hosts	UI review
Prometheus	Verify metrics	Query test
Vaultwarden	Test backup	Export/import test

Media Services (Monthly)

Service	Task	Notes
Plex	Library analysis	Check for issues
Sonarr/Radarr	RSS sync test	Verify downloads
Immich	Backup verification	Test restore

Network Services (Monthly)

Service	Task	Notes
Pi-hole	Filter list update	Check for updates
AdGuard	Query log review	Look for issues
WireGuard	Check connections	Active peers

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Maintenance Windows

Standard Window

• Day: Sunday
• Time: 02:00 - 06:00 UTC
• Notification: 24 hours advance notice

Emergency Window

• Trigger: Critical security vulnerability
• Time: As needed
• Notification: ntfy alert

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Automation Schedule

Cron Jobs (Homelab VM)

# Daily health checks
0 * * * * /opt/scripts/health_check.sh

# Hourly container stats
0 * * * * /opt/scripts/container_stats.sh

# Weekly backup
0 3 * * 0 /opt/scripts/backup.sh

Ansible Tower/Pencil (if configured)

• Nightly: Container updates
• Weekly: Full system audit
• Monthly: Security scan

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Incident Response During Maintenance

If an incident occurs during maintenance:

1. Pause maintenance if service is impacted
2. Document issue in incident log
3. Resolve or rollback depending on severity
4. Resume once stable
5. Post-incident review within 48 hours

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Checklist Template

Pre-Maintenance

• Notify users (if needed)
• Verify backups current
• Document current state
• Prepare rollback plan

During Maintenance

• Monitor alerts
• Document changes
• Test incrementally

Post-Maintenance

• Verify all services running
• Check monitoring
• Test critical paths
• Update documentation
• Close ticket

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Links

• Incident Reports
• Backup Procedures
• Monitoring Guide