Self-Hosted Portfolio Site — niklabs.org

Project Type

Personal infrastructure project — self-hosted static portfolio site running on Proxmox homelab, served through Nginx Proxy Manager, published publicly via Cloudflare DNS and SSL.

Project Overview

This project covers the end-to-end setup of niklabs.org — a self-hosted portfolio and documentation site built with MkDocs Material, running on an Ubuntu Server inside the NikLabs Proxmox homelab, and published publicly through Cloudflare with SSL.

The goal was to build a professional-looking technical portfolio site that:

Runs entirely on existing homelab infrastructure at zero additional cost
Uses markdown files as the content source — no CMS, no database
Looks like a modern documentation site (dark mode, search, code copy buttons)
Is publicly accessible via a custom domain with valid SSL
Can be updated by editing a markdown file and running one build command

Architecture

Visitor → Cloudflare (DNS + SSL) → Home Public IP
→ Router (Port 80 forward) → Nginx Proxy Manager (Docker)
→ Ubuntu Server LXC (Python HTTP server :8085)
→ MkDocs Static Site (/var/www/niklabs-site/site/)

Component Summary

Component	Role
MkDocs Material	Builds static HTML site from markdown files
Ubuntu Server (Proxmox LXC)	Hosts the built static site
Python HTTP server	Serves static files on port 8085
Systemd service	Keeps Python server running on boot
Nginx Proxy Manager	Reverse proxy — routes niklabs.org to Ubuntu server
Cloudflare	DNS, SSL termination, DDoS protection
niklabs.org	Custom domain

Environment

Attribute	Value
Hosting Platform	Proxmox homelab
Server	Ubuntu 22.04 LXC (k3s-worker2)
Server IP	192.168.1.246
Site Port	8085
Static Site Generator	MkDocs Material 9.x
Python Version	3.12
Reverse Proxy	Nginx Proxy Manager (Docker container)
DNS / SSL	Cloudflare (Flexible SSL mode)
Domain	niklabs.org

Implementation

1. Install MkDocs on Ubuntu Server

apt update && apt upgrade -y
apt install python3 python3-pip -y
pip3 install mkdocs-material --break-system-packages
mkdocs --version

2. Create the MkDocs Project

mkdir -p /var/www
cd /var/www
mkdocs new niklabs-site
cd niklabs-site

Project structure created:

niklabs-site/
├── docs/
│   └── index.md
└── mkdocs.yml

3. Configure mkdocs.yml

site_name: NikLabs
site_url: https://niklabs.org
site_author: Nikhil Seth
site_description: IT Infrastructure & Cloud Portfolio

theme:
  name: material
  palette:
    - scheme: slate
      primary: blue
      accent: cyan
      toggle:
        icon: material/weather-sunny
        name: Switch to light mode
    - scheme: default
      primary: blue
      accent: cyan
      toggle:
        icon: material/weather-night
        name: Switch to dark mode
  features:
    - navigation.tabs
    - navigation.sections
    - navigation.top
    - navigation.indexes
    - search.highlight
    - search.suggest
    - content.code.copy
    - toc.follow

nav:
  - Home: index.md
  - Projects:
    - projects/index.md
    - Hyper-V Failover Cluster: projects/hyperv-cluster.md
  - Homelab:
    - homelab/index.md
  - About: about.md

markdown_extensions:
  - admonition
  - pymdownx.superfences
  - pymdownx.highlight:
      anchor_linenums: true
  - pymdownx.tabbed:
      alternate_style: true
  - pymdownx.details
  - attr_list
  - tables
  - toc:
      permalink: true

extra:
  social:
    - icon: fontawesome/brands/github
      link: https://github.com/Nikhilse120
    - icon: fontawesome/brands/linkedin
      link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhil-seth-9a798350/

4. Create Content Pages

# Projects section
mkdir -p docs/projects
mkdir -p docs/homelab

Pages created:

docs/index.md — Homepage
docs/about.md — About / certifications / skills
docs/projects/index.md — Projects listing
docs/projects/hyperv-cluster.md — First project write-up
docs/homelab/index.md — Homelab overview

5. Build the Static Site

cd /var/www/niklabs-site
mkdocs build

Output goes to site/ folder — this is the deployable static HTML.

6. Create Systemd Service

To keep the site running permanently across reboots:

nano /etc/systemd/system/niklabs.service

[Unit]
Description=NikLabs MkDocs Site
After=network.target

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/niklabs-site/site
ExecStart=python3 -m http.server 8085
Restart=always
User=root

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable niklabs
systemctl start niklabs
systemctl status niklabs

Verified running:

● niklabs.service - NikLabs MkDocs Site
     Active: active (running)
     Main PID: 14902 (python3)

7. Configure Nginx Proxy Manager

In NPM web UI → Hosts → Proxy Hosts → Add Proxy Host:

Field	Value
Domain Names	niklabs.org
Scheme	http
Forward Hostname / IP	192.168.1.246
Forward Port	8085
Cache Assets	On
Block Common Exploits	On

8. Cloudflare DNS Configuration

Added DNS records in Cloudflare dashboard:

Type	Name	Content	Proxy
A	@	HOME-PUBLIC-IP	Proxied ON
A	www	HOME-PUBLIC-IP	Proxied ON

SSL/TLS settings:

Setting	Value
SSL Mode	Flexible
Always Use HTTPS	ON
Minimum TLS Version	TLS 1.2
Automatic HTTPS Rewrites	ON

9. Router Port Forward

Forwarded port 80 on home router → NPM container host IP.

NPM was already handling port 80 for other homelab services — added niklabs.org as an additional proxy host.

Update Workflow

Every time a new project or page is added:

# 1. Edit or add markdown file
nano /var/www/niklabs-site/docs/projects/new-project.md

# 2. Add to nav in mkdocs.yml
nano /var/www/niklabs-site/mkdocs.yml

# 3. Rebuild and restart
cd /var/www/niklabs-site
mkdocs build
systemctl restart niklabs

Site updates in under 10 seconds.

Troubleshooting

Browser showing "page cannot be displayed"

Browser was forcing HTTPS on a plain HTTP server
Fix: access via http:// not https:// for local testing
Cloudflare handles HTTPS termination for public access

Port already in use on first run

Manually ran python3 -m http.server 8085 before creating the systemd service
Port was already bound when systemd tried to start
Fix: killed the manual process, let systemd manage it exclusively

mkdocs.yml nav mismatch

File was named hyperv-cluster-mkdocs.md but nav referenced hyperv-cluster.md
Fix: renamed file to match nav entry

mv docs/projects/hyperv-cluster-mkdocs.md docs/projects/hyperv-cluster.md

Key Learnings

MkDocs Material produces a professional documentation site with zero frontend development
Python's built-in HTTP server is sufficient for serving static files in a homelab context
Systemd services are the correct way to keep processes running across reboots
Cloudflare Flexible SSL mode allows plain HTTP on the origin server while providing HTTPS to visitors
Nginx Proxy Manager simplifies routing multiple domains/services without touching raw Nginx config
The entire stack costs nothing beyond the domain — all software is free and runs on existing hardware

Tools & Technologies

Category	Technology
Static Site Generator	MkDocs Material 9.x
Content Format	Markdown (.md)
Web Server	Python HTTP server (built-in)
Process Manager	Systemd
Reverse Proxy	Nginx Proxy Manager (Docker)
DNS & SSL	Cloudflare
Hosting Platform	Proxmox LXC (Ubuntu 22.04)
Domain	niklabs.org

Outcome

A fully self-hosted portfolio site running at niklabs.org with:

Dark/light mode toggle
Full-text search across all pages
Code blocks with copy buttons
Left navigation sidebar
Right-side table of contents per page
Mobile responsive
Valid SSL via Cloudflare
Zero ongoing hosting cost
Update workflow under 10 seconds

Built and hosted entirely on the NikLabs homelab — Proxmox, Ubuntu, Docker, and Cloudflare.