It's been a little while since the last update so it's time for a check-in, some reflection and a tactical change in direction.

Looking back

Day 8 - 21

Energy was generally high during this period and I learned a lot. I explored a few IAC options for managing network devices and decided to stick with Ansible and continue building out the playbook. I moved quickly through the network config but slowed as I hit the automated deployment of my self-hosted Github Actions runner. Getting this setup allows the entire environment to be deployed from a local device on the network after which the runner takes care of future runs going forward. Achieving this required making the distinction between a first run and future runs of the Ansible Playbook. After some troubleshooting, I realised this was caused by some particularly heavy containers on my docker host chewing up system resources.

Day 22 -33

Returning to the original goal (home automation stability and recoverability) I started focusing on what Home Assistant and Zigbee could offer. I discovered that some Zigbee lights can be bound to two devices simultaneously. In my case, this would be Home Assistant and a physical remote. This means that even if Home Assistant is offline, the lights can continue to be controlled via a remote.

I also spent some of this time tidying and exploring my Home Assistant config. I tried a few variations of circadian rhythm lighting and noticed I'm approaching the device limit of my Zigbee coordinator. Luckily Home Assistant is coming out with a Zigbee + Matter/Thread compatible coordinator. Holding my breath for this one!

What's next?

Reflecting on the experience so far, #100DaysOfHomeLab has been a great opportunity to learn Ansible, deep dive into tech such as Zigbee and rethink how to consider availability in my automated home. That said, motivation is fading.

When I think about what motivates me to pursue something like #100DaysOfHomeLab it's usually (1) a learning opportunity and/or (2) an outcome. Starting out, both of these were solid ticks but as I progressed, the learning opportunity reached diminishing returns and then I solved for the availability problem in the most extreme way possible. I don't need Home Assistant to be online at all! This diluted some of the benefits I would gain from fast redeployment via gitops-ing all the things and with that my motivation to continue was zapped.

With 67 days left, there are still plenty of opportunities to learn. I think it's time to throw some attention at a coding challenge in the open-source community. More to come soon!