I Lost My Automation Server: A Real-World Incident Response Lesson
TL;DR
On 2025-07-13, I accidentally nuked my production automation server while working on a new n8n workflow involving human-in-the-loop approvals. The root cause: a mix of outdated scripts, Docker volume deletion, and blind copy-pasting without verifying. Recovery took 1 hour and 40 minutes. This post is a breakdown of what happened, what I learned, and how you can avoid the same mistakes.
🗕️ The Timeline
2025-07-13 15:22:16: Incident begins. Automation server (n8n) goes down.
2025-07-13 17:02:18: Server restored.
Thanks to Uptime Kuma, I had exact timestamps.
🔍 Background: What I Was Trying To Do
I was working on a workflow in n8n that involved a human (me) approving an automation before it fired off. Since this workflow involves using expensive API tokens, I wanted to add an approval checkpoint.
The approval link was going to localhost (since n8n runs in Docker), so I had to change the environment variables to set the proper webhook URL.
While doing this, I noticed n8n had an update. So I figured:
"Let me pull the new image and spin it back up."
Spoiler: Bad idea. Real bad.
💥 The Mistake
I had two setup scripts:
One using Docker Compose (the good one)
One not using Docker Compose, used during earlier testing
I accidentally used the older script, which had this evil line:
docker volume rm n8n_dataThis script was something I had written months ago while testing. I hadn’t documented it properly, and in classic homelab fashion, I just copy-pasted it without a second thought.
Mistake #1:
Using outdated scripts without checking contents.
Mistake #2:
No clear documentation or naming conventions for safe vs. dangerous scripts.
🧯 The Backup Fiasco
I did have a backup automation in place. Built it during a commute to work one day. It wrote a backed workflows.
But:
I had never tested restoring from it.
It didn't back up credentials. So even though the workflows were restored, they couldn’t function.
Lost SSH credentials
Gemini and Grok API keys
Database access creds
AWS keys
Restoration was manual. And painful.
😩 It Was a Sunday...
I had plans to do two HTB boxes. Managed just one thanks to the chaos.
But I’m glad it happened.
Because this:
Showed me the importance of disaster recovery testing
Proved how quickly small issues can scale into major outages (still in a homelab)
Made me rethink how I handle production vs. test environments even in a homelab
🧐 Key Takeaways
For Beginners:
This is what a real-world incident looks like. It's not always some elite hacker in a hoodie. Sometimes, it's just you... tired... copy-pasting from an old script.
For Cybersecurity Pros:
This ties directly into ISO 27001, SOC 2, and other compliance frameworks:
Change Management: There was none.
Backup & Recovery: Untested, incomplete.
Environment Separation: Blurred lines between prod and test.
I’ve often rolled my eyes at checkbox-based security, but this incident reminded me:
If you understand the principles behind the checkboxes, they’re actually useful.
🌐 The Bigger Picture
This server started as a small one-box deployment. But over the last six months, my homelab has grown massively:
Servers across four physical locations
Connected to 3 VPCs in AWS (across 2 regions), Oracle, GCP (Firebase etc), and Vultr
All interconnected. And all dependent on this automation hub.
You never realise the value of a proper backup... until you lose something.
✅ Action Items Moving Forward (With Homelab in Mind)
Clarify Environments Without Overengineering Clearly label scripts, directories, and containers as
dev,test, orprod. You don’t need enterprise-level separation—just enough to avoid confusion.Credential Backup Strategy (Minimal and Secure) Use lightweight secret storage (like encrypted
.envbackups or Infisical) to at least mirror n8n credentials periodically. It doesn’t have to be fancy—just functional and secure.Test Restore Once a Month (Even If It's Partial) Simulate restoring part of your workflow or even one key container. The goal isn’t perfection, just confidence that the process works when needed.
Comment Scripts With Warnings Add
# DANGER ZONEcomments around destructive commands. Color-code them in your terminal or add safety prompts before volume wipes.Lightweight Version Control Even if you’re not using GitHub for every container, at least drop versions of critical scripts in a private repo or synced folder.
Offline "What to Do When It Breaks" Doc A plain text or Markdown file with simple recovery steps: what to pull, where to mount, which container does what. Print it, or store it somewhere your future, sleep-deprived self can find.
Stop Blind Copy-Pasting (Especially Late at Night) Use aliases, cheat sheets, or pre-tested templates for common rebuild tasks. Make it harder to screw up muscle memory with irreversible commands.
Alert on Downtime Using Tools You Actually Check Uptime Kuma is great—just make sure it’s pinging you somewhere you’ll notice (Telegram, Discord, email, etc.).
🧹 Final Words
Incidents aren’t always glorious breaches or zero-days. Sometimes they’re caused by the engineer who wrote the system... and got too comfortable with it.
This post is both a confession and a guide. Learn from my mistakes, and make sure your future self won’t hate your present self.
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