https://github.com/cspyridakis/homelab
Homelab project is an on-premises infrastructure that accommodates the networks and devices I use for experimenting with new technologies or providing private and self-hosted services.
https://github.com/cspyridakis/homelab
containers docker homelab homepage intel-nuc jetson-nano on-premises portainer private-cloud proxmox-ve raspberry-pi truenas-scale
Last synced: 2 months ago
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Homelab project is an on-premises infrastructure that accommodates the networks and devices I use for experimenting with new technologies or providing private and self-hosted services.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/cspyridakis/homelab
- Owner: CSpyridakis
- License: mit
- Created: 2025-01-09T11:03:00.000Z (6 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-04-30T21:46:58.000Z (2 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-04-30T22:34:06.370Z (2 months ago)
- Topics: containers, docker, homelab, homepage, intel-nuc, jetson-nano, on-premises, portainer, private-cloud, proxmox-ve, raspberry-pi, truenas-scale
- Language: HCL
- Homepage:
- Size: 10.1 MB
- Stars: 5
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
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README
# 🏠 Homelab
Technologies used:
---
## 🗒️ General Notes
This repository serves as the primary documentation hub for my **Homelab**.
**Homelab** is a personal project — an on-premises private infrastructure that hosts the networks and machines I use for experimenting with new technologies or providing private, self-hosted services. This approach ensures that data is stored on proprietary devices, offering a secure testbed for learning before applying similar principles in the field.
In this repository: [https://github.com/CSpyridakis/notes](https://github.com/CSpyridakis/notes), you can find general notes on various technologies. Some of these notes pertain to the creation and maintenance of this **Homelab**.
For quick access and an at-a-glance overview of the **Homelab**'s status, I use the [homepage dashboard](https://github.com/gethomepage/homepage). My configuration for this dashboard is available in the following repository: [https://github.com/CSpyridakis/homepage](https://github.com/CSpyridakis/homepage).
Regarding my Desktop Workstation, which is one of the devices in this network, I use an Ubuntu Desktop system as my daily driver. This is my main device for development. One of the most important aspects is the applications I use and their configurations. Therefore, my personal collection of dotfiles is also available here: [https://github.com/CSpyridakis/dotfiles](https://github.com/CSpyridakis/dotfiles).
---
## 🖧 Network Diagram
The core elements of my **Homelab** are showcased in the following diagram. These elements will be described later.
---
## 🌐 Routers
In my setup, three different routers are used, each with its own subnet and purpose:
A. The first is my `ISP modem/router`, which provides network connectivity to all the apartments in my building.
B. The second is my `Home network` router, which provides internet access to general home devices such as smart TVs, IP cameras, and sensors. It also hosts the guest network.
C. Finally, there is my **Homelab** network router, which connects all the devices related to this project.
Both my Home and **Homelab** routers are MikroTik routers, which means they can be strictly configured based on my needs.
As can be easily inferred, my **Homelab** exists behind a NAT. However, for various reasons, I need to access my **Homelab** from anywhere in the world. One of my design rules, however, is to avoid exposing any services directly to the internet.
To achieve this, I use one of the `VPN Services` along with the `IP Cloud` feature provided by `MikroTik` to create a VPN tunnel for secure access to my network. To complete the setup, the proper ports must also be forwarded through the other two routers.
Below is a screenshot from `Winbox` that provides a general understanding of the **Homelab** network.
## Access Points
In my setup, I also have two different access points: one for the internal network and another for the external network. Both devices run [OpenWrt](https://openwrt.org/) to allow more granular configuration.
## **Homelab** devices
Having explained the interconnection of devices, this section will describe the actual devices used and their purpose.
### 🖥️ 1. Main Server
#### Proxmox
In my main processing device, I decided to run a [Τype 1](https://aws.amazon.com/compare/the-difference-between-type-1-and-type-2-hypervisors/) [Hypervisor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervisor) in order to easily spawn Virtual Machines (VMs) based on my needs.
For this purpose, [Proxmox VE](https://www.proxmox.com/en/) was selected.
To leverage the Nvidia GPU that my main server accommodates, actions were also taken to passthrough the GPU to the host.
##### 🖥️🖥️ A. Virtual Machines
Using Proxmox, different VMs can be easily created, and services can be deployed on them to run experiments that follow [IaaS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_as_a_service) principles before continuing development or production activities in other infrastructures, whether private or public. Some of these VMs are behind a firewall, to be more specific a virtual pfsense deployed as a VM in the Proxmox server, to be able to communicate in their internal subnets.
##### 🐳 B. Portainer
One of my needs is related to container deployment. [Portainer](https://www.portainer.io/) is a widely used container management software; for this reason, Portainer is also deployed as an LXC and provides container management services when I need to test individual containers that are not part of a Kubernetes cluster or run services required in my network.
The docker-compose files that are used to create my stacks are available here: [https://github.com/CSpyridakis/dockerfiles](https://github.com/CSpyridakis/dockerfiles).
##### Nginx Proxy manager
Moreover, Nginx Proxy Manager is one of the containers that continuously runs on my main server. This way, I provide reverse proxy mechanism to my other services.
One option would be to define the hostnames of the services statically in the `/etc/hosts` file of my devices or in my router. However, this would require syncing this information between different machines and networks (if I decide to recreate a similar project elsewhere). For this reason, I chose to create a domain using [Duck DNS](https://www.duckdns.org/), which will have an `A record` that resolves to a private IP and can be updated once to run from everywhere. Finally, the option to create certificates using [Let's encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/), which Nginx Proxy Manager provides, was used to add TLS for these services.
In my setup I use [Duck DNS](https://www.duckdns.org/), hence, to gain a certificate, I have to follow this procedure.
##### C. Services
###### 🤖 C.1 [Ollama](https://ollama.com/)
Finally, on my Proxmox node, I run some services directly. These services are not part of a VM or container and are deployed directly on the host. The reason for this is ease of use, and because they are not meant to be uninstalled from the system. A main example is the Ollama server, which I use to provide LLM support and experiment with them.
During my prompt experimentation, some modelfiles were created, which are available here: [https://github.com/CSpyridakis/modelfiles](https://github.com/CSpyridakis/modelfiles).
##### D. Kubernetes Cluster
For experimentation and learning, I used [Terraform](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform) (see [this](./proxmox/terraform/) directory) to provision Proxmox and create multiple virtual machines.
These VMs are then configured using [Ansible](https://docs.ansible.com/) (see [this](./proxmox/ansible/) directory) to form a [Kubernetes](https://kubernetes.io/) cluster. To monitor the VMs, Ansible also sets up [Prometheus](https://prometheus.io/) and [Grafana](https://grafana.com/) to display metrics.
Prometheus by default has its own UI which is available by visiting `http://[IP-DOMAIN]:9090`.
Since the extracted metrics may lack sufficient detail, Grafana can be used to gain deeper insights into the system. After deployment, visit `http://[IP-or-DOMAIN]:3000` to access the Grafana dashboard.
---
### 🖴 2. Network attached storage (NAS)
As my main storage system, I have installed [TrueNAS Scale](https://www.truenas.com/) on an Intel NUC device. This way, I can access and store files from any device in my **Homelab** network, even from devices connected via VPN.
To differentiate the access for services and users, multiple datasets have been created with different privileges.
The NAS stores my files in a RAID configuration, providing redundancy in case of a failure of one of the storage disks.
#### ⚙️ Services
Every service related to storage runs on this device.
First and foremost, there are services that handle my personal data, such as [Nextcloud](https://nextcloud.com/), [Jellyfin](https://jellyfin.org/), and [Photoprism](https://www.photoprism.app/) for my multimedia, etc.
Then, there are other services related to the storage of code, containers, and more - on my premises. For this reason, I use [Gitea](https://about.gitea.com/) and [Distribution](https://distribution.github.io/distribution/).
---
There are also some low-computation devices with limited capabilities that I use in my **Homelab**.
### 3. Intel NUC
I have an Intel NUC device, more specifically a `NUC10i3FNH`, which runs `x86` experiments that, for various reasons, are more convenient to run outside of a VM. Or on a device like this, which can behave as an edge node in a particular application. This device runs `Ubuntu Server`, and its main specs are listed below.
### 4. Raspberry PI
For experiments that need to run on an `ARM-based` system, a `Raspberry Pi` is also used in my Homelab. Similarly to the NUC device, it also runs `Ubuntu Server`.
### 5. Jetson Nano
Finally, for applications that require an embedded Linux system equipped with a GPU, I also have a `Jetson Nano`, which serves as my first point of experimentation in this field.
---
## Future goals
- Create an automated BU mechanism
- Migrate to immich
- Deploy Portainer stacks into the Kubernetes Cluster
- Increase the number of physical devices & Cluster Proxmox
- High Availability