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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 private-cloud proxmox-ve raspberry-pi truenas-scale

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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.

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README 

        
# 🏠 Homelab



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## 🗒️ 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).



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## 🖧 Network Diagram

The core elements of my **Homelab**  are showcased in the following diagram. These elements will be described later.



![Homelab Network](./doc/Homelab.drawio.png)



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## 🌐 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.



![Mikrotik Screenshot](./doc/mikrotik.png)



## **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.



![proxmox screenshot](./doc/proxmox.png)



##### 🖥️🖥️ 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.



##### 🐳 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).



![portainer screenshot](./doc/portainer.png)



##### 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.



![gninx proxy manager screenshot](./doc/nginx-proxy-manager.png)



##### 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).



![ollama server screenshot](./doc/ollama-server.png)



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### 🖴 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.



![true nas screenshot](./doc/truenas.png)



#### ⚙️ 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/).



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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.



![nuc device info](./doc/nuc.png)



### 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`.



![raspberry pi info](./doc/raspberry.png)



### 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.



![jetson nano info](./doc/jetson-nano.png)



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