hey there 👋🏻 this is my home lab. there are many like it, but this one is mine.

peace be the journey 🥂

• overview
• architecture
  • network
  • infrastructure
  • platform
  • services
  • storage

homelab is here to support a few key items:

1. 🧪 experimentation & learning: i love tinkering - especially with networking, platform services, and distributed systems; deployed and managed securely with automation at every step.

2. 🏠 service enablement: my ultimate goal is to remove any dependency on faang at both hardware and software levels. i want freedom, privacy, control over our digital footprint - all while staying within the realm of legit, sustainable tech.

3. 🏗️ enterprise simulation: ever tried homemade chicken wings after going to fire on the mountain? it's "okay" - sure - but it is absolutely not the same. this setup lets me practice enterprise-style patterns at home that would otherwise be atypical in a home environment.

anywho. it's a mix of learning, building useful stuff, practicing for the real world, and reclaiming digital independence - all while keeping it fun (🤞🏼).

the lab is designed for safe experimentation with enterprise patterns. everything flows through the gateway — a single point to enforce segmentation, policies, and observability.

see ARCHITECTURE.md for the full picture.

segmentation-first. 7 vlans across 6 trust zones, default-deny between zones. split-horizon dns via controld (doh). all outbound traffic through proton vpn. the proxmox tower is plugged directly into the gateway on a dedicated lab port.

→ network/README.md

nixos vms and bare-metal hosts managed via a nix flake with composable modules. proxmox ve as the hypervisor. terraform for provisioning and external resources (dns, networking, edge/tunnel, hosts).

→ infra/nixos/README.md → infra/hyperv/README.md

argocd on k3s. applicationsets in platform/ watch services/ — each service manages its own stack independently. platform/ is the deployment engine, services/ is what gets deployed.

→ platform/README.md

k8s workloads running on k3s. public services fronted by ngrok at *.morethq.com.

→ services/README.md

tbd.

→ storage/README.md

nodes follow <env>-<class>[-<descriptor>]-<n>.

env — network environment:

class — Interstellar-themed node archetype:

descriptor — expected, optional. required when two nodes of the same class serve different stacks or purposes (e.g. lab-ranger-core-01 vs lab-ranger-media-01).

n — zero-padded integer (01, 02, ...).

examples: lab-endurance-core-01, lab-ranger-core-01, iot-case-garden-01, home-lander-origin-01