I wanted to make a post about my HomeLab setup and give a general overview of the servers and programs I am running. In other posts I am always referencing my HomeLab and my servers I am running but I realized the other day that I haven’t documented that on my website yet.
This post will cover everything from my Internet provider to my physical hardware, software, and everything else that makes my network function.
I get my internet through a modem provided by my ISP. This modem has its own firewall and its own network, and I use this network as my network for applications that need to be exposed to the internet, essentially making it a DMZ. This is where my web facing Minecraft server is ran. From my modem I have an ethernet connection to my OPNSense router and firewall, which is an old Dell pc that I converted to be a router. This is the gateway for my home network. My OPNSense router is where I go to configure any and all aspects of my network, as well as firewall rules and configuration. It provides me with monitoring tools and metrics for my WAN and LAN.
From there I have an ethernet cable from my router to my managed switch. My switch’s current configuration consists of two VLANS.
One is my private VLAN, and the other is a guest VLAN. Connected to my private VLAN is my Windows PC, my Proxmox virtualization server, and a WAP so I am able to connect my laptop from anywhere in the house. My WAP is configured with SSID broadcasting off and a strong password in order to increase security. My Windows PC is my primary workstation I use to manage my HomeLab.
My Proxmox server is what runs most of my programs on my HomeLab, consisting of 4 virtual machines that are all ran 24/7. The first VM runs a DNS server that also functions as an ad-blocker and a centralized dashboard to manage all of the apps in my HomeLab. The second VM runs a stack of applications using Docker Compose. The third VM is my TrueNAS Scale server, which provides me redundant network storage. And lastly, I have an Ubuntu server which I use for testing various applications.
My second VLAN is a guest VLAN. This one is much more simple, only consisting of a WAP to provide guest Wi-Fi across my house. This is also the network that my family connects to, reducing the chance of malware being able to access the internal resources on my private VLAN.
And thats it so far! I am always adding new applications and VM’s, so this is all subject to change, but this is my current configuration.