Case study 03 / Infrastructure
Homelab infrastructure
A homelab built as a connected system.
My homelab brings together Proxmox virtualization, TrueNAS storage, OPNsense networking, and Linux services. It gives me a practical environment for learning how systems behave together, from everyday service operation to backup and power management.
Personal infrastructure · Design, operation & troubleshooting
01 / The context
Understanding the whole problem.
Running services is only one part of the problem. The network, storage, host, and power dependencies also need attention. A useful lab creates space to understand those relationships and practice operating them.
02 / The approach
How the pieces fit.
Compute & services
Use Proxmox and Linux to work with virtual machines and self-hosted services, alongside Docker and Docker Compose.
Network & storage
Bring OPNsense networking and TrueNAS storage into the same environment, with attention to routing, access, and service dependencies.
Power & recovery
Work with UPS/NUT automation, backups, and shutdown planning as part of the operating environment.
Separate workloads by role
Dedicated virtual machines support automation, storage, media, network management, web hosting, and test workloads. Local storage, thin-provisioned volumes, and NAS-backed storage support different parts of the environment.
Operate the portfolio on the platform
This site runs from a dedicated Linux web VM, with Caddy in Docker and Cloudflare Tunnel providing the public HTTPS route. Successful backup tasks provide evidence that the backup job runs; recovery still depends on validating a restore.
03 / What it demonstrates
Technical work, in context.
The lab gives me a place to build, operate and troubleshoot the services I use. It runs the automation platform and this portfolio, connecting application work with responsibility for storage, backups and network access.
Design considerations
- Think about a service’s dependencies before changing its host or storage.
- Treat backup, recovery, and power behavior as part of the system design.
- Keep public demonstrations separate from private management interfaces.
04 / Visual documentation
A closer look.
Photographs of my personal infrastructure. The architecture diagram is simplified and omits management addresses and credentials.