Project XenLab

Overview

Project Status: In Progress

This repo will include my current Homelab stack, resources, provisioning scripts, etc. Please view the CHANGELOG.md file for more information on changes to the project.

What is a Homelab?

Homelab is a laboratory at home where you can self-host, experiment with new technologies, practice for certifications, and so on. For more information about homelab in general, see the r/homelab introduction.

I want to thank @khuedoan for inspiring me to present my homelab progress and journey pubilcally. He has an amazing repo of his setup/progress which can be found here.

Hardware

• Omnimount Design 27U Network Cabinet
• 3 × Dell SFF OptiPlex 7040:
  • CPU: Intel Quad Core i7-6700 @ 4.0GHz
  • RAM: 16GB
  • SSD: 512GB
• 1 × Rasbperry Pi 5
• 3 × Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
• Apple Mac Mini M2
• Ubiquiti Dream Machine Special Edition
  • Ports: (8) GbE w/ PoE (2 w/ PoE+), (2) 10G SFP+, (1) 2.5 GbE WAN Port
• Ubiquiti Switch Pro 24
  • Ports: 24x GbE RJ45, 2x 10G SFP+
• Ubiquiti UniFi Cable Internet
  • Ports: (1) DOCSIS 3.1, (1) 2.5 GbE
• Synology DS1515+:
  • CPU: Intel Atom C2538 @ 2.4GHz
  • RAM: 8GB
  • HDD: 30TB (20.9TB Usable)
• Tripp Lite SMART1500LCD Smart Battery Backup

Basic Topology

Current Tech Stack

Logo	Name	Description
	Ubuntu	Debian based Linux Distro
	Proxmox	Server Virtualization Platform (Debian)
	Scrypted	Home Video Integration and Automation Platform.

Planned Tech Stack

	Ansible	Automated bare metal/VM provisioning and configuration
	Let's Encrypt	Automated Open Certificates
	Cloudflare	DNS and Tunnel
	Grafana	Operational dashboards
	Kubernetes	Container Orchestration System
	NGINX	Reverse Proxy / HTTP Sever
	Infisical	Open Source Secrets management system
	Terraform	Automation / IaC (Infrastructure as code)
	Gitlab	Git Repos / DevOps Toolkit
	Docker	Build/Run/Deploy Containers
	PiVPN	Raspbery Pi-based VPN Server (Wireguard)
	Portainer	Container Management

Goals / To-Do List

• Move components to server rack
• Acquire network hardware for VLAN / PXE support
• Upgrade to Unifi Router/Hardware Stack
• Selfhost Gitlab & develop CI/CD pipelines
• Automated MaaS / PXE BARE METAL PROVISION
• Automated Terraform VM provisioning
• Automated Ansible/Packer Configuration Management
• Kubernetes Installation & Management
• Develop Custom 'Control Plane' to manage homelab
• Self Hosted Gitlabs, GitLab/Github Runners & CI/CD Pipelines
• Private Container Repo
• Utilize Synology NAS (implement automated off-site backups)
• Dashboards, consolidated logging, monitoring and alerts
• Expose VM to the internet securely (web app)
• Utilize RaspPi Pi for piVPN
• Utilize RaspPi for piKVM
• Establish Automated Updates w/ alerts
• Establish Hybrid Cloud (On-Prim <-> Cloud) Architecture
• Create Github Pages hosted MkDocs site for documentation / tutorials
• Upgrade small Switchs to Rackmount Switch
• Cable Management

License

Distributed under the GPLv3 License. See LICENSE.md file for more information.

Acknowledgements

Here is a list of some of the great people who have directly or indirectly contributed to this project:

• @khuedoan
• @techno-tim
• @loganmarchione

If I missed you from this list, please reach out so I can correct it.