{"id":10,"date":"2025-09-04T15:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T15:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/?page_id=10"},"modified":"2025-09-13T04:17:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T04:17:16","slug":"homelab","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/index.php\/homelab\/","title":{"rendered":"Homelab"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A dive into the goals, methodology, hardware, and services deployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Goals:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Real-World Enterprise Experience<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Build and maintain an enterprise-like environment on inexpensive hardware and virtual machines.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Emulate production conditions using <strong>Proxmox<\/strong> VMs and <strong>Docker Compose<\/strong> for containerized services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Deploy and manage systems such as an <strong>edge proxy<\/strong>, <strong>centralized authentication (IPA)<\/strong>, and <strong>networked home directories<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Host multiple internal and external websites and applications with a strong focus on <strong>efficiency<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Skill Development<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Grow Linux expertise until critical commands become \u201csecond nature.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gain proficiency with <strong>Proxmox<\/strong> through both WebGUI and CLI.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Build familiarity with <strong>GitHub<\/strong> for version control and collaboration.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Practice writing <strong>basic Bash scripts<\/strong> for automation and system administration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Security &amp; Reliability<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Maintain a <strong>security-first mindset<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Implement least-privilege principles.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use segmentation wherever possible and practical.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Harden services and infrastructure with <strong>Cloudflare<\/strong> and internal controls such as a reverse proxy and firewall.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Develop troubleshooting skills across <strong>all 7 OSI layers<\/strong>, including interpreting logs and diagnosing issues quickly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Continuous Growth<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Treat the homelab as both a <strong>learning platform<\/strong> and a <strong>sandbox for experimentation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Push beyond setup into <strong>long-term operations<\/strong>: monitoring, backups, and scaling.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use projects to simulate <strong>real-world IT workflows<\/strong>, preparing for enterprise environments and certifications.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hardware:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dell Optiplex 7070 SFF\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Runs Proxmox; OPNsense, Rocky Linux, Ubuntu Server, and various Linux Containers. All the magic happens on this $80 Craigslist pull.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Intel i5 9500 &#8211; 6 Cores; 6 Threads<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>32 GB RAM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>512 GB NVME<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 TB SATA SSD<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>7 TB External USB 3.0 HDD.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Raspberry Pi 4\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Debian 12 ARM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>All web services, internal and external are served behind Traefik installed &#8220;bare plastic&#8221;. USB and Wi-Fi are disabled and the proxy is completely isolated from all web services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This isn&#8217;t completely set in-stone. I bought this to run a gigabit NAS when they first came out. Just good use of hardware.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2 GB RAM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Workstation; custom built in 2018; upgraded graphics in 2020.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Runs a minimal Ubuntu install w\/ snap purged into the abyss. Several docker containers and an additional testing VM that can be spun up on demand. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ryzen 5 2600 &#8211; 6 Cores; 12 Threads<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>32 GB RAM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>nVidia GeForce 2080<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2 TB NVME<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2 TB HDD<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rytop; a glorified mobile ThinClient.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Runs Linux Mint Cinnamon; Uses Tailscale to bridge to my 192.168.0.0\/24 and 192.168.1.0\/24 networks. Local DNS allows *.homelab.lan to be resolved remotely and accessed through SSH, Spice, NoMachine, and Steam.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Intel i5 2500m<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>8 GB RAM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>240 GB SATA SSD<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A dive into the goals, methodology, hardware, and services deployed. Goals: 1. Real-World Enterprise Experience 2. Skill Development 3. Security &amp; Reliability 4. Continuous Growth Hardware:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryslab.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}