Homelab

Goal

To set up a software / infrastructure lab primarily for testing, experimentation, and learning. It also needs to be able to host some useful services, such as file hosting and synchronisation.

I already have a server to use, so the solution needs to work on that. This also means I can turn it off when not needed, and save compared to cloud hosting.

The system should also be maleable and adaptable to support changes, experimentation, and evolution.

Technology

• Terraform, an infrastructure-as-code (IaC) system
• Kubernetes, a container orchestration / cluster platform
• GitHub Actions, a CI/CD platform
• CloudNative-PG operator, which provides Postgres databases where needed
• Keycloak, an identity / single-signon provider
• Loki, a log aggregator which feeds into Grafana
• OwnCloud Infinite Scale, 'cloud storage' software
• OpenEBS, provides the Kubernetes storage backend
• OpenLDAP, an identity manager
• Grafana operator, providing a Grafana instance and configuration
• Traefik, an ingress controller and reverse proxy
• Crowdsec, a threat intelligence platform and WAF, integrated with Traefik
• Vaultwarden, a password manager
• Outline, a note taking / knowledge base application
• KubeVirt, a virtualisation platform
• Velero, the cluster's backup solution

Architecture

Each service / project will have its own namespace, keeping them reasonably separate. This diagram is a highly simplified view of that architecture.

The only service that is explicitly included in the diagram is Traefik - as it is the ingress controller, it provides access to the other services and projects. Additionally, the provisioning and management of the cluster through GitHub Actions and Terraform is included.

Skills