# Architecture Overview ## Infrastructure Design This homelab implements a distributed, containerized architecture designed for high availability, scalability, and ease of management. The infrastructure follows GitOps principles with infrastructure-as-code practices. ## Network Architecture ### Physical Network ``` Internet │ ├── Router/Firewall (pfSense) │ ├── Management VLAN (192.168.1.0/24) │ ├── Server VLAN (192.168.10.0/24) │ ├── IoT VLAN (192.168.20.0/24) │ └── Guest VLAN (192.168.30.0/24) │ └── Core Switch ├── Atlantis (192.168.10.10) ├── Calypso (192.168.10.20) ├── Concord NUC (192.168.10.30) ├── Homelab VM (192.168.10.40) └── Raspberry Pi (192.168.10.50) ``` ### Virtual Networks - **Docker Networks**: Isolated container communication - **VPN Tunnels**: Secure remote access via WireGuard - **Tailscale Mesh**: Zero-trust network overlay - **Cloudflare Tunnels**: Secure external access ## Server Architecture ### Atlantis (Primary Server) **Role**: Main application server and storage - **Hardware**: Dell PowerEdge R720 - **OS**: Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS - **Storage**: 12TB RAID-10 array - **Services**: 40+ containerized applications **Key Services**: - Media Management (Plex, Sonarr, Radarr) - File Storage (Nextcloud, Syncthing) - Development Tools (GitLab, Portainer) - Monitoring (Grafana, Prometheus) ### Calypso (Secondary Server) **Role**: Backup services and specialized workloads - **Hardware**: Custom build (AMD Ryzen) - **OS**: Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS - **Storage**: 8TB RAID-1 array - **Services**: 25+ containerized applications **Key Services**: - Authentication (Authentik) - Game Servers (Minecraft, Satisfactory) - Development (Gitea, CI/CD runners) - Backup Services (Seafile, Immich) ### Concord NUC (Edge Computing) **Role**: Edge services and IoT management - **Hardware**: Intel NUC - **OS**: Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS - **Storage**: 1TB NVMe SSD - **Services**: 15+ lightweight applications **Key Services**: - Home Automation (Home Assistant) - Network Services (AdGuard, Pi-hole) - Media Streaming (Invidious, Piped) - Monitoring (Node Exporter) ### Homelab VM (Development) **Role**: Development and testing environment - **Platform**: Proxmox VM - **OS**: Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS - **Storage**: 500GB virtual disk - **Services**: 30+ development tools **Key Services**: - AI/ML Tools (Ollama, OpenHands) - Communication (Mattermost, Signal API) - Testing Services (Various experimental apps) - Monitoring (Alerting, NTFY) ### Raspberry Pi (Monitoring) **Role**: Dedicated monitoring and lightweight services - **Hardware**: Raspberry Pi 5 - **OS**: Raspberry Pi OS Lite - **Storage**: 256GB microSD + USB storage - **Services**: 5+ monitoring applications **Key Services**: - Uptime Monitoring (Uptime Kuma) - System Monitoring (Glances) - Photo Management (Immich) - File Sharing (Samba) ## Container Architecture ### Orchestration Strategy - **Docker Compose**: Primary orchestration tool - **Portainer**: Web-based container management - **Watchtower**: Automated container updates - **GitOps**: Version-controlled deployments ### Container Patterns ``` ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ │ Application │ │ Database │ │ Storage │ │ Containers │ │ Containers │ │ Containers │ ├─────────────────┤ ├─────────────────┤ ├─────────────────┤ │ • Web Services │ │ • PostgreSQL │ │ • File Shares │ │ • APIs │ │ • MySQL │ │ • Object Store │ │ • Workers │ │ • Redis │ │ • Backup Vols │ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ │ │ │ └───────────────────────┼───────────────────────┘ │ ┌─────────────────┐ │ Proxy/LB │ │ Containers │ ├─────────────────┤ │ • Nginx Proxy │ │ • Traefik │ │ • Cloudflare │ └─────────────────┘ ``` ## Storage Architecture ### Primary Storage (Atlantis) - **RAID-10**: 4x 4TB drives for performance and redundancy - **Hot Spare**: Additional drive for automatic replacement - **Backup Target**: Weekly snapshots to external storage ### Secondary Storage (Calypso) - **RAID-1**: 2x 4TB drives for redundancy - **Backup Source**: Receives backups from other servers - **Archive Storage**: Long-term data retention ### Distributed Storage - **Syncthing**: Peer-to-peer file synchronization - **Seafile**: Centralized file storage with versioning - **Immich**: Photo management with AI features - **Nextcloud**: Personal cloud storage ## Monitoring Architecture ### Metrics Collection ``` ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │ Node │ │ Container │ │ Application │ │ Exporter │───▶│ Advisor │───▶│ Metrics │ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ │ │ │ └───────────────────┼───────────────────┘ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ Prometheus │ │ (Metrics) │ └─────────────┘ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ Grafana │ │ (Dashboards)│ └─────────────┘ ``` ### Alerting Pipeline ``` Prometheus ──▶ Alertmanager ──▶ NTFY ──▶ Mobile/Desktop │ │ │ │ ├──▶ Email ────┘ │ └──▶ Signal ───┘ │ └──▶ Uptime Kuma ──▶ Discord/Slack ``` ## Security Architecture ### Network Security - **Firewall Rules**: Strict ingress/egress controls - **VPN Access**: WireGuard for remote connectivity - **Zero Trust**: Tailscale mesh networking - **SSL/TLS**: End-to-end encryption ### Application Security - **Authentication**: Centralized with Authentik - **Authorization**: Role-based access control - **Secrets Management**: Docker secrets and environment files - **Container Security**: Non-root users, read-only filesystems ### Data Security - **Encryption at Rest**: LUKS disk encryption - **Encryption in Transit**: TLS for all communications - **Backup Encryption**: GPG-encrypted backups - **Access Logging**: Comprehensive audit trails ## Deployment Architecture ### GitOps Workflow ``` Developer ──▶ Git Repository ──▶ CI/CD Pipeline ──▶ Container Registry │ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ Configuration ──▶ Portainer ──▶ Docker Compose ──▶ Containers Files │ │ │ │ │ └───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┘ │ Monitoring & Alerting ``` ### Continuous Deployment - **Git-based**: All configurations in version control - **Automated Testing**: Compose file validation - **Rolling Updates**: Zero-downtime deployments - **Rollback Capability**: Quick reversion to previous versions ## High Availability Design ### Service Redundancy - **Load Balancing**: Nginx Proxy Manager - **Health Checks**: Automated service monitoring - **Failover**: Automatic service migration - **Backup Services**: Secondary instances on different hosts ### Data Redundancy - **RAID Arrays**: Hardware-level redundancy - **Cross-server Backups**: Geographic distribution - **Snapshot Schedules**: Point-in-time recovery - **Offsite Backups**: Cloud storage integration ## Scalability Considerations ### Horizontal Scaling - **Container Orchestration**: Easy service replication - **Load Distribution**: Multiple server deployment - **Database Clustering**: PostgreSQL/MySQL clusters - **Storage Expansion**: Additional storage nodes ### Vertical Scaling - **Resource Allocation**: Dynamic CPU/memory assignment - **Storage Expansion**: RAID array growth - **Network Upgrades**: 10GbE infrastructure - **Hardware Refresh**: Regular equipment updates ## Technology Stack ### Core Technologies - **Operating System**: Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS - **Containerization**: Docker & Docker Compose - **Orchestration**: Portainer Community Edition - **Reverse Proxy**: Nginx Proxy Manager - **Monitoring**: Prometheus + Grafana stack ### Supporting Technologies - **Version Control**: Git with Gitea - **CI/CD**: Gitea Actions, Ansible - **Backup**: Restic, rsync, custom scripts - **Networking**: WireGuard, Tailscale, Cloudflare - **Authentication**: Authentik, LDAP integration ## Performance Characteristics ### Expected Performance - **Web Response**: < 200ms for local services - **File Transfer**: 1Gbps+ within network - **Database Queries**: < 50ms for typical operations - **Container Startup**: < 30 seconds for most services ### Resource Utilization - **CPU**: 20-40% average across servers - **Memory**: 60-80% utilization with caching - **Storage**: 70% capacity with growth planning - **Network**: < 10% of available bandwidth ## Future Roadmap ### Short-term Improvements - **Kubernetes Migration**: Container orchestration upgrade - **Service Mesh**: Istio or Linkerd implementation - **Observability**: Enhanced tracing and logging - **Automation**: Expanded Ansible playbooks ### Long-term Vision - **Edge Computing**: Additional edge nodes - **AI/ML Integration**: GPU acceleration - **Hybrid Cloud**: Public cloud integration - **IoT Expansion**: Smart home integration ## Related Documentation - [Prerequisites](04-Prerequisites.md) - Required knowledge and tools - [Quick Start Guide](QUICK_START.md) - Deploy your first service - [Infrastructure Documentation](../infrastructure/INFRASTRUCTURE_OVERVIEW.md) - [Monitoring Setup](../admin/monitoring-setup.md) --- *This architecture overview provides a comprehensive understanding of the homelab infrastructure design and implementation strategy.*