Infrastructure
Homelab
A production-grade homelab built for learning, experimentation, and hosting real services. Focused on reliability, automation, and clean architecture.
Architecture Overview
Philosophy
Separation of concerns, service isolation, and infrastructure as a learning platform.
Scale
4 VMs, 2 LXC containers, 20+ services, multiple networks, internal and public access.
Goals
Real-world experience, automation, graceful failure handling.
Virtual Machines
Proxmox-Server-X
Primary hypervisor managing all VMs, containers, storage, and networking. Hosts the entire homelab infrastructure.
Proxmox VE
ZFS
Virtualization
DNS-X
10.77.53.90
Internal DNS server and reverse proxy for *.internal.ngchicken.com services.
Caddy
Let's Encrypt
Cloudflare
Web-X
172.16.50.2
DMZ reverse proxy and TLS terminator for all public services.
CentOS
Caddy
Cockpit
Fedora-X
10.77.53.50
Media services, AI tools, and automation platform. Runs Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, n8n, OpenWebUI, and more.
Fedora
Docker
18 Containers
Minecraft-X
10.77.53.60
Dedicated game server hosting with Crafty Controller managing 2 Minecraft servers with cross-play support.
Crafty
PaperMC
Geyser
ITSIT-X
10.77.53.70
Business IT services infrastructure running Mailcow, Keycloak, Outline, and FileBrowser.
Mailcow
Keycloak
Outline
Unifi-X
10.77.53.30
Network management server running Unifi Network Controller for managing network infrastructure.
Unifi
Networking
Dockge
Services & Tools
Infrastructure
Proxmox VE - Virtualization
Caddy - Reverse proxy & web server
Docker & Docker Compose
Cockpit - Server management
Tailscale - VPN mesh network
Cloudflare - DNS & CDN
Media Stack
Plex - Media server
Sonarr - TV automation
Radarr - Movie automation
Prowlarr - Indexer manager
qBittorrent - Download client
Tdarr - Media transcoding
Automation & AI
n8n - Workflow automation
OpenWebUI - AI chat interface
LiteLLM - Model routing proxy
Prometheus - Monitoring
Gaming
Crafty Controller - Server management
ChickenMC - Minecraft SMP
Josh and Friends - Public server
Geyser - Bedrock cross-play
Satisfactory - Dedicated server
Business Services
Mailcow - Email server suite
Keycloak - Identity management
Outline - Wiki & documentation
FileBrowser - Web file management
Management
Dockge - Docker UI
Unifi Network Controller
Let's Encrypt - SSL automation
Automated backups & updates
Technology Stack
Core Infrastructure
Virtualization: Proxmox VE
Operating Systems: CentOS, Fedora, Debian
Containerization: Docker, Docker Compose
Web Services: Caddy
Networking & Security
VPN: Tailscale mesh network
DNS & CDN: Cloudflare
Network: Unifi
SSL/TLS: Let's Encrypt
Access & Documentation
Internal vs Public Services
Most services run on the internal network and are accessible via
*.internal.ngchicken.com
subdomains. Public services like this website and mc.ngchicken.com are accessible from the internet.
VPN Access Required
Internal services require connection via Tailscale VPN for security. All public services are behind
Caddy reverse proxy (Web-X) with automatic SSL certificate management.
Network Architecture
Local network: 10.77.53.0/24. Tailscale mesh network for remote access.
All VMs connected via Proxmox virtual networking with gateway at 10.77.53.1.