The Journey so Far

My Historical Homelab Stack

I moved into my new-to-me house in 2023. While I’ve always had a homelab in one form or another, this is the first time I’ve had a proper LAN setup and enough space to truly learn and grow. Over the years, my homelab has evolved significantly. Below, I’ll break down its main components.

ISP

Until recently, my ISP was Orange. They provided a solid service with their all-in-one “box,” which connects directly to fiber and delivers internet, phone, and TV services. The box also includes a basic firewall and Wi-Fi access point, making it ideal for the average consumer. For more advanced setups, it’s possible to connect your own router behind the box, although this results in double NAT for IPv4.

LAN

My LAN is built around TP-Link’s Omada ecosystem. It features an OC200 controller, three managed switches, one unmanaged switch, and RJ45 outlets in nearly every room. I’ve also installed five access points—no repeaters or mesh networks here. The setup has been robust and reliable for my needs.

Self-Hosted Servers

My main server is an Intel NUC (nuc01) with 64 GB of RAM and several terabytes of disk space. I also have a few Raspberry Pis that are currently offline, a mini PC connected via WLAN for music in one room.

On nuc01, I run Proxmox, hosting about a dozen virtual machines. Some VMs use Docker to run multiple services, while others are dedicated to specific applications like Forgejo, Zabbix, Semaphore, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, and more. For docker containers management, I use dockge. My network includes VLANs to segment traffic between servers, home devices, IoT, and guests. Debian serves as the base OS for all my servers.

VPS

I maintain several VPS instances at Hetzner. These VPS instances allow me to properly route emails generated by my homelab. Some of them are also used for unrelated e-commerce projects.

Although some people exclude VPS from the “homelab” definition, I see them as an extension of my Linux playground. Like my self-hosted servers, they run Debian, a distribution I trust for its reliability and familiarity.

Personal Devices

All my personal devices—phones, laptops, and more—are from Apple.

Backups

For backups, I rely on resticprofile to perform offsite backups. I use Hetzner’s storage box and Storj for redundancy and peace of mind.

My New Stack

ISP

I’ve switched from Orange to MilkyWan, a small, non-profit ISP run by highly skilled individuals. This change brought several key advantages:

1. My router (a Protectli Vault running pfSense) can now connect directly to the WAN, and is no longer in double-NAT.
2. I’ve a properly delegated /48 IPv6 prefix (Orange only provided a /56, and delegation was problematic).
3. No more blocked outbound ports.
4. A fixed routable IPv4 address (but who cares...)

MilkyWan’s infrastructure is impressive for its size (check out their weathermap) and has been a fantastic upgrade.

Other Updates

• The LAN remains unchanged—Omada continues to perform well for my needs. • I’ve added a BMAX mini PC (brass) with 16 GB of RAM (upgradable to 64 GB) and 512 GB of storage.

• I’ve also acquired a Hetzner dedicated server (amber) with 64 GB of RAM and 4 TB of storage.

The Big Plan

If you’ve made it this far, it’s time to unveil my plan—not to control the universe, but to evolve my homelab into what I call Homelab 2.0. Documenting this journey is the main motivation behind this blog.

Here’s what I hope to achieve in 2025 (in no particular order):

1. Build an Incus cluster using my two self-hosted PCs and the Hetzner dedicated server.
2. Transition primarily to IPv6, using IPv4 only when absolutely necessary.
3. Migrate backups from the Hetzner storage box to the dedicated server.
4. Properly use Wireguard between different locations and to access my private services when I am not home.
5. Gradually move away from Docker containers in favor of Incus containers.
6. Rationalize my DNS management and my Domain Registrars
7. Self-host my e-mail infrastructure
8. Favor free (as in Freedom) software
9. Some scope-creep because all IT projects come with a dose of it.

I’m confident I can accomplish at least some of this and will share my progress here, including the lessons I learn, my setbacks, and my successes.

Feel free to reach out to me on Mastodon: @dahux@piaille.fr.