Overview
I built a homelab to simulate enterprise IT environments, host services, and practice system administration.
My setup includes networking gear, firewalls, virtualization hosts, identity management, and self-hosted apps.
It provides me with a testbed for learning and also for personal productivity.
Hardware
- Aruba 2530 Switch – Managed networking backbone
- Dell Micro PC – Running OPNsense firewall
- HP Micro PC – Hosting IoT/Light services (e.g., Domain Controller, Authentik)
- Intel i7-4770K Server – Main Proxmox host with multiple VMs/Containers
Services & Virtual Machines
- Domain Controllers (2) – Active Directory environment - mainly to intergrate with Authentik
- NAS VM – Internal Storage & Backups
- Media Server – Jellyfin & Plex
- Paperless – Document management
- Nextcloud – Self-hosted cloud storage
- Windows Test VMs – Used for labs and training
- Authentik – Centralized authentication for apps
- IoT Stack – Running on HP Micro PC (Scrypted, homebridge)
- OPNsense – Multiple Firewall Rules, Wireguard to my VPS to aviod port fowarding.
Goals
- Simulate a business-grade IT environment at home
- Gain hands-on experience with firewalls, virtualization, and identity management
- Run self-hosted services for learning and personal use
- Practice domain controller redundancy and user authentication
Outcome
This homelab gives me daily, practical exposure to IT systems.
I’ve built a strong understanding of virtualization (Proxmox), authentication (Active Directory + Authentik), firewalls (OPNsense), and networking.
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