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FrostLabs
Homelab Infrastructure

Homelab Infrastructure

·477 words·3 mins
Johnathan Allison
Author
Johnathan Allison
Table of Contents

Architecture Overview
#

My homelab runs on a 4-node Docker Swarm cluster hosting 12 production services with automated backups and CI/CD workflows.

%%{init: {'theme':'dark', 'themeVariables': { 'fontSize':'30px'}}}%%
graph TB
    subgraph cluster["Docker Swarm Cluster"]
        p0["p0 (Manager/Leader)
BeeLink SER 5
Ryzen 5800H 16c
32GB RAM | 1TB SSD"]
        p1["p1 (Worker)
Raspberry Pi 5
8GB RAM | 512GB SSD"]
        p2["p2 (Worker)
Raspberry Pi 5
16GB RAM"]
        p3["p3 (Worker)
Raspberry Pi 5
16GB RAM"]
    end

    subgraph services["Production Services"]
        traefik["Traefik v3.5
Reverse Proxy"]
        authentik["Authentik
SSO/Auth"]
        portainer["Portainer
Container Mgmt"]
        paperless["Paperless-ngx
Document Mgmt"]
        n8n["N8N
Workflow/CI/CD"]
        gitea["Gitea
Git Server"]
        postgres["PostgreSQL
Database"]
        redis["Redis
Cache"]
        adminer["Adminer
DB Admin"]
        tracker["Tracker
Custom App"]
        rsync["Rsync Service
Backup Sync"]
    end

    subgraph storage["Storage & Backup"]
        local["Local Storage (p0)
~/swarm-data/appdata"]
        nfs["Unraid NFS Share
~/swarm/appdata"]
        unraid["Unraid Host
10c/16t | 64GB RAM
Nvidia 2080 Super"]
        duplicati["Duplicati
Backup Automation"]
        gdrive["Google Drive
Cloud Backup"]
        coldstore["Backup Drive
Cold Storage"]
    end

    p0 --> services
    p0 --> local

    local -->|rsync| nfs
    nfs --> unraid
    unraid --> duplicati
    duplicati --> gdrive
    duplicati --> coldstore

    style p0 fill:#2c3e50,stroke:#34495e,color:#fff
    style p1 fill:#2c3e50,stroke:#34495e,color:#fff
    style p2 fill:#2c3e50,stroke:#34495e,color:#fff
    style p3 fill:#2c3e50,stroke:#34495e,color:#fff
    style traefik fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style authentik fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style portainer fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style paperless fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style n8n fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style gitea fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style postgres fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style redis fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style adminer fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style tracker fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style rsync fill:#8e44ad,stroke:#7d3c98,color:#fff
    style local fill:#27ae60,stroke:#229954,color:#fff
    style nfs fill:#27ae60,stroke:#229954,color:#fff
    style unraid fill:#2c3e50,stroke:#34495e,color:#fff
    style duplicati fill:#e67e22,stroke:#d35400,color:#fff
    style gdrive fill:#3498db,stroke:#2980b9,color:#fff
    style coldstore fill:#e67e22,stroke:#d35400,color:#fff

Infrastructure Components
#

Compute Cluster
#

Manager Node (p0):

  • BeeLink SER 5
  • AMD Ryzen 5800H (16 cores)
  • 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD
  • Hosts critical services: Traefik, Authentik, Portainer

Worker Nodes (p1-p3):

  • 3x Raspberry Pi 5
  • 8GB-16GB RAM configurations
  • Distributed service workloads

Services Stack
#

The cluster runs 12 production services including:

  • Traefik v3.5 - Reverse proxy with automated SSL/TLS
  • Authentik - Centralized SSO and authentication
  • Portainer - Docker Swarm management interface
  • Paperless-ngx - Document management with OCR
  • N8N - Workflow automation and CI/CD orchestration
  • Gitea - Self-hosted Git server
  • PostgreSQL & Redis - Database and caching layers
  • Custom applications - Tracker and other services

Storage & Backup Strategy
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Three-tier backup approach:

  1. Local Storage - Application data on p0: ~/swarm-data/appdata
  2. Network Storage - Rsync to Unraid NFS share: ~/swarm/appdata
  3. Automated Backups via Duplicati:
    • Cloud backup to Google Drive (off-site)
    • Local cold storage on dedicated drive (spin-up on demand)

This strategy ensures data redundancy with both local and cloud backups while avoiding permission issues through rsync.

Networking
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All services communicate through an encrypted Docker overlay network (“homelab”). Traefik handles:

  • SSL/TLS termination via Let’s Encrypt
  • Automatic certificate renewal using Cloudflare DNS-01 challenge
  • Reverse proxy routing for all services

CI/CD Pipeline
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Automated deployment workflow:

  1. Push code to Gitea repository
  2. Gitea sends webhook to N8N
  3. N8N executes docker stack deploy commands
  4. Services updated with zero manual intervention

Key Features
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  • ✓ Automated CI/CD - Webhook-driven deployments
  • ✓ Automated SSL/TLS - Let’s Encrypt certificates
  • ✓ Centralized Authentication - Authentik SSO
  • ✓ Multi-tier Backups - Local, NFS, and cloud
  • ✓ High Availability - 4-node swarm cluster
  • ✓ Resource Isolation - Service constraints per node

For detailed information about the infrastructure build, see the Frostlabs v3 Project.