Everything about my smart home and homelab setup

a day ago

The author's home network uses entirely Ubiquity hardware for a balance of power-user features and ease of use, acknowledging it's overkill for average homes.
Router: Cloud Gateway Fiber with three 10 Gbps ports and PoE+; AP: U7 Pro XG (WiFi 7) with 10 Gbps uplink; Switch: Flex 2.5G connected via fiber for 10 Gbps link.
DNS uses Pi-Hole on a Raspberry Pi 3b with Unbound, selectively enabled to avoid guest issues; VPN via WireGuard on router for remote access to Pi-Hole and admin console.
Network supports IPv4/IPv6 dual stack with VLANs: VLAN1 (Management), VLAN10 (Trusted), VLAN20 (IoT with no internet), VLAN90 (VPN).
Wi-Fi uses three SSIDs: Max (5/6GHz, WPA3), Legacy (2.4GHz for older devices), and IoT (isolated); radio scanning optimizes channel and power settings.
Home automation centers on Home Assistant (Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB RAM, NVMe SSD) and Alexa for voice control and Matter bridging.
Devices communicate via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee (majority), and Matter/Thread; Zigbee usage expected to decline as Matter becomes more common.
Bluetooth proxying via ESP32 S3 bridges Wi-Fi to Bluetooth devices like curtain motors; ESPHome addon simplifies setup.
Automations include adjusting light color by sun position, motion-based lights with exceptions, red-shifting lights at night, and 'Travel mode' to disable automations.
No smart locks used due to security concerns; setup aims to simplify life through meticulous organization.

The author built the world's first open source switch ASIC, expected back from fabrication in mid-November.
Open source networking ASICs are rare; most open source silicon projects focus on RISC-V SoCs, not networking equipment.
The switch is a 3-port, full-duplex, 100 Mbps, cut-through, unmanaged Ethernet switch due to constraints on pins, area, and ease of use.

The author's homelab had issues with a machine called 'nibbler' that was unreliable and likely defective, purchased as refurbished.
Kubernetes was abandoned due to complexity and maintenance difficulties; the author reverted to using Docker Compose as a simpler solution.
Current homelab setup includes: 'lrrr' (Proxmox host), 'morbo' (TrueNAS SCALE for storage), 'nibbler' (revamped as the main non-critical service machine), and an external VM 'ord-router' for public ingress.

Centralized dashboard manages up to 10 devices with individual exit selection per device.
Each device can have its own exit country, random, timed rotation, Tor, or custom pool; changes apply instantly without disconnection.
Logless architecture: logs stored only in RAM and continuously scrubbed; no traffic or IP records kept.

IBM i (originally AS/400) is a unique operating system with an integrated Db2 database at the kernel level, treating database and OS as one inseparable unit.
It uses an object-based architecture instead of file-centric, with Single Level Storage (SLS) treating all memory and disk as one flat address space.
The TIMI abstraction layer ensures decades-long backward compatibility, allowing programs from 1990 to run on modern hardware without recompilation.

Setting up a homelab begins with proper networking; MikroTik L009UiGS-RM is chosen for multiple Gigabit Ethernet ports and PoE capabilities.
Before configuration, identify ISP setup: authentication method (IPoE or PPPoE) and IPv4 type (public vs. private/CGNAT).
For PPPoE with VLAN, clone ISP router's MAC address on MikroTik's WAN port and create VLAN interface before PPPoE client setup.

The author built the world's first open source switch ASIC, expected back from fabrication in mid-November.
Open source networking ASICs are rare; most open source silicon projects focus on RISC-V SoCs, not networking equipment.
The switch is a 3-port, full-duplex, 100 Mbps, cut-through, unmanaged Ethernet switch due to constraints on pins, area, and ease of use.

The author's homelab had issues with a machine called 'nibbler' that was unreliable and likely defective, purchased as refurbished.
Kubernetes was abandoned due to complexity and maintenance difficulties; the author reverted to using Docker Compose as a simpler solution.
Current homelab setup includes: 'lrrr' (Proxmox host), 'morbo' (TrueNAS SCALE for storage), 'nibbler' (revamped as the main non-critical service machine), and an external VM 'ord-router' for public ingress.

Centralized dashboard manages up to 10 devices with individual exit selection per device.
Each device can have its own exit country, random, timed rotation, Tor, or custom pool; changes apply instantly without disconnection.
Logless architecture: logs stored only in RAM and continuously scrubbed; no traffic or IP records kept.

IBM i (originally AS/400) is a unique operating system with an integrated Db2 database at the kernel level, treating database and OS as one inseparable unit.
It uses an object-based architecture instead of file-centric, with Single Level Storage (SLS) treating all memory and disk as one flat address space.
The TIMI abstraction layer ensures decades-long backward compatibility, allowing programs from 1990 to run on modern hardware without recompilation.

Setting up a homelab begins with proper networking; MikroTik L009UiGS-RM is chosen for multiple Gigabit Ethernet ports and PoE capabilities.
Before configuration, identify ISP setup: authentication method (IPoE or PPPoE) and IPv4 type (public vs. private/CGNAT).
For PPPoE with VLAN, clone ISP router's MAC address on MikroTik's WAN port and create VLAN interface before PPPoE client setup.

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