Completed

Proxmox Homelab Architecture

Design and deployment of a multi-node Proxmox VE homelab for running production home services, development environments, and infrastructure testing.

Proxmox VEZFSDockerLXCProxmox Backup ServerVLAN

Problem

Running multiple services on individual machines led to resource waste, inconsistent backups, and no centralized management. Needed a virtualized platform that could consolidate workloads while maintaining isolation and reliability.

Solution

Deployed Proxmox VE on three nodes (two main nodes, one backup node) with ZFS storage, VLAN-aware networking, and automated backups via Proxmox Backup Server. Containerized most services in LXC and Docker VMs.

Results

Consolidated 12 services across two physical nodes. Achieved 40% power reduction. Backup and restore tested — full VM recovery in under 15 minutes. Centralized management via single web interface.

Lessons Learned

ZFS ARC memory tuning is critical on nodes with limited RAM. VLAN tagging must be consistent across all interfaces. PBS deduplication is extremely effective for similar VM images.

Architecture Overview

The homelab consists of three physical nodes on a single UPS:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  Internet                        │
│                     │                            │
│              ┌──────┴──────┐                     │
│              │  MikroTik    │                    │
│              │  Router      │                    │
│              └──────┬──────┘                     │
│                     │                            │
│         ┌───────────┼───────────┐                │
│         │           │           │                │
│   ┌─────┴─────┐ ┌──┴────┐ ┌───┴──────┐          │
│   │ PVE Node 1 │ │PVE N2 │ │PBS Node  │          │
│   │  (Main)   │ │(Main) │ │(Backup)  │          │
│   └───────────┘ └───────┘ └──────────┘          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Node Specifications

Node	Hardware	Storage	Role
pve1	HP EliteDesk 800 G4, i7-8700, 64GB	1TB NVMe + 2TB SSD	Primary node
pve2	Dell Optiplex 7060, i5-8500, 32GB	512GB NVMe	Secondary node
pbs1	Custom, Pentium G5400, 16GB	4TB HDD (mirror)	Backup server

Services Running

Docker Host VM: Traefik, Uptime Kuma, Grafana, Prometheus, Loki
Media LXC: Jellyfin, Sonarr, Radarr, qBittorrent
Infrastructure LXC: Pi-hole, Unbound, WireGuard, Nginx
Development VM: Code server, test databases, CI runners

Network Design

Three VLANs isolate traffic:

VLAN 10 (Management): Proxmox web UI, SSH, PBS management
VLAN 20 (Services): All user-facing services
VLAN 30 (IoT): Smart devices, cameras, sensors