Home Lab Setup: Proxmox, TrueNAS, and Docker for Scalable Home Automation and Storage

In my home lab, I’ve built a setup of five servers with Proxmox, TrueNAS, and Docker to host a range of applications, manage data, and experiment with scalable infrastructure. This lab lets me explore virtualization, containerization, and data management while running a plethora of my own applications.

Server Overview

1. Windows 10 Server
   This is my oldest server, originally used to run Minecraft servers for friends and me. I keep it for legacy support and as a backup I can easily remote into if other remote systems are down.
2. Proxmox Servers
   My two primary Proxmox servers run multiple LXC and Docker containers. While I previously ran some services as virtual machines, I now prefer the flexibility of containers, despite the slight increase in network complexity. Containers let me modularize services, making it easy to add, remove, or update specific applications.
3. TrueNAS Server
   My TrueNAS server is dedicated to storage, with 4 x 4TB drives set up in RAID 5. While this provides only one drive of failure tolerance, I plan to build a secondary server with the same capacity off-site to keep data backed up in two locations. Inspired to preserve family photos and videos, I use PhotoPrism to make these easily viewable for family members. Additionally, I’ve set up a VPN overlay using NetBird to securely access services from anywhere without port forwarding like I used to do.
4. Legacy Ubuntu Server
   My first Linux server, this Ubuntu machine will soon be converted to Proxmox with its original drive set up as a virtual machine.

Running Services:

• Wazuh XDR
• Nginx (Reverse Proxy)
• NetBird (Overlay VPN)
• n8n (Workflow Automation)
• Home Assistant
• NextCloud ( Google Drive like storage management )
• Uptime Kuma (Monitoring)
• Jupiter Notebooks (Data Science and Machine Learning)
• Immich
• PhotoPrism
• File Browser

Game Servers:

• Minecraft
• Factorio

Conclusion

Setting up and managing this home lab has deepened my understanding of distributed systems, networking, and scalable storage solutions. In the future, I’m planning to expand my setup with additional backup strategies and even more services!