angel
54 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
54 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
# Infrastructure Overview: The "Ben's Cloud" Ecosystem
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## The Philosophy
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My infrastructure is a testament to adaptability. While "server-room best practices" often dictate specific hardware and wired connectivity, real-world constraints require thinking outside the box. This setup prioritizes resource efficiency, hardware longevity, and ease of management.
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## Physical Hardware Stack
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### Workstations
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I rely on the reliability of the Lenovo ThinkPad line for my daily drivers:
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* **ThinkPad W540:** Primary mobile workstation.
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* **ThinkPad T460s:** Lightweight secondary workstation.
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* **OS:** Linux Mint (Cinnamon).
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### Server Hosts
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* **Dell OptiPlex 9020 (Tower):** Primary server host.
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* **ThinkPad W540 (Laptop):** A retired workstation repurposed as a secondary server. Despite a failing keyboard and screen, its internal specs remain highly capable.
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* **OS:** Linux Mint. I use Mint on the hosts to simplify wireless driver management and to handle the legacy Nvidia hardware (currently running **Nouveau** drivers to remain Wayland-ready).
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## The Networking Challenge: "Taboo" Wi-Fi
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Both server hosts operate via Wi-Fi. In the server world, wireless is often considered "taboo," which presents a specific technical hurdle: **Layer 2 Bridging** (or a "Network Bridge") typically doesn't work over Wi-Fi. This means VMs cannot pull unique IP addresses directly from my router's DHCP server.
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### The Solution: Tailscale & NAT
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To bypass this limitation and maintain a professional workflow, I use a dual-layered approach:
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1. **NAT Networking:** The VMs live on a private internal network behind the host.
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2. **Tailscale Mesh:** I install Tailscale on each virtual machine. This allows me to connect directly to every VM using its own unique IP/hostname, completely bypassing the host's NAT limitations and providing seamless access across my entire environment.
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## The Hypervisor & OS Strategy
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### Virtualization Layer
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I have moved away from VirtualBox and Vagrant in favor of a more robust, integrated stack:
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* **KVM/QEMU:** The core hypervisor.
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* **Virt-Manager & Cockpit-Machines:** Primary tools for management and monitoring.
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* **Snapshots:** I utilize native KVM snapshots to preserve system states rather than maintaining heavy templates.
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### Guest OS Policy
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* **Standardization:** For headless virtual machines, I generally use **Ubuntu LTS**. This ensures consistency in package versions and management across my production services.
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* **Docker Integration:** Most services are deployed via Docker. I typically run one large "utility" VM for lightweight stacks (e.g., Vaultwarden, Jellyfin) and dedicated VMs for complex applications like Nextcloud.
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## Distro Agnosticism
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While Mint and Ubuntu form the production backbone, I maintain a diverse lab to stay "distro-literate." My environment includes:
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* **Enterprise:** RHEL (Developer Edition), AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, and CentOS.
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* **Community & Rolling:** Fedora Server, openSUSE, Alpine, and even a few Arch installations.
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> **Note:** This lab is built on the principle of using every available resource—even a battered laptop—to its fullest potential. |