Home Lab: Physical Network Diagram

Gateway

#

The gateway moved from a UniFi UXG-Lite (managed via a HostiFi cloud controller) to a UniFi Express 7 (UX7) with its own local controller, covered in Migrating from Unifi UXG-Lite to Express 7. The Express 7 also has Wi-Fi 7 built in, which freed up one wired access point to be redeployed elsewhere in the house.

UniFi-Managed Devices

#

Physical Topology

#

flowchart TD
    modem["ISP"]
    ux7["UniFi Express 7 
 Gateway + local controller"]
    core_sw["USW-Lite-16-PoE 
 Core switch"]
    poe_sw["US-8-60W 
 PoE switch"]
    flex_sw["USW Flex 2.5G 8"]
    aps["5x UniFi AC Mesh APs"]
    pve["pve01 / pve02 / pve03 
 Proxmox VE cluster, 2.5GbE onboard NICs"]
    nas["stor-syn-01 / stor-syn-02 
 Synology NAS"]

    modem --> ux7
    ux7 --> core_sw
    core_sw --> poe_sw --> aps
    core_sw --> flex_sw --> pve
    core_sw --> nas

    classDef external fill:#d97706,fill-opacity:0.18,stroke:#d97706,stroke-width:1px
    class modem external

Ceph Thunderbolt Ring

#

Separate from the switched network entirely: the three Proxmox nodes are cabled directly to each other over Thunderbolt 4, in a physical ring, turned into a logical mesh by FRR/OpenFabric. It carries only Ceph traffic, isolated and unrouted at 10.100.0.0/24, and never touches the switches above. Full detail, including the BIOS issue that blocked it initially, in Proxmox VE and Ceph Over a Thunderbolt Ring on Three NUCs.

graph LR
  subgraph N1["pve01 · lo 10.100.0.11"]
    p1e6["en06 LEFT"]
    p1e5["en05 RIGHT"]
  end
  subgraph N2["pve02 · lo 10.100.0.12"]
    p2e6["en06 LEFT"]
    p2e5["en05 RIGHT"]
  end
  subgraph N3["pve03 · lo 10.100.0.13"]
    p3e6["en06 LEFT"]
    p3e5["en05 RIGHT"]
  end
  p1e5 -- "Link A" --> p2e6
  p2e5 -- "Link B" --> p3e6
  p3e5 -- "Link C, ring-back" --> p1e6