mk-labs

Automated infrastructure provisioning and configuration for a personal homelab, built on GitOps practices with clear tool responsibility boundaries.

Architecture

A single operator action — setting a VM record's status to Staged in NetBox — triggers a fully automated provisioning pipeline:

NetBox (webhook) → n8n (validate & orchestrate) → Terraform (create VM + DHCP)
                                                 → Ansible (OS config + DNS + status update)

Tool	Host	IP	Responsibility
NetBox	fire-station	10.1.71.102	Source of truth — VM records, IP allocation, VLAN data
n8n	tiki-room	10.1.71.23	Event orchestration, validation, pipeline sequencing
Terraform	city-hall	10.1.71.35	Proxmox VM lifecycle, Unifi DHCP reservations
Ansible / Semaphore	imagineering	10.1.71.22	OS configuration, DNS records, NetBox status updates
Proxmox	fantasyland	10.1.71.13	Target hypervisor

All systems on the Server Trusted VLAN (10.1.71.0/24).

Repository Structure

homelab/
├── ansible/
│   ├── inventory/          # NetBox dynamic inventory + static
│   ├── playbooks/          # Runnable playbooks (vm-provision, DNS, OS updates)
│   ├── roles/              # vm-baseline, dns-manager, common, haproxy, n8n, observer, etc.
│   ├── tasks/              # Shared includable task files
│   ├── group_vars/         # Group variable definitions
│   ├── host_vars/          # Per-host variable definitions
│   ├── templates/          # Jinja2 templates
│   └── ansible.cfg
│
├── terraform/
│   ├── proxmox/vm/         # bpg/proxmox provider — VM creation from templates
│   ├── unifi/dhcp/         # Unifi provider — DHCP static reservations on UDM Pro
│   └── dns/                # DNS record management
│
├── packer/
│   ├── ubuntu-24.04/       # Ubuntu 24.04 VM template (small → xlarge-plus sizes)
│   └── fedora-42/          # Fedora 42 VM template
│
├── n8n/
│   └── workflows/          # Exported n8n workflow JSON (vm-provisioning)
│
├── netbox/
│   └── initializers/       # Custom fields, VLANs, IP prefixes as code
│
└── docs/
    └── decisions/          # Architecture decision records

Pipeline Flow

#	System	Action
1	NetBox	Operator sets VM status to Staged → webhook fires
2	n8n	Validates payload (hostname, IP, VLAN, template, proxmox_node)
3	n8n → city-hall	SSH + terraform apply — creates VM on Proxmox
4	n8n	Queries Proxmox API for MAC address
5	n8n → NetBox	Writes MAC to VM interface record
6	n8n → city-hall	SSH + terraform apply — creates DHCP reservation on UDM Pro
7	n8n → imagineering	Triggers Ansible via Semaphore API
8	Ansible	OS baseline, SSH hardening, Technitium DNS A record
9	Ansible → NetBox	Sets VM status to Active

On any failure, NetBox status is set to Failed. No auto-retry — operator investigates.

Hardware

• 7× Dell 7050 SFF
• 3× Minisforum TH60
• 2× Minisforum MS01
• Synology DS1621+
• Ubiquiti UDM Pro

Software Stack

• Virtualization: Proxmox
• Automation: Terraform, Ansible, n8n, Semaphore
• DNS: Technitium (authoritative), Unbound (recursive)
• IPAM/DCIM: NetBox
• Networking: Ubiquiti UDM Pro
• Templates: Packer (Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 42)

Getting Started

See docs/decisions/vm-provisioning-flow.md for the full architecture decision record.

Previous OpenShift/ACM/Fastpass content is preserved in the archive/pre-mk-labs branch.

Security

No sensitive data is stored in this repository. Secrets are managed via Ansible Vault and environment variables on pipeline hosts.

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Status: 🚧 Active Development — VM Provisioning Pipeline

Last Updated: February 2026