Keyboard shortcuts

Press or to navigate between chapters

Press S or / to search in the book

Press ? to show this help

Press Esc to hide this help

System Context

Map View

The following diagram provides a high-level orientation of the actors and systems involved in the Home Lab ecosystem.

flowchart TD
    subgraph Users [Users]
        Family["Family User"]
        Owner["Admin"]
        Public["Public Visitor"]
    end

    PublicPlane["Public Platform (behind Public Ingress)"]
    InternalPlane["Internal Platform (LAN/VPN only)"]

    subgraph Control ["Change Automation"]
        Automation["CI/CD + IaC Pipelines"]
    end

    subgraph External ["External Dependencies"]
        DNS["Cloud DNS"]
        Internet["The Internet"]
    end

    Family -- "HTTPS / LAN / VPN" --> InternalPlane
    Owner -- "SSH / Git / HTTPS" --> InternalPlane
    Owner -- "Git / CI/CD" --> Automation
    Public -- "HTTPS" --> PublicPlane

    Automation -- "Deploys / Config" --> InternalPlane
    Automation -- "Deploys / Config" --> PublicPlane
    Automation -- "DNS record management (automation)" --> DNS

    PublicPlane -- "Traffic" --> Internet
    InternalPlane -- "Traffic" --> Internet

Actors & Systems

EntityRoleDescription
Family UserInternal UserAccesses personal services (Wiki, Photos, Chat) from within the LAN or via VPN.
AdminInfrastructure OwnerManages the platform, security, and service configurations via SSH, Git, and HTTPS.
Public VisitorExternal UserAccesses public-facing content and websites hosted on the platform.
Public PlatformPublic PlaneInternet-facing services reachable through the public ingress.
Internal PlatformInternal PlaneCore services and management endpoints reachable only from LAN or VPN.
Change AutomationControl PlaneCI/CD and IaC pipelines that apply platform changes and manage DNS records.
Cloud DNSExternal SystemManaged DNS provider (risu.tech) updated by automation for split-horizon or public resolution.
The InternetNetworkPublic network through which external visitors arrive and internal resources are reached.