Fast paths
Cthulhu owns two 10GbE Intel X520 links for QNAP and TrueNAS, plus two 40GbE Mellanox links for Supermicro C and D. Bulk transfers do not need to cross the central 1G switch.
LIVING LAB MAP
Fast where useful. Segmented where useful.
PUBLIC INTERNET
│
[ STARLINK ]
│
[ OPNsense ]
Supermicro A
│ 1G
[ HP PROCURVE ]
┌───────────────┼─────────────────────┐
│ │ │
VLAN clients Retro VLAN Servers / AP
X1 · Toshiba Windows 98 Supermicro B
Workshop · WiFi │ UniFi · QNAP
│ └── OSCAR / WRP ───────┘
│
[ CTHULHU ] ←──── administrative control point
│ │ │
10G QNAP │ │ │ 40G Supermicro C
10G HP │ │ └ 40G Supermicro D / Proxmox
│ │
│ └──────────── large-transfer fast paths
│
┌───────┴────────┐
[ QNAP ] --1G--> [ HP TrueNAS ]
primary backup
snapshots independent history
HOME LAB ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
PUBLIC INTERNET ───────────── [ WORLDNODE ]
External datacenter, Germany
“Falkenstein? 😉” — no, near Braunschweig.
This is a logical map, not a disclosure of addresses, VLAN IDs or firewall rules.
Segmentation
Retro, laptops, guests, WLAN/IoT, storage and server roles are separated by purpose. Cthulhu is the only general administrative client across those boundaries.
Storage flow
Important client data lands on QNAP first. QNAP keeps snapshots and later feeds the HP TrueNAS box over a dedicated 1G link. The backup server does not need a permanent normal-LAN or Internet connection.
Compute nodes
Supermicro A routes. B does a little of everything. C helps with backup/utility work. D is the Proxmox playground. Cthulhu remains the human-facing workstation and administrative control point. Old machines are not kept because they are old; they are kept because they still have jobs.
External infrastructure
Worldnode is intentionally outside the home topology. Public website and observer workloads live in a datacenter and can remain available even if the home rack is powered down. Administration still comes from Cthulhu under normal conditions.
“There was no master plan. One useful experiment needed another useful box, then another cable, then apparently 40 gigabits.”