ZeroPoint Lab

The Lab.
Tested here. Shared openly.

The working lab behind ZeroPoint: networking experiments, self-hosted tools, and practical lessons shared on TikTok. This is a place to learn, not a paid homelab service.

Explore the guides Explore the real Lab

Current physical build

Compact hardware · real workloads

As of 2026-09-22
4UPatch + switching
3UUniFi gateway
2UHP EliteDesk · pve01
1UHP EliteDesk · pve02

A simplified view of the current compute and network stack, updated by hand.

Choose how you want to start

01

Learn

Build it yourself.

Free guides, field notes, and lessons from the lab.

Read the guides
02

Plan

Try the free tools.

Work out hardware and storage needs before you buy.

Explore tools
03

Explore

See what is running.

Real projects, honest progress, and experiments still on the list.

See lab projects
01

Running right now

The lab, at a glance.

Real infrastructure behind ZeroPoint—from the network edge to the workloads running on it.

Updated by hand · As of 2026-09-22

Explore the network
2
Nodes
3
Services
3
VLANs
16
Clients
StackUniFiProxmoxCiscoLinuxDockerOPNsense

Inside the build

Real hardware. Real constraints. Real documentation.

The Lab combines compact compute, managed networking, segmented VLANs, self-hosted workloads, remote access, and monitoring. The sanitized diagrams show how it actually fits together.

View lab projects

Hardware

Gateway

UniFi Cloud Gateway Ultra

Routing, firewall, and the UniFi OS console

Switch

UniFi Flex Mini

Compact managed switch feeding the AP

Access Point

UniFi U7 Lite

Broadcasts the Trusted, IoT & Guest SSIDs

Full topology

The whole network, end to end.

Internet edge, gateway, wireless clients, VLANs, switches, hosts, and running workloads in one sanitized view.

Swipe to explore the full diagram

Build your own

From “I want a server” to a lab you understand.

01

Decide what you want to run

Start with outcomes: media, photos, home automation, backups, learning, or private services.

02

Size the hardware

Estimate CPU, memory, storage, and growth before buying a pile of parts.

03

Design the network

Plan addressing, VLANs, Wi-Fi, remote access, and which systems should trust each other.

04

Build the infrastructure

Install compute, storage, switching, power, and the hypervisor foundation.

05

Deploy services

Add VMs, containers, access controls, updates, and a backup approach.

06

Learn and expand

Document what worked, fix what did not, and grow the lab deliberately.

Tools

Plan before you buy.

Use the free planning tools and compare notes with the community as your build takes shape.

AvailableWorkload SizerEstimate resources for common self-hosted workloads with visible assumptions.Size workloadsAvailableHardware DealsBrowse current listings for proven mini PCs, networking gear, and rack parts.Find hardwareAvailableRack PlannerThree fixed 10-inch rack builds with parts, price, and power draw — a full visual designer is still planned.See starter builds

Learn + Community

Free knowledge from builds that actually happened.

Read practical guides and field notes, follow build videos as they are published, and ask the Discord community when your result does not match the tutorial.

Explore Learn Join Discord

homelab-chat

Example conversation

Community
p

pixelrack

finally got VLANs segmented on my UniFi setup 🎉

v

vlan_victor

nice — IoT isolated from trusted, or just tagged?

p

pixelrack

fully isolated, guest too. wish I'd done this years ago

v

vm_hoarder

anyone's Proxmox node lose the gateway after a reboot?

n
net_newbie is typing

Build notes

What's running in the lab

Current builds and future experiments. Each card is marked In Progress or Planned; these are lab projects, not client work.

In Progress

ZeroPoint Home Network

In Progress

UniFi Cloud Gateway Ultra, a U7 Lite AP, VLAN segmentation across Trusted/IoT/Guest, and the troubleshooting that came with actually running it.

UniFiVLANsFirewall
In Progress

Proxmox Cluster

In Progress

Two HP EliteDesk Mini nodes running a Proxmox cluster — multi-node virtualization, VM deployment, and the Linux administration underneath it.

ProxmoxVirtualizationLinux
In Progress

Enterprise Network Lab

In Progress

Cisco switching behind OPNsense, its own routing domain and firewall policy, kept deliberately separate from the home network.

CiscoOPNsenseRouting
In Progress

ZeroPoint Public Website

In Progress

This site — Next.js, a static export deployed to GitHub Pages, MDX-powered documentation, and a privacy-conscious "Your Connection" panel instead of generic analytics.

Next.jsMDXPrivacy
In Progress

ZeroPoint SSO

In Progress

Centralized authentication in front of internal applications — OIDC/OAuth instead of a separate login for every service.

AuthentikOIDCIdentity
In Progress

Secure Remote Access

In Progress

Tailscale for remote administration, so management interfaces never need to be exposed to the public internet.

TailscaleVPN
In Progress

Internal Dashboard

In Progress

A Dockerized internal tool for service monitoring and CPU-temperature telemetry across the homelab.

DockerMonitoring
Planned

Self-Hosted Vaultwarden

Planned

A self-hosted password manager — the deployment, the Docker setup, and the network access restrictions around it.

DockerSecurity
Planned

Network Monitoring / SIEM Experiments

Planned

Wazuh experimentation — log collection, what worked, what didn't, and what a real monitoring setup would need next.

WazuhLogging
Planned

Enterprise Windows Lab

Planned

AD DS, DNS, DHCP, GPO, and domain clients — once it's built.

Active DirectoryWindows Server

Behind the scenes

Still learning, out loud, in public

The failures are not edited out. They are usually where the best documentation begins.

TikTok · {{TODO: TikTok handle}}