On-Prem Capstone | Full Datacenter Build

You will build a complete on-premises datacenter: a virtualization host, VLAN-segmented networking, core services, and monitoring. By the end you will have a documented, recoverable environment that mirrors a small production site.

Learning Objectives

Stand up virtualization and segment the network by VLAN.
Deploy core services (DNS, DHCP, web) as VMs.
Add monitoring and backups for recoverability.
Time: ~25 hours · Difficulty: Advanced · Prereqs: the server, networking, and KVM labs.

Architecture Overview

graph TD HV[Proxmox host] --> Mgmt[VLAN 10 Mgmt] HV --> Prod[VLAN 20 Prod: web/app] HV --> Svc[VLAN 30 Services: DNS/DHCP] Prod --> Prom[Prometheus + Grafana] HV --> BK[(Backups)]

Environment Setup

A Proxmox/KVM host with enough RAM for several VMs.
A managed switch or virtual bridges for VLANs.
Backup storage separate from the host.

Step-by-Step Execution

Provision VMs and VLANs

qm create 110 --name dns --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0,tag=30

Creates a service VM on VLAN 30.

Deploy core services

ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini services.yml # DNS, DHCP, web

Add monitoring

$ curl -s localhost:9090/-/healthy

Prometheus is Healthy.

Progress So Far

graph LR A[01 VMs + VLANs] -->|done| B[02 Services] B -->|done| C[03 Monitoring + backups] style A fill:#1a4a1a,stroke:#00ff00,color:#fff style B fill:#1a4a1a,stroke:#00ff00,color:#fff style C fill:#1a4a1a,stroke:#00ff00,color:#fff

Testing & Validation

dig @10.0.30.2 web.lab.tyfsadik.org +short && curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" http://web.lab.tyfsadik.org

DNS should resolve the web host and the site should return 200. Restore a VM from backup to confirm recoverability.

Troubleshooting

VLAN traffic blocked: confirm trunk ports allow the VLAN IDs end to end.
Service unreachable: check inter-VLAN routing and firewall rules.
Backup restore fails: test restores regularly, not just backups.

Extension Ideas

Add zero-trust access as in Proxmox Zero-Trust.
Centralize logs into a SIEM.
Document a full DR runbook and test it.

Key Results

Built a VLAN-segmented virtualized datacenter.
Deployed DNS, DHCP, and web as managed VMs.
Monitored the estate with Prometheus + Grafana.
Verified recoverability with a backup restore.

On-Prem Capstone: Full Datacenter Build