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VLAN Scheme

Overview

VLAN Name Purpose
10 Management Network switches, etc.
20 Infrastructure Servers, hypervisors, etc.
30 Trusted Personal devices (eg. PC, laptop, phone)
35 Shared Friends/family devices (access to certain services)
40 DMZ Internet-facing services (eg. Nginx)
50 Services Self-hosted apps (eg. Nextcloud, Jellyfin)
60 Lab Experimental stuff
70 IoT Smart devices (eg. smart bulb)
80 Isolated Completely untrusted devices (eg. IP camera)
90 Guest Untrusted devices (guest devices, work laptop)
100 WireGuard VPN (same as Trusted)

VLAN Guidelines

VLAN 10 — Management

Manages and monitors network devices.

  • Network devices include things like: managed switches, network appliances, OPNsense, etc.
  • Accessible from Trusted (30) and Wireguard (100)

VLAN 20 — Infrastructure

Servers, hypervisors, and compute resources.

  • Proxmox nodes, hypervisors, bare metal compute
  • Accessed from: Trusted (30) or WireGuard (100)

VLAN 30 — Trusted

Primary working VLAN. Daily-driven devices goes here with lots of access

  • Desktop PC, laptop
  • Can reach: Management (10), Infrastructure (20), DMZ (40), Services (50), Lab (60), IoT (70), Isolated (80)

VLAN 35 — Shared

Devices with limited access to specific internal services.

  • Friend/family devices, trusted guest devices, personal devices that gets less access
  • Can reach: Services (50), Lab (60), IoT (70)
    • Note: Not full access, only has access certain services/lab/IoT stuff
  • Cannot reach: Management (10), Infrastructure (20), DMZ (40), Isolated (80), Guest (90)

VLAN 40 — DMZ

Internet-facing services. Anything that accepts public inbound traffic lives here.

  • Reverse proxy, public websites, etc.
  • Cloud VPS WireGuard tunnel terminates and routes to here
  • Can only reach Services (50) on specific defined ports — nothing else internal

VLAN 50 — Services

Internal self-hosted apps and backend services. No public exposure directly.

  • Home Assistant, Vaultwarden, Jellyfin, Nextcloud, Immich, Paperless, etc.
  • Accessed externally via DMZ nginx only, never directly
  • Can reach: Internet, IoT (70), Isolated (80) for Home Assistant polling/access
  • Notes: Unifi controller has access to Unifi devices on Management (10)

VLAN 60 — Lab

Experimental and non-prod workloads. Isolated from all internal infrastructure.

  • Lab Proxmox cluster, test VMs/containers, dev environments, anything experimental
  • Can reach internet but nothing internal
  • Trusted (30), Lab (60), and WireGuard (100) can reach Lab for access

VLAN 70 — IoT

General smart home devices. Internet allowed but strictly no internal access.

  • Smart bulbs, plugs, sensors, Zigbee devices, robot vacuum, etc.
  • Cannot initiate connections to any internal VLAN
  • Home Assistant (VLAN 50) polls these devices, not the other way around

VLAN 80 — Isolated

Completely air-gapped from internet and internal network.

  • IP cameras, other untrusted IoT devices (eg. smart TVs)
  • Should have 0 internet access, prevent devices phoning home (eg. sketchy IoT devices)
  • Only VLAN 50 (Services) can initiate connections inbound for stream access

VLAN 90 — Guest

Devices with only internet access. For untrusted devices such as visitor devices, work devices, etc.

  • Untrusted devices (eg. work laptop)
  • Can reach: Internet only
  • Cannot reach: Any internal VLANs

VLAN 100 — WireGuard (Personal Remote Access)

Remote access VPN. Grants same access as Trusted when away from home.

  • Phone/laptop when connecting remotely via WireGuard
  • Inherits Trusted (30) access rules
  • Note: the cloud VPS tunnel is separate infrastructure, not this VLAN

Inter-VLAN Access Summary

Source Can Reach
Management 10 Internet only
Infrastructure 20 Internet + cluster communication within 20
Trusted 30 Everything except Guest (90)
Shared 35 Services (50), IoT (70)
DMZ 40 Internet + Services (50) on specific ports
Services 50 Internet + IoT (70) + Isolated (80)
Lab 60 Internet only
IoT 70 Internet only
Isolated 80 Nothing
Guest 90 Internet only
WireGuard 100 Same as Trusted (30)

General Rules

  • Default deny all inter-VLAN traffic, explicitly allow only what is listed above
  • Management (10) and Infrastructure (20) are never destinations from non-trusted VLANs (Trusted/WireGuard should always initiate)
  • When unsure where a new service goes:
  • public facing = DMZ (40)
  • internal and used regularly = Services (50)
  • experimental = Lab (60)
  • application/management software = Services (50) (not Management 10)
  • New IoT/smart home devices always go to IoT (70), Guest (90) if don't trust at all
  • IP cameras should go to Isolated (80)