Home Lab K8 Media Server

This homelab project showcases a self-hosted Kubernetes cluster running on a dedicated PC that serves as a Plex Media Server. The setup enables centralized storage and streaming of movies, TV shows, and music to various client devices—including a laptop, smart TV, and mobile devices—across the home network. The project highlights both orchestration and secure networking practices.

Stack

• Kubernetes cluster (single-node)
• Plex Media Server in a containerized deployment
• Persistent volumes for media storage
• Traefik ingress controller for reverse proxying

Networking

• Topology
  • Media server connected via Ethernet for stability
  • Clients connected via wired and wireless networks
  • VLAN segmentation to isolate media server from guest devices
  • Internal DNS-based access through Traefik ingress (plex.home.local)
• Routing
  • Internal routing handled by the home router
  • External access disabled by default for security

Security Hardening

• Access Control
  • Kubernetes RBAC for fine-grained permission control
  • Plex admin dashboard accessible only from trusted IP ranges
• Network Security
  • VLAN isolation for server workloads
  • Firewall rules to strictly limit inbound and outbound traffic
• Data Protection
  • Encrypted backups of Plex metadata and configurations
  • TLS encryption for all internal service-to-service traffic
• Monitoring
  • Prometheus stack and Kubernetes metrics server for performance insights
  • Alerts configured for unusual network patterns or high resource usage