daviestechlabs/homelab-design

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Billy D. 80fb911e22 updating to match everything in my homelab.

2026-02-05 16:13:53 -05:00

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Node Naming Conventions

Status: accepted
Date: 2026-02-05
Deciders: Billy
Technical Story: Establish memorable, role-based naming for cluster nodes

Context and Problem Statement

The homelab cluster has grown to include:

14 Kubernetes nodes (control plane + workers)
Multiple storage servers
Development workstations

Generic names like node-01, worker-gpu-1 are:

Hard to remember
Don't convey node purpose
Boring

How do we name nodes in a way that's memorable, fun, and indicates their role?

Decision Drivers

Names should indicate node role/capability
Easy to remember and reference in conversation
Consistent theme across the homelab
Scalable as more nodes are added

Decision Outcome

Chosen option: Dungeons & Dragons character naming scheme

All nodes are named after famous D&D characters from Forgotten Realms, with character class mapping to node role.

Naming Scheme

Control Plane → Companions of the Hall

The control plane nodes are named after the legendary Companions of the Hall, Drizzt's closest allies.

Node	Character	Hardware	Notes
`bruenor`	Bruenor Battlehammer	Intel N100	Dwarf King of Mithral Hall
`catti`	Catti-brie	Intel N100	Human ranger, Bruenor's adopted daughter
`storm`	Storm Silverhand	Intel N100	Chosen of Mystra, Harper leader

Wizards → GPU Nodes (Spellcasters)

Wizards cast powerful spells, just as GPU nodes power AI/ML workloads.

Node	Character	GPU	Notes
`khelben`	Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun	AMD Radeon 8060S 64GB	Primary AI inference, Strix Halo APU
`elminster`	Elminster Aumar	NVIDIA RTX 2070 8GB	CUDA workloads, Sage of Shadowdale
`drizzt`	Drizzt Do'Urden*	AMD Radeon 680M	ROCm backup node
`danilo`	Danilo Thann	Intel Arc A770	Intel inference, bard/wizard multiclass
`regis`	Regis	NVIDIA GPU	Halfling with magical ruby, spellthief vibes

*Drizzt is technically a ranger, but his magical scimitars and time in Menzoberranzan qualify him for the GPU tier.

Rogues → ARM64 Edge Nodes

Rogues are nimble and work in the shadows—perfect for lightweight edge compute on Raspberry Pi nodes.

Node	Character	Hardware	Notes
`durnan`	Durnan	Raspberry Pi 4 8GB	Yawning Portal innkeeper, retired adventurer
`elaith`	Elaith Craulnober	Raspberry Pi 4 8GB	The Serpent, moon elf rogue
`jarlaxle`	Jarlaxle Baenre	Raspberry Pi 4 8GB	Drow mercenary leader
`mirt`	Mirt the Moneylender	Raspberry Pi 4 8GB	Harper agent, "Old Wolf"
`volo`	Volothamp Geddarm	Raspberry Pi 4 8GB	Famous author and traveler

Fighters → x86 CPU Workers

Fighters are the workhorses, handling general compute without magical (GPU) abilities.

Node	Character	Hardware	Notes
`wulfgar`	Wulfgar	Intel x86_64	Barbarian of Icewind Dale, Aegis-fang wielder

Infrastructure Nodes (Locations)

Node	Character/Location	Role	Notes
`candlekeep`	Candlekeep	Primary NAS (Synology)	Library fortress, knowledge storage
`neverwinter`	Neverwinter	Fast NAS (TrueNAS Scale)	Jewel of the North, all-SSD, nfs-fast
`waterdeep`	Waterdeep	Mac Mini dev workstation	City of Splendors, primary city

Future Expansion

Class	Role	Candidate Names
Clerics	Database/backup nodes	Cadderly, Dawnbringer
Fighters	High-CPU compute	Artemis Entreri, Obould
Druids	Monitoring/observability	Jaheira, Cernd
Bards	API gateways	Other Thann family members
Paladins	Security nodes	Ajantis, Keldorn

Architecture

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Homelab Cluster (14 Kubernetes Nodes)                      │
│                                                                                │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐     │
│  │              👑 Control Plane (Companions of the Hall)                │     │
│  │                                                                       │     │
│  │      bruenor              catti                storm                  │     │
│  │      Intel N100           Intel N100           Intel N100             │     │
│  │      "Dwarf King"         "Catti-brie"         "Silverhand"           │     │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘     │
│                                                                                │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐     │
│  │                    🧙 Wizards (GPU Spellcasters)                      │     │
│  │                                                                       │     │
│  │  khelben         elminster       drizzt        danilo       regis    │     │
│  │  Radeon 8060S    RTX 2070        Radeon 680M   Arc A770     NVIDIA   │     │
│  │  64GB unified    8GB VRAM        iGPU          16GB         GPU      │     │
│  │  "Blackstaff"    "Sage"          "Ranger"      "Bard"       "Ruby"   │     │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘     │
│                                                                                │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐     │
│  │                    🗡️ Rogues (ARM64 Edge Nodes)                       │     │
│  │                                                                       │     │
│  │  durnan         elaith         jarlaxle        mirt         volo     │     │
│  │  Pi 4 8GB       Pi 4 8GB       Pi 4 8GB        Pi 4 8GB     Pi 4 8GB │     │
│  │  "Innkeeper"    "Serpent"      "Mercenary"     "Old Wolf"   "Author" │     │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘     │
│                                                                                │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐     │
│  │                    ⚔️ Fighters (x86 CPU Workers)                      │     │
│  │                                                                       │     │
│  │                           wulfgar                                     │     │
│  │                           Intel x86_64                                │     │
│  │                           "Barbarian of Icewind Dale"                 │     │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘     │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    🏰 Locations (Off-Cluster Infrastructure)                   │
│                                                                                │
│  📚 candlekeep              ❄️ neverwinter              🏙️ waterdeep           │
│  Synology NAS               TrueNAS Scale (SSD)         Mac Mini               │
│  nfs-default                nfs-fast                    Dev workstation        │
│  High capacity              High speed                  Primary dev box        │
│  "Library Fortress"         "Jewel of the North"        "City of Splendors"    │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Storage Mapping

Location	Storage Class	Speed	Capacity	Use Case
Candlekeep	`nfs-default`	HDD	High	Backups, archives, media
Neverwinter	`nfs-fast`	SSD	Medium	Database WAL, hot data
Longhorn	`longhorn`	Local SSD	Distributed	Replicated app data

Node Labels

# GPU Wizard nodes
node.kubernetes.io/instance-type: gpu-wizard
homelab.daviestechlabs.io/character-class: wizard
homelab.daviestechlabs.io/character-name: khelben

# ARM64 Rogue nodes  
node.kubernetes.io/instance-type: raspberry-pi
homelab.daviestechlabs.io/character-class: rogue
homelab.daviestechlabs.io/character-name: jarlaxle

DNS/Hostname Resolution

All nodes are resolvable via:

Kubernetes DNS: <node>.node.kubernetes.io
Local DNS: <node>.lab.daviestechlabs.io
mDNS: <node>.local

References

Forgotten Realms Wiki
Khelben Arunsun
Elminster
Candlekeep
Neverwinter
Related: ADR-0035 - ARM64 Worker Strategy
Related: ADR-0011 - KubeRay Unified Serving

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