first version of the knowledge base :)

00 - About/infrastructure-overview.md

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+---
+title: Infrastructure Overview
+description: High-level overview of the infrastructure domains documented within Hidden Den and Den Vault
+tags:
+  - about
+  - infrastructure
+  - overview
+category: about
+created: 2026-03-14
+updated: 2026-03-14
+---
+
+# Infrastructure Overview
+
+## Summary
+
+The infrastructure documented in Den Vault is built around a small set of repeatable domains: networking, compute, platform services, observability, security, and data protection. Together, these form a practical blueprint for self-hosted engineering environments.
+
+## Why it matters
+
+Readers need a clear map before diving into individual guides. An infrastructure overview helps explain how virtualization, containers, DNS, reverse proxying, monitoring, identity, and backups fit together as one operating model.
+
+## Core concepts
+
+- Networking and access: segmentation, VPN, DNS, ingress
+- Compute: hypervisors, VMs, and container hosts
+- Platform services: reverse proxy, service discovery, identity, secrets
+- Operations: monitoring, alerting, backups, updates
+- Tooling: documented platforms used to implement these layers
+
+## Practical usage
+
+A typical self-hosted environment described by Den Vault includes:
+
+- Proxmox or equivalent compute hosts
+- Docker-based application workloads
+- Tailscale or another private access layer
+- Reverse proxy and TLS termination with tools such as Caddy, Traefik, or NGINX
+- Prometheus and Grafana for observability
+- Backup tooling with regular validation
+- Static or low-dependency site infrastructure where that aligns with privacy and maintainability goals
+
+## Best practices
+
+- Keep core platform services few in number and well understood
+- Separate public ingress from administrative access paths
+- Maintain inventory of systems, dependencies, and backup coverage
+- Prefer architectures that can be rebuilt from documented source material
+
+## Pitfalls
+
+- Treating infrastructure as a pile of tools instead of a coherent system
+- Running critical services without monitoring or backup validation
+- Allowing naming, routing, and authentication patterns to drift over time
+- Adding redundancy without understanding operational complexity
+
+## References
+
+- [Proxmox VE Administration Guide](https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/)
+- [Docker: Docker overview](https://docs.docker.com/get-started/docker-overview/)
+- [Tailscale: What is Tailscale?](https://tailscale.com/kb/1151/what-is-tailscale)
+- [Prometheus overview](https://prometheus.io/docs/introduction/overview/)
+- [restic documentation](https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)