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Welcome to the doco page for Labinator, a portable experimentation lab for all manner of server-y goodness. Using the navigation folders to the left, have a look around. You’ll find all sorts of stuff such as why this thing even exists, what it is made of, and how it came together.

The concept of Labinator came into mind during some time off during 2024 Thanksgiving break. I primarily wanted a cheap way to experiment with server orchestration from virtualization up the stack through to containers. At that time, the idea of a mobile lab wasn’t even on the radar. But as I experimented with some of the newer technologies making their presence known on the scene (and even some of the older ones used in neat ways), I was inspired to take the lab on the road to show people how neat things can get.

Some cool Labinator tidbits

• VLAN-supporting isolated LAN with airgapped operation
• A custom ESP32-driven set of relays to toggle power buttons on the gear via software
• Portably mounted hardware with purpose-made 3D models to secure the gear
• An internal CA creating and dynamically renewing certificates every 16 hours or so

If you’re curious to know more or have comments/etc to share, reach out to me on LinkedIn or open a PR/Issue on GitHub (links are in the upper right corner).