Systems Administrator · Homelab Builder · Cybersecurity Aspirant · Northern Ireland


This page is the public-facing documentation index for Project Cerberus, an enterprise-style homelab built to develop practical, hands-on skills across infrastructure, networking, virtualisation and cybersecurity.

The projects listed here are real. They came from real problems, real troubleshooting sessions, and real lessons learned. Each one is documented fully, not just the config that worked, but what broke first, how it was isolated, and what was left working at the end.


🌐 Live Infrastructure Page

The full hardware and infrastructure registry for the lab is available here:

https://jburke-labs.github.io/project-cerberus


🔐 Project 1: NGINX Proxy Manager + AdGuard + Wildcard Certificate

Status: ✅ Complete

Migrated from a CLI-based NGINX reverse proxy to NGINX Proxy Manager. Deployed internal DNS rewrites through AdGuard Home and implemented a mkcert wildcard certificate for *.cerberus.home.arpa. Services are now reachable by FQDN over trusted internal HTTPS.

Resolved a Wazuh login loop caused by mixed HTTP/HTTPS frontend handling and a browser security warning caused by stale cached trust state, diagnosed using DevTools Security tab.

Tech: NGINX Proxy Manager · AdGuard Home · mkcert · Internal PKI · Proxmox LXC

Read the full project documentation →


🔒 Project 2: WireGuard VPN — Double NAT Deployment and Troubleshooting

Status: ✅ Complete

Deployed WireGuard in a Proxmox LXC behind a FortiGate operating in a double-NAT arrangement with a Virgin Media upstream router. Validated the full connection path end to end using FortiGate packet captures, tcpdump on the LXC, and structured layer-by-layer fault isolation across six distinct issues.

Tech: WireGuard · Proxmox LXC · FortiGate VIP · iptables · tcpdump · WGDashboard