Architecture

Physical & Logical Topology

How WAN, Layer 2 transport, routed VLANs, storage planes, service traffic, and failure boundaries fit together across Site A and Site B.

The topology is easiest to understand as a set of traffic paths. OPNsense handles every routed transition, switches carry local Ethernet, storage stays on directly attached no-gateway networks, and WireGuard joins only the two routed site prefixes.

The Overview Map Shows the Approved Architecture

Site A's three-switch fabric is an approved target, not the current production path. The Gateway Max/XG6 bootstrap island remains separate and never connects to an XG10. Site B remains parked.

PHYSICAL + LOGICAL MAP · TWO FAILURE DOMAINS

Two Sites. One Routed System.

Select or focus a node. Its routed links brighten while the inspector explains the physical role and logical boundary.

Site A fabric · target

Wire language

  • WAN edge
  • WireGuard route
  • Firewall to core
  • Platform path
  • Client branch
ROUTED TRANSIT

WireGuard

2 active links

WireGuard joins the two OPNsense firewalls while preserving each site as an independent Layer 2, quorum, and storage boundary.

  • sa-fw-01 10.255.0.1
  • sb-fw-01 10.255.0.2
  • No L2, Corosync, or Ceph-cluster stretch
Follow connection

Follow Four Representative Paths

Traffic path explorer

Follow the owner of every hop

Select any system or segment to see why it exists and what it connects to.

Current target model
Routed client

Internet to a Site A Client

The firewall owns the routed and stateful boundary.

Local L2

Site A VM to Storage

Storage traffic remains local and does not need a gateway.

Ceph write

Site B Storage Path

Client traffic and OSD replication use different networks.

Routed service

Cross-Site DNS Replication

Only routed service traffic crosses the WireGuard boundary.

Internet to a Site A Client

During staging only, the WAN side becomes ONT → UCG Max → sa-fw-01. The downstream target path and all 10.10.x addressing remain unchanged, so Phase A8 changes one WAN cable rather than rebuilding the LAN.

Site A VM to Storage

VLAN 60 has no .1, OPNsense interface, SVI, default gateway, or static route. Storage consumers attach directly to the same Layer 2 segment.

Site B Ceph Write

Both networks stay inside Site B and neither has a gateway. Traffic never routes from VLAN 60 to VLAN 65 and never traverses WireGuard.

Cross-Site DNS Replication

This is an application flow over routed prefixes. The VLAN 30 broadcast domain does not cross the tunnel.

Network Planes

PlaneNetworksWho terminates itWhere it can travel
WAN edgeISP-assigned WANsLocal OPNsense VMInternet and local firewall only
ManagementVLANs 10 and 20Network devices, IPMI, Proxmox hosts, OPNsenseRouted locally under policy; cross-site only when explicitly allowed
Cluster heartbeatVLAN 25Proxmox hostsSite-local Layer 2 only; no gateway
Services and workloadsVLANs 30, 40, 50, 70, 80VMs, K8s/OpenShift, DMZ, monitoringRouted by local OPNsense
StorageVLAN 60; Site B VLAN 65Storage clients and serversSite-local Layer 2 only; no gateway
BackupVLAN 90Proxmox hosts and PBSRouted locally; planned replication over WireGuard
Client accessVLANs 100, 110, 120Clients and APsRouted and filtered by local OPNsense
Site B compatibilityVLAN 253sb-fw-01 and USG Pro WANSite B only
Native sinkSite A VLAN 999Trunks and unused ports onlyNo subnet, gateway, DHCP, or client workload
Inter-site transit10.255.0.0/24sa-fw-01 and sb-fw-01Routed firewall-to-firewall only

Site A Attachment Model

sa-fw-01 reaches sa-sw-01 through an explicit 802.1Q trunk. The three XG10 switches form a DAC triangle with RSTP priorities 4096, 8192, and 12288. Host links are distributed across all three switches; sa-ap-01 lands on sa-sw-03 port 6.

The triangle provides link-path redundancy, not gateway, chassis, or power redundancy. sa-sw-01 remains the only target attachment from the fabric to OPNsense.

The Bootstrap and Target Switching Domains Never Bridge

The XG10 fabric never connects to the Gateway Max or XG6, including during adoption. XG6 ports 5 and 6 remain disconnected. Target switches are adopted only through final VLAN 10 on the isolated OPNsense-backed plane.

Site B Attachment Model

sb-fw-01 trunks routed Site B VLANs to the Netgear sb-sw-01 core. Each of the five compute nodes uses dedicated paths for management, Corosync, Ceph public, Ceph cluster, backups, and workload bridges. sb-sw-02 handles access, IPMI, AP, and PoE/client functions under its restricted VLAN policy.

The USG Pro WAN remains 10.20.253.2 behind OPNsense 10.20.253.1. Infrastructure connects to sb-sw-01 and does not sit behind the USG NAT boundary.

Failure Boundaries

FailureWhat continuesWhat stops or degrades
One Site A inter-switch DACRSTP uses the remaining pathBrief reconvergence; no loss of attached endpoint unless its switch also fails
One Site A switchSurviving switches retain their direct triangle linkEndpoints unique to the failed switch are lost
sa-sw-01Same-switch Layer 2 on surviving devicesOPNsense attachment is lost; routed gateways and WAN become unreachable from the fabric
sa-fw-01 or sa-edge-01Same-VLAN Layer 2 forwardingSite A gateways, DHCP, WAN, WireGuard, DNS forwarding, and inter-VLAN traffic
sa-uos-01Existing switch and AP forwardingAdoption, telemetry, and configuration changes
WireGuard or either ISPEach site-local cluster, storage plane, and switch fabricCross-site management, AXFR, PBS replication, transit unseal
Site B Ceph nodeRemaining Ceph members follow local quorum and replication behaviorCapacity/performance degrade according to failed OSD/MON roles; Site A storage is unaffected

The full system map adds every named host and service with searchable IPs and direct relationships. Exact cables and switch profiles remain in the Site A port map and Site B port map.