About
Hi, I'm David.
I run Dark Labs 9 out of Casa Licea. Half of the work is building and keeping systems alive. The other half is making the network safer, and helping people understand their own setups without drowning them in jargon.
Why I do this
Curiosity, then responsibility
I like figuring out how things fit together. That part is curiosity. The other part is quieter: people at home depend on what I run. Movies, notes, files, the tools we use during the week. If it breaks at 2 a.m., that is on me.
Backups got personal after I lost phone photos once. That was enough. Now recovery is part of how I build, not a promise I make later. The SSD story is what that looks like when a drive actually dies overnight.
Two halves
Dark Labs 9 is a dual workshop
One site, two connected lanes. Micro Systems is what we host. Network and Operational Security is how we protect it, and how I teach others to protect theirs.
Micro Systems
What runs at Casa Licea
The homelab half. Virtual machines, containers, media, notes, files, monitoring, and the backups that keep them recoverable.
Inside the lab →
Network & OpSec
How we protect it
The security half. Firewall, separate zones, failover, remote access, and teaching people to protect their own setups.
How the network works →
How I work
Principles I keep coming back to
None of these are original. They are just the ones that survive contact with real houses.
Build around a real need
Make recovery part of the setup
Verify backups
Keep learning after deployment
Explain choices in plain language
Adapt to who maintains it
Names
Casa Licea and Licea Enterprises
Casa Licea is the home and the homelab. That is where the servers live, where the family services run, and where most of this work happens.
Licea Enterprises is the family business side. You may see the name on our public status page. I keep it light here: a label, not a claim.
Stack I lean on
Tools that show up a lot
Brand names only. One line each. No architecture diagram required.
- ProxmoxRuns the virtual machines and containers on our boxes.
- Docker / DockhandPackages apps and deploys stacks from git.
- GitLabSource of truth for what should be running.
- TerraformDefines infrastructure as code so rebuilds stay consistent.
- AnsibleConfigures hosts and services the same way every time.
- UniFiGateway, Wi-Fi, and the zone splits at the edge.
- CloudflarePublic edge: tunnels, access gates, and basic protections.
- TailscalePrivate remote access into the lab without opening ports.