Collaboration Solution Development

Purpose & Goals

What is this lab for?

A real-world test platform close to actual customer scenarios — completely separate from any production systems.

🔬

Webex Feature Evaluation

New Webex features, APIs and beta functionality are tested here before rolling them out in customer projects — especially Hybrid Services (Calendar, Directory, Media) and Cloud Calling.

🐍

Python, n8n & API Automation

Python scripts for Webex APIs: bot frameworks, webhook handlers and provisioning workflows. n8n for event-driven no-code integrations and Webex automations.

📞

Telephony & Interop Testing

SIP interoperability tests between Cisco IP Phones, 2N Intercom/Access Manager and Webex Cloud Calling. PSTN gateway scenarios and trunk configurations.

📡

Monitoring & Operations

Nagios-based monitoring across the entire infrastructure. Passive checks, heartbeats and alerting for all lab components via cron-job.org.

🏗️

Infrastructure as Code

Ansible (Control Node on RasPi) for reproducible deployments and configuration management. Docker Stacks on Synology NAS. Proxmox cluster as the virtualisation backbone.

📚

Documentation & PoC

Reproducible proof-of-concept scenarios and technical documentation for partner and customer projects based on real lab configurations.

Infrastructure

Network Architecture

The infrastructure spans three areas: external SaaS services, a publicly reachable cloud infrastructure, and the private home lab.

⬡ SaaS Services

Webex Cloud

Meetings, Messaging, Calling. Hybrid Services (Calendar, Directory, Media). Primary platform under test.
Netbox Cloud (Free)

IPAM & DCIM as a SaaS. Source for auto-generated network diagrams. No plugins on the free tier.
Microsoft 365

Exchange Online, Teams and Entra ID. Used for Webex Hybrid Calendar and Directory Connector testing.

☁ Public Infrastructure

VPS · Monitoring

Nagios Core — active & passive monitoring of all lab components. Heartbeat checks via cron-job.org. Dedicated hosting provider.
VPS · nginx / Reverse Proxy

nginx reverse proxy & web server. Separate hosting provider. WireGuard tunnel endpoint to the home lab gateway.

🏠 Home Lab

Unifi Gateway + Switch

Ubiquiti Unifi network backbone. VLAN segmentation for lab, home network and management traffic. WireGuard VPN endpoint.
Proxmox Cluster

Virtualisation platform for VMs and LXC containers. Cluster layout auto-rendered from Netbox.
Ansible Control Node · RasPi

Dedicated Raspberry Pi as Ansible control node. Configuration management, Ansible Vault for secrets, Docker stack deployments.
Synology NAS · Docker Stacks

n8n (workflow automation + Webex integration), phpIPAM and more. Deployed and managed via Ansible.
Cisco Switch + IP Phones

Managed switch in the lab segment. Cisco IP Phones for Webex Calling & SIP testing.
2N Lab · Intercom & Access Manager

2N IP Intercom and 2N Access Manager for door communication and access control. Integrated with Webex Cloud Calling.

🔒

WireGuard Tunnel

A permanent WireGuard VPN tunnel connects the VPS nginx and the Unifi Gateway in the home lab. This allows internal lab services to be exposed via the reverse proxy without opening direct port forwards in the home network. Tunnel endpoints are documented in Netbox (VPN → Tunnels) and auto-rendered in the diagram below.

Network Diagram

Auto-generated via Netbox Cloud Free API · SaaS zone static (SAAS_NODES in script) · tag-based device filtering · Proxmox VM hierarchy · GitHub Actions (weekly) · Last update: —