tech

New Home Server

Posted on by Shaun

Well,

I have come to the conclusion that I am in need of a new home server.  My combination of a HP N40L for storage, a HP Laptop for Plex and a Raspberry Pi 3 as a Home Assistant machine just isn’t working well anymore.  Of course, I can’t afford to go out and buy brand new gear (for the most part).  I am considering “old” LGA 1356 Intel E5-2670 Xeons (around $80 each), a motherboard to support two of them, rackmount case (new Norco RPC-5224 and probably the most expensive part of the build), new PSU, an additional SAS/SATA controller so I can use the case properly, etc.  Just need to determine if I want to do Ubuntu with ZOL & root on ZFS or if I want to go with FreeBSD and a beta install of Docker.  I’ll run as much as I can outside of Docker containers, but some will need to be containers.  I’m also thinking of putting the server in the garage, although I have no clue how hot it gets in there in the summer which worries me.  I would love to be able to run two fiber runs out there to do a connection between my current  Meraki MS220-8P and my old Dell PowerConnect 2724 (LAG between them just because I can), would also give me the ability to upgrade to 10Gig at some point in the future.

Sitemap

Posted on by Shaun

Well,

I have been working to update my site for better searching.  I think I now have an XML sitemap for Google ready to go.  However, I’m not 100% sure if it is working yet.

Meraki MX Appliances

Posted on by Shaun

Well, I am starting to get frustrated with Meraki and their MX appliances.  They have been promising to add IPv6 support to them for a while but they have yet to add it.  This is an issue since most cell providers only offer IPv6 address to their phones & hotspots.  This means that I am not able to connect to work via VPN when I am and about.  Also means that I’m unable to connect to home via VPN and also check my personal site’s IPv6 address (I have a MX64 at home that I got for free).  I most definitely will be switching back to Ubiquiti at home once my license has expired for my Meraki gear.

Phone & such

Posted on by Shaun

Well,

A couple of weeks ago I managed to drop my phone and break the screen on it.  I’m not at the Apple Store in the Mall of America waiting for them to finish replacing the screen and playing around on a nice shiny new iMac Pro.  I love the screen and the touch pad on it, not sure about the keyboard and mouse yet.  I think the mouse would be ok with its speed turned up.  The keyboard just does not have near enough travel for me….

Cloudflare

Posted on by Shaun

Well,

I decided to try implementing Cloudflare again.  Hopefully everything works and no one has any issues with my site (you know, all three of you that visit it).

Control Panel

Posted on by Shaun

I have decided to switch from Virtualmin back to VestaCP for managing my site.  There was nothing wrong with Virtualmin from a technical standpoint, just a couple of issues I hated working around (adding a smccloud.com subdomain was the main one).  Although I do lose IPv6 support until March, I doubt many people will even notice that.

Charter/Spectrum

Posted on by Shaun

Well, I was reading a news article today about how Charter/Spectrum is telling the FTC that Title II is making it so they don’t invest in their network but they are telling investors that it isn’t causing any issues.  Also had a link in the article saying that every user on their 60Mbps tier will be upgraded to 100Mbps, the problem I have with this is they are not increasing the upload speed.  Still a crappy 5Mbps, its taking me forever to complete my first backup with CrashPlan Small Business due to this.

Docker

Posted on by Shaun

Well,

I have been playing around with creating Docker containers.  I’ve created two so far.  One to mine Monero (XMR) with a CPU where everything is automatically set and the other is to run a full Monero Node.  It can be difficult to create the container, but it is actually fun too.  Maybe I will create more in the future.