Server and Network Infrastructure Updates
During the past few months I’ve had some time to re-design some of my system and network architecture. I’ve been upgrading operating systems, adding/updating applications, and adding/removing servers in an effort to enhance security and manageability while also providing additional capabilities. Some of the changes include: Added a dedicated reverse proxy server (HA Proxy) to […]
Re-Capturing some Storage Space
I’ve been using Plex to record live TV for a few years now and have accumulated over 27,000 episodes of TV shows and 1,300 movies. Over the past few years I’ve been adding storage to accommodate the incremental growth and now have approximately 58 TB of disk space devoted to media file storage as well […]
Using Docker
In the past year or two I’ve begun using Docker more and more to run applications and services on my home network. If you’re not familiar with Docker, click here to read more. I have a virtual machine setup for the sole purpose of running a multitude of applications in Docker containers. Some of the […]
New Desktop Computer
In December 2020 I decided that it was time to replace my aging desktop computer. With an Intel Core i7-5820K 6 core processor and GTX770 video card, the old computer was a great machine when I got it in 2014 and still works quite well for most things. However, faster CPU’s with higher core counts […]
A Year with Linux on my Desktop
About a year ago I switched my desktop computer from Windows to Ubuntu. It was a tough decision as I had been using Windows at home and at work for around 30 years and I was very comfortable with it. You can read about the switch here. After a year with Linux, I can say […]
Network Equipment Rack
I’ve had all of my servers and networking equipment installed in a StarTech 12U rack for a couple of years now and earlier this year I decided to move my desktop computer into a 4U rack mount case to organize my workspace. Unfortunately, the 12U rack was already full so the “desktop” computer sat on […]
Goodbye Windows
A few weeks ago I finally made the switch to Linux on my desktop computer. This was the only remaining machine running Windows so I’m now completely Windows free. I guess this was inevitable as I’ve been running Linux on all of my servers for a few years now and it just seems natural to […]
Home Automation
I’ve had some basic home automation stuff running on auto-pilot for a few years now and decided to spend some time researching what’s new. My old setup utilized OpenHAB to do some simple things like turning lights on/off when motion was detected and forwarding messages from my ZWave devices to MQTT. When OpenHAB stopped working […]
Server Storage
Every home network can benefit from having some shared storage to share files and provide centralized backups for computers on the network. I’ve put together what i think is a nice simple design that accommodates my storage needs. The vast majority of my storage consists of Movies and TV Shows used by my Plex server. […]
Unifi Network Upgrade
In the spring of 2019 I decided to upgrade my network equipment with a complete Unifi setup. Prior to the upgrade, I had a collection of inexpensive consumer-grade devices purchased and installed over the years. I have over 40 devices including servers, IoT devices, streaming media players, and the normal computers/laptops connected to my network […]