Last Friday of 2024

Well, it has been a soul-searching couple of days, and they have been hard ones to say the least.  My brother-in-law passed away which was a shock to everyone.  It puts a lot of things into prospective and made me think about my life situation.  I am unable to go to his funeral because of money constraints which I wouldn't be in if I had a job.  I definitely think it is time to step up and switch into second gear.  I haven't been able to focus on anything this week even though I have been doing a lot of online stuff.  Next week I will have to hit the ground running.  I am starting my New Year resolution before the 1^st of next year and it is to be a better me.  I think I can handle that one as scary as it is to think about now!

Here's to 2025 and all it has to bring!!!!!!!

Hapy Friday 😀

Off to the races!

I successfully completed IcedID Blue Team Lab at @CyberDefenders! 

https://cyberdefenders.org/blueteam-ctf-challenges/progress/jeffery.johnson51/174/  

  

#CyberDefenders #CyberSecurity #BlueYard #BlueTeam #InfoSec #SOC #SOCAnalyst #DFIR 

I hope they get easier after this one!

Happy Tuesday 😀

Merry Christmas

We have made it to the weekend!

Well, it is Friday, and I have made it.  I had an issue this morning with my laptop connecting to the internet that , wait for it, was ADGuard/Twingate? related.  It could also just be this laptop since it is old!!!  I will have to consider going to a new system which will cost money I don't have right now lol.  It is what it is, I guess.  I wanted to get Wazuh installed on the server this week but maybe I wil get it done next week.  Working on my AD setup and playing around with Home Assistant.  I knew there was a reason I held off installing that in my environment.  Oh well, it was a learning experience overall.

Now I just plan to work on stuff around the house and watch the remaining shows on my Tablo so I can free up some recording space.  Next week is Christmas and I have not mailed out the Christmas cards yet.  I am a bad person, definitely on Santa's naughty list lol!  Here's to a productive weekend!

Happy Friday 😀

Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, lol!

Finally got the twingate connector update on my server without having to create a new instances on another server/computer.  Even though I need to do that for redundancy I am glad I got it updated without having to do it now.  The fact I have to do this manually is a big pain in the butt.  I also have to manually update Immich, and portainer.  Not sure about photoprism and home assistant yet but more than likely they will have to be manually updated too!  Maybe it is a good thing.  Manually having to update gives me the opportunity to let the updates be tested before a deploy in my homelab.  I should probably start taking that mindset for when I get back into production blowing up the network can be really bad moneywise.  Well, it is what it is!  Everything is a learning experience in IT.

I having been playing with home assistant and working on this twingate update the last 2 days.  I told my self I would put off going down the rabbit hole of getting my devices but I keep going back to the console to see what more I can learn about it.  I need to work out the issue with my bluetooth adapter but I think it is just that home assistant doesn't like that adapter since I know ubuntu see the adapter fine.  It is a $1.75 adapter off of Amazon, lol!  Here's to what I will learn this week.

Happy Tuesday 😀

Friday Again!

It is Friday again and I am more or less done for the week.  Spent the week in online sessions for Microsoft and Blackhills Infosec.  Learned a lot during this session but yesterday was definitely off the hook.  I have been running Immich on my server for the last couple of month and it works very well for backing up photos and videos from my phone and tablet to my local server.  The issue I had with Immich a couple of weeks ago prompted me to look at another program for managing my photos and videos locally as a backup to the backup lol!  I had heard a lot about Photoprism and thought I would try it out but it was a pain to get setup on my server.  Still not setup yet but I at least know what the issue is and the solution to get it running.  Why do Linux users think that it is the solution to getting away from Windows when it is so hard to get stuff setup and running on it.  Well, unless you buy what is supposed to be free for the support.  Crazy!!!!!!!!!

I will continue to work on my homelab which I should have completed by the end of this year.  Running Plex/Jellyfin, ADGuard Home, Tailscale, Wazuh(SIEM), Twingate, Home Assistant, CrowdSec, Webmin(Deprecated), Portainer(Docker containers), Sql server, Proxmox, Microsoft Server(2016, 2019, 2022), Ubuntu Server Core 2022 and Kali Linux.

Happy Friday 😀

TGIF

It has been a long week, but I have survived it.  I had a couple of online events I attended and they were very informative.  I am playing more with Tailscale now since I had an issue the other day with my client install on my server.  The key I used to bring up my connection had expired.  I was able to figure out how to do it since it was a little different than with my chrome, IOS, android or windows setup (running in Ubuntu core lol)!  I also went and did the install of the client on my TV sticks for my office, bedroom and livingroom tv's.  Not sure when the opportunity will arise for me to use it on them but at least it is done for now.  Still learning a lot about tailscale, twingate and adguard running in my environment.  Now I need to explore the monitoring side.  Watched a lot of videos on SIEM implementations both in the cloud and on-prem.  Now it is time to pull the trigger on setup them up in my environment.  I think I will start with standing up a Wazuh server this weekend and work my way up.  I have my AD environment setup and will probably start testing it next week.  Running windows server 2022 trial edition with the possibility of rolling out a 2016 and 2019 instance in the future.  so much to learn and so little time to learn it.

Happy Friday 😀

Epic Fail

Well, Watchtower was suppose to update my twingate connector but low and behold it is not updated.  I have the twingate tokens backed up so that I can just redo it a new but I don't want to do it that way.  I need to get this Watchtower instance to do it for me.  Spend a couple of hours researching the twingate connector setup and watchtower and have learned a lot.  Watchtower is scheduled to run the update again tomorrow so I will cross my fingers.  Not sure why the logs don't show an error from when it tried it last week.  I just show that there were no failures but no updates either.  At least If I got an error, I could look into it lol.  Oh well, live and learn!

Happy Monday!

Food for thought

I am sitting here watching youtube videos and the usual tech related subjects and something dawn on me.  I have been using ADGuard on my network for the last several months and when I first rolled it out I did have an issue with it blocking content on my Google Nest that stopped it from displaying images on the screen.  Since I was pretty new to ADGuard and it is kind of new to begin with I wrote it off to a bug in the software I needed to work around.  Now that I think about it, I have several IOT devices in my house including cameras, tv sticks and Alexa.  Are they being updated on a regular basis or is ADGuard blocking access to the site they need to do their updates.  Normal I don't check them but now, I think I am going to have and check them or micro manage my ADGuard deployment per device verses through the router.  UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe I will monitor a couple of devices for now to make sure they are not having issues getting updates through ADGuard and go from there.

Here's to technology for early adopters LOL!

Happy Tuesday 😀

Another Twingate Update

Looks like you have to do manual uploads to the Immich server when using the Twingate VPN connection.  I will have to test to make sure later this evening but F.Y.I.

VLC also does not work out of the box for network shares on my server. but oh well!

Twingate Update

Well, I found out what my issue was with Twingate!  I am running ADGuard in my environment and it appears that ADGuard was blocking the url for Twingate.  Caused an issue with the network resource I setup on my Ubuntu server.  As soon as I allowed the Twingate url traffic to pass through I was able to connect to my internal resource for Twingate.  I am able to reach my server and internal network now from an external connection.  I will probably only use it if I have an issue with Tailscale since I like the way Tailscale works with not only my phone but all my TV sticks.  ADGuard is going to be the end of me, lol!

Happy Friday 😀

Troubleshooting in Linux

There is too much troubleshooting in Linux.  So many changes that breaks working services.  My resourse component in Twingate just went down today and it looks like an issue with the repository for Twingate.  Twingate had pushed out an update for both windows and linux a couple of days ago (I think yesterday).  It looks like the update for Windows went without issue since I did it yesterday and the update for Linux I did a couple of days ago with the apt update command.  I did not see any error messages so I assumed everything was okay until I ran the apt update command to today for My weekly maintenance and got the message:

Err:1 https://packages.twingate.com/apt  InRelease
  Could not connect to packages.twingate.com:443 (0.0.0.0). - connect (111: Connection refused) Could not connect to packages.twingate.com:443 (::). - connect (111: Connection refused)

I have not tested my twingate instances for this box since I don't normally use it.  Thank goodness for tailscale but I don't know what to do to fix the issue.  It looks like the repository has changed for Twingate after the update but it is not working for any new updates.  I get a 404 error message when i try to go to it in the browser.  I see a new url for the repository on the site but I am afraid to use it even after I have checked it in VirusTotal and it coming backclean.  Posted a request in Reddit and I guess I will have to wait to see if anyone responds.  Oh well, lol!

Happy Thursday 

Microsoft Ignite

Well, I am done for the day with Microsoft Ignite sessions.  It is going okay so far.  I have a full day tomorrow, so I have to make sure I get a full 8 hours of sleep lol.

Happy Tuesday

Beware of Crypto Emails

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/new-macos-malware-linked-to-north-korean-hackers/ar-AA1tHaRD?ocid=socialshare&pc=U531&cvid=8c9b33cb7ae44b07acca6ebfeed57c76&ei=39

Job Hunting Sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well 2 turndown this week already it is crazy.  You would think with my skillset that I would be " a fit" for a technical support position.  I have 24 years of experience doing tech from building out several call centers to maintaining their infrastructure.  I have worked in Data centers and been all over the country for PC deployment/refreshes.  I have worked on server and networking equipment and even assisted in a network refresh at the last call center I worked at in Jacksonville Texas involving replacing/installing 25 pieces of network equipment including switches, routers and firewalls.  I have worked several OS upgrades for over 300+ computers from Windows7 to Windows11(we actually skipped windows8 lol).  Not sure what the hangup is with getting employment.  I guess it is time to switch into a higher gear and step up my skillset.

I have been doing a lot of training on the BlackHills InfoSec site with attending their training videos.  Just got done with one on SOC Detection.  It was like listening to Chinese, but I was able to follow along with the presenter which was knowledgeable on the subject.  That is what I like about BlackHills Training, in that they get people that are actually doing the things they are presenting on for training.  I guess I will have to soldier on and see where this takes me.  I am somewhat don with my homelab.  I still need to get Wazuh, Nessus and  HomeAssistant setup but that is a battle for another day.  Working on learning more about powershell, sql, and ansible.  I have 2 months to the end of the year.  Time for my A game LOL!

Happy Thursday 🙂

Look before you leap LOL!

Well, I learned something new today.  I decided to work on what was causing my access issue with Immich and after doing searches on the internet using google it all came down to one line entry in the yml file to correct the issue.  How I discovered it, Discord!  I want to say it has been 2 weeks since it went down after the update, but I did learn a lot in that time up to the final fix.  My docker foo is much stronger now.  What doesn't kill you make you stronger.

Happy Monday!!!!!

Video Server

Well, I have been working on my Plex server the last couple of days.  Just getting some of the videos I have on it and trying to test the viewing of it when there is no internet connection.  The process is convoluted but I have a backup and it is Jellyfin.  It was a little dodgy a couple of years ago, but it has gotten better if I do say so myself.  I can also default to VLC thus the reason for working on the videos.  I had to make sure the name was recognizable when trying to play on VLC.  I have also been working on a alternative to Immich since it has gone to a paid service for any new users which means suggestion it to other people would be out of the question.  I have been looking at photo prism or Libre photos.  I plan to stay with Immich but need something else that works the same way just in case lol.

Interesting day so far

The day has gone by quickly today.  I had a microsoft meeting/training that lasted an hour and watched a couple of AD videos and still feel like the day has been a bust.  I will have to hit the ground running tomorrow.

Here's to tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crazy couple of weeks

Well, it has been a while, but I have been hard at work get my "stuff" together LOL!  I had to get my rack setup for the one server I have for now as well as work on backing up the computer I am using as a server now.  The computer isn't bad but I am not able to get any GUI programs to run and I need that for my labs.  Not willing to give up the resource light setup of this box to redo it with a GUI.  Besides, I have a lot of services running on it.

I was able to get VMware running on my laptop and setup a lab for pentesting.  At least I can get started on my Linux+ and Security + training as far as being able to run scenarios locally.  Now I need to get the other box setup for AD training and maybe load pfsense for router/firewall analysis.  Also want to get proxmox setup in my lab again.  I have a lot to do and a little time to do it in before the end of the year.  That's my drop dead date for getting Network+ and Linux+ done.  Maybe if the AD setup works out I can fit Server+ in there too.  This is going to be expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

It is late

It is late and I am still up watching videos.  Can't get enough of the tech videos.  It will be a long day tomorrow but Friday night will be movie night lol!!!!!!

Twingate Monday

Well, I spent an hour today checking my twingate connections because I made a false assumption about the ip address for the resource lol.  Live and learn, I thought it was setup like tailscale but not the case.  At least I have verified it is still working.  I have actually never had a opportunity to use it when I am away from home but at least I know it works.  i just need to get it mounted correctly in VLC and I can stream all my music through my phone in the car from my server.  I guess I could use it for my pictures as well.  Umm, nice..............................!

Hump Day

Well, I spent 30 minutes today learning syntax is everything lol.  Yaml files are hard to troubleshoot.  I definitely need to work on that one.

I learned a lot today at least.  Now back to work!

Happy Wednesday 😀

Happy Thursday

I missed a meeting today due to having the time wrong on my calendar!  Oh well

Going over an online course for Active Directory and trying to do some PowerShell and Bash scripting courses online too.  Learning a lot!

Trying to stick to the free courses for now and once I am better prepared try one of the workshops online.

Well back to work lol!

Stay cool 😎

Wow it's Thursday!

Well, I got immich updated the other day and it only took 5 minutes.  Why do I hold off on these projects lol.  Portainer is up to date, but I need to check on Webmin.  I think webmin is deprecated but I will have to update it manually if it is still being updated.

One more day to Friday.

Still looking for a new job but I am spending my days studying and I am better off than I was before I became unemployed.  There is a lot to learn, I wish I could have done my learning another way.  Oh well!

Azure Online Maybe?

Well, I have been playing with my free azure account the last couple of days but I think I will try to setup something more local for serious AD labbing.  I will still keep the cloud one for backup but I don't want to incur any cost right now and with the cloud one if I go crazy on it I could get charged for that extra usage.  Now I need to find a computer to use that has the resources to run the vm's I will need for my labs.  Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thursday

Well, I just finished a Kevin Wallace video on Network+ and CCNA.  IPv4 to IPv6 conversions is interesting lol.  Not sure if I would ever use IPv6 in my environment but I guess it is coming.  Trying to go back and forth between Linux studies and Networking, plus windows AD.  This is going to be a long month.

Disappointed I was not able to get Virtualbox working on my server.  it looks like I will have to go with the qemu, virt-manager, vnc and virtualbox setup maybe.  Still not seeing the big picture.  Oh well!

Learning is hard

Well, I have learned a lot over the past couple of days.  Both Windows and Linux knowledge.  watch a couple videos from security experts about the CrowdStrike incident last week as well as did research on disk utilities for linux ( gdisk, gpartd and dd).  I should just use Clonezilla and call it the day, but I need to know how to work with drives from the cli.  Also just finished updating my resume on Linkedin.  

Now I need to get my Microsoft Azure setup this week.  Fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!!

I can't believe it is Thursday.  I am way behind on stuff.  A lot to do in the next couple of days.

Azure setup

Job postings

Check the forums (reddit, discord and linkedin)

I know I am a bad person

I was a bit under the weather.

Oh well

Portainer and Immich

Okay

I need to update Portainer and Immich because I am cheap it has to be done manually verses there being a automatic process for them (magic button).  Oh well!

I may wait a while after the Crowdstrike issue.  The update is not necessary for these tools now.  I am only getting a prompt for Immich to do an update.  

I am glad I am running Crowdsec on my systems lol.  This has been a crazy day.

More info on Crowdstrike Issue

I got this info from a reddit post by Crowdstrike 

F.Y.I.

CrowdStrike Engineering has identified a content deployment related to this issue and reverted those changes.

Workaround Steps:

1. Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment

2. Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory

3. Locate the file matching "C-00000291*.sys", and delete it.

4. Boot the host normally.

This will not work on an encrypted drive unless you are able to unencrypted it first.

--

Jeffery Johnson

Crowdstrike Issue Fix

Command to help fix: del "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike\C-00000291*.sys"

Good Luck!

Weird

Okay

Yesterday I decided to work on my security laptop with Ubuntu on it and get it updated.  The update went fine and I managed to get some new software installed.  Later that evening I pulled out the chromebook and that was a different story for an easy update.  The chromebook ran incredibly slow and for the first 10 minutes it was unusable.  Finally, after a couple of reboots and updates to the chromeos it started working normally. So, I thought, when I tried to access my blog page, I was not getting anything.  Normally i would have thought the page was temporarily down but I was just on it a couple of hours earlier from my work laptop.  Checked the internet, checked to see if any other pages were having an issue and all is working except for the blogspot.com domain.  I decided to throw spaghetti at the wall and check the vpn connnections.  Tailscale was installed by default and was not on, so I connected to it and checked the website no affect.  I then tried connecting to Twingate and got the prompt that I can't be connected to 2 vpn's at the same time which I thought was strange since I "thought" I did that all the time from my laptop.  Not the case, it was just that the laptop and my server that have both vpn's setup on them just disconnect me from the old one when I try connecting to one of them.  I did not know that, but it makes sense.  So, after ruling out the vpn's but learning something in the process, I went to the Ad Guard instance running in my environment and after updating it magically the blogspot website started working.

Weird

Hey but it is working now lol

Learning a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Galaxy Nexus Phone Pic

Quick post

Just spent the morning getting my Galaxy Nexus Phone working and yes I said Galaxy Nexus lol!  I have had this phone since 2012 and I loved using it before Google stopped the updates to it.  I then went to a Galaxy Note 3 which I also still have but the battery has to be replaced.  The Nexus was having an issue yesterday which getting it to power on.  I would plug it into the charger, and it would see the charger but not charger or power on.  I would push the power button and it would try to start up and then get power completely off.  I left it until today and decided to take it a part to see if I could test the battery but after just reseating it seems to have done the trick and it is fully charged and working.  I have not connected it to the internet yet.  I need to see if anyone else has done this and what their results were when they connected it.

Even though that was a good morning in itself that was nothing compared to after I did my kernel upgrade for my Ubuntu server earlier today.  I went Linux 5.15.0-113-generic x86_64 to Linux 5.15.0-116-generic x86_64 and that took my resource utilization for memory from 25 percent to 15 percent.  which is amazing since I just recently installed Immich on the server and it went from 18 percent to 25 percent a couple of days ago.  Not too sure about the integrity since it did take several minutes to complete the reboot.  It appears to be working now.  I think now I am more motivated to backup the server now lol.  Heck, kernel upgrade can be easily rolled back but whew.

F.Y.I.

Immich

Okay, today I installed and setup Immich for my photos and videos.  The setup page I used is below.

If you are just using for pictures and home videos skip the hardware acceleration portion unless you have a beefy system that can handle the extra IO's necessary.

Good luck

Docker Compose [Recommended] | Immich

 I might set up one for the family later one I get a couple of domains registered.

Survived Beryl

Well Beryl has passed, and all is well.  I was kind of worried there for a while but where I am at only got a lot of rain and high winds.  There were some power outages in my area, but they should be almost resolved now.

Now it is back to the grind with working on getting ready for my cert tests.  I am shooting to start taking them in the next 2 months.  Also still looking for work which is a endeavor in itself.

Here's to a stable life!!

Check this out – New cyberattack targets iPhone, Apple IDs. Here's how to stay safe

New cyberattack targets iPhone, Apple IDs. Here's how to stay safe

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/new-cyberattack-targets-iphone-apple-ids-here-s-how-to-stay-safe/ar-BB1pC1wN?ocid=socialshare&pc=U531&cvid=128011a37e564256b18f936556402a75&ei=58

New cyberattack targets iPhone, Apple IDs. Here's how to stay safe Clever cyberattack targets 1.4 billion Apple iPhone users. Tech expert Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson reveals how to protect yourself against this spreading text phishing scam. www.msn.com

A new week

Well, it has been a couple of days and it has been interesting to say the least.  I have been working on getting my network print working.  I am able to print from the server but not from another computer.  It installs the printer but errors out trying to print from the remote computer.  I am sure it is a permission issue with cups but I will have to work on it at a future date,  It works locally for now and I will have to live with it.  The irony is tha I have a print server device from Trendnet I could use but that is no fun.

also installed GnuCobol on my laptop to get familiar again with Cobol programming.  Amazing how a 30+ year old programming language is still relevant today lol.  Also working on Linux+ and Networking+ training.  I got to get those certs knocked out soon.

Another Week

Well, it has been another week unemployed and studying for that well-paying job.

I have been doing a lot with DNS setup, tailscale app connector setup and kasm setup.

Not sure if I will ever go with the tailscale app connector solution, not really seeing a use case for my environment but will try to setup if I get a desktop support job at my new place of business.

I need to work on getting Kasm setup but I need to replace the rotating drive in my server with a ssd which i had been planning to do anyway but Kasm runs better on a ssd.  I might try doing it this weekend but it is still up in the air.

I think I will spend the next couple of days watching youtube videos on networking, powershell and SIEM setup.

Here's to next week being more productive, lol!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, adguard is really kicking my but with things like Facebook but I am learning the nuisances of troubleshooting it.

Business Internet vs Home Internet: What's the Difference?

I thought you would be interested in this story I found on MSN: Business Internet vs Home Internet: What's the Difference? - https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/smallbusiness/business-internet-vs-home-internet-what-s-the-difference/vi-BB1meLzv?ocid=socialshare&pc=U531&cvid=214a3e957a264f89ab7b8f0f165432c5&ei=14

Nothing new

Well I have been working on and off the last couple of days.  Reading and watching videos on security and networking.  Learned a lot about Twingate more than I cared to know lol.  Fixed my permission issue with a samba share on my server.  I need to get home assistant installed and setup soon.  Maybe by Friday, who knows!

It's Friday!!!!!!

Well, it is Friday.  I did not get a lot done this week due to personal issues.  I had to find a contractor for fixing a hole in my roof which they will do tomorrow.  I actually took a nap today which I have not done in a long time.  Looks like I will have to get some studying done tomorrow along with some outside work.  I will probably play with my ubuntu laptop and get all my tools installed.  I will have to hit the ground running on Monday.  Hopefully the issue with my laptop internet will work itself out.  Only affecting onedrive but I need to be able to save to onedrive.  Right now I am working with just going wireless and everything appears to be working.  Weird the hardline connection would be the issue but oh well.

One more day!!!!!!!

Well I was able to get Portainer installed and setup on my server.  It was not as hard I I thought it was going to be which is a good thing I think lol!  I was also able to figure out the boot issue with my "Use for ethical hacking only" laptop.  Apparently, there was an issue with the kernel which was resolved when I reverted to the old kernel.  I spent a lot of hours on that one too lol!

Laptop: Dell Inspiron 14-3452

It will let me install Ubuntu on it and that is it.  No Parrot, no Kali just Ubuntu or Windows10.

Oh well

Also was able to get a little further with the printer issue.  Look, I have a lot of stuff running on my ore i3 processor box with 16 gigs of ram but that was not the problem.  It definitely looks like a configuration issue with the cupsd.conf file.  right not it is browsable on the network and I was able to bring up the cups admin console remotely from my laptop.  I think I will stop there for the say.  Youtube gets the points while google not so much.  2 YouTube videos and I got farther today due to something that makes no sense but it works

There is a difference between Listen localport:631 and Port 631 wow!  Oh and Port 631 is the right syntax.  I am making a note to backup my cupsd.conf and smb.conf when I get the printing working.  UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another Wednesday

Well, I got to play with Twingate and Tailscale yesterday and I like what I have seen so far.  Both allow me access to local resources when I am out and about without running a conventional vpn.  Granted the use cases I would use them for I could do using Nextcloud.  I will have to see what happens after a get Home Assistant installed and configured to test how seamless it will work with remote access to that system.  I need to get Home Assistant and Portainer installed in my homelab this week.

I am so glad in some morbid I chose to go with Ubuntu Server Core instead of using the GUI.  Learning so much being forced to use the command line to install and setup things.  It is a pain in the rearend but necessary.  I think I am about 50% with getting my homelab somewhat done lol.

Oh well!!!!!!

Monday, Monday

Well the week is starting off rocky!  Unable to get my print server setup in ubuntu core spend several hours trying to get it to work and no bueno.  something with the spooler but not sur what, I have checked the cupsd.conf file and well lol.  I am going to have and shelf that for now and work on a workaround for my printing over the network.  I need to rebuild my Proxmox instances this week due to not being able to upgrade it to the newest version.  Tried everything I know, and it is a no go.  I need to do it anyway.  I need to upgrade the ram and the hard drives in that box and well lol!  I did however get samba working.  It will make it easier to get files moved over to the server without using a thumbdrive.  I might get FTP setup on that box too.  Everything is behind a firewall so let's give it a go!

AdGuard F.Y.I.

Okay

I had been having an issue with my Google Nest device the last couple of days that I thought was an issue with the power going out in my house several times in the last 10 days but no, it was AdGuard that was causing the problem.

Take note that embeddedassistant.googleapis.com is required to be unblocked for that device to work properly.  Hopefully I have fixed the issue.

Live and learn lol!

HumpDay

Well, it is Wednesday, and I am almost done for the week.  I was not able to get Nessus installed but I did get Crowdsec setup and running on a couple of devices in my environment.

Still working on my AdGuard Home setup as well as the Twingate setup.  AdGuard has sped up my internet browsing alot but still needs more tweaking . So many tools and so little time lol!

Happy Monday

Okay

Today I think I will try and get a SIEM setup again in my homelab.  Need to decide between Wazuh of Nessus.  Here we go!

Almost

Well I did not get a lot done the last couple of days.  Storms in Texas causing power outages all over.  I did, however, get my resume done and worked on my profiles for other online sites.  Not as productive as I wanted but I will take what I can get for now.

Now I will spend the rest of the day watching vidoes on wireshark and nmap.  Fun!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL

Okay

I have been working on this blogger site for 90 minutes now and can't quite figure out why my post's are displaying weird.  I try to change the settings on the blogger site but still the same thing.  I think I have a workaround for this which I am trying now.  worked on the previous post lol.

Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Okay

It has come to my attention that I need to post more on this blog.  I know over the past several years I have been really bad at doing that which I blamed primarily on my job which I don't have anymore.  so I don't have an excuse now.  It was also brought to my attention that I can use this as a forum for posting my achievements while I work to get a new job so here we go!

Day 1

Finished by install of AdGuard Home and still working out the settings.  I did notice that it is bad at blocking Google ads even when you put the url source for the ad.  Weird

I refuse to believe I have to block the entire google domain to resolve this issue.  I will now just start noting the sites with Google ads I am having the issue with and circle back on this at a later date.

Now I need to work on getting my install of Home Assistant done.  Hopefully by end of day Friday.

Then next week I work on getting Windows Server 2019 setup and learning that from the ground up!

First Day Back

Well it has been a while, and a lot has changed for me.  More to come later lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!