Setting up a virtual VyOS router

I’ve had many routers over the years — Linksys WRT54GL, Linux and iptables, ASUS RT-N66U, Ubiquiti USG, OPNsense, Ubiquiti EdgeRouter, and MikroTik CCR1009. At least those are the ones I can remember. But I’ve been fascinated by VyOS ever since I first heard about it, even more so after using the EdgeRouter CLI. As both VyOS and EdgeOS are forks of...

Apr 2022

More ducts for the balanced ventilation

We got balanced ventilation installed last year, and have been very happy with the system 🙂 But we quickly found that we needed to expand it into two more rooms — the 1st floor bathroom, used as the laundry room, and the play room, which will be a bedroom at some point. Time to fix that 🙂

Mar 2022

Simple homelab status page — bash script, NetBox, and AWS

I set up a super simple status page for the homelab — using a small bash script, NetBox, AWS S3 and CloudFront. But ended up using a hosted service instead — HetrixTools.

Mar 2022

Homelab power upgrades — new MBP, PDU, and USB power

I’ve already written about my PDU suddenly dying — and in that post I explained that I was going to do some changes to the homelab power layout. It’s time to do those changes 🙂

Feb 2022

Another ZFS pool expansion

It’s time for another ZFS pool expansion. When I last expanded; I doubled the capacity of my 2nd vdev — going from 16 TB to 32 TB raw capacity. This time I’m doubling again — replacing the last limiting drive, and fully utilizing the all the 8 TB drives 😃

Feb 2022

Scheduled S.M.A.R.T. scans

I’ve been planning to enable scheduled S.M.A.R.T. scans ever since I built my file server, but it was just one of those things that I never got around to do. Well — when one of the 8 TB drives suddenly started reporting S.M.A.R.T. errors, the scheduled scans got back on the agenda. So let’s do that now 👇

Feb 2022

Local email server — with Postfix and Dovecot

I have a local mail server with Postfix and Dovecot — I use it as a local SMTP smart host, and “notification center”. While gathering information for this post; I discovered that my file server have been sending me emails, warning me of S.M.A.R.T. errors on a disk in the ZFS pool. Every day — since September! So I’ve included a section on how to avoid...

Feb 2022

Two CAT6 cables and a fiber — from the basement to the attic

Since we first moved into this house — I’ve wanted to ceiling mount a Wi-Fi access point on the 2nd floor. But getting a network cable to the attic was challenging, so instead I opted for a Unifi UAP-AC-IW in the upstairs living room. It’s time to do it right, but I’m not running just one. My earlier Wi-Fi mapping revealed poor 5 GHz coverage in the...

Feb 2022

The homelab PDU died!

My homelab PDU suddenly died! It’s dead, D-E-D, dead! There are few things worse than a server rack suddenly going completely silent… The PDU has had an error since the power outage last summer — F11 means Power fail on auxiliary 1. Which is an odd error for a PDU with only one input. And; it wasn’t possible to clear or reset it it 😕

Jan 2022

Organizing my tools — with a tool trolley

In my new home office — I never got around to set up an organized system for my tools. I’ve had some in tool cases, others in boxes — with lids. Not a good system… I’ve found that if something is out of arm’s reach, I’m far less likely to put it back when I’m done with it. So I’ve accumulated tools; on the bench, and on the floor. But — with my new...

Jan 2022