Hi! 👋

I’m Grumpy, and I make content about Linux, Servers, and HomeLabs and build things I think are neat. I use this site to share all those things.

You can find me on various social media platforms linked below. I also share written content and projects on this site. (I’m also joining more platforms, so don’t panic)

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Recent Posts

MAKING AN ADS-B AIRPLANE TRACKER

This is the first hardware based project I’ve shared, but this is how I built my ADS-B Tracker. What’s ADS-B and Why Track It Most (not all) airplanes are required to broadcast their position as they fly around. This is intended for ATC and other planes primarily, and is another data point in a complex system used to keep these things from running into each other. These signals can be received on the ground, though, and are what power a number of different flight tracking sites to let you track specific planes, activity around an airport, neat or interesting aircraft you might want to go spot, etc.

RAMBLINGS ON SHITTY CONSUMER INTERNET

This is a post that’s largely going to be me complaining about shitty cable internet that I’ve lived with since its inception. Making the change myself, and now seeing others complain in forums has really soured me to most of the connectivity options out there. I won’t name the specific company, but a lot of this complaining will be focused around my experience with them and the myriad of issues I faced, both technical and non-technical.

OPNSENSE MONITORING WITH ZABBIX

One thing that is a key asset in any environment is reliable, thorough monitoring. Once as you add more redundant layers to your infrastructure, automated monitoring is frequently the only way to tell if something has failed, short of manual checking. When setting up monitoring for my OPNSense routers, though, I wasn’t super thrilled with the default options. There’s an SNMP template available in Zabbix, but SNMP set up on OPNSense didn’t seem straightforward, and I especially didn’t want to risk exposing this data to untrusted networks my router may sit on.

USING UNIFI PROTECT ACROSS VLANS AND VPNS

After Ubiquiti’s recent security faux pas, I started to question the best way to access my Unifi Protect cameras. By default, the Unifi Protect uses your Ubiquti account to log in, and disabling remote access breaks this. This can be bypassed with a little work, and if you’re using OPNSense, it’s pretty easy. Motivation I won’t comment on the recent security issues Ubiquiti had with their Unifi services, which includes the protect line of gear.

CLEANING UP FIREWALL RULES

One project I recently invented for myself is cleaning up my jumbled mess of firewall rules. The issue is that as time has gone on, I’ve created more VLANS, which has led to more rules that I’ve never really formally organized. It finally reached a tipping point, and after some experimentation, I found a new system that improves my security and makes things much more simple. My Problem The main issue here is that I have a lot of VLANs in my network.