Cloud-Internet

Introduction When I was running WordPress, I was using Matomo (formerly Piwik) for analytics. This solution worked for me, but was more complicated than I needed, and I didn’t make use of 99% of the features. It also required PHP and MySQL/MariaDB, which were not installed on the new server hosting my Hugo-based blog. Because of this, I wanted to switch to a simpler analytics solution. Self-hosted vs SaaS For a long time, I’ve hosted a Matomo instance on my server and proudly stated in my privacy policy: ...

Introduction Hopefully this page is coming at you blazing fast, and with a new look! If so, you’re seeing my static site generated by Hugo. Here’s some high-level thoughts about the migration from WordPress, which I’ve been using since 2014, to Hugo. Why I’m switching You can Google “wordpress to hugo” and read 1000 posts about why people make the switch. Here are my reasons: Security WordPress is written in PHP, which has an unfairly bad reputation. I think the WordPress core codebase is actually pretty good. If you’re running a vanilla blog with no plugins or custom themes, you’re probably safe enough (as long as you turn on auto-update). ...

Hey! Listen! This post is part of a series on pfSense. Check them all out! Date URL Part 2025-03-01 pfSense on the OPNsense DEC740 Migrated to the OPNsense DEC740 2019-08-25 pfSense on the PC Engines APU2 Migrated to a PC Engines APU2D4 2019-07-17 My SG-1100 died Migrated back the the EdgeRouter Lite 2019-06-28 Migrating away from the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite Migrated to a Netgate SG-1100 Introduction In the past few weeks, I replaced my EdgeRouter Lite with a Netgate SG-1100. Two weeks later, my SG-1100 died, and I had to put the EdgeRouter Lite back. However, I still wanted to replace the ERL with a pfSense device (albeit, not Netgate hardware). ...

Hey! Listen! This post is part of a series on pfSense. Check them all out! Date URL Part 2025-03-01 pfSense on the OPNsense DEC740 Migrated to the OPNsense DEC740 2019-08-25 pfSense on the PC Engines APU2 Migrated to a PC Engines APU2D4 2019-07-17 My SG-1100 died Migrated back the the EdgeRouter Lite 2019-06-28 Migrating away from the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite Migrated to a Netgate SG-1100 Introduction I recently wrote about how I was dropping the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite for a Netgate SG-1100 running pfSense. However, on July 9th (about two weeks after installing my SG-1100) I noticed my internet connection died, and I was unable to ping the router. I used a micro-USB cable to view the console and noticed it was not pulling an IP address from my FiOS ONT. ...

Hey! Listen! This post is part of a series on the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite. Check them all out! Date URL Part 2019-06-28 Migrating away from the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite Migrated to a Netgate SG-1100 2019-02-03 EdgeRouter CNAME records Setup CNAME records 2017-10-03 Dyn DDNS on EdgeRouter Setup DynDNS 2017-04-25 DuckDNS on EdgeRouter Setup DuckDNS 2017-01-08 Ubiquiti EdgeRouter serial console settings Serial console settings 2016-11-29 Ubiquiti UniFi controller setup on Raspberry Pi 3 Install UniFi Controller 2016-08-30 EdgeRouter Lite Dnsmasq setup Setup dnsmasq 2016-06-13 EdgeRouter Lite software upgrade Firmware upgrade 2016-05-12 EdgeRouter Lite OpenVPN setup OpenVPN server setup 2016-04-29 Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite setup Initial setup Introduction For years, I’ve been using and loving my Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite. For about $100, you’re not going to find a router with more features. In fact, most of Ubiquiti’s offerings are a very good value for the money. However, in the past year or so, Ubiquiti has seemed to have some issues with what direction they want to take as a company: ...

Hey! Listen! This post is part of a series on the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite. Check them all out! Date URL Part 2019-06-28 Migrating away from the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite Migrated to a Netgate SG-1100 2019-02-03 EdgeRouter CNAME records Setup CNAME records 2017-10-03 Dyn DDNS on EdgeRouter Setup DynDNS 2017-04-25 DuckDNS on EdgeRouter Setup DuckDNS 2017-01-08 Ubiquiti EdgeRouter serial console settings Serial console settings 2016-11-29 Ubiquiti UniFi controller setup on Raspberry Pi 3 Install UniFi Controller 2016-08-30 EdgeRouter Lite Dnsmasq setup Setup dnsmasq 2016-06-13 EdgeRouter Lite software upgrade Firmware upgrade 2016-05-12 EdgeRouter Lite OpenVPN setup OpenVPN server setup 2016-04-29 Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite setup Initial setup Introduction What is a CNAME record? A canonical name (CNAME) record is a special type of DNS record that points one domain name to another. ...

Introduction In March of 2018, Let’s Encrypt (the free Certificate Authority) announced they added support for wildcard certificates through the upgraded ACMEv2 protocol. I’ve been hosting most of my services on subdirectories (e.g., loganmarchione.com/rss) but have been wanting to move them to subdomains (e.g., rss.loganmarchione.com), and thought this was the perfect chance to do just that. What are wildcard certificates? Wildcard certificates cover any subdomain of a specific domain. For example, I own loganmarchione.com. Because of this, I can create services as subdomains of that domain. For example: ...

Hey! Listen! This post is part of a series on the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite. Check them all out! Date URL Part 2019-06-28 Migrating away from the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite Migrated to a Netgate SG-1100 2019-02-03 EdgeRouter CNAME records Setup CNAME records 2017-10-03 Dyn DDNS on EdgeRouter Setup DynDNS 2017-04-25 DuckDNS on EdgeRouter Setup DuckDNS 2017-01-08 Ubiquiti EdgeRouter serial console settings Serial console settings 2016-11-29 Ubiquiti UniFi controller setup on Raspberry Pi 3 Install UniFi Controller 2016-08-30 EdgeRouter Lite Dnsmasq setup Setup dnsmasq 2016-06-13 EdgeRouter Lite software upgrade Firmware upgrade 2016-05-12 EdgeRouter Lite OpenVPN setup OpenVPN server setup 2016-04-29 Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite setup Initial setup Introduction In the past, I’ve posted about my DuckDNS dynamic DNS settings, and mentioned I use Dyn as well. My Dyn setup is documented below. ...

Introduction While creating CAA records, I found myself needing a new DNS provider. During that process, I thought it would be a good idea to document what it take to host a website and how the internet works (in a very limited sense). To host a website on the public internet, you need three things: domain name DNS record(s) web host Typically, most domain registrars offer basic DNS support. In addition, most web hosts also offer basic DNS support. However, you can (and probably should) have these three services hosted at three separate companies (you don’t want all your eggs in one basket). ...

Introduction Certification Authority Authorization (CAA) is a new DNS record specifying which Certificate Authorities (CAs) are allowed to issue certificates for a domain. Introduced by RFC 6844, CAA protects websites by only allowing certificates to be issued by specific CAs. If an attacker were to take over a website, they would only be able to obtain a certificate from a CA specified in DNS CAA records, limiting the damage they could do. While CAA records aren’t going to completely stop certificate misuse, they are easy to implement and are part of a larger security plan. ...