KVM Virtual Machine Template

March 20, 2025 - 3 mins read

In a previous post I discussed creating a RHEL or AlmaLinux KVM virtual machine using a Kickstart file and a bash shell script. I’ve recently decided that I wanted an easier approach to quickly creating a virtual machine using a pre-existing template I had created. In my research, I found there are quite a few ways to complete this task but this is the method that works for me, using AlmaLinux, and may also work for you.

Home Network Internet Parental Controls with UniFi Network

March 3, 2025 - 3 mins read

I have a young child in my home. As she gets older (she’s turning 9 years old this month) she has more and more exposure to the internet. For any parent, this is a challenge; I need to keep her safe from malicious content on the internet. I have used Ubiquiti network devices on my LAN for many years and have had no major complaints with their products. However, one thing that really isn’t very clear in their UniFi Network web interface, used to manage all my devices, is that you can manage internet use for a specific client.

Linux 101 - Part 1

January 13, 2025 - 3 mins read

Linux

I love Linux. I am passionate about Linux. I am a Linux geek. I think I have stated that before in this blog but I wanted to state that claim again for this post. There was a time that I had attempted to run a YouTube channel to help those interested in learning Linux. However, I found that with the limited time that I had between personal life, work life and school life was a very difficult task to maintain.

Fedora & Debian Photo Album Kiosk

November 7, 2024 - 5 mins read

I previously posted about setting up a Raspberry Pi with Raspbian 11 as a photo album kiosk. Since then I wanted to test completing the same setup with Debian and Fedora on an x86 machine, just in case my Raspberry Pi died, or if I decided I needed a faster machine and wanted to use my spare Beelink S12. This a great setup if you have a spare machine and monitor lying around for displaying family photos (again, see previously post to see my example).

Beelink Mini S12 Faulty Network

September 27, 2024 - 3 mins read

I recently purchased a second Beelink mini S12; mainly because it was such a good deal for $140 USD that I couldn’t pass up. The difference in this model versus the S12 Pro I had purchased for my Jellyfin server (see previous post), is that the S12 Pro is an Intel N100 while the S12 is an Intel N95. Well, it is true that you get what you pay for. The S12 (N95) has a bad wired network interface.

Home Server Monitoring with Cockpit and Landscape

September 18, 2024 - 4 mins read

Server monitoring has many levels. From my own personal experience, in the I.T. world as a Systems Administrator, I have used many products for such purposes (e.g. SolarWinds). You can monitor servers for simply their availability status. Or, you can get as detailed as monitoring performance and resource statistics. On my home network, I have tried many solutions from Nagios to Zabbix to Checkmk. All have been solid solutions but, truthfully, a bit of overkill.

rclone Google Drive Cloud Backup

July 23, 2024 - 3 mins read

In my backup strategy I have a few tiers of backup for restore scenarios. I have my primary data folder that syncs to my Nextcloud server on my home network using the Nextcloud client. This is so I can sync that same data to multiple devices on my LAN, even while I am off my LAN using my Tailscale network. That Nextcloud instance has a NFS share mounted from my 8TB Synology NAS (one of these days I’ll post about my Nextcloud setup).

Jellyfin and the Beelink Mini S12 Pro

June 14, 2024 - 3 mins read

I believe I may have mentioned (but don’t fully recall) in a previous post that I was a Plex user for many years. I had it running on my Intel NUC running CentOS then to AlmaLinux then to Red Hat and it worked well without any issues. For the past couple of years or so, I haven’t been happy with the direction Plex has been moving, like requiring a “cloud” account in order to view my own local media.

New PC Build

May 23, 2024 - 6 mins read

Finally, after using the same PC build for 9 years, I have built a new desktop PC. Thanks to the community members over at Tom’s Hardware forum, I puchased the parts from this list (as of 05/2024): https://pcpartpicker.com/user/t3kg33k_og/saved/#view=zpXWrH Even though I am an avid Linux fan, I had no choice but to install Windows 11 because there is one game that I play regulary (when I have the time), and have played for a very long time, that will not work in Steam’s ProtonDB is Insurgency: Sandstorm due to the anti-cheat software it uses is only compatible in Windows.

Minisforum NAB5 New VM Host

April 15, 2024 - 4 mins read

I found such a good deal on a new computer a few weeks ago that I had to pull the trigger. I had been shopping for an inexpensive mini-PC that I could setup as a new KVM/libvirt virtual machine host to replace my Intel NUC and found the Minisforum Venus Series NAB5 on Newegg on sale for 359 dollars USD. Normally, I purchase used computers on Ebay, most of the time for under 200 dollars USD; the two Lenovo ThinkCentre M700 you see in the diagram below I purchased for less than 100 dollars USD (my leon machine had some roles at one time but have been migrated to other servers).