Learning Tmux IntroductionI've been using linux a long time, and know a pretty decent amount about it - however my fluency with some of the more 'slick' ways of doing things is pretty bad. Tmux is a 'terminal multiplexer' which means instead of relying on your favourite GUI tool to manage your
Paradise Station (SS13) Preface: I've not posted in a while, and I don't usually post about things related to gaming. However for anyone that's ever played Space Station 13 documentation is essential! This post aims to be a guide for general bits and pieces related to the game: roles, server hosting, and general
Python OpenPYXL Poor Performance Optimisation Problem:OpenPYXL is a python library for parsing excel files. It's fantastic and works really well. Plenty of features are supported but my primary use-case is to simply read data from various sheets and convert the contents into a dictionary / list of dictionaries. The problem is, if you have a
Docker in FreeNAS Problem:I have a NAS, it runs FreeNAS. I also have a server, running Docker. I don't want the server anymore. Time to run it on FreeNAS! Solution:FreeNAS now supports docker via the 'VMs' tab (currently using FreeNAS version 11.2-U4.1). The VM that is instantiated is running
The shortcomings of Cisco DNS & NAT Introduction: Usually these posts are centered around solving a problem - and this is no exception, however I'm going to rant a little more than usual as the experience with DNS and NAT in my particular situation has been particularly painful in the last few days! Problem: I've got a
Cisco GUI management for small docker services - Specifically AAA. Introduction:As stated before - I love docker. It's great. But I also run a number of virtual machines for various purposes. One of those VMs happens to be Cisco ACS 5.8. This controls AAA functions for TACACS+ logins to my Cisco hardware, as well as RADIUS authentication for
Cisco Cisco 'new' TACACS+ Config A real short post to keep track of the new config for TACACS+ on Cisco devices. It's not really that new, but it avoids the deprecated warning! Old Style: tacacs-server host <server ip> key <my tacacs key> Replacement 'new' config: tacacs server AUTH address ipv4 <
Cisco Cisco Zone Based Firewall (IPv4 & IPv6) Introduction:I don't like security. It just gets in the way when you're trying to get stuff done. But that is no excuse to have nothing in place! I typically trust NAT, and don't tend to operate with much in the way of firewalling on home router setups. NAT will
Cisco ACI Fabric Discovery - Not working! Problem: I work with ACI - but in test environments. I am frequently in a position where the fabric needs totally resetting, or a new fabric is being built from switches & components which have been used in other fabrics. As a result of the above churn, there's all sorts
Persistent Static routes - macOS High Sierra Problem: I've got a mac at work. It's connected to two physically separate networks, one of which has a default route, but the other needs routes when the adapter is plugged in. Surprisingly, there's little information on this. Solution: It's actually pretty simple. The command is as follows: sudo networksetup
Ubuntu Server 18.04 x64 Deployment Introduction: It's been a while since I wrote my guide for the deployment of ubuntu 16.04, so I figured I would make one for the latest LTS release: 18.04! Implementation: First, download the ISO file from the ubuntu website: http://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04/ubuntu-18.04-live-server-amd64.iso
Cisco Cisco ACI bits 'n' bobs Introduction I'm fairly new to ACI, and am coming across new things all the time. Here I will provide quick bits and pieces of things I find which are useful to know and have documented. Content Erase fabric to factory defaults When you want to destroy the whole fabric and
Docker Better 'docker stats' output (with Name) Problem: The docker stats command isn't great - it gives you container ID vs name, which when you have a pretty small deployment like me (~20 containers) you usually know what services you're running, and want to see the actual names of these things. Solution: Like most docker commands, we
Docker Ghost (blog) migration to 1.0 Introduction: It's been some time since Ghost 1.0 was released, and I've been putting off this day for a while. Essentially the migration strategy I was trying to use wasn't working in the slightest and moving everything seemed to be a bit of a nightmare. Whether the migration document
Linux HAProxy 'home' Load Balancer Introduction: I've done a few posts in the past about using nginx as a reverse proxy / loadbalancer, however I thought I'd look into HAProxy as a possible alternative to some of the issues I was facing. Such issues include: nginx failing to start if downstream services are not online. Site
Cisco Import Certificates into Cisco IOS Router (SSL VPN) Problem: So I've made a few posts on automating SSL VPN with LetsEncrypt etc etc, however what if you're already using some way of generating certificates? Be it LetsEncrypt or otherwise. Essentially these days I rely on another container to generate certificates as they're used by my loadbalancer to serve
Alexa Windows PC Wake up / Shut down - Automated Problem: I've just got an Amazon Echo. As the previous post suggests I've got it talking to Jenkins, so anything that can be done in Jenkins Alexa can now call, which is rather awesome. This being said, I wanted to get Alexa to turn on and off my PC, which
Docker Amazon Echo - Integration to Jenkins Problem: So if you've ever dealt with an Amazon Echo (Alexa) you'll probably know that it's pretty awesome. There's all sorts of things you can do. As far as I could tell there are two main parts 1) Standard organisation / convenience: Essentially you get something you can ask questions to,
Cisco Cisco IR829 Tinkering Introduction: The IR829 router is a rather interesting beast, it has 4G, wireless, GPS, an accelerometer, water resistant, fanless, gigabit switchports + WAN and vehicle ignition system features. It's also got the ability to run VM / containerised services within a small linux environment on the router itself. This post will serve
Python Netmiko Python package on Alpine Problem: For a current project I was looking to use netmiko to administrate a Cisco router - and given my natural affinity for Docker I'm planning to use a container to run the script, so I do not have to depend on an external server being set up with the
Linux Reset VMware vCenter root password Problem: The vCenter appliance requires a complex password for the root user, which of course you'll forget after 5 minutes if you're just spinning something up for test purposes. Naturally what then happens is that vCenter server is used for a whole bunch of stuff until the end of time.
Docker Shorten & Alias 'docker ps' output Problem: The default 'docker ps' command has a rather verbose output. This (especially for me) is due to the sheer number of ports associated to containers. As a result, I need a super wide terminal to actually accommodate for this, which I don't like. If you don't have a short
Sky Fiber Broadband with a Cisco Router (897VA) Problem: I've written a post previously of how to get sky ADSL broadband working with a Cisco router HERE however this particular implementation just got upgraded to Fiber (or VDSL). So, I've had to update the configuration on the router to get VDSL working. The model of router I am
Linux Ghost blog account recovery Problem: Naturally I'd never be so silly to forget my own password....however Billy is not so sensible and forgot his password. For some reason (I've not even bothered to look) the forgot password button isn't doing it's job right, so now I've had to go in manually to fix
Boiling Water: Kettle vs Microwave Introduction: Now this is a rather unusual post, however I consider myself scientific and myself and a couple of colleagues (to those of you who know me reading this - I am of course talking about Tim and Alun) were debating the best way of heating water. Using a kettle,
