Blog

Obtuse Networking Blog

Musings on IT...

  • Running AI..

    AI is finally becoming useful...

    • ai

  • Notes on Roundcube Mail

    These are some notes for my future self on how to get data out of the roundcube mail database.

    • notes
    • roundcube
    • howto

  • Be your own CA...

    I have been running my own Certificate Authority (CA) for my systems for some time now.

  • Notes on Doveadm

    Some quick notes for myself about using doveadm and managing mailboxes.

    • notes
    • dovecot

  • Self Hosted: Episode 8 - External Services

    Software Used: * OpenBSD 7.7 Overview Now that we have some services in our self hosted environment, we may want to allow access from outside our environment.

    • self-hosted
    • opensmtpd
    • smtp
    • relayd

  • Self Hosted: Episode 7 - Email

    Software Used: * OpenBSD 7.7 (as VM) * OpenSMTPD (part of OS) * Dovecot 2.3.21.1 (from ports) * RoundcubeMail 1.6.11 (from ports) * twofactor_webauthn 1.3.0 Overview Email is a surprisingly vast and…

    • self-hosted
    • email
    • dovecot
    • roundcube
    • opensmtpd

  • Self Hosted: Episode 6 - Authentication

    Software used: * FreeBSD 14.2 (jail) * OpenLDAP 2.6 (from ports) It has been said: "Three people can keep a secret, if two are dead." Fortunately, it doesn't need to come to that.

    • self-hosted
    • ldap
    • freebsd

  • Self Hosted: Episode 5 - Logging

    Software Used: * FreeBSD 14.2 (jail) Introduction If you can't observe what is happening then you can't find and fix what is broken Setting up a logging server at this point may seem premature.

    • self-hosted
    • logging
    • jail
    • freebsd

  • Self Hosted: Episode 3 - DNS/DHCP/NTP

    Used Software: * FreeBSD 14.2 (as jail) * ISC Bind 9.2.0 (from ports) * ISC DHCP 4.4 (from ports) Introduction It all begins with DNS...

    • self-hosted
    • dns
    • dhcp
    • freebsd
    • jail

  • Self Hosting: Episode 2 - Firewall

    Software Used: * OpenBSD 7.7 Introduction The firewall will separate the segments and provide protection for services that must cross the segment boundaries.

    • self-hosted
    • openbsd

  • Self Hosting: Episode 1 - Hypervisor

    Software Used: * FreeBSD 14.2 * Sanoid/Syncoid 2.3.0 Introduction Before we can deploy any services we need two things.

    • self-hosted
    • freebsd
    • vm

  • Password sensibilities...

    Finally some password sense! NIST has released some updates for password verifiers (SP 800-63B). While this isn't everyones cup of tea, it is nice when things like this come out to with discussions around security best practices.

    • editorial
    • security
    • password

  • Notes on DPI...

    Some quick notes on setting DPI for High Density Displays and X11.

    • cwm
    • openbsd
    • window-managers
    • x11
    • notes

  • HA @ Home

    At work I had build a global, highly redundant, scalable network that always provided best experience no matter what was thrown at it. At home... well, you've heard of the cobblers children?

    • openbsd
    • network
    • home
    • howto

  • "IT Security Is Broken?"

    Great interview between Ethan Banks and Mick Douglas discussion some of the failures in approach to security in business protection.

  • Picking a "good enough" password

    As humans we are not good at memorizing lots of random letters, number, digits and symbols. We can remember a very select few.

    • password
    • security

  • Giving packets a label

    One of the things I like about OpenBSD is that it has so many ways to communicate with other systems. Today I explore building an MPLS network using OpenBSD.

    • openbsd
    • mpls
    • eigrp
    • ldp
    • bgp

  • OpenBSD + LDAP

    You have a bunch of user accounts that you want to keep synchronized across multiple systems and services. How would you do that?

    • ldap
    • imap
    • openbsd

  • Is privacy making you less secure?

    "If a user has chosen to manually enable DoH, the signal from the network will be ignored and the user’s preference will be honored." Crap!

    • privacy
    • doh
    • browser

  • DNS64 + NAT64 on OpenBSD

    What do you do when your machines only communicate on IPv6 and you need to connect to an IPv4 only service? Translate.

    • openbsd
    • ipv6
    • dns
    • nat

  • OpenBSD + Wireguard

    Is Wireguard just another way to secure communications? Maybe... but let's take a look.

    • openbsd
    • wireguard

  • Network Automation... a brave new world?

    Network as code. Intent based networking. Network automation. Other than filling our your Buzzword Bingo card, what does this really mean? How can I use this? Is this another fad?

    • network
    • enterprise
    • automation

  • Quest for a Window Manager

    To be frank, I was never really in love with the mainstream window managers.

    • openbsd
    • window-managers
    • cwm

  • Enterprise LAN segmentation that works...

    If you've been around the enterprise security environment for any length of time, or even if you've just accidentally brushed up against someone who knows someone in the security world, you heard that you must segment everything! Flat networks are bad! Segment, segment, segment!

    • enterprise
    • network
    • segmentation
    • lan

  • Securing Home Network

    Securing Home Network while maintaining the Spouse Approval Factor

    • home
    • security
    • segmentation

  • DNS at home

    First let me clarify what I'm talking about in this article.

    • dns
    • openbsd
    • rpz
    • unbound
    • home

  • Anycast DNS...

    Howto set up an AnycastDNS server using OpenBSD

    • anycast
    • enterprise
    • dns
    • openbsd
    • relayd
    • bgp

  • Home Network Segmentation

    Enterprise environments utilize network segmentation to limit risk and exposure during a compromise or generally misbehaving devices. However at home, the vast majority of people just utilize one network and have all devices attached.

    • home
    • segmentation
    • network