Switch your lights automatically: ESP32cam, Node-RED & Raspberry Pi

Ever wanted to control your light automatically when it is too dark outside? You want to start a project based on an ESP32 and fancy IoT-home automation via Node-RED? Then this small project is for you!!

Continue reading Switch your lights automatically: ESP32cam, Node-RED & Raspberry Pi

Nextcloud-Docker on Kubernetes-cluster + SSL certificates

Folks, this has taken me ages (ok to be honest – three weeks, which is still a lot ;-)) to get up and running. But finally, I have made it and learned a lot about Docker, Docker-Compose, Nginx and Kubernetes of course.


Summary

In this post I am showing how to set up a Nextcloud on Kubernetes + Ubuntu 18.04. I am running a Nextcloud-instance on a public VM to sync stuff with my phone. Another one (with more data) is only accessible via my LAN/VPN. The first one I am encrypting via Let’s Encrypt (open todo!) and the 2nd one via self-signed certificates.

The stacks are set up via Kubernetes to be able to scale horizontally in the future, since I had to live with some performance-issues in the past. GitHub – andremotz – nextcloud-kubernetes Continue reading Nextcloud-Docker on Kubernetes-cluster + SSL certificates

Homeserver update: The ultimate backup-system

A couple of months my primary harddisk of my Homeserver crashed. As a result I lost the main system which was Windows Home Server. I didn’t want to set up everything again because I thought there will be the same case again – harddrives are born to die sooner or later. So I decided I to set up a more agile system that I can back up easy. A system that can boot up from an attached USB flash drive. So I switched over to Ubuntu Server. Continue reading Homeserver update: The ultimate backup-system

DIY GNU/Linux Firewall, Router & Gateway

Once again I had to use my Geek-genes to solve a bunch of problems with a kind of fly flap: A Do It Yourself GNU/Linux Firewall, Router and Gateway for the home network. While most people do not seem to have problems with these tiny little routers and Wifi-Access Points that they get from their Internet Carrier, I recognized that the number of connection-issues correlates with the number of Computers and mobilephones you have at home.

A dedicated machine acts the primary gateway for all devices and allows remote connections via OpenVPN, which is really useful: I can backup my Laptop via Internet 🙂 It took me several days to get it up and running, but that project pushed my Linux and networking-skills beyond somewhere they never have been before and our network issuses have been solved.

Computer hardware is really cheap these days so I could by a kind of high-end equipment for its tasks. An IBM eServe 336 costs me around € 60 on eBay plus shipping from Germany and that bit of hardware (Dual GBit NICs !, SCSI Raid-1 !!, Intel Xeon 3 GHZ !11) should work at least for the next ten years.

Windows Home Server + Mac Backup

Finally I want to show the world a projects that I was working on in my spare time for two years now. Due to the fact that the number of computers at home increased in the past few years, a backup-solution is obsolete.

I have chosen Windows Home Server to backup two already running Windows-machines and three Macs. While the integrated backup-routine for connected Windows-machines works very well, I had to think of a solution for the Macs. Apple’s Time Machine only accepts local hard disks but no remote connections, so they have sales arguments for their Time Capsule-product. Continue reading Windows Home Server + Mac Backup