How to Set Up Client SSL Certificate Authentication for Rocket.Chat
2023-05-23
Are you looking to add an extra layer of security to access Rocket.Chat? One way to do this is by implementing client SSL certificate authentication. This authentication method requires clients to present a valid SSL certificate to authenticate themselves to the server. In this post, we will walk through the steps to set up client SSL certificate authentication using Nginx. Prerequisites A server running Ubuntu Allow HTTP/HTTPS/ssh in security group Create a public IP and associate it.…
Adventures of the Geek: Remote Password Reset
2022-06-16
Our adventure begins on a Monday evening. I received a call from a family member that lives a bit over 8 hours away. I powered on my laptop today and it won’t take my password Unfortunately the laptop runs Windows 10. I have made it a point to not use windows and haven’t for last several years. Primarily using linux or osx. Leaving me at a bit of a disadvantage.…
Rocket.Chat and the Matrix Protocol
2022-05-30
Rocket.Chat now has federation support via the Matrix protocol. This announcement is an exciting one to me. I’ve been working with Rocket.Chat since I found it almost 7 years ago. One of the things I recall from early on is the vision of being as ubiquitious as email. One of the beauties of email is not everyone is on the same domain or let alone even the same kind of mail server.…
Rover Project: Update 3
2021-07-04
Finally a more eventful update! Last time I worked with building parts in CAD I was using solidworks or AutoCAD. I have no desire to buy either one of those right now plus I need something that will run on linux. So started investing some time into learning my way around FreeCAD. Creating first iteration of the wheel 50mm radius for a 10cm/100mm diameter wheel 3mm thick Based on the specs of the motor:…
Rover Project: Update 2
2021-07-04
So the robot parts sat in my closet for a few months. I kind of forgot to order the parts. Recently realized I really need to disconnect more fully from work in my off hours. When your hobby includes coding and in same language as you write for work.. Its a bit harder to keep your brain from making that jump to thinking about work. So i’ve been on the look out for new hobbies.…
Rover Project: Update 1
2021-07-04
Parts came in! Finally got time to work on it again. We wired everything up. We gathered up some cardboard. We found something to trace and cut out 4 wheels. (you’ll notice this is defintely a deviation from the original sketch. But this was insisted on once the additional motors were spotted). We also put together the transmitter on another breadboard Now if you do electronics seriously at all you’ll probably notice straight away two different issues.…
Rover Project
2021-07-04
My family is very STEM oriented. I grew up learning hands on at home. Taking things apart. Questioning how things worked and eventually learning how to actually fix those things I took apart. As much as possible we’re trying to encourage this for our kids. They are pretty fortunate as they have good examples of this on both sides of the family. So they come by their curiousity about the world around them very naturally.…
OVH Serial over LAN (SOL)
2020-09-07
Its been a while since I’ve worked with physical servers and typically when something happened I could pretty quickly get physical access to the box if things went pear shaped. But when you buy or lease servers from a provider like OVH. Those servers might be sitting half way around the world. So if something goes wrong you need to some how virtually be in front of the keyboard. OVH has a few different ways to access your servers console to interact with the machine directly.…
Tinkerbell or iPXE boot on OVH
2020-09-07
Recently have had to work with a number of physical servers that need to be treated more cattle like than a bunch of pets. I need to be able to quickly and easily provision servers to fit a specific role with out having to go through a complicated setup process. For this type of thing PXE or iPXE comes to the rescue. Allowing you to boot over the network. Simply rebooting the machine and then having it pick up its instructions and be provisioned like needed.…
Decision Fatigue in 2020
2020-08-28
This last couple of weeks I finally took some time off of work to try and reset. I’m not always the greatest at taking time off. I take an extra day or two combined with the weekend for a mini-vacation around the Holidays to see family and it’s often the minimum time needed. This year with everything going on really had to force my self to step back and try to reset with a staycation.…