The blog
140 tutorials and war stories on homelabs, Windows Server, Microsoft 365, networking and security. Searchable, tagged, no pagination maze.
GL.iNet Mudi V2 (GL-E750V2) Travel Router Review
A look at the GL.iNet Mudi V2 (GL-E750V2) travel router: 7,000mAh battery, OpenWrt, 4G LTE SIM slot, and tunnelling all traffic to a home WireGuard server.
Understanding Routing and Network Address Translation (NAT)
How routing moves packets between networks and how NAT lets many devices share one public IP: static NAT, dynamic NAT, PAT and port forwarding.
What Is a VLAN? Tagged, Untagged, PVID and Trunks
VLANs explained from scratch: 802.1Q tagging, tagged vs untagged ports, PVID, voice VLANs for IP phones, trunk ports, and why a trunk is not a LAG.
How Do Computers Talk to Each Other? Networking Basics
Plain-language networking basics: LAN, WAN and Wi-Fi, the first four OSI layers, MAC and IP addresses, TCP vs UDP, DHCP, DNS and what the router does.
Group Policy Best Practices on Windows Server 2022
Group Policy beyond the basics: computer vs user templates, templates vs preferences, loopback processing for RDS, a Central Store for ADMX, split GPOs.
Set Up Active Directory on Windows Server 2022
Install Active Directory on Windows Server 2022 via Server Manager or PowerShell, pick a domain name, enable the AD Recycle Bin and build an OU structure.
Migrating to a New Domain Controller
Migrate to a new domain controller: check functional levels, move SYSVOL from FRS to DFSR with dfsrmig, promote the new DC and transfer the FSMO roles.
Reclaim Space on DFSR: Clean Up Conflict and Deleted Files
Reclaim disk space on a DFSR file server: lower the Conflict and Deleted quota and empty the ConflictAndDeleted folder with WMIC cleanupconflictdirectory.
Hetzner Cloud Sign-Up: Create Your Account and First Project
Sign up for Hetzner Cloud step by step: account, identity check, billing and two-factor auth, then your first project, SSH key and API token.
CrowdStrike Falcon Update Crashes Windows PCs Worldwide
The July 2024 CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor update that blue-screened Windows PCs and servers worldwide, and the safe mode fix: delete C-00000291*.sys.