Posts

Posted on

Graylog: Syslog aggregation for free?

Welcome back! Today, I’ll be discussing one of my favorite homelab projects: Graylog.

Graylog is a free for personal use syslog aggregator. What does that mean? Well, we’ll start with syslogs. Syslogs are system log messages that various operating systems use to document what is happening with the system. This includes Linux syslog (/var/log/syslog) and Windows Event Logs for both server and home editions of Windows. These come in handy when troubleshooting issues or when you need to check specific time frames to see what a system was doing. But, this requires going into each system individually to read these; If there’s an issue affecting multiple systems, you’ll need to check out each system and correlate time frames to troubleshoot. Enter Graylog.

Graylog allows us a way to receive all syslogs from across a single or multiple networks. In the case of my homelab I run about 25 virtual machines of Windows and Linux varieties. Trying to nail down an issue across multiple servers can be a bit of a pain, but with Graylog I can see everything in one spot. But that’s just scratching the surface.

Continue reading “Graylog: Syslog aggregation for free?”

Posted on

AI Comprehensive Guide to pfSense

Introduction: In today’s interconnected world, network security is paramount. Whether it’s for home or business use, having a robust firewall solution is essential to safeguarding your network from cyber threats. One such solution that has gained immense popularity is pfSense. In this article, we’ll delve into what pfSense is, how to install and set it up, and weigh its pros and cons.

Continue reading “AI Comprehensive Guide to pfSense”

Posted on

State of the Network: 2023

Welcome to AASullivan.com! I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, so here it is: The State of My Network. I’ve been planning to do an overview of my entire set up for some time now and I’ve finally kept everything in a consistent state now for a few months after many years of tinkering. A little background…

My home network (also known as my “home lab”) has been a long term project of mine to both try out new technologies and keep my skills sharp in a real server environment. It started in 2014 with a single server in my apartment running ESXI 3.5 on a system with a 6 core AMD CPU and 16GB of RAM. It was a blast to try new things (DNS server, file server, Plex, etc) and I’ve learned a lot since those times. My current Home Lab is considerably bigger now and is larger now than many small company systems; My poor power bill will never be the same. Let’s take a look at some of the set up!

Continue reading “State of the Network: 2023”