In the last two articles, we have laid the groundwork for getting our backups in place. By now you should have your site selected, your server built and your router and firewall(s) configured. Now let’s talk about the last big preparatory item before we get to the backup itself. So what is this last step …
In the last article we talked about the fundamental requirements for our DIY backup solution. Now that we understand what’s required, it’s time to set the wheels in motion. As I mentioned previously, our off-site backup server will be running Linux. For this type of workhorse function, I prefer a lightweight OS, so I chose …
I'm a big believer in backups. I've gone completely over the top in the past and have so many external backup devices that I found myself confused about which was which. Knowing that a backup, by itself, wasn't enough, I eventually started storing my data in "the cloud" by leveraging Amazon's S3 service. This meant …
I’m a geek at heart and love “tweaking” my home entertainment system. My family will tell you that I make changes even though there is nothing “wrong” with the existing setup and, to be honest, they would be absolutely right. That said, I am driven to change and am all too happy to oblige. One …
Last time I talked about Home Automation systems and ways to persuade those systems to perform functions they were not necessarily designed to perform. In this post, I want to talk about how one can maximize some of the built-in functionality that comes with most home automation controllers. One of the out-of-the-box functions that many …
I seem to change my home file server platform like most people change their socks. My most recent change was from Windows Server 2008 to a Mac Mini running Snow Leopard. Since most of the computers in our house are now Macs, it seemed like a logical next step to migrate our server back-end to …
I have been wanting to set up a home automation system for some time now and have finally taken my first steps. Do a bit of investigation on this subject, and you will quickly be overwhelmed with options. The grand daddy of these systems is a power-line based system called X10. Unfortunately, X10 has always …
I jumped onto the MP3 player bandwagon fairly early with my purchase of the Creative Labs Nomad, in 2000. This was Creative’s first MP3 player (it wasn’t even theirs, it was a rebranded Samsung model) that launched in June of 1999 and was a leading edge device for its time with 32MB of RAM, FM …
If you’re a hostmoster or bluehost customer this might come in handy. I created a domain for my son, we’ll call it 123mydomain.com, and then setup an email account for him. Being the teenager that he is, his mom and I wanted to have a little bit of control and therefore did not want him …
Whew, what a day. I called Yahoo (case 5607533) this afternoon to get an authorization code to transfer a domain that I registered with them on April 1, 2006 to a new registrar. When I registered the domain, I registered it for two years and I also purchased a years worth of hosting services which …
