Support
Forums

HOWTO’s, suggestions for Topics?

7 October 2023 4:22 pm
3 Min Read
Hi, I was looking to write a little more, however I wondered if anyone had any preferences with regards to subject matter. Some of the jobs I’ve done recently that I thought I’d like to document would include; Laptop security, for anyone...

Hi,

I was looking to write a little more, however I wondered if anyone had any preferences with regards to subject matter. Some of the jobs I’ve done recently that I thought I’d like to document would include;

  • Laptop security, for anyone carrying around a laptop with potentially sensitive information on it, having the data on the laptop encrypted when not in use can be quite important. (not least if your machine is misplaced or stolen) That said, encrypted data can be slow and a pain to work with depending on how you set things up. Over the years I’ve tried a number of solutions, the most recent of which is to use ZFS with pool based encryption. In this instance the ZFS Pool is unlocked when the machine boots, so /home and /etc/tinc and anything else with sensitive information on it is just a symlink to an encrypted ZFS Volume, encryption / decryption done on the fly and is completely transparent to the user. As soon as you power down, you’re left with encrypted data only.

  • ZFS as alternative storage driver to LVM for containers. This is a fully-integrated option for LXD and adds a number of options for containers including encryption and compression.

  • Running a VPN over geographically diverse sites without using or paying for a central server. i.e. link up remote houses, offices etc over a Virtual Private Network, where all locations are behind a broadband / NAT firewall.

  • Running Borg Backup with a Graphical User Interface

  • Using Orbit Communicator to keep your own synchronised local copy of email from all your different mailboxes - in one place. (do you back up your email? how important is it to you?)

  • Setting up your own Forum (like this) in a container on your own machine, then presenting it to the Internet on a real domain name, for free! (Ok, so you might need to pay £4 for a domain name if you don’t already have one, and you’ll need a computer with a broadband connection)

Incidentally, part of the work I was doing with ZFS was upgrading my 13 year old Laptop, which now has a 1Tb SSD in it. All for the princely sum of £36, incl. The cost of storage just seems to be getting a little bit silly. Anyway, any preference?

Click to view the poll.

Or indeed any requests?

howto

1 post - 1 participant

Read full topic

Tags