Using the last trick I am able to block certain ports at the router/firewall, and then set port 9999 to tunnel over the network and put the outbound port to whatever service I am trying to connect to.

Some computers require admin access to install apps, especially VPNs because of the extra configuration they have to do to the network settings. My workaround is to run Putty in portable mode, set it to listen on dynamic port 8080, then use RDC/Chrome/Whatever to connect to 127.0.0.1:8080. Then you set it to tunnel all traffic over your SSH connection. Almost as good as a VPN, and now all traffic is encrypted over SSH.

Tried setting up a script to automate updates on servers. Still in the works.

• Setup ELK stack and ntopng to monitor network flow/analyze packets. Like a mini home SIEM.
• Setup a KVM over IP for all the servers.
• Setup DNS on a raspberry pi so I can use domain names instead of IPs to connect to servers on the network.
  • Pi-hole even though disabled was blocking a lot of content/connections through the DNS so I used Windows server DNS instead.
• Setup Proxmox running a different windows server with AD and a win10 client to connect to it for pen-testing.
• Rearrange the rack and put empty/old server chassis in the bottom

The pump died, awesome. Swapped it out for an old AIO and ordered an air cooler. 2 days later the second pump dies… Now one of the USB ports on the back of the board is dead too. Can’t wait to RMA the mobo for 3 weeks and not have a PC. At least I have a good spare PC to use.

Got the raspberry pi to sense motion and turn on the screen when someone is near. The website refreshes every 5 minutes to display new volumes in each keg. Integrated scales to weigh the keg so I know how much volume is left.