$ whoami

Michael Brown

IT technician and systems admin who builds a real network at home to learn on before doing it at work. This is where I write up the lab, the courses I've built, and the things I broke and fixed along the way.

Anderson, SC full background →
hypervisor Hyper-V on Windows Server
guest os Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS
desktop Pop!_OS
runtime docker, systemd, nginx, ansible
uptime home lab, since 2023
# heads up — this page was built with AI (Claude) doing the design and code. The projects, the lab, and the writeups are mine; I just didn't hand-write the HTML/CSS myself.
01 / windows server

DNS, DHCP, and Hyper-V

ongoing

Windows Server is the backbone of the lab — the Hyper-V host every VM runs on, plus internal DNS and DHCP for the whole network.

LIVE Windows Server Hyper-V DNS DHCP read the writeup →
02 / linux

Ubuntu Server, Pop!_OS, and automation

ongoing

Ubuntu Server VMs running Docker and nginx, Pop!_OS on the desktop, servers kept patched with an Ansible script, and SSH locked down to key-based auth.

LIVE Ubuntu Server Pop!_OS nginx Ansible SSH read the writeup →
03 / networking

Switching, wireless, and segmentation

ongoing

A Cisco 2960XR switch, two Omada-managed EAP225 access points, and VLANs to keep traffic segmented — plus the live troubleshooting log.

LIVE Cisco VLANs Omada EAP225 read the writeup →
04 / firewall & vpn

pfSense — firewall and remote access

ongoing

pfSense enforcing VLAN boundaries at the edge, plus an OpenVPN remote-access setup rebuilt around a DDNS hostname after a hardcoded IP took it down.

LIVE pfSense OpenVPN Cloudflare DDNS read the writeup →
05 / courses I've built

A self-built CompTIA Network+ course

in progress

An interactive HTML course for N10-009 with quiz-gated modules, Cisco Packet Tracer labs, and a ~216-card Anki deck — built while studying for the cert myself.

IN PROGRESS Network+ Packet Tracer Anki read the writeup →