I\u2019m running an IPSec and OpenVPN server on the little box so that we can VPN from a PC or Mac and <\/strong>our iOS devices from anywhere. pfSense is reasonably well documented, so it\u2019s pretty easy to get around. While it\u2019s not as easy as some open source router replacement software (like TomatoUSB<\/a> for example), it\u2019s far more capable and extensible. The community seems great too (although I\u2019ve not had to directly use it). My only disappointment is that the traffic graph is lame (compared to others I\u2019ve used): I had no problems with the install (as this micro server isn\u2019t headless). It works really well and with the exception of the full image backups from WHS 2011, I\u2019m not missing any functionality. <\/p>\n I\u2019m using no-ip.com<\/a> as a replacement for the Windows Home Server dynamic IP functionality (as part of a WHS, you were allowed one dynamic IP host name such as wickedlycoolstuffatmyhouse.homeserver.com). I\u2019d definitely recommend no-ip.com (they\u2019re free for basic services and cheap for an improved service). The agent used by no-ip.com can be run as a Windows service and updates every 5 minutes (so that your IP address, if it changes will be reflected nearly instantly by no-ip.com. I used the WHS remote file access feature so few times I won\u2019t miss that (it was so SLOW!). Now, with the VPN via pfSense, I can remotely wake a PC, and RDP to it directly (or access file shares). Much better. <\/p>\n I\u2019ve got a number of external HDs that I\u2019ve got set up with scheduled tasks to back-up the server and other files (and I\u2019m also running Storage Pools with mirroring).<\/li>\n While we have an AppleTV, we love our Roku more. (Partly as we just haven\u2019t decided to spend money on iTunes if Amazon has the same products). It\u2019s not perfect, but it\u2019s not expensive and it plays Amazon content more consistently than our \u201cInternet enabled\u201d Samsung TV.<\/li>\n We\u2019ve had one micro inverter fail and was replaced. <\/p>\n The Envoy also needs wired internet access so that it can update a public\/private web page with the latest data from the solar panels. It\u2019s actually quite slick. Thankfully, there is no subscription service. (For the geeks, there is reasonable local access to the data through the device as well if you wanted to get direct access to the data without going through enphase and their \u201cEnlighten\u201d portal) The Envoy is powered by apparently a CPU slightly more powerful than a toaster. The thing takes minutes to boot. It\u2019s really only frustrating when you\u2019re trying to find a final resting spot for the device. We have two cameras that have night time IR capabilities. Ignore what they say on the packaging for \u201cnight vision\u201d distances. They\u2019re always wrong. Further, the \u201cvision\u201d is so weak at the far end of the distance to be absolutely useless. Practically speaking, I\u2019d take the distance they suggest and at least cut it in half. Also, make sure you consider the distance from the mount to the ground in your calculations. While I like the idea of IR, it works so poorly on our cameras that I couldn\u2019t recommend any specific reasonably priced model. If you\u2019re expecting to be able identify someone using the IR, good luck. You might be able to tell the difference from a human or a sasquatch, on a good night.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n And that represents the majority of things we\u2019ve got setup in our house right now. I\u2019ve tried to include links to the original product page or where I bought a given product if available (or to a newer model if the older one has been discontinued).<\/p>\n I\u2019m so embarrassed by the state of the wiring and setup of the majority of the equipment mentioned above that I\u2019m not going to include a photo. It looks like a child\u2019s messy toy chest, filled with wires and various rectangular boxes with blinking lights. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve done a lot of reworking of our computers and network recently and thought I\u2019d post some details about the various physical and digital parts that make our humble WiredPrairie home work. Using Google Docs, I created a labeled diagram with most of the moving parts of our house (WOW, Google Docs Drawing is an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[122,121,123],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5QIe-sB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1924,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1924","url_meta":{"origin":1773,"position":0},"title":"PRTG Network Monitor, Part 2","date":"July 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Since my last post on the PRTG monitor, I\u2019ve added some more probes (thanks to their offer of a free upgrade to 30 sensors). However, before I got started, the monitor showed that the system health had an alert: I clicked on the red alert box, and the detail page\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/image_thumb6.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":785,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/785","url_meta":{"origin":1773,"position":1},"title":"A forgetful DSL modem….","date":"June 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Our household DSL modem, which is generally very reliable, occasionally, and mysteriously seems to forget a setting that I like to enable. I don\u2019t know why, and I\u2019ve never determined whether there\u2019s a pattern to the loss or not (like maybe it\u2019s every 30 days or some crazy thing like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Coding"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1508,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1508","url_meta":{"origin":1773,"position":2},"title":"Nest Thermostat Review, Update #9","date":"January 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary\/Index When I woke up this morning, I decided that I\u2019d use the remote features of my Nest Thermostat to increase the temperature of the first floor as the normal schedule hadn\u2019t started yet. Here\u2019s what I saw on my iPad: Basement: ? First Floor: ? When I tapped the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/image23.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1340,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1340","url_meta":{"origin":1773,"position":3},"title":"Nest Thermostat Review, Update #1","date":"December 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"After a few weeks of using the Nest thermostat, I\u2019ve got a few more comments that I\u2019d like to share. (Here\u2019s my post about the installation). The learning feature honestly hasn\u2019t been very useful in the first few weeks. It\u2019s apparently easily confused by days that you're home unexpectedly (for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/image_thumb3.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1382,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1382","url_meta":{"origin":1773,"position":4},"title":"Nest Thermostat Review, Update #4","date":"January 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Update #6, Update #5, Update #4, Update #3, Update #2, Update #1, Install A bit more about my Nest thermostat experiences. On the weekend, I spoke with a support engineer from Nest regarding the issue I was having with one of the Nest units failing to properly read the room\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/image_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1901,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1901","url_meta":{"origin":1773,"position":5},"title":"PRTG Network Monitor for Windows","date":"July 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My current router\/firewall\/VPN device has an unfortunately mediocre live monitor for bandwidth statistics, but supports SMNP. So after a reasonably painful search for decent free options (oh boy are there some awful ones!), I installed the freeware version of the Paessler PRTG monitor so that I could easily see the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/image_thumb3.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1780,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions\/1780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Home](\"http:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Home-Setup1.png\" "\\"Home")
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