ClifFixIT Reloaded

The IT Documentation Structure That Finally Stopped the Chaos

2026-02-18Cliff

Intro

Have you ever found yourself digging through old notes, saved Post-its, and a graveyard of past emails trying to locate that one critical piece of information about a server or system you maybe touch twice a year? I know I have. And while I genuinely pride myself on being able to recall detailed technical things in chronological order such as dates, configs, decisions… you know, the works, I’m fully aware that relying on my own memory is not a documentation strategy. It’s a liability waiting to materialize at the worst possible moment.

VPNs, DNS, and the Art of Not Being Watched: My 2025 Privacy Setup with pfSense

2025-05-07Cliff

INTRODUCTION:

It’s 2025. And let’s be real — online privacy is still treated more like an upsell than a right. I started caring about digital privacy back in 2014 when I realized just how much metadata could say about you, even when your actual content was encrypted.

A VPN, I found, wasn’t a magic shield — it was a rerouting trick. A sleight-of-hand for your internet traffic. The ads scream “Get a VPN and you’re protected,” but the reality depends entirely on what you’re trying to accomplish.

How Fixing My Kitchen Plumbing Was Basically Debugging a Network Issue in Copper

2025-04-05Cliff

Intro

The first time I tried to fix the reduced water flow on our kitchen sink, I was feeling confident. I took everything apart like a seasoned IT pro diving into a misbehaving service—cleaned out every bit of debris I could find. It felt like progress. But then, after I reassembled it all? It was worse. Like “no internet connection but all the lights are green” worse.

A Comprehensive Guide to Setting up a Nextcloud Server with Hardened Security - PART I

2025-02-19Cliff

1. Introduction

Back in 2019, I was searching for an automated way to sync photos from our phones—something seamless that my wife and I could rely on. I started experimenting with AWS and stumbled across OwnCloud, a solution I had heard of but never used. Curious, I spun up a VM and tested it out. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this was exactly what I had been looking for—a self-hosted alternative to the ever-growing ecosystem of cloud storage services like Google Drive, iCloud, and Dropbox.

Self-Hosted Blogging Solution: A Deep Dive Setup Guide

2025-02-15Cliff

Introduction

In this post, I’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of how I set up this site as a self-hosted blogging solution. This guide covers everything from creating a lean Alpine Linux container on Proxmox, configuring the Hugo environment with all necessary packages, to automating the build and deployment process via a custom script. I’ll also share tips on using Visual Studio Code (VSC) with SSH plugins to manage your container seamlessly.

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