Stein Home Network - 2021 Edition

Every year over the holiday season there are usually changes to the Stein Home Network. This is because I have extra time with vacation and the like to work on projects. Usually those changes are limited to one or two modifications such as installing some new equipment, switching an existing service to a new technology, upgrading operating systems, or expanding a capability. However, for 2021 the Stein Home Network will undergo a major overhaul by moving some services to a third-party or appliance. The downsides of these changes are a reduction in capabilities such as fail-over of certain services, loss of control over some data, and additional financial costs due to third-party subscription costs. The benefits include simplification of the network, a reduction in hardware and energy consumption, and less regular needs to perform various maintenance tasks.

The main goal for this iteration is to simplify the network by reducing the number of servers and amount of software to maintain. To meet this goal, the following things are planned to be addressed:

• Move email hosting, (including SPAM filtering and virus detection), to a third-party
• Redesign offsite backups
• Reduce the number of virtual machines maintained
• Retire one physical server from full-time use
• Expand home automation functions

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RSS Aggregation - 2021 Edition

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way in which people can subscribe to a feed on a web site. Instead of visiting a web site to see what if any new articles of interest have been published, RSS may be used to detect new articles and possibly alert you when something new is available. An RSS Aggregator is a centralized system that subscribes to multiple RSS feeds and provides one place to view them all. In my case I have multiple news and humor sites to which I subscribe and want to be able to read all the articles from those feeds on multiple devices such as a computer, a phone, and a tablet. The main goals of my RSS Aggregation implementation are:

• No reliance on third-party services and instead host all the necessary capabilities on my home network.
• Ability to centrally control subscriptions from multiple RSS feeds.
• Ability to read and manage the aggregated feeds from multiple devices.
• Have all devices remain synchronized in what feeds are available, what has been read, and any bookmarks or "favorites".

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Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

This meatloaf began as a Halloween-themed recipe I found on the Internet. However, my son and I liked it so much I cut the recipe into a third of the original, and cut out the "zombie-style" decorations for cooking any time of the year. Even though I usually use bison, the bacon around it and vegetables inside it keep the meat moist.

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Cheeseburger Egg Rolls

What is better than a cheeseburger? How about a deep-fried version? While these do take some effort to put together, the rest of the process is quick and easy. Plus you may freeze uncooked ones, so is something you may prepare well in advance. When ready to deep fry them you may put them in frozen. However doing that I will usually let them thaw about 10 minutes and pat them down so there are no water droplets or ice crystals on the outside.

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