Installing Your Root Certificate
To become a real CA, you need to get your root certificate on all the devices in the world.
But we dont need to become a real CA. We just need to be a CA for the devices you own. We need to add the root certificate to any laptops, desktops, tablets, and phones that access your HTTPS sites. This can be a bit of a pain, but the good news is that we only have to do it once. Our root certificate will be good until it expires.
How Do You Create A Domain
If you want to have a website, then the first thing youll need to do is create a domain name. Without a domain name, there wont be a way for users to actually access your website.
Beyond actually choosing a domain name, youll need to pick a domain name that is short, memorable, and represents your business.
If that sounds like a lot, dont worry.
Below youll learn why choosing the right domain name is important, common domain name selection pitfalls, and finally, youll learn how to go through the process of actually creating a domain.
How Do I Share Files Or Folders Over A Network Now
To share a file or folder over a network in File Explorer, do the following:
Right-click a file, and then select Show more options > Give access to > Specific people.
Select a user on the network to share the file with, or select Everyone to give all network users access to the file.
If you select multiple files at once, you can share them all in the same way. It works for folders, tooshare a folder, and all files in it will be shared.
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Disadvantages Of Setting Up Your Own Vpn Server
The vast majority of people should not set up their own VPN server at home. The odds are that youll be better off using a trusted, safe VPN service, like ExpressVPN.
If your internet connection suffers from slow upload bandwidth, creating your own VPN server isnt worth the effort itll just slow down your service even more, including downloads.
Self-built VPN servers also require meticulous setup and technical know-how to make sure that they arent vulnerable to security flaws.
Whats more, a home-based VPN is not an online privacy tool at least, not totally.
Since it only encrypts internet traffic between the VPN client and the VPN server , your ISP and any third party that has access to the data your ISP collects is still able to see everything you do online.
In contrast, top-tier VPN services will protect your online privacy, and will automatically keep up to date with the latest security patches.
The best VPNs dont collect any of your personal information.
VPN providers often have VPN servers in dozens of locations globally, unlike a home VPN which only assigns you the IP address of your home network.
With a commercial VPN service you can connect to servers all over the world in order to access geo-restricted content.
Using ready-made VPN servers allow you to stream, torrent, and browse in privacy, with effortless setup.
Using a third-party VPN service will most likely give you better speeds than a self-made server too.
Creating A Wireless Network
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How To Set Up Local Domain Name
Assume I have two computers with hostnames pc1 and pc2 in my local network 10.0.0.0/24. My router has the ip address 10.0.0.138 and its instructions say that it is also reachable at modem.home, which I tried and is true.
I want to connect from pc1 to pc2 via ssh and use its hostname, not its ip for that. However, the host commando under linux gives me this result when using the ip address of pc2:
host 10.0.0.53Host 53.0.0.10.in-addr.arpa not found: 2
I tried to do some research about what this means, and I think it says that
Now to my questions:
What exactly is the .home domain? Is it usual or is it just something my router sets up?
It’s just something your router sets up.
As many routers do, it internally runs a DNS cache/proxy and advertises itself as the DNS server in all DHCP responses. The router’s DNS proxy is configured to serve *.home names out of local configuration instead of forwarding the queries to ISP’s DNS.
The router has the name modem.home statically defined to always return its own IP, but other *.home subdomains are usually read from the DHCP server’s lease database.
How can I add my computers to that domain so that I can retrieve the hostnames of the other devices ?
ex. hosts
10.0.0.20 pc2.home
ex. hosts
10.0.0.10 pc1.home
Should I Set Up A Home Vpn Server
There are a few reasons you might want to set up a VPN server at home.
Firstly, if you need to access your local network while out and about, setting up your own VPN server at home is a good idea.
Hosting a VPN server in your home means that you can access files from your local network and stream Netflix or access other geo-restricted services while abroad.
If set up correctly, connecting to your own VPN while using public WiFi will help protect you from hackers looking to steal your personal information. The VPN encrypts internet traffic between the client and the server.
You also know who owns the servers youre using. This should make it more transparent as to what data and information being logged and stored.
But setting up your own VPN server at home isnt always recommended.
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How To Join A Windows 10 Pc To A Domain
Domains provide single user log on from any networked computer within the network perimeter. Heres how to join a Windows 10 client to a domain.
A Domain-based network provides centralized administration of an entire network from a single computer called a server. Domains provide single user log on from any networked computer within the network perimeter. Users can access resources for which they have appropriate permission. While I do not want to go into the complexities of Domain networks, you can find out more by contacting your Network Administrator if you have difficulties connecting to your workplace domain.
To join a Domain, you must first ensure you have the following information and resources:
- A user account on the Domain, this information you can get from your Network Administrator.
- Name of Domain.
- A computer running Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise/Education editions
- Domain Controller must be running Windows Server 2003 .
- I discovered during testing that Windows 10 does not support Windows 2000 Server Domain Controllers.
Adding The Root Certificate To Ios 14
If you use something like ngrok to browse to your local development sites on mobile devices, you might need to add the root certificate to these devices. On iOS devices you can do so fairly easily by following these steps:
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Create A New Ptr Record For Reverse Lookup Dns
The reason I like to have both forward and reverse lookup zone for the DC server is that some applications or services, that I going to install later on, might need these records.
Right-click the new zone and select “New Pointer “.
Insert the Host IP address and the Host name and click “Ok“. Do a nslookup 10.18.157.5 in a CMD. This will resolves the same as nslookup serverdc1.lab.local.
Set Up Your Wireless Network Adapters
A network adapter connects your device to a network. To connect to a wireless network, your device must have a wireless network adapter. Make sure that you get the same type of adapters as your wireless router. The type of adapter is marked on the package with a letter, such as G or A.
To check whether your device has a wireless network adapter, follow the instructions.
Note
You might be asked for an administrator password or to confirm your choice.
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Generating The Private Key And Root Certificate On Windows
On Windows, its also possible to configure your environment to run the openssl commands. You just need some additional tools.
If you are running Windows Subsystem for Linux then its as if youre running Linux and the commands will work exactly the same. If youre using Windows with something like WampServer or XAMPP youll need a way to install the OpenSSL command-line utility in Windows. The most straightforward way to do this is to install Git for Windows, which comes bundled with OpenSSL and the Git Bash utility.
Once you open a Git Bash window, you can run the same commands as for macOS or Linux, with one small difference. Due to how some console applications work in Git Bash, you need to prefix all openssl commands using the winpty utility.
So for example, the following command is how to generate the private key to become a local CA in Git Bash:
winpty openssl genrsa -des3 -out myCA.key 2048
The other small differences are the file paths in Git Bash. When you open a Git Bash instance, the home directory in the terminal is mapped to your User directory in Windows, but with a Linux-like directory structure. So if your User directory is located at c:\Users\Hellfish in Windows, your Git Bash home directory will be c/Users/Hellfish.
How Do I Troubleshoot Sharing Files And Folders
To troubleshoot problems with sharing files or folders, follow the steps below on all computers from which you’re trying to share.
-
Update Windows. Ensuring all machines are as updated as they can be is key to making sure you aren’t missing out on any driver or Windows updates.
In Windows 10, some features of file and folder sharing over a network have changed, including the removal of HomeGroup. Read on for answers to common questions about other changes to file and folder sharing in Windows 10.
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Why Run Your Own Dns
Running your own DNS server gives you more control over your network. One common motivation is being able to configure network-level domain mappings, such as web-server to 192.168.0.101. Configuring your router to use your DNS would result in any of your connected devices being able to access 192.168.0.101 via http://web-server.
Having your own DNS server lets you centralize settings into one location instead of applying them individually in /etc/hosts on each device. Theyll apply to everything you connect to your network, including embedded hardware which provides no other way to customize its routing stack.
An in-house DNS server can also improve performance and provide an extra layer of resilience. Wide-scale DNS outages are not unheard of using a custom server with a long-lived cache for critical services you interact with could help you ride out downtime at your selected upstream provider.
How To Setup Domain To Point To Home Web Server
I am setting my home server as a website server. I am struggling to make it work. I have bought a domain and set it up correctly, but I can’t reach my server. Below you have my network distribution. I’m afraid I might not be able to make it work due to the ISP router.
My network distribution diagram
If I put the domain I bought into my browser it takes me to the ISP router setup, so that bit is correct. I am not sure then how to make it take me to my router. I tried port forwarding from the ISP Router to my third-party router but I still get sent to my ISP router setup. I was expecting to see the TPR setup page.
What do I need to do to route it correctly? In case I change the web server port to something different, would I have to do something else?
- Your ISP-provided router most likely does not support hairpin NAT. If thats the case, there is nothing you can do.
Hairpinning
As mentioned out in the comments, hairpinning support on your router could be an issue:
Hairpinning is where a machine on the LAN is able to access another machine on the LAN via the external IP address of the LAN/router .
The quickest way to test for this issue is to use a network that isn’t local to access your domain. For instance, connect your smartphone to your carrier network and see if you can use the mobile browser to successfully access your the web server via your domain. If you can, then the problem you are encountering locally is likely a hairpinning issue.
Other Troubleshooting
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Setting Up A Basic Lan
Register Dhcp Hostnames In Unbound Dns
Now go to Services > Unbound DNS > General. Ensure you have checked the DHCP Registration and DHCP Static Mappings options . The DHCP Registration option allows hostnames from all DHCP clients to be resolvable. It will use the hostname that is set up in each devices configuration. If you have not configured a hostname for your devices, the devices will typically have a default hostname. Not all devices will have a hostname set so you may see blank hostnames on the DHCPv4 Leases page . You will not be able to access the device by its hostname until you set one .
The DHCP Static Mappings option will allow hostnames to be resolved when creating a static DHCP mapping for a particular device. If you set a hostname in a static DHCP mapping with this option enabled, you will essentially be using the hostname specified in the static DHCP mapping rather than the hostname configured on the device itself. Keep that in mind if you are expecting the configured hostnames to match. As mentioned above, you can create a static DHCP mapping for any device that does not have a hostname in order to provide it with one .
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