Field Notes

Short notes on home networking and small servers.

Keep a changelog for your router

Every change to a home router feels small at the time. Six months later nobody remembers why a port is open. A plain text file with the date, the change and the reason saves hours.

Backups before upgrades

Take a configuration backup before every firmware upgrade and copy it off the device. Restoring a known good config is faster than rebuilding one from memory.

Small checklist

• Unique admin password, stored in a password manager.
• Remote management off unless you need it.
• Automatic updates where the vendor supports them.
• One guest network for devices you do not control.