Ben Sanders

cgit

2025-11-28T00:00:00-05:00

Since I’ve moved my website(s) over to a dedicated server I started using I’ve been meaning to configure my own host for git repos. I ran +into some trouble getting it to work properly but thanks to Luke Smith’s landchad.net somebody had written an article how to get a basic one +working.

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Turns out the main thing I was missing was this line from my nginx site config file try_files $uri @cgit ;. The error that fixed was a 403 Forbidden error I kept getting when attempting to visit git.sanders.life.

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I did use the article to make sure HTTPS cloning would work too though and cloned a couple repos I’m interested in having a mirror.

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Now, though, I can freely push my repos to my own server with a read-only frontend to it for other netizens!

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Anyway, thanks for reading this little update to my site and services.

Thoughts on Georgia PSC

2025-11-11T00:00:00-05:00

As I sit here listening to Phillip Defranco and Alex Pearlman’s podcast, which I just discovered, they’re talking about the recent +elections we had I’ve got a few thoughts on it, and it got me thinking.

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We had an election last week and it gave me hope for the midterms. Not only did my home state of Georgia elect two Democrats +on to the Public Service Commission for the first time in twenty years but elections across the country progressives and Dems won +their elections with huge margins.

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We still have a year to go until the midterms but I think with some good ground movement to keep this momentum going Democrats can +take back the house and senate. I’m even hopeful us here in Georgia can elect one more person to the PSC or even take the Governor +office. Though before taking anymore state offices I think my main concern is ensuring Jon Ossoff remains a senator and I’m more +pumped to vote for him again after him not caving to Republicans that will take away health care from millions of Americans.

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Going back to the Georgia PSC election I find it interesting that back before the Georgia GOP took control of the state it started +with a PSC election. I’m hoping maybe that will be the same here but for the Democrats!

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I’ll end this short post off just bay saying that I have hope for the midterms and have cemented in my mind that elections do matter +and we should vote whenever given the opportunity.

CCNA Studying

2025-10-11T00:00:00-04:00

I’ve been wanting to write this post for a few weeks now but since I’m in a new term for my school seems like a good time to reflect.

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Currently I am studying for my CCNA and in, hopefully, my final term for my Bachelor’s of Science in Network Operations and Security at WGU. +As it stands I have attemped the CCNA exam twice now and failed so I’m working on changing up my study method to go in and ace it on the third +attempt. I’d also like to try to blog here while I spend time in Packet Tracer labbing and reviewing JeremyITLab’s and CBT Nuggets courses.

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Hopefully what I write here will help someone else who is currently studying or just wants to learn more about how networks work as well as +be a way for me to cement enough information into my head for the exam.

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As of the writing of this post I have 24 weeks in this term to go through and study up on my week areas and pass two more courses to recieve my +degree. I think the way the I will update this blog will be to work on an article through the week of studying and labbing or have an article +for each topic I work on which will be focused on the following from the Cisco Exam Topics Guide.

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Topic 2

VLANS
Etherchannel
CDP and LLDP

+ +

Topic 3

Static routing for IPv4 and IPv6
OSPF

+ +

Topic 5

ACLs

+ +

Well, enough writing this little introduction article. It is Saturday so I’m going to get started working on some subnetting then VLAN labbing.

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Thanks for reading, +~Ben

Reddit Blocks the Internet Archives

2025-08-28T00:00:00-04:00

So, I was watching an EposVox video titled “It’s time for Reddit to die”. It might be a little hyperbolic of a title and some might say clickbaity but it’s not wrong.

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After the whole API change I personally cut back my Reddit usage. I say cutback because I have still used it occasionally to find older information or even less +occassionally for newer stuff when someone sent me a link. That said though my time just mindlessly browsing Reddit since the API change had dramatically decreased and +I’ve, honestly, been much happier. I don’t even have the app on my phone anymore.

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This more recent news of a change Reddit has made though just seems to add salt to a still open wound by them blocking the Internet Archive from archiving their site. +To be fair I’m aware Reddit is a business and one that is publically traded. I know they need to make money and allowing content to be elswhere probably runs counter +to that goal.

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The internet has always been a place that information wouldn’t just go to die eventually. There has always been people, myself included, that had +a passion for archiving things. Allowing the internet to be a vast treasure trove of human knowledge for future netizens. Things like this latest move by Reddit and +the move to private Discord servers over public IRC channels makes it harder for that knowledge to continue to exist on the internet.

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That is the reason I love the IndieWeb movement and hate when companies do things to restrict information from being free. I believe that it attempts to show people just what we’ve “lost” by using these big corporations for our internet services. +Now, we haven’t actually lost the old internet, which is why I put lost in quotes, but it just needs to be rediscovered by a wider audience. The internet itself and all the +websites and services are decentralized by design. You can use services by corporations like Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, etc or use some independently run website or forum by +a dedicated fan or group of fans.

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Running those independent services cost money though and it’s not as easy as a few clicks to create a subreddit or Discord server. I believe though that if you use a password +manager it does make managing logins easier and even help your security online.

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I’ll leave a link to a Verge article below on the Reddit change and wanted to sign off with one more thought. Check out the IndieWeb and support independent +websites and forums!

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Thanks for reading and see you in the next post! :D

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Articles/Videos mentioned in this post (Links open in same tab):

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Reddit will block the Internet Archive

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It’s Time For Reddit To Die

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P.S. Use the mobile reader in your browser if on mobile.

Unemployment, CCNA and Other Things

2025-08-16T00:00:00-04:00

It’s been a minute since the last time I updated my site. I blame it on moving servers recently and forgetting how to auto build +jekyll sites using git’s post-recieve option. As I sit here and write this though I have seemingly fixed the issue because I was +able to successfully build and push new content to my site.

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Over the course of the last two years (wow) though a lot has changed. I have continued to worked hard toward my bachalor’s degree +through WGU. I’ve taken a severence off work which has allowed me the time to work on education and think on life. It also has +given me a much needed rest.

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So, what about my study for my CCNA?

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That is a big cert to achieve. Since I started my study journey at WGU I knew I wanted to work specifically in IT as a Network +Engineer or at least a Network Administrator. Well, I say since WGU, I knew I wanted to work in that field back in 2019 when I +graduated from a local community college with my second Associate’s degree in Networking.

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Either way, this all comes to a head with me studying deeper with Cisco hardware and software. Getting deep with subnetting, +OSPF, BGP, etc. Running commands to check Cisco router and switches interfaces like sh ip int br.

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If I had thought about it when I started my university journey I would have blogged my way through each course. Sadly, I didn’t +though I will do my best from this point going forward to write a weekly-ish article here on what I studied that week. You see, +I did recently take the CCNA already and failed. So, I’ve been trying to work on labbing more and study on weaker areas so I can +attempt the exam again.

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Another reason I wanted to ensure my site was working as I’d like is because I’d like to get into posting things here instead +of social media. I’ve grown a distrust to big tech and a love for helping the “small web” remain viable and fun. So, over the +the coming weeks I’ll probably add small web things to this site. :)

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That’s about all I have to say now. Thank you for reading this short article and hope you’ll visit every so often to see +what I’m working on!

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-Ben

Down With Big Tech!

2023-06-12T00:00:00-04:00

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Back when I started using the internet roughly 20 years ago (I’m 31 now) the internet was a much different place. We had social media in the form of MySpace and had search engines like Yahoo then later Google. Those were all great things. It allowed normal people to have free access to information which is the way information should always have been. While I wasn’t very old at the time I can remember signing up for Gaia Online an MySpace at the time but I also remember in the 2010s reading people’s blogs like Chris Pirillo’s and curating an RSS feed.

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My point in saying all that is that I miss the days of the old, smaller, web and want to go back to that which now feels like a good time to talk about giving trouble at sites like Twitter, Reddit, and Twitch. I feel like we’ve allowed the internet to be taken over by a few big companies when we should instead be controlling it as netizens. That means doing things like using RSS, linking to friends websites, and using hosted email services instead of Gmail.

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I love the power the internet gives us as regular people and if you know how to program or maintain systems the greater power it gives. Things like “I’m a fucking webmaster” speaks to me. To round out this short article I just want to say the web was a simply a lot more fun when it was smaller. If you’d like to join me in keeping the old web alive please feel free to add my RSS feed which can be found here https://ben.sanders.life/feed.xml.

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That is all for now. Please feel free to reach out at my business Sanders Technology Group if you need a website or general IT services.

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-Ben

Passbolt Initial Impressions

2023-04-04T00:00:00-04:00

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Download as a PDF

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So, today (4th of April 2023) I decided to spin up a Debian 11 VM to install passbolt to and try out self-hosting a password manager. I currently use 1Password and don’t really see myself switching to a self-hosted solution but figured there is no harm in trying out the “competition”.

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The install process so far has been super easy and CLI oriented. I decided to go with the non-Docker install because I like running things directly in the VM. Maybe I’m finally get old -shrug-

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Anyway, the process was basically going to https://www.passbolt.com/ce/debian and follow the instructions in CLI.

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wget "https://download.passbolt.com/ce/installer/passbolt-repo-setup.ce.sh" 
+wget "https://github.com/passbolt/passbolt-dep-scripts/releases/latest/download/passbolt-ce-SHA512SUM.txt" 
+sha512sum -c passbolt-ce-SHA512SUM.txt && sudo bash ./passbolt-repo-setup.ce.sh || echo "Bad checksum. Aborting" && rm -f passbolt-repo-setup.ce.sh
+sudo apt install passbolt-ce-server
+

+ +

One thing I notice is that it installs certbot implying I should be using a domain and not attempting to this locally. Let’s see what happens when I try it locally anyway.

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Okay, it’s going to start off creating an empty database.

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Saved the MySQL user and password in 1Password 😆 then got to the TLS section and hit none since I don’t have a domain to use currently. Looks like I can provide the IP of the server instead though which I’m entering in 192.168.1.173.

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Setting up PHP 7.4 and MariaDB 10.5 so a little out-of-date on the PHP but not too bad. We’re done!

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Let’s go the server’s IP and see what it looks like now and get it configured.

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Cool as mentioned in the wiki I get the not yet configured page https://help.passbolt.com/hosting/install/ce/debian/debian.html

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Entering in the database information

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🤔 Hmm getting that it can’t connect to the database.

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I know it’s online and I can connect.

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ben@passbolt-test:~$ mysql -u passboltadmin -p
+Enter password:
+Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
+Your MariaDB connection id is 41
+Server version: 10.5.18-MariaDB-0+deb11u1 Debian 11
+
+MariaDB [(none)]> show databases;
++--------------------+
+| Database           |
++--------------------+
+| information_schema |
+| passboltdb         |
++--------------------+
+

+ +

I know for sure MariaDB is running.

+ +

ben@passbolt-test:~$ sudo systemctl status mariadb.service
+● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.5.18 database server
+	 Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
+	 Active: active (running) since Tue 2023-04-04 11:47:04 EDT; 11min ago
+

+ +

Found it!

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I was trying to use the server’s public IP and needed the local IP 127.0.0.1.

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Source: https://community.passbolt.com/t/trying-to-configure-passbolt-database-configuration/5322

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Got it going and got a neat message setting up. Lmao

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Tried setting up the iOS app but guess it won’t work without a TLS certificate of some kinds which makes sense. https://community.passbolt.com/t/oops-something-went-wrong-when-trying-to-set-up-mobile-transfers/5124

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All-in-all I’m going to keep trying out Passbolt but don’t see myself switching from 1Password to self-hosted but might be good to have a local backup.

Daily Note Taking

2022-12-28T00:00:00-05:00

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Photo credit by: Karolina Grabowska

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Over the course of the last few weeks, I have been working my way through learning Python for school. As a result, it led me to a great YouTube channel called Answers in Progress. While watching one of their videos the thought of keeping a notepad of thoughts came up. So, lets dig into that below.

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As another new year starts it’s a time to refocus and find ways to assist in learning and becoming more of a full person. For example, one of the things I want to make a habit again is logging my food intake like I was doing pre-pandemic. In that same vein, and something I took away from watching Answers in Progress, I want to take notes at the end of the day.

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Granted I can’t remember the video in which Sabrina talked about noting your day, but it was in one of the videos I watched on the channel. The more I thought about noting down your day even simple bullet points could help in remembering things like who I spoke with or customers I helped. Sounds like a good way to be able to revisit later for either nostalgic reasons or to simply remember something.

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One other reason I would like to note my day is to help me building my writing and handwriting skills because I think it’s a skill I’ve really been lacking. Hopefully it will also help me in my reading and focus skills because reading through documentation for Python has really highlighted an issue I’ve had with paying attention. I think my mind has even attempted to stray while writing this very paragraph.

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All-in-all I think going into the new year with the plan of keeping basic notes and letting it evolve will help me with content here on my website. I really want to make my 30s not be wasted and make the most out of it so I can look back in 10 years and be proud of what I did during that time.

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What are your plans for 2023?

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Let me know on Mastodon @ben@sanders.life!

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Until next time,

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-Ben

Better Caul Saul’s Breaking Episode is a Fun Romp

2022-12-28T00:00:00-05:00

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Familiar faces … Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman and Bryan Cranston as Walter White in Better Call Saul. Photograph: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

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I’ll preface this article by saying that I was inspired to write it after reading a Guardian article on the topic of last night’s episode. You can read it here. Also, spoilers ahead so proceed at your own risk.

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So, I just watched the last night’s latest Better Call Saul episode “Breaking Bad” and boy was it something. It had nearly everything I could ask as a fan of both breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. That being said, I’m not going to write this article from the point of a reviewer like the guardian article I linked to but instead from the point of view of simply a fan.

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First thing I loved is small and a personal reason. Which is for the inclusion of Jackie Chat Adventures from Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup. I loved seeing this at the opening of this episode because not only is it about the correct time period but also was part of my childhood. Really hit me in the nostalgia. Somebody even isolated the clip and put it up on YouTube already which you can watch below.

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Moving on to the rest of the episode. Which was a really fun thing to watch having basically seen this part of the episode only from the perspective of Walt and Jesse. Then Walt and Jesse each pay Saul off to make him their official attorney and seeing the conversation that happened before Saul helped out Badger. That was, I thought, a really great way to tie the two shows even closer into each other as we head full steam ahead into the penultimate episode.

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Then there was the info we found out about Kim which seems like she’s been alive and well in Florida which I was really happy about and so was Jimmy/Saul/Gene. Afterwards Gene decided to go back into crime with Jeff and presumably steal get guys drunk in a bar and steal their identities. Which leads Gene to do something that looks like might land him into some trouble but we’ll find that out next episode.

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That’s really all I feel like I can write about now but overall as I’ve said I loved this episode and will miss Better Call Saul when it’s over.

Starting CCNA Study

2022-07-09T00:00:00-04:00

Over the past few months I’ve been working towards my Bachelor of Science, Network Operations and Security degree at WGU. So far it has been going pretty good aside from the fact I keep failing my Project+ exam but I have managed to get my Network+, Security+ and Linux Essentials certificates. My A+ cert I had prior to starting my studies at WGU.

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The Purpose of this Article

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I plan to try to write weekly about how I’m going in my studies as I prepare for the CCNA. I’ll be using Neil Anderson’s Udemy course as well as Cisco’s own on demand learning. Then a program I’ll be using is Cisco Packet Tracer so I don’t have to go out and purchase Cisco equipment just to take the course.

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What I am hoping to gain from writing (hopefully weekly) about my studies is a way to not only keep me doing it but also maybe teach something as it relates to networking. I’ve always heard that a good way to learn is to teach so we’ll see how it can work out for me. Plus it will mean I can create more content for my own site that will hopefully give something to someone in the future.

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Setting up a Private Wiki

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Speaking on providing information that will help in the future. I’ve been thinking about providing and hosting a private/public wiki with something like wiki.sanders.life. My thinking is it would give me a good place to gather information I pick up in the IT world and make it publicly available for my personal use mostly but also if someone stumbles across it maybe it will help them as well. Overall I want to my make my site(s) a good hub for tech articles and help hone my skill in writing technical papers.

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I am sure that once I get to writing my IT Capstone for my degree I will probably publish it here as well. So, if you want to keep up-to-date on posts I publish here then you can check out the RSS Feed. I plan to at some point get a self-hosted newsletter setup as well but for now you can add that RSS feed link into your RSS reader of choice.

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Until my next post, have a great day! ~Ben