That was actually one of the reasons I learned. The rich families wanted to show how rich they were so they built towers. Then other rich families built their own, preferably bigger, to show that they had a bigger penis more money.
Are there any facts to back that up? I don't know. I heard it ~25 years ago and I don't remember the source. Though, I was in Bologna around that time so possibly from a tour or possibly from some drunk guy at a party.
That's a good question (and good idea) that I hadn't really thought about past a collection of ZIMs. The one I built advertises it's own AP SSID that anyone can connect to and then access the ZIMs that are served via kiwix-serve on HTTP/80. That is, I wanted a single, low power, headless device that multiple people could use simultaneously via wifi and browser rather than a personal device.
I hadn't really thought about other helpful services past that. I mean, we've got a (wee) server so why not use it? I like the idea of OSM and their website is open source but has a lot of dependencies :
openstreetmap-website is a Ruby on Rails application that uses PostgreSQL as its database, and has a large number of dependencies for installation
A fully-functional openstreetmap-website installation depends on other services, including map tile servers and geocoding services, that are provided by other software. The default installation uses publicly-available services to help with development and testing.
I wonder how hard it would be to host everything it needs locally/offline... and what that would do to power consumption : )
Thanks for the idea - something to look into, for sure.
Last time I updated it was closer to 120GB but if you're not sweating 100 GB then an extra 20 isn't going to bother anyone these days.
Also, thanks for reminding me that I need to check my dates and update.
EDIT: you can also easily configure a SBC like a Raspberry Pi (or any of the clones) that will boot, set the Wi-Fi to access point mode, and serve kiwix as a website that anyone (on the local AP wifi network) can connect to and query... And it'll run off a USB battery pack. I have one kicking around the house somewhere
Good to hear. This will be going on a Debian server too.
I just set up tailscale on the RPi that controls my printer so I've got a jump host on the LAN now... Just need to make time to setup dropbear (and keys) on the server.
I'd imagine that if you have physical access and don't mind plugging in a USB then that's the easier route.
My personal goal is to be able to unlock it remotely in two main scenarios :
I'm lazy and don't want to have to awkwardly fumble at plugging in something. So, SSH to it from the same room and unlock it from my desktop.
Server got rebooted while I'm away from home but I would really like it to be up and running again for something I need but I don't have physical access at the time.
Both of those situations lean towards a remote unlock with no USB. The first one is absolutely doable because I have local access and could plug a device in, it's just awkward. On the second, physical access is impossible so it must be done remotely.
I mentioned it in another comment but the remote unlock while away from home presents extra challenges for me because I access my server externally via Tailscale. Since Tailscale isn't available at boot (pre-decrypt), then I'll have to tailnet+ssh to another machine on the LAN (that doesn't require a boot password/unlock) and then SSH from that machine to the server to enter the LUKS password to allow boot to continue. Sounds feasible, though perhaps a little clunky. That's my current plan and hoping to try it out this weekend if time permits.
If I'm reading the docs correctly, Clevis can rely on a separate Tang server for retrieving the decryption key, right? So in that scenario I'd need to have another machine for Tang that can also auto-boot without entering a boot/LUKS password. Otherwise, if both machines (server+clevis and Tang server) were in the same room and restarted due to power loss, neither would be able to boot if both were encrypted... or did I misunderstand something important?
And I don't think I actually want "automatic" unlocking. I just want to be perform the unlock (enter LUKS password) remotely. I realize that comes with manual intervention (entering the password remotely) but I'm okay with that. I should probably have clarified that by "home server" I mean a machine the serves nice to have stuff, nothing mission critical. Plus I'm really the only one who uses it currently so I'll notice it's down when something doesn't work and can then initiate the remote unlock/boot : D
Clevis is interesting but I don't think it matches my specific situation. Glad I know about it now though, thanks for the info.
This is interesting, another one I hadn't heard of yet. And, the server is running Debian : )
I enjoy the intro too :
You know how it is. You’ve heard of it happening. The Man comes and takes away your servers, your friends’ servers, the servers of everybody in the same hosting facility. The servers of their neighbors, and their neighbors’ friends. The servers of people who owe them money. And like that, they’re gone. And you doubt you’ll ever see them again.
That is why your servers have encrypted root file systems
Exactly this. The chances of my server/drives getting stolen is extremely low but I like to take all the precautions I can even if it's just an exercise in "I can, so I will". That and the "peace of mind" you mentioned.
I choose to believe this one.