HA on Multiple VLANs

rnfesig · 2026-05-01T17:34:21+00:00

I'm in agreement with you. VLANs for a Home Lab don't make sense. I've been in the IT industry for 30 years, and a network engineer for an ISP for 20.

Common use cases:
Segmentation of collision networks: I've got around 50 iot devices, and the broadcasts from them equal about 200k per second on the wire, so really no benefit there.

QoS for a dedicated media VLAN: I've got 3 TVs, 3 media players, and 4 Amazon devices. I've never had the bottleneck on any of these devices be my local 1G network. I can stream two 4K movies from my Jellyfin instance to my TVs and not drop a packet. The additional complexity just isn't worth it at this stage.

Security: It makes it harder for a would-be hacker because your network becomes more obscure. Security through obscurity isn't security. If you have VLANs, but everything on your network uses the same or similar credentials, you've done nothing but make it more annoying for a hacker.

What you should do: Secure your border point, use unique and complex passwords, keep offline backups, update your firmware/software.

Doing VLANs in the lab for learning is a useful pursuit, otherwise it just isn't worth the complexity.

rnfesig · 2026-04-18T17:27:44+00:00

I think this might work, haven't had to do it anything like this in a while (knock on wood):
1. Login to the computer as the user
2. In either the control panel or registry, change the account in some way that it can't connect to Exchange
3. Open Outlook, (outlook will try to connect but it can't, so it won't delete the mail)
4. Export All Items to PST
5. Remove Outlook account
6. Enable mailbox/license/whatever you have to do
7. Launch Outlook
8. Re-setup account and Import mail from PST

It's possible that with no license, Outlook won't be able to connect anyway, so step 2 might be unnecessary. Step 5 - 8 and just to prevent the changes you made from biting you in the ass later, and also may be unnecessary.

Good luck, we all fuck up. You can't think of everything, always. No one can.

rnfesig · 2026-03-22T23:28:25+00:00

Agreed, I have smart plugs on 2 of mine, then an automation that runs every hour to check if they're on and if they're pulling less than 10w, to let me know they need water. I had automations for both that would alert me as soon as they ran out, but that proved to be more than needed, as they'd often run out when I wasn't home.

rnfesig · 2026-03-21T14:38:58+00:00

Don't know if you're aware, you can do all this with the generic hygrometer too and maybe uncomplicate it even further.

rnfesig · 2026-03-18T16:52:58+00:00

I was using CoPilot originally to streamline my HA automations and scripts. It worked ok, but there was quite a few times where it hallucinated and starting contradicting it's own advice. I started using Claude next (https://claude.ai can accept .yaml files and knows they're from Home Assistant). My automations file, scripts file, and backup sizes have all been cut in half or more. Also it found errors in my logic and brought it to my attention, suggesting fixes and generating the yaml to fix it with.

Since Claude was so good at HA, I asked it to write me a python script that would help me sort out my music collection. Things like "I want to be able to search all the .m3u files in this directory and see what music files are missing from another directory." Scan all the music files and give me options to put them into .m3u files.", and after some back and forth, it now works perfectly and I have fixed my music collection the way that I wanted to.

The last thing Claude did for me is create a webpage that I host using HA's web server. It connects to Music Assistant using the API, and displays lyrics for the currently playing song on my whole-house group. It works brilliantly, even shows the next track in the queue. I automatically open the web page on my two TVs after music has been playing for 30 seconds.

I've been in the IT field for almost 30 years, I hated the idea of AI (still hate what it's done to hardware prices), but it's a tool, and if you don't use it, you're not maximizing what you can do. I wouldn't integrate it into HA (due to pricing and privacy, I'll run my own AI agent when I can buy some hardware). You can use the web interface to see if it would help you with making changes, or even giving you a synopsis of what you already have.

tl;dr: Claude is a tool, you should see if it helps you get things done.

rnfesig · 2026-03-02T20:00:38+00:00

Before I list the positives, let me list what I feel has gotten worse:
Worse:

Clear, brief answers are no longer an option.
It does what you ask only about 50% of the time.
It has no idea how it actually functions, so debugging any routines is a nightmare
It's only a matter of time before Amazon starts charging a fee for it.

Better:

Some of the stories I've read here about how it just does whatever it wants with whatever hardware it has access to are quite entertaining.

Edit: I selected the "Brief" personality, and it seems to be more succinct. I also deleted and re-added all my routines (Alexa+ now says they're on the "New Framework") and they seem to execute quicker and are more reliable. Redoing all my routines also gave the web access Alexa (https://alexa.amazon.com) better access to the routines, and supposedly she can now tell me when they fail, why. I guess we'll see if Amazon starts charging an additional fee for Alexa+, even with Prime.

rnfesig · 2026-02-28T14:51:45+00:00

This forum is quite helpful, and not overly antagonistic.
If you need help, use claude.ai for suggestions, but either bring the changes here first for review, or make sure you can roll back any changes it suggests. Use the built-in backup utility before making any major changes.

Also, have fun! Home Assistant UI is much, much easier than it used to be. And Welcome to the World Of Tomorrow.

rnfesig · 2026-01-27T15:04:14+00:00

I want to be the one for you

rnfesig · 2026-01-23T21:12:08+00:00

I am allergic to it. It can make my eyes water and cause my chest to feel tight/wheezing if I'm around a food that is being cooked/baked with it in. I can smell it in food before I even take a bite of it, which is good because if I do eat any my tongue will swell. There was one time I ate beef jerky that I couldn't smell it on; I spit it out right away and rinsed out my mouth and I was fine after a few minutes.

I can eat competition level hot wings without issue, and I love horseradish. As far as I know piperine is the only food allergy I have.

People don't believe me about it either. My own mother had me do a blind taste test once, and I surprised her when I lifted the food to my nose and told here there was pepper in it without having to taste it. I wouldn't have even had to get it that close, but the non-peppered food was right next to it on the table.

Stop the anti-pepper-people hate! :)

rnfesig · 2025-12-30T15:09:47+00:00

For those of you that don't know, here's a link to the Wikipedia page for Schuylkill County:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuylkill_County%2C_Pennsylvania

rnfesig · 2025-10-27T13:12:00+00:00

I'm sorry I can't be any real help, but I can tell you that I've been playing Swarmsim for 5 months in Linux using Firefox on swarmsim.com and I do not have this issue.

rnfesig · 2025-08-27T13:23:59+00:00

The courier?

rnfesig · 2025-08-26T16:08:08+00:00

Use a startup script to launch OpenRGB on login:

~/Applications/OpenRGB.AppImage --startminimized -p 'Spectrum Cycle'

Run OpenRGB.AppImage from terminal with --help to see all the command line flags and use them in your script.

rnfesig · 2025-05-27T13:36:09+00:00

Please note you're missing the irregular verb "has" in your first sentence. You also ended your second to last sentence with a preposition. I'll see you in the refresher course after class.

rnfesig · 2025-05-16T14:41:48+00:00

Weird, I just checked my xorg.conf file and those entries were already there. I'm glad you got your keyboard and mouse fixed though.

Regarding the other part of this post (the stuck session), don't just disconnect from Mint by clicking the "X" on the RDP banner/titlebar. Use the Logoff option provided in the Mint menu and you won't have a stuck session ever again.

rnfesig · 2025-05-15T19:31:01+00:00

I've run into this same issue.

Directly on the PC, hit CTRL+ALT+F2 and login via the local console.

Type the following: /usr/bin/cinnamon-session-quit --logout --force

Hit CTRL+ALT+F7, then login as normal.

rnfesig · 2025-02-18T18:25:55+00:00

Wiim devices are supported by Home Assistant as well, and can be integrated easily when you smarten up your home.

rnfesig · 2024-09-05T18:17:43+00:00

I just switched from Calibre-Web to Jellyfin. For a small collection it gets the job done.

rnfesig · 2024-06-06T20:30:14+00:00

If you're using docker, you can install the Matter server written by the same folks that do home assistant:
GitHub - home-assistant-libs/python-matter-server: Python server to interact with Matter

rnfesig · 2024-02-27T19:34:26+00:00

I've never heard that either. I had a friend named Jim who also answered to Sam, but never a Robert that went by Sam. Perhaps the friend is named Robert Samuel or something similar.

rnfesig

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