Welcome to my blog! This site serves as a log for my tech projects, networking notes, and ongoing infrastructure builds.
Architecture Overview
Here is a quick snapshot of the current stack driving this site:
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Generator: Hugo (Theme: PaperMod)
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Hosting: DigitalOcean VPS running Nginx
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Edge Security: Cloudflare (Full Strict SSL using Let’s Encrypt)
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Deployment: Automated via GitHub Actions & rsync (Soon!)
Technical Setup
Nginx Configuration
To ensure Cloudflare forwards traffic cleanly to Nginx over SSL, the server block utilizes Let’s Encrypt certificates, generated by CertBot:
server {
server_name domain.com;
root /var/www/sitename/public;
index index.html;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot
}
server {
if ($host = domain.com) {
return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
} # managed by Certbot
listen 80;
server_name domain.com;
return 404; # managed by Certbot
}
Important Note: Ensure Cloudflare’s SSL/TLS mode is set to Full (Strict) to prevent redirect loops between Cloudflare and Nginx. Certbot will maintain your certificate for you. The alternative is using Cloudflare’s Origin Certificate if you don’t want to bother with Let’s Encrypt as that lasts for 15 years!
What’s Next?
Future posts will break down internal network setups, home server workflows, and general technology topics!