Debug and Rebug: The Records of a Developing Developer

Tech Log Entry — Kali Linux Live USB (Tool Installation and Zeek Configuration) Part 2 of 2: Network Analysis Tool Installation, Zeek Deployment, and JSON Log Configuration Date: June 30, 2026 Summary Following successful encrypted persistence boot (documented in Part 1), a full suite of network analysis tools was installed into the persistence partition of the Kali Linux 2026.2 Live USB. Tools installed include Wireshark, tshark, tcpdump, Suricata, nmap, netdiscover, tcpflow, jq, termshark (manual binary install), and Zeek (via official Zeek apt repository with symlink PATH resolution). Zeek was deployed via zeekctl, confirmed running with active log output, and reconfigured to output JSON-format logs for use with jq. All tools were confirmed present and operational across a full reboot cycle, verifying persistence is functioning correctly. Background and Context This entry continues directly from Part 1. The goal for Part 2 was to populate the 24.1 GB encrypted persistence partition ...

Tech Log Entry — Homelab Infrastructure Validation (or, Automated Backups Confirmed, WHEA Hardware Issue Resolved, & Log Rotation Configured) Background and Context This entry documents the validation phase following implementation of a three-machine automated backup infrastructure (documented in the previous entry) for my homelab LAN. It also covers the investigation and resolution of a hardware error pattern on the Windows desktop, a discussion of Linux full-disk encryption, and the setup of log rotation on both Linux laptops. All three machines — one Windows 11 desktop ([desktop]) and two Linux Mint laptops ([laptop #1] and [laptop #2]) — are connected via a dedicated gigabit LAN switch on an isolated local subnet, separate from the home Wi-Fi network. Part 1: First Automated Backup Runs — Confirmed Successful FreeFileSync on [desktop] (Windows 11): Task ran at 2:33 AM as scheduled FreeFileSync log showed: Completed successfully, 1 minute 31 seconds, 3.05 MB/sec 1 warning: datab...