iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 26/08/2026

Is security though obscurity finally dead?

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 20/08/2026

Asking AI for advice on topics I don't understand: 🤩 Asking AI about my actual job: 💀 😜

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 18/08/2026

Love the SLOP signs from the @hope.net conference.

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 09/02/2026

Comet Pro Review: The KVM That Gives You The Finger Full Video Here: youtu.be/la0rbheTx2c

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 06/02/2026

Happy Friday, hope no one gets a surprise pen test today!

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 04/02/2026

Check out this video to see what the experience of upgrading my Framework laptop with a Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU and RTX 5070 GPU was like, and if an upgradable system like this one is for you: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYST...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 31/01/2026

Well, you see, when two networks like each other very much...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 09/01/2026

Testing the UniFi AI PTZ Precision 31x zoom

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 06/01/2026

In this video, I demonstrate how to use Wireshark with UniFi to capture live packets directly from your network devices. Whether troubleshooting DNS, DHCP, or mysterious disconnects, Wireshark lets you go beyond the UniFi dashboard and see the truth in the traffic. www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_H1...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 24/12/2025

Kubernetes is great... if you like complexity. Here’s how I keep my homelab simple: running Docker on one Debian 13 VM with straightforward bind mounts. Clean, easy to manage, and simple to back up - plus a look at the containers I rely on day to day. youtu.be/Z5aGH4XltP4

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 23/12/2025

TP-Link acknowledged security reports but... Did nothing until the research was made public. Take a close look at the timeline 📄 Research write-up: www.evilsocket.net/2025/12/18/T...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 22/12/2025

A few seconds, an exposed port, or the right timing can lead to a serious incident. In this video, I break down an event that struck shortly after onboarding a client, what could have gone wrong, and why it didn’t - lessons for anyone managing real-world IT environments. youtu.be/2lLKZsd4QqY

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 17/12/2025

Few people know ZFS like Allan Jude, and in this discussion, we dive deep into what makes it so powerful - and occasionally so tricky. From alignment tuning and drive choices to ZFS with containers and NVMe optimization, we unpack what’s changing, what’s coming next, and more. youtu.be/OscKOZ5nxxA

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 17/12/2025

pfSense+ has made some changes in 2025. There's better security defaults for OpenVPN, they made PPPoE significantly faster, added VXLAN support, and Netgate Nexus - their new multi-instance management tool that you can self-host on your own system: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCNy...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 17/12/2025

RAID isn’t a backup, and failures don’t wait for a schedule. In this video, I show how I use Syncthing for real-time backups that alert you to changes as they happen. Perfect for Homelab setups, tests, or anyone who likes keeping data safe without waiting for a nightly job. youtu.be/cccPnXnh6wA

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 12/12/2025

n8n 2.0 Docker Setup in 5 Minutes: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vypp... #automation #homelab #docker

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 12/12/2025

In this video, I test a tiny Beelink Cube to see if it can handle a TrueNAS instance. Compact, surprisingly capable, and yes… a little borg-cube-esque. Perfect for homelab tinkerers who like to push small hardware a little too far (but not lightyears or anything.) youtu.be/35piaJgaeEA

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 09/12/2025

Who says open source is just for tinkering? Companies like Vates prove it can power a real business: youtu.be/19oGMBQypeE

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 09/12/2025

This is about when ZFS replication goes wrong – how you recover from it or fix it, so you don’t have to resend everything, and how to fix a stuck process. There’s some command line work involved, but it’s well worth the effort. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKuX... #truenas #zfs #replication

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 08/12/2025

I Moved to Immich... Can It Really Replace Google Photos? www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5td...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 04/12/2025

Live in five! Today we're talking surveillance cameras, open source note taking, and answering your Homelab questions! www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MaF...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 04/12/2025

Turning a Mini PC into a NAS sounds like a stretch - but that’s half the fun. Here’s an experiment using an NVMe-to-SATA adapter to see how far small form-factor hardware can go. Compact, unconventional, and it just might inspire your next budget-friendly homelab build. youtu.be/-bpEyuMO55E

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 04/12/2025

Back in 2019, I compared Synology and UniFi’s camera platforms. A lot has changed since then. In this update, I walk through how both systems have evolved, where each one shines, and what you should focus on when evaluating them or any modern surveillance stack. youtu.be/fMVFCPzV41g

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 01/12/2025

Need a safer way to browse without putting your system at risk? In this clip, we look at Kasm, a sandboxed browser environment built for security and convenience. It’s perfect for testing unknown sites, isolating risky tasks, or keeping your main system squeaky clean. youtu.be/TbtGd3lWc4M

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 27/11/2025

VLOG Thursday 464: Happy Thanksgiving! www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlh_...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 26/11/2025

Three years in, still the best label maker I’ve owned. Reliable, simple, and it hasn’t jammed once - can’t say that about most printers: youtu.be/6PfJoDIzrlo

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 25/11/2025

ZFS Dedupe: How it works and when *NOT* to use it. youtu.be/0CcykFYHlt0 #zfs #datastorage #nas #truenas

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 21/11/2025

Privacy, not anonymity. In this clip, I share why Signal remains my go-to for secure messaging and why it still earns my trust today. Some apps talk about privacy - Signal just delivers. What’s your messenger of choice? youtu.be/3cX2BBYi0cU

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 20/11/2025

Live in five! We're talking about getting back to independent work, new UniFi cameras, and answering your Homelab questions! www.youtube.com/watch?v=37KU... #homelab #unifi #networking

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 20/11/2025

Will setting up a special metadata VDEV on your ZFS pool make it faster? www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex35... #zfs #truenas #datastorage #metadata

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 20/11/2025

If the xkcd comic 2347 made today... 😂

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 19/11/2025

Don't attrible malice to what can easily be explained by legacy code - or a file getting so big it filled up multiple systems causing them to run out of space and crash. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xzY... #networking #outage #cloudflare

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 19/11/2025

Never attribute to malice what can be explained by… 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙘𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙙𝙚 Here is the report from Cloudflare: blog.cloudflare.com/18-november-... More thoughts I have on this topic here: www.linkedin.com/posts/lawren...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 18/11/2025

Passkeys and password managers improve security - but they aren’t foolproof. In this video, I explore how storing passkeys can weaken MFA and outline best practices to keep your accounts truly secure. Essential knowledge for IT pros and Homelab enthusiasts alike. youtu.be/eLaSonHB9mE

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 14/11/2025

I Resigned... youtu.be/dmMZlZAV_l0

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 13/11/2025

Does buy once, upgrade forever, actually hold up? Check out this video to see what the experience of upgrading my Framework laptop with a Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU and RTX 5070 GPU was like, and if an upgradable system like this one is for you: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYST...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 13/11/2025

NVMe is fast - but can ZFS keep pace? In this video, Allan Jude and I explore ZFS performance on NVMe drives, what’s possible today, and what’s coming next. A deep dive for professionals and Homelab tinkerers alike who want to understand the limits of modern storage. youtu.be/BjOkWTeZJDk

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 10/11/2025

Nmap is great at finding what’s on your network - less great at making it readable. In this video, I show how to turn Nmap’s raw command-line output into clean, customizable HTML reports with a touch of styling. Even network maps deserve good formatting. youtu.be/abTy6yATX8U

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 06/11/2025

Getting started in five! Today we're covering the UniFi World Conference, CVE-2025-52665 - a $25,000 bug, and answering your Homelab questions! www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Iaj... #vlog #livestream #unifi #homelab #technology #networking

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 05/11/2025

In this video, I am joined by Twingate team members to talk about solving real-world challenges with zero-trust networking. This isn't a product pitch; it's about what zero-trust means, how it can be implemented, and the problems it solves. youtu.be/bkE0TKk1Nj4

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 31/10/2025

In this video, I walk through how to design resilient #TrueNAS backups that survive snapshot deletion, ransomware, or user error - and how to align your retention policies for real protection. youtu.be/GJFFuJKy0Ic #truenas #dataprotection #datastorage #replication #backup

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 31/10/2025

In this clip, I break down the DNS options in the UniFi 9.4 controller, Focusing on DNS - Host, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV, and Forward Domain records. It's a practical guide for homelab enthusiasts looking to get more from their UniFi setup: youtu.be/w-PeEincr1c

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 31/10/2025

TrueNAS 25.10 “Goldeye” has landed and Chris Peredun from the TrueNAS team is with me to dig into what’s new, what’s improved, and what’s next. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjxb...

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 29/10/2025

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 28/10/2025

Quad9 offers privacy, security, and a free global DNS service - three things that don’t usually coexist. In this interview, we dig into how they pull it off, what drives their mission, and the real-world challenges behind keeping a service like this online. youtu.be/KDi0YvS2hFA

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 24/10/2025

UniFi firewalls in 2025 aren’t what they used to be. From the new Zone-Based Firewall to Policy Manager, DNS/DHCP upgrades, and Object-Oriented Networking - this year reshaped how UniFi handles security and control. Here's what’s changed (and why it matters). youtu.be/6J9QgTT_vqA

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Tom Lawrence @lawrencesystems.com · 23/10/2025

Which patch cables should you buy? Which should you actually use? In this video, I compare several popular and easy-to-find options - and maybe destroy a few in the name of science. Not quite a Cat6 Thunderdome... but we get close. youtu.be/UQsr22E36S8 #patchcables #cabling #networking #ethernet

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