Blog

Practical lessons from real infrastructure work. I write about the decisions behind keeping business systems running, and about automating the work that eats a team's week. No step-by-step tutorials - just the thinking behind the work.

AI & Automation

Putting automation and AI where they earn their keep, and the checks that keep them honest.

• Your Release Process Should Not Be Able to Ship Untested Code
  August 23, 2026

  A deploy pipeline that tested one version and shipped another, and the safeguards that caught it. Automation insights from Tulsa, Oklahoma and remote.

• The Numbers Behind Your Decisions Are Probably Wrong
  August 20, 2026

  My site's best search number was worthless. How to tell a real result from a measurement artifact. Automation insights from Tulsa, Oklahoma and remote.

• Protected in Name Only
  August 16, 2026

  Required checks that never run, rules nobody enforces, and why a control counts only once you have watched it block something. Tulsa, Oklahoma and remote.

• One Repeated Setup Beats Eight Custom Ones
  August 12, 2026

  How one enforced project standard makes software easier to verify, maintain, and recover in Tulsa, Oklahoma and remote.

• Where AI Actually Fits in Your Business Process
  July 24, 2026

  AI's real failure mode is a confident answer that is wrong, which is why the check matters more than the automation. Tulsa, Oklahoma and remote.

• Automating the Work Nobody Wants to Do
  June 28, 2026

  The best automation targets are boring, endless, and never get done by hand. Design lessons from a nightly job in Tulsa, Oklahoma and remote.

• Cloud Bills Don't Have to Surprise You
  May 14, 2026

  How deliberate trade-offs, spending limits, and honest shutdown checks keep cloud costs predictable in Tulsa, Oklahoma and remote.

IT & Infrastructure

Migrations, networks, security, and the day-to-day of keeping systems up.

• The Backup You Have Is Not the Backup You Think
  August 5, 2026

  A backup that reports success every night can still be missing databases and storing empty files. IT infrastructure insights from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• When Your Own Security Setting Takes You Offline
  July 12, 2026

  A rate limit meant to stop abusive traffic was quietly taking a site offline for everyone. IT infrastructure insights from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• A Green Dashboard Is Not a Working System
  June 11, 2026

  Green dashboards hide dead services. Why detection, routing, and delivery each fail differently. IT infrastructure insights from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• When Your AI Dev Tools Need Root Access
  March 23, 2026

  How I use SUDO_ASKPASS with an encrypted credential for AI dev tools, and its real limits. IT infrastructure insights from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• Age Verification Laws and Your Business Devices
  March 22, 2026

  New age verification laws in California, Colorado, and beyond will affect how businesses manage operating systems and devices. IT consulting insights from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• What a Power Outage Reveals About Your Server Room
  March 22, 2026

  A site-wide power loss took down a four-node Proxmox cluster and exposed hidden risks in RAID configuration, UPS coverage, and backup strategy. IT infrastructure lessons from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• Where Open Source Software Can Reduce Your IT Budget
  March 20, 2026

  Where pfSense, Elasticsearch, and Proxmox cut licensing costs, and when commercial support is worth it. IT consulting insights from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• How This Site is Self-Hosted With Docker
  March 20, 2026

  How I built and self-host etheriontech.com using Eleventy, Fastify, Docker, Cloudflare, and a local Ubuntu server in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• What Happens After Your Microsoft 365 Migration?
  March 18, 2026

  After migrating to Microsoft 365, your old Exchange server still needs attention. IT consulting insights on hybrid cleanup from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

• Connecting Multiple Office Locations With Site-to-Site VPN
  March 16, 2026

  How site-to-site VPN tunnels connect multi-location businesses securely. IT infrastructure consulting insights from Tulsa, Oklahoma.