Field notes.
Projects, experiments, and lessons from running AS215855.
14 POSTS
AS215855, two years later
I got my ASN in March 2024. More than two years later, I have changed routers, built monitoring tools, automated path switching, and given myself plenty of things to maintain.
as215855 / bgp / ipv6 / homelabRouterOS, the XB8, and the upgrade that knocked me offline
A RouterOS 7.23 upgrade killed my Comcast connection. Turns out it wasn't DHCP at all -- it was an IPv6 Router Advertisement change that made the XB8 think my router was trying to take over the segment.
bgp / homelab / mikrotik / as215855 / routeros / xb8 / comcastLagbuster, RouterOS edition: same brain, no BIRD
I swapped the BIRD box at the core of my network for a MikroTik. Lagbuster only knew how to drive BIRD, so I taught it RouterOS and kept the same latency failover.
bgp / networking / go / homelab / mikrotik / routeros / automationFree failover: turning building WiFi into a secondary ISP
Turning free building amenity WiFi into an automatic failover ISP using a ThinkPad, a USB ethernet dongle, and a Python script to beat the captive portal.
networking / homelab / mikrotik / failover / wifiPutting a MikroTik CCR2004 at the edge of AS215855
I picked up a used CCR2004-16G-2S+ to see what RouterOS is like after years of running Linux and BIRD. Here's how it fits into AS215855.
bgp / networking / homelab / mikrotik / as215855Should you put a UDM-Pro at the edge of your homelab?
The more time I spend with the UDM-Pro at the edge of my home network, the more I think the UDM line is aimed at people who want a network, not at people who want to do networking.
networking / homelab / unifi / udm-proBuilding Lagbuster: automated BGP path switching for the rest of us
BGP is great at keeping you connected, but it doesn't care if your traffic is taking the scenic route up and down the East Coast.
bird / bgp / networking / go / homelabGiving NetPulse a voice with MCP
I wanted to be able to ask Claude about my network and actually get useful answers, so I added an MCP server to NetPulse.
bgp / networking / netpulse / mcp / aiBuilding NetPulse: from MRTG replacement to something much bigger
I started NetPulse as a quick experiment to see if I could replace MRTG, and then it kind of got out of hand.
bgp / networking / go / monitoring / homelab / infrastructureAdding BGP Prefix Length Statistics to BIRD Exporter
Understanding prefix length distribution in a full BGP routing table with Prometheus metrics.
asn215855 / bird2 / grafana / prometheusHosting My Own Geofeed (and Making Sure It Actually Works)
Setting up a geofeed for IP geolocation and debugging MIME type issues.
asn215855 / geofeed / caddy / nginxSplitting out IX prefixes from my default route advertisement
Using BGP communities to ensure certain prefixes route through specific edges in a dual-homed network.
asn215855 / bird2 / bird / bgpRPKI Validation
Implementing RPKI to protect against BGP hijacking in my autonomous system network.
bird2 / rpki / routinator / roaThe Birth of AS215855
My journey acquiring an autonomous system number and IPv6 address space for personal networking experimentation.
asn215855 / securebit / neptunenetworks / debian / bird2