[ NETWORKING · CCNA · SELF-HOSTING ]

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Every post on thelineman.ca — newest first. CCNA study breakdowns, Fortinet home lab notes, self-hosting war stories, and reference material.

★ STUDYING FOR THE CCNA? GO TO THE STUDY HUB ★ Every article on this list mapped to the official CCNA 200-301 exam blueprint ▶
[ CCNA · ROUTING · OSPF ] OSPF EXPLAINED:
LINK-STATE ROUTING FOR THE CCNA No CLI — just the mental model. Distance-vector vs link-state, LSDB & SPF, areas, router-ID picking order, the process-ID trap, and wildcard masks. Read this before you touch the lab.
MAY 10, 2026 · 7 MIN▶
 [ CCNA · OSPF · TROUBLESHOOTING ] OSPF ADJACENCY STATES:
WHY YOURS IS STUCK IN EXSTART Every OSPF state — DOWN, INIT, 2-WAY, EXSTART, EXCHANGE, FULL — and the one-line fix for each failure mode. MTU mismatch, one-way Hellos, flapping timers, and the troubleshooting decision tree.
MAY 10, 2026 · 6 MIN▶
 [ NETWORKING · VPN · TROUBLESHOOTING ] THE 1500-BYTE LIE:
WHY YOUR VPN HANGS ON BIG FILES The VPN's up. Pings are 18ms. Web works. Then a 50MB download hangs at 4%. Here's the math, the captures, and the MSS-clamping fix — per platform.
MAY 04, 2026 · 14 MIN▶
 [ CCNA · REFERENCE ] SUBNETTING CHEAT SHEET:
CIDR, BLOCK SIZES & HOST COUNTS Every prefix /8 through /32 in one place. Subnet mask, block size, total addresses, usable hosts, and wildcard mask. Save the image or bookmark the page.
APR 29, 2026 · 2 MIN▶
 [ CCNA · SUBNETTING ] WHY SUBNETTING FINALLY
CLICKED FOR ME Three weeks of confusion. One diagram that changed everything. Here's the mental model that actually works — and why most guides start from the wrong end.
APR 19, 2026 · 9 MIN▶
 [ SELF-HOSTING · ANALYTICS ] DITCHING GOOGLE ANALYTICS
FOR UMAMI I self-host everything. My analytics should be no different. Here's the full Docker + Cloudflare Tunnel setup.
APR 14, 2026 · 8 MIN▶
 [ HOME LAB ] FORTINET ON A BUDGET:
MY STACK EXPLAINED FortiGate 60F, FortiSwitch 124D, FortiAP 421E. Why Fortinet, what it cost, and what I've learned running enterprise gear at home.
APR 10, 2026 · 8 MIN▶
 [ REAL TALK ] WHAT ENTERPRISE
NETWORKING LOOKS LIKE Two summers at Halton DSB taught me more than any textbook. Here's what nobody warns you about.
APR 10, 2026 · 7 MIN▶
 [ MINDSET ] TRAINING FOR AN IRONMAN
TAUGHT ME HOW TO STUDY Olympic tri done. Half marathon done. CCNA in progress. The discipline is the same — only the protocol changes.
APR 10, 2026 · 6 MIN▶
 [ SELF-HOSTING · TROUBLESHOOTING ] WHY MY SITE WORKED
LOCALLY BUT NOT PUBLICLY Apache, DNS, Cloudflare Tunnel — every reason a self-hosted site fails publicly and how I fixed each one.
APR 10, 2026 · 10 MIN▶
[ ★ FREE SUBNETTING CHEAT SHEET ]

Get the full IPv4 subnetting cheat sheet — every prefix /8 to /32 with subnet mask, block size, host counts, and wildcard mask — the moment you subscribe. Then new labs and articles as they drop. No spam. Unsubscribe any time.