More then just a doorbell controller...

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Actually, once you have a Raspberry Pi that is always running, you can use it for much more then just controlling your doorbell. You can also use the Raspberry Pi to provide numerous web services for you. At the moment, I have configured my RaspBerry Pi as:

  1. An OpenVPN server. which I use for secure connections on public WiFi-hotspots
  2. A network-wide ad-blocker using Pi-hole
  3. A reverse proxy through a SSH-tunnel to bypass firewalls (secure enough to by-pass most corporate firewalls, not secure enough to bypass the great firewall of China, because it is easily detectable if deep packet inspection is used). I use this connection mainly for configuring my router remotely, because connections are initiated from the Raspberry Pi within the home network
  4. A SSH server with passwordless access using RSA keys
  5. And of course the Raspberry Pi still controls my doorbell
In later posts I will explain how I installed and configured most of the applications above. But, the conclusion is... A Raspberry Pi can be a very versatile network tool!

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