Learning to Turn My Passion for Technology Into A Career

  Goal: The last thing to set up is the n8n server so that I can integrate AI into my project. N8N Set up: Similar to the setup for the Splunk server, I logged in to the n8n server to obtain the IP address so I can shell into it using the Windows client. Then I proceeded to download any updates. Afterwards I downloaded and installed docker.io and docker-compose. Next I created a directory for docker-compose named "n8n-compose", as well as create and set up a docker-compose file named "docker-compose.yaml". I was then able to use "sudo docker-compose pull" to download n8n and after running "sudo docker-compose up -d", After changing the permissions for n8n_data/, it should be accessible from the web browser. I typed in the address "10.0.2.15:5678" and set up the account. The initial options weren't really important so I just skipped them and now it's fully done and ready for me to fit everything together. Summary and Reflection: ...

  Goal: Now that Splunk has been installed, it's time to set up the Windows Client to start sending the collected logs to the Splunk server. Telemetry Set up: The first step is to download and install "Splunk Universal Forwarder" from the Splunk website. the setup is straight forward. After agreeing to the License Agreement, I type in a username and manually set the password. On the Receiving Indexer screen I input the IP address of the Splunk Server as well as the port number that we set to 9997. Then I just continued and let it finish installing. After the installation I have to navigate to "C:\Program Files\SplunkUniversalForwarder\etc\system\local" and add the "inputs.conf" file that will allow the Windows client telemetry to be forwarded to the Splunk server. - Next I ran "Services" as admin and searched for the "SplunkForwarder" service. Double clicking it, and going into "Log On" and change it to "Local System ...

Goal: The goal is to connect to the Ubuntu Server using SSH and to setup Splunk so it can receive logs data from the VM client. Remote SSH Setup: After the VM running Ubuntu Server is finished starting up, login and copy down the IP address of the machine (Note that "ip a" can also be used to find the IP address). Using the Windows 10 Client, I can now connect to the Ubuntu Server machine using SSH via Windows PowerShell. This returned "Connection closed by 10.0.2.8 port 22". First I check to see if SSH is active. Once I've determined that it is via the "sudo systemctl status ssh" command. It then occurred to me that the reason why the session was forcibly closed was because I was still logged in on the Ubuntu Server. Logging out fixed the issue and I have been able to successfully connect to from the Windows client using SSH. Next I make sure to update and upgrade Ubuntu packages before I do anything else. After completing the updates, I now would lik...

Project Overview: Build an automated workflow using n8n. Splunk will ingest logs, create an alert and send it to n8n where ChatGPT can process the alert and output the information on to slack. Required Files: VM Environment Software: Oracle VirtualBox (https://www.virtualbox.org/) OS ISOs: Kali Linux ISO (https://www.kali.org/get-kali/#kali-virtual-machines) Ubuntu Server ISO (https://ubuntu.com/download/server) Windows 10 ISO (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10) VM Setup: Before I can begin automating anything, I must first set up the Virtual Machine environments that will be used to run the n8n Server, the Splunk Server, the Ubuntu Client, and the Windows Client. I generally prefer to allocate enough resources so as to give the VMs more headroom to allow them to deal with more stress. Windows Client: For the installation of the Windows Client, I set the Base Memory to 4GB, the core count to 2, and the Disk Size to 50GB. The installation if fairly straight for...

A Quick Introduction: Hello, my name is Erick and I'm an aspiring SOC Analyst who's trying to turn close to two decades of tech experience and passion into a career. I've been the tech guy among my friends and family for almost two decades and have experience troubleshooting and solving hardware, software, and network related computer problems. I've built PCs, hosted game servers, and troubleshoot computer problems both in person and over the phone. Over the years, I've not only learned to solve technical problems quickly, but also how to explain them to both technical and non technical users. What was originally a hobby of mine turned into a deep and growing interest in cybersecurity and IT operations. In pursuit of becoming a SOC Analyst, I have earned my CompTIA Security+ Certificate in September of 2025, strengthening my foundational knowledge in network defense, threat detection, and incident response. Technical Background: Troubleshooting and System Setup: I h...