After starting down the rabbit hole of Pi-Hole and DNS, I decided it was time to begin segregating my network into vlans, and more specifically, an IoT vlan. I learned how much my IoT devices were trying to track me or phone home thanks to the Pi-Hole network.

I decided to grab my first Unifi devices, the USG-3P, Flex-Mini, and a WAP. I was clueless. I was using a Netgear WiFi router before with WRT flashed firmware. I knew nothing about vlans and very little about network protocols and routing. After a few weeks of researching, I was able to finally set up my home network with 3 vlans and a couple un-managed switches.

I soon realized I needed more Ethernet ports and upgraded to my first managed switch and a Cloud Key for remote management. This kept me on a good path for the next couple years before obtaining my CompTIA A+ and Net+ certifications.