# Session 37 Summary: Cockpit Deployment Complete

**Date:** March 21, 2026  
**The Chronicler:** Session 37  
**Session Duration:** ~2 hours  
**Git Commits:** 2 (ef11945, 1540ab5)

---

## Mission Accomplished

**Original plan:** Ghost theme migration (from The Diagnostician)  
**Michael's pivot:** "We need Cockpit on all servers for Chromebook workflow"  
**Result:** ✅ All 6 servers now have Cockpit web terminal access

---

## What We Deployed

### Cockpit Web Terminal - All Servers
**Access URLs:**
- Command Center: https://63.143.34.217:9090
- Ghost VPS: https://64.50.188.14:9090 (already had it)
- Billing VPS: https://38.68.14.188:9090
- Panel VPS: https://45.94.168.138:9090
- TX1 Dallas: https://38.68.14.26:9090
- NC1 Charlotte: https://216.239.104.130:9090

**Login:** root / Butter2018!! (all servers)  
**Exception:** Ghost VPS uses architect / Butter2018!!

**Features enabled:**
- Web-based terminal (no SSH client needed)
- System resource monitoring
- Service management (systemd)
- Log viewing
- Works perfectly on Chromebook

---

## Bonus: NC1 Security Hardening

**Problem discovered:** NC1 had no firewall (UFW inactive) despite hosting 7 public game servers

**Solution deployed:**
- Enabled UFW firewall
- Opened required ports:
  - SSH (22)
  - Cockpit (9090)
  - Wings SFTP (2022)
  - Minecraft servers (25565-25580 TCP/UDP)
  - Hytale (5520-5521 TCP/UDP)
- NC1 now properly secured

**Created monitoring task:** NC1 temperature monitoring (51.6°C vs TX1's 30.9°C)

---

## Server Status Summary

### Command Center (63.143.34.217)
- Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS
- Memory: 20% (0.92 / 3.8 GB)
- Disk: 44% of 37.70GB
- Load: 0.14
- System restart required
- 15 updates available

### Ghost VPS (64.50.188.14)
- Cockpit pre-existing
- Login: architect (not root)
- Services: Ghost CMS, Wiki.js, Nextcloud

### Billing VPS (38.68.14.188)
- Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
- Memory: 64% (Mailcow is memory-intensive)
- Swap: 34%
- Disk: 68.5% of 18.33GB
- Load: 0.13
- 11 updates available
- No UFW (iptables rules present via Mailcow)

### Panel VPS (45.94.168.138)
- Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
- Memory: 29%
- Swap: 0%
- Disk: 38.2% of 23.17GB
- Load: 0.12
- Two IPs: 45.94.168.138 and 141.98.74.91
- 1 update available

### TX1 Dallas (38.68.14.26) - The Cool Beast
- Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
- Memory: 15% of 251GB RAM
- Swap: 0%
- Disk: 10.8% of 910.89GB
- Temperature: 30.9°C ✅ Excellent
- Load: 0.29
- Five IPs: 38.68.14.26-30
- 784 processes (Wings + 7 game servers)
- 11 updates available

### NC1 Charlotte (216.239.104.130) - The Warm One
- Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS
- Memory: 12% of 251GB RAM
- Swap: 0%
- Disk: 59.8% of 97.87GB
- Temperature: 51.6°C ⚠️ Monitor weekly
- Load: 3.01
- 516 processes (Wings + 7 game servers)
- System restart required
- 29 updates available
- **Firewall NOW ENABLED** (was unprotected)

---

## Files Created

1. **docs/tasks/cockpit-deployment/**
   - README.md - Task overview
   - deployment-plan.md - Technical strategy
   - installation-commands.md - Copy/paste micro-blocks

2. **docs/tasks/nc1-security-monitoring/**
   - README.md - NC1 firewall and temperature monitoring plan

3. **docs/reference/cockpit-quick-reference.md**
   - Complete access guide with all URLs and credentials
   - Troubleshooting section
   - Common tasks guide

---

## Lessons Learned

### The Good
- **Micro-block approach works perfectly** - Michael could copy/paste rapidly
- **Standardizing root password** made access consistent across all servers
- **Cockpit root restriction** was consistent across Ubuntu 24.04 installs
- **Pivot was the right call** - Foundation before expansion strikes again

### The Discoveries
- NC1 had no firewall despite hosting 7 public game servers ⚠️
- NC1 runs 20°C warmer than TX1 (needs monitoring)
- Billing VPS uses iptables directly (no UFW command installed)
- Panel VPS has two IPs (45.94.168.138 and 141.98.74.91)
- Command Center has 6 IPs on ens3 interface

### Technical Notes
- UFW must be enabled AFTER opening port 9090 (or use --force)
- Root login requires removing from /etc/cockpit/disallowed-users
- Self-signed certificate warnings are expected behavior
- Cockpit uses ~50MB RAM per server (negligible overhead)

---

## Why This Matters

**Before today:**
- Michael needed SSH client to manage servers
- Chromebook couldn't access server terminals
- Claude sessions block SSH (port 22)
- Had to use Ghost VPS Cockpit as workaround

**After today:**
- All 6 servers accessible via browser
- Chromebook = full infrastructure management
- No SSH dependency
- Claude sessions can guide Michael through any server
- NC1 is now properly secured with firewall

**The foundation just got stronger.**

---

## Next Session Priorities

**From The Diagnostician's plan:**
1. Ghost theme migration (Casper → Source) - Still high priority
2. Homepage typography completion - Blocked by theme migration
3. Minecraft skin commission - Waiting on artist

**New priorities:**
1. Monitor NC1 temperature weekly
2. Consider server updates (some servers have 15-29 updates)
3. System restarts needed (Command Center, NC1)

---

## Git Commits

**Commit 1: ef11945**
- Created Cockpit deployment task documentation
- deployment-plan.md, installation-commands.md, README.md

**Commit 2: 1540ab5**
- Marked Cockpit deployment COMPLETE
- Created cockpit-quick-reference.md with all access info
- Created nc1-security-monitoring task
- Updated deployment README with completion status

**All changes pushed to master on git.firefrostgaming.com**

---

## The Chronicler's Reflection

This was The Diagnostician's planned session, but Michael pivoted - and it was the right call.

**Foundation before expansion.**

The theme migration can wait. Having full Chromebook access to all servers? That's infrastructure that enables everything else.

We deployed Cockpit to 5 servers, secured NC1's firewall, documented everything, and created monitoring tasks. Clean, systematic, complete.

**And we discovered NC1's security gap before it became a problem.**

That's what good infrastructure work looks like.

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**Fire + Frost + Foundation = Where Love Builds Legacy** 💙🔥❄️

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**Prepared by:** The Chronicler (Session 37)  
**For next session:** Read this summary, then decide - theme migration or something else?  
**Status:** Operations manual updated, all work committed to Gitea
