Systems Engineer and Developer. Writing about IBM i modernization, full-stack web development, network infrastructure, and building tools from the metal up.https://brian-kimball.com/en-ushttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Why I tore down the Renaissance Technical design and rebuilt the site in Raygun Gothic — atomic starbursts, chrome typography, and a turquoise-coral-gold palette that finally feels like me.Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTdesignastrodevelopmenthttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/A BYOK MCP server that exposes 31 facade tools for IBM i observability, job management, and security. Built to train new users and accelerate expert workflows.Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTtypescriptdevelopmentibmiaimcphttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/From Raspberry Pi prototype to Wails desktop app: how Surveyor replaces manual nmap commands with stealth scanning and RFC 1918 auto-discovery.Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentgolangreactjsnetworkinghttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/How I used OpenCode and Gemini to build a "Renaissance Technical" design system that pits rigid grids against organic circles—and why AI is the brush, not the painter.Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTdesignaiastrodevelopmenthttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/How redundant compute, SAN mirroring, load balancers with CARP, and synchronous database clustering eliminate both hardware failures and maintenance windows.Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTnetworkingservershttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Streaming queries, emulated RETURNING, multi-row inserts, and a custom migration runner. This is the Knex dialect I wish existed when I started building on IBM i.Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTtypescriptdevelopmentibmihttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Single-process SSR + CSR with type-safe RPC, Vite, React, and Hono. The goal is low operational complexity without giving up dynamic UI.Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTtypescriptdevelopmentreactjshttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/A complete starter template combining Astro, Fastify, tRPC, Lucia, React, NextUI, and Drizzle into a single type-safe monolith.Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentfastifyastrotypescripthttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Marriage, a new baby, and a pivot from Raspberry Pi tools to desktop apps. Here is what I have been building during the quiet months.Sat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMTlifehttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Six months into Go, I rewrote a network scanner and built a custom event bus. The language is simpler than expected, with one big limitation on IBM i.Sat, 20 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentgolanghttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/After two decades of JavaScript, PHP, and Python, I am picking up Go to solve a real performance problem—and the early impressions are strong.Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentgolanghttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Using a native Map instead of an array eliminates O(n) scans for updates and simplifies real-time event handlers in React.Mon, 06 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentreactjsjavascripthttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/How to answer ARP requests for remote IPs using pfSense Virtual IPs and port forwarding. Useful for VPN tunnel access without renumbering subnets.Fri, 03 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTpfsensenetworkinghttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/A 12-hour overnight migration, redundant Nexus switches, and LACP LAGG groups. How we built a datacenter that sustains sub-1ms latency and zero-downtime maintenance.Fri, 13 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMTdatacenterinstallationhttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/The default IBM i job scheduler only runs daily, weekly, or monthly. Here is how the Advanced Job Scheduler finally unlocked hourly automation for my Node.js integrations.Thu, 12 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMTibmihttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Real-time WebSockets, REST APIs, and a Vite React frontend running directly on IBM i using Feathers.js and a custom Knex adapter for DB2.Sun, 27 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentreactjsfeathersjstypescriptibmihttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Node.js dominates my automation stack because the ecosystem is massive and the training barrier is low. Here is how I structure scheduled backend jobs.Sun, 13 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentnodehttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/A proof-of-concept full-stack app using Feathers.js, React, Vite, and shadcn/ui to manage customer demographics and trigger anniversary and birthday emails.Sun, 16 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentreactjsfeathersjstypescripthttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Step-by-step IBM i LAGG setup using *AGG resources and LACP policy, plus the gotcha we hit with Cisco Nexus VPCs.Sun, 26 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTdatacenteribmihttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/A custom illustration of our puppy Cookie, rendered in the Bluey animation style to help the kids through a big family transition.Fri, 24 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMTillustrationhobbydesignhttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Use the IBM i Tivoli LDAP server as a single source of truth for VPN and service authentication. Here is the full setup, including a Node.js script to sync user profiles.Sun, 02 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMTibmipfsensehttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/A Node.js tool to automate nmap scans, whois lookups, and DNS queries during MSP onboarding. Built for the Raspberry Pi with Fastify and Solid.js.Fri, 12 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentsolidjsfastifyhttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/We needed a dedicated, marketable site for our hosting services. I used actual data center photography and Next.js to build it.Fri, 14 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTdesignnextjshttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/A vinyl fencing company needed a warehouse inventory system. I built a Vue.js SPA with barcode scanning and shareable filters, backed by a Laravel API.Sat, 08 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentvuejslaravelhttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Experimenting with profile-picture art styles led to this character concept—part illustration exercise, part curiosity about digital ownership.Sun, 21 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMTillustrationhobbydesignhttps://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/https://brian-kimball.com/blog/undefined/Warehouse employees scan badges or barcodes to log tasks. I built a Vue.js + Laravel app with URL-synced filters for easy reporting.Mon, 04 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTdevelopmentvuejslaravel