Lessons Learned After Finally Configuring a Raspberry Pi CM4 Mini Router (Bought in 2022) Product Mini Router built with Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Dual Gigabit Ethernet NICs 4GB RAM / 32GB eMMC Pre-installed OpenWrt Compact form factor, fanless, low power Background: A Device That Waited Its Turn I bought this device back in 2022 . At the time, it looked like the perfect small router: Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Dual Ethernet ports OpenWrt already installed No SD card required thanks to eMMC But like many homelab projects, it ended up sitting on a shelf . Fast forward to today — with more networking experience, a clearer home network plan, and a real need for a flexible router — I finally decided to configure it properly. That’s when the real journey started. What I Expected (Even in 2025) Even knowing this wasn’t a consumer router, I still expected: Plug WAN into my upstream router Plug LAN into my laptop Access 192.168.1.1 Hav...
Introduction Designing a mobile app today goes far beyond building a beautiful interface. Native apps — whether for iOS or Android — need secure authentication, user role management, real-time communication with the backend, and scalable infrastructure to support growth. In this post, I’ll walk you through a clean and modern architecture to connect native mobile apps to a robust backend on AWS. The architecture is modular, scalable, and aligned with best practices for security and performance — without relying on overly complex tools. Why it matters: apps today are more than just UI A production-grade mobile app often includes: User login (email, Google, or others), Differentiated access for multiple roles (e.g., user vs admin), Secure token-based communication, A backend capable of handling business logic and data, Data storage, asset management, and scalable APIs, Compliance with Google Play and App Store requirements. All of these require a backend architecture ...