So it is not clear to me if my bitcoin server is syncing and all is fine or if the "potential stale tip detected, will retry extra outbound " message means I have to do something. Searching for that string does not actually provide me an answer. I thought Bitcoin full node install would be a bit more intuitive. Any help appreciated
Solution Update: My server was not connecting to peers because my ROUTER had a FILTER, set to medium, that was just allowing in some popular known ports. When I set it to Low, My server then started to see peers immediately. Just weird how the router chose to implement this firewall this way. It did not honor the fact that I forwarded the port.