Deploying the OVA appliance in vSphere

This is just classic OVA deployment in vSphere but below are the screenshots of the process for my home lab.

Selecting the name and folder location.

Select a compute resource where you want the OVA to be deployed.

Review the initial details that it shows in the OVA wizard.

Select the target storage for the OVA appliance deployment.

Select the virtual network where you want to attach it.

Ready to complete the OVA deployment wizard.

Starting the appliance and initial configuration wizard

Once the appliance is deployed, power it up. You will see the appliance boot as below.

It will then kick off an initial configuration wizard for Veeam. First, accept the EULA.

Next, set the hostname for the appliance.

Next, configure your network settings.

On the next step, you will be able to configure your NTP setup.

Next, set your veeamadmin password.

Be sure to set something that is super complex, it will only allow 3 characters of the same type in a row.

Setup MFA for your user account.

Configure a security officer account. This is optional and you can check the box to skip this part if you want.

Summary screen of the initial configuration settings.

It will apply the configuration settings and restart all the services.

The appliance will reboot and you will see something similar to the below on the console. This allows you to see how you connect to the appliance.

When logging in, the first thing it will do is update the host components and apply updates.

Hopefully, this walkthrough of how to install the Veeam hardened linux appliance using the OVA appliance in a VMware vSphere environment works. The process is straightforward and intuitive in classic Veeam fashion. Enjoy!

However, I had issues just enabling this and assuming it worked on my switch. I could never get my SNMPv3 monitor to connect. So, I dove into the CLI. If you want to know how to get to the CLI in Unifi USW switches, see my other forum post here: CLI enable on Unifi USW.

Configure the switch side SNMP

View your current configuration:

show snmp
show snmp engineID
show snmp group
show snmp user

Now, here are the commands that worked for me:

configure
snmp-server v3-host 10.1.149.51 yoursnmpuser traps priv
exit
write memory

Configure the switch side sFlow

configure
sflow receiver 1 owner mysnmpname 10.1.149.51 6343 2000000 2

This sets up an sflow receiver with in slot 1, owner is a friendly name you can set, IP is the SNMP monitoring server, port 6343, max datagram size is 2000000, timeout is 2.

Set the ports that will be enabled for sflow

sflow source-interface network

interface 0/1-0/52
sflow sampler 1
sflow sampler rate 4096
sflow poller 1
sflow poller interval 20
exit

##Save configuration##

exit
write memory

## Verify

show sflow receivers
show sflow samplers
show sflow pollers
show sflow agent

Important notes on the SNMP version

In the "new" UI in the Unifi network application, they don't show you what the encryption and authentication methods are. However, I can confirm those are the following:

- SNMP Version: v3
- Authentication Method: SHA (not MD5!)
- Encryption Type: AES (not DES)

Hopefully, these notes will help anyone else who is struggling to get SNMPv3 up and working on a Unifi USW enterprise network switch.

Then you connect to the IP of your USW switch and login with the credentials you get from the above settings screen. 

Next, this isn't that intuitive, but from the CLI, you need to type the cli command like so. This will get you into the true CLI.

To get to an enable prompt, just type enable from the command line.

If you want to see what commands are available, just type a question mark at the prompt like you would from a Cisco command line and it will show you what all commands are available. Keep in mind, there are some "show" and other commands that won't be available from the "enable" prompt, but outside of the enable prompt. The enable prompt is where you configure things, while the non-enable prompt is where you view things.

Using the command below:

netstat -ano | findstr :80

So I had this output showing the autoprivate IP with port 80 bound. But key in the above is that we see the PID which is 2856. What service is using this? To find out I used the command:

tasklist | findstr 2856

Then to find the actual service using it, run the command:

tasklist /svc | findstr 2856

The above shows the iplpsvc or "IP helper service" that sometimes binds to port 80. Sure enough, I stopped this service and IIS started without issues. Hopefully this will help show the steps to quickly find the service that may have a port bound.

New improvements and Features in Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3

Microsoft entra id backup
Support for Windows Server 2025 and Windows 11 24H2
Nutanix AHV improvements
MongoDB 8, PostgreSQL 17, and Oracle RMAN
Better security
Veeam Data Cloud Vault
Advanced Continuous Data Protection (CDP)
Improved backup times
Automation and integration

Read my blog post covering these new features in more detail here: Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 New Features and Download.

Steps Before you Upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3

There are a few steps that need to be accomplished before you being the upgrade of your Veeam Backup & Replication servers in your environment. These include:

• Back up your Veeam server configuration
• Back up your Veeam database

Back up your Veeam server configuration

In Veeam, this is known as a Configuration Backup and it grabs all your configured backup jobs and other configuration that is part of your Veeam server. Below, you can see you have a Backup now button that allows you to take ad-hoc backups of your Veeam configuration. Generally, you should already have this scheduled, but it is still a good idea to take a fresh backup before you upgrade.

Back up your Veeam database

Next, you need to grab a backup of your Veeam database. Below, we are backing up a SQL Server database used for Veeam. This process is straightforward. You may also be using a PostgreSQL DB, so follow the directions of your database technology to back up your database before the upgrade.

Upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3

Also, just a point to note, I uploaded the Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 ISO to my vSphere datastore as the ISO is huge at 12 GB or so. The Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 upgrade process seems a bit more of a stickler on disk space. In my lab environment I only had 30 gigs or so free on the C drive.

It complained about this as it said it needed 40 gigs or so free. I believe it calculates 3x the ISO and some space for the database. So, instead of having the ISO inside of Windows, I copied it up to my datastore and mounted it to the VM to save on the disk space.

Once mounted, just execute the SETUP.EXE file.

This will launch the upgrade process. Click the Upgrade button on the splash screen.

Since I only have the Veeam Backup & Replication server running, the other option for Enterprise manager is greyed out. It will also upgrade the Veeam Backup & Replication console as part of the VBR 12.3 upgrade.

Accept the Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 EULA.

It will run through an upgrade pre-check and show you which components and versions of those components will be upgraded. Note the checkbox to Update remote components automatically. This is a time saver that you may want to check. However, if you want to be more hands on with the upgrade, you can also leave this unchecked and upgrade the components manually when you launch the Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 console.

License file information. It will display your current license and then give you links to login or browse to a different license file if you need to change that.

System configuration check will verify prerequisites and other components that are needed.

It upgraded the Microsoft Visual C++ runtime, and needed a reboot.

After rebooting, I picked back up on the upgrade process. Here we get to the service account page. Veeam recommends the LOCAL SYSTEM account. However, if you use a Windows account, just make sure it has rights to the Veeam database in SQL Server permissions if you are using SQL Server.

Database configuration has you point the upgrade to the Veeam database and how you want to authenticate.

It lets you know the database will be upgraded during the process. This is why we take the SQL Server backup of the database just in case.

The upgrade wizard is now ready to begin the upgrade. Click Upgrade to start the process.

You will see the Step 1 of 6 and then see it progress through 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and so on.

Step 3…I missed step 2…which I believe is upgrading the VBR console.

Now Step 4, upgrading Veeam Agents Redistributables…

Step 5, upgrading plug-ins for Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3.

The upgrade process completes successfully.

If you chose not to upgrade remote components automatically, when you log into the Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 console, you will see the wizard prompt you to upgrade those components.

Wrapping up

The upgrade process to Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3 is straightforward. Just do your proper steps before the upgrade process like backing up the configuration and the database to make sure you have a way to roll back in case something happens. Otherwise, it is just a matter of mounting the ISO, and then stepping through the upgrade steps in the process.

Next, when you're putting the motherboard in your computer case, you've got to be careful to line everything up perfectly and screw it in without forcing it. This keeps it stable and stops it from getting damaged.

It's also super important to get your CPU (the brain of your computer) and your RAM (short-term memory) installed just right. If these aren't put in correctly or if they're the wrong kind for your motherboard, your computer won't work as it should. Always check the manual to make sure you're doing it right.

Cables can be a pain, but you've got to make sure they're all hooked up right and not in the way of anything. Messy cables can block air getting to your parts, making them hotter than they should be, which isn't good. Plus, you don't want them causing a short circuit.

Don't forget about standoffs – these little spacers keep your motherboard from touching the case directly, which could cause a short circuit. Make sure they're all in the right spots before you screw your motherboard in.

Lastly, putting thermal paste on your CPU is really important for keeping it cool. You don't need a lot, just enough to cover the top. Putting on too much or too little can make your CPU overheat, and nobody wants that.

In short, if you're careful with static electricity, make sure everything's lined up and not forced, get your CPU and RAM in right, manage your cables well, use standoffs, and apply the right amount of thermal paste, you'll be setting up your motherboard the right way. Follow these steps, and you'll be on your way to building a great computer.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2266284/avoid-these-6-mistakes-when-installing-the-mainboard.html

"the website sent back unusual and incorrect credentials....the website sent scrambled credentials...."

You can follow these steps to resolve it. This appears to be a known bug and you have to regenerate the self-signed certificate.

Now, you will be able to access Prism in browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge Chromium, in addition to Firefox.

i tried the instructions you have me tioned in the video but I am getting the error while installing the package

Command

1. Install-Module -Name DockerMsftProvider -Force

2. Install-Package -Name docker -ProviderName DockerMsftProvider

error - Cannot find the path

I wound up getting a whole-home monitoring kit from Emporia Energy: https://shop.emporiaenergy.com/products/gen-2-emporia-vue-with-16-sensors-bundle It uses clamps that are installed in your breaker panel to monitor individual circuits. This is handy for getting overall usage if you're not super concerned with individual components/appliances. If you want to get more granular, they also have smart plugs that you can add that integrate into their monitoring.

Installation was pretty easy. Disclaimer: you should hire an authorized electrician to do this work, ideally. However if you're a bit DIY-oriented it's pretty easy to figure out how to do it safely. I got the kit with 2 sensors for the mains and then 16 individual circuit monitors. Once everything is installed connect the monitor to wifi and to your Emporia account.

After that's all set, check out the vuegraf project on Github: https://github.com/jertel/vuegraf This is a basic Docker container that will use Emporia's API to get your statistics and then send them to your InfluxDB instance. There's a dashboard provided there, but you can obviously do whatever you want with the data. I created a super simple panel to embed in my existing dashboard:

https://tcude.net/monitoring-proxmox-with-influxdb-and-grafana/

It's a super quick and easy guide to getting Influx up and running (in Docker) and imports a pre-existing dashboard.

I might play around with the dashboard and change up how it looks, but for now I'm happy!