Tuesday, January 31 2023

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NAKIVO Backup & Replication v10.8 GA new features download
Server Monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana
Hyper-V Virtual SAN synchronization with StarWind Virtual SAN
VMware Resource Pool vs Cluster Comparison
Proxmox scripts PowerShell Ansible and Terraform
Free Virtual Storage Appliance StarWind SAN & NAS new features
Best docker containers for Synology NAS
HCIBench – Speedtest for VMware vSAN storage
Windows Subsystem for Linux has no installed distributions
Docker Rename container from the command line and GUI

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home lab

brandon.leeJune 27, 2022
0 582

Cooling for Home Labs and tricks to reduce your heat

Especially since we are in the middle of the summer here in the U.S., running your home lab now with a few servers, network gear, storage, and other devices may be cranking up the heat…
Read More »
June 24, 2022

Windows 11 22H2 Download ISO and install
June 23, 2022

Teleport VPN alternative for secure remote access
June 21, 2022

Smart App Control Windows 11 22H2 Ransomware protection
June 20, 2022

Convert Packer Variables JSON to HCL2 for automated vSphere templates

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Windows
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2021

Windows Subsystem for Linux

brandon.lee4 weeks ago
0 898

Windows Subsystem for Linux has no installed distributions

Windows Subsystem for Linux is a great environment for working with Linux tools, applications, utilities, bash command prompt shell, etc.,…
Read More »
November 23, 2022

Windows Subsystem for Linux Microsoft Store GA and now default WSL
September 8, 2022

Azure stack HCI vs Hyper-V
June 24, 2022

Windows 11 22H2 Download ISO and install
June 7, 2022

Download Windows 11 Prebuilt Developer Appliance for VMware Hyper-V and VirtualBox

Windows Server 2016

brandon.leeNovember 10, 2020
0 1,310

Windows Server 2016 Install Remote Desktop Services

This year has been a year like none other with organizations scrambling to bolster their remote work infrastructure. It has…
Read More »
December 14, 2017

Windows Server 2016 Security Features and Hardening
July 5, 2017

Add iSCSI Shared Storage in Windows Server 2016
May 22, 2017

When to use Windows Server 2016 ReFS
May 16, 2017

Install and Configure Windows Server 2016 WSUS

Windows Server 2019

brandon.leeJanuary 20, 2021
0 5,769

Windows Server 2019 Core Install Active Directory

Windows Server Core has been around since Windows Server 2008. It has not been the most popular way however to…
Read More »
December 2, 2020

Create a USB Drive for Windows Server 2019 Installation
October 13, 2020

Reset 120 day RDS Grace period on 2016 and 2019
August 1, 2020

LetsEncrypt Windows Server 2019 Configuration
July 20, 2020

VMware Windows Server 2019 Template Best Practices

Windows Server 2021

brandon.leeNovember 19, 2020
0 20,080

Windows Server 2021 vs Windows Server 2019

***Update*** – The next version of Windows is Windows Server 2022 and not 2021. See below. Recently we took a…
Read More »
November 12, 2020

Windows Server 2021 Preview Build Features

VMware
vSphere 7
Virtualization
ESXi on ARM
Horizon View

VMware

brandon.lee1 week ago
0 139

VMware Resource Pool vs Cluster Comparison

There are many different constructs as part of the VMware vSphere environment with vCenter Server and ESXi. VMware vSphere provides…
Read More »
3 weeks ago

HCIBench – Speedtest for VMware vSAN storage
December 6, 2022

VMware Multi-cloud Briefing – VMware Aria Graph and Hub
November 19, 2022

VMware Workstation 17 Pro New features and Download Link
November 2, 2022

vRealize Log Insight Syslog Configuration

vSphere 7

brandon.leeJuly 13, 2022
0 2,854

What’s new in VMware vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3f and ESXi 7.0 Update 3f

Guys heads up. There is a new vCenter Server update and ESXi hosts update to take note of. The new…
Read More »
February 2, 2022

New vCenter Server 7 Update 3c Pre-Update Check Problematic hosts
January 28, 2022

VMware vSphere 7 Update 3c Released New Features
September 29, 2021

SD Card and USB boot no longer supported in ESXi easy migration to SSD
September 29, 2021

vSphere 7 Update 3 Released with new features

VMware

brandon.lee1 week ago
0 139

VMware Resource Pool vs Cluster Comparison

There are many different constructs as part of the VMware vSphere environment with vCenter Server and ESXi. VMware vSphere provides…
Read More »
3 weeks ago

HCIBench – Speedtest for VMware vSAN storage
December 6, 2022

VMware Multi-cloud Briefing – VMware Aria Graph and Hub
November 19, 2022

VMware Workstation 17 Pro New features and Download Link
November 2, 2022

vRealize Log Insight Syslog Configuration

ESXi on ARM

brandon.leeOctober 22, 2020
0 3,279

Add iSCSI Shared Storage to VMware ESXi-Arm

One of the exciting things in the home lab as of late is the ESXi-ARM fling that I have installed…
Read More »
October 13, 2020

Install ESXi-Arm Step by Step on Raspberry Pi 4
November 9, 2018

VMware vSphere ESXi on Raspberry Pi ARM Processors

Horizon View

brandon.leeDecember 3, 2021
0 5,707

Upgrade VMware Horizon 7.x Connection Servers to Horizon 8 2111

VMware Horizon 8 2111 is hot off the press from VMware and no doubt organizations are looking at a maintenance…
Read More »
November 30, 2021

VMware Horizon 8 2111 Released New Features
August 3, 2021

VMware Horizon Client Error Couldn’t Connect to Server
January 8, 2021

VMware Horizon 2012 Released with New Features
December 30, 2020

VMware Horizon UAG OKTA RADIUS configuration

Automation
Security
Software Defined Storage

Automation

brandon.leeOctober 31, 2022
0 998

Choosing the Best VMware Automation Tools

Providing streamlined and consistent management across the virtual estate is extremely important when using enterprise virtualization servers to run virtual…
Read More »
July 7, 2022

Apt Periodic Autoclean Interval with Unattended-Upgrades
June 20, 2022

Convert Packer Variables JSON to HCL2 for automated vSphere templates
April 22, 2022

Packer Build Ubuntu 22.04 for VMware vSphere
January 4, 2022

VMware Event Broker Appliance VEBA tutorial: How to create an email notification

Networking

brandon.leeNovember 28, 2022
0 1,208

Pialert Docker Setup – Detecting Rogue Devices connected to the network

If you are like me, you are constantly looking at new solutions for network security and better visibility to devices…
Read More »
September 28, 2022

Commvault Metallic ThreatWise Early Threat Detection with Deception Technology
August 3, 2022

I created ESXi ransomware its scary easy and why you need proper security
July 29, 2022

Remote Desktop Multi-factor Authentication with ThinMan Smart Identity
July 27, 2022

RDP vs SSH – Which should you choose?

Software Defined Storage

brandon.lee1 week ago
0 79

Hyper-V Virtual SAN synchronization with StarWind Virtual SAN

The StarWind Virtual SAN solution is one of the easiest ways to run software-defined virtual SAN in Hyper-V. It has…
Read More »
2 weeks ago

Free Virtual Storage Appliance StarWind SAN & NAS new features
August 22, 2022

Free Virtual SAN Storage Software with StarWind
May 4, 2022

Hyperconverged Infrastructure Trends in 2022
March 15, 2022

Upgrading outdated hardware with StarWind HCA appliance

Cloud
Networking
NSX-T

Cloud

brandon.leeNovember 3, 2022
0 148

Microsoft 365 security and backup with Hornetsecurity

To the topic of Microsoft 365 security, many businesses are leveraging the cloud’s power for the modern hybrid workforce. One…
Read More »
April 19, 2021

Spin.ai cloud cybersecurity and ransomware protection new features
May 20, 2020

Install Windows Updates Remotely from the Cloud with Action1
June 11, 2019

Spinbackup Multi-Cloud SaaS Backup Adds Microsoft Azure
January 3, 2019

Office 2019 vs Office 365 Differences and Installation

Networking

brandon.leeDecember 20, 2022
0 329

Palo Alto PA 440 New Firewall Review

For the past few years now, I have been running the Palo Alto Networks PA 220 in the home lab…
Read More »
November 28, 2022

Pialert Docker Setup – Detecting Rogue Devices connected to the network
June 17, 2022

Twingate Download and configuration – Review of Zero trust VPN
March 29, 2022

pfSense VLAN to VLAN Routing in VMware ESXi
March 18, 2022

Segment your VMware Network with pfSense

NSX-T

brandon.leeMarch 4, 2022
0 1,898

Identity Based Firewall configuration with NSX-T and vSphere

For years now, organizations have based application access and access to resources and files on identity. Typically, this is based…
Read More »
March 2, 2022

vSphere NSX-T installation and configuration
December 9, 2021

VMware NSX-T 3.2 Released New Features
June 21, 2021

Avi Load Balancer VMware Standalone Install
November 16, 2020

VMware Announces Modern Network Framework Updates

A complete walkthrough of completely free and open source solutions to monitor your Linux, Windows, and Docker servers. In the view we see how we can setup and configure Prometheus, Node Exporter, Grafana, and cAdvisor to monitor servers in our environment and how you can easily configure these.

Clone down the examples in this video from the following Git repository:

https://github.com/brandonleegit/OpenSourceMonitoring

Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrxcWtpd1IGHG9RbD_9380A?sub_confirmation=1

My blog:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com
_____________________________________________________

Social Media:
https://twitter.com/vspinmaster

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-lee-vht/

Github:
https://github.com/brandonleegit

Introduction to Prometheus, Node Exporter, Grafana, and cAdvisor - 0:00
Looking at how everything fits together - 1:15
Node Exporter details and written for Linux - 2:15
Windows Exporter to expose metrics for monitoring Windows machines - 2:28
cAdvisor for monitoring Docker containers - 2:56
Looking at the Linux host serving as the Docker container host - 3:26
Installing Docker Compose - 3:51
Verifying Docker Compose installation - 4:12
Looking at our Linux user used to run Docker on the Docker host - 4:27
Creating the local folder structure for the local volume mounts - 5:05
Using a crude bash script to create the folder structure - 5:23
Running the command to create the folders - 6:29
Overview of installing the monitoring stack with Docker Compose - 7:08
Editing the Docker Compose file for creating the monitoring stack - 8:03
Stepping through the Docker Compose configuration - 8:18
Talking through permissions and adding the User ID to avoid permissions issues with Prometheus - 9:22
Looking at cAdvisor and odd ports used - 10:47
Redis dependency 11:10
Saving the Docker Compose YAML file - 11:34
Running the Docker Compose UP command - 11:53
The provisioning of the containers finishes, checking everything to see if it is up and running - 12:18
Talking through troubleshooting if a container is crashing - 12:58
Containers are healthy and ready to move forward - 13:13
Talking about configuring Prometheus and getting metrics into Grafana - 13:23
Beginning the configuration of Prometheus - 13:43
Adding configuration to the Prometheus YAML file - 14:18
Stop and start Prometheus container to pick up the new YAML file - 14:43
Browsing out to port 3000 on Docker host to login to Grafana - 15:08
Change your password - 15:18
Navigate to settings and adding a data source - 15:30
Populating the address of our Prometheus installation - 15:48
Save and test the new data source - 16:06
Looking at the Explore dashboard icon - 16:17
Importing a community dashboard - 16:40
Getting the JSON file or ID from the Grafana community dashboards site - 17:00
Downloading the JSON or copy ID to clipboard - 17:30
Paste in the ID of the community dashboard - 17:42
Immediately you see the new dashboard imported to view metrics - 18:15
Looking at Windows Exporter to import metrics from a Windows host - 18:50
Download the Windows Exporter file and copy out to Windows host - 19:16
Running the Exporter installation and viewing Windows Exporter service - 19:30
Adding the Windows Exporter host to our Prometheus configuration - 19:50
Restarting Prometheus to pick up the new Windows host - 20:23
Download a Windows Exporter community dashboard - 20:37
Viewing the new Windows Exporter dashboard and information - 21:18
Talking about adding Docker to monitoring with Prmetheus and Grafana - 21:47
Looking at the Prometheus configuration and the cAdvisor configuration we have in place - 22:04
Concluding and wrapping up thoughts on Prometheus, Node Exporter, Grafana, and cAdvisor - 22:53

A written walkthrough of Prometheus Node Exporter monitoring:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2023/01/prometheus-node-exporter-cadvisor-grafana-install-and-configure/

Best docker containers for Synology NAS:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2023/01/best-docker-containers-for-synology-nas/

Best Server Monitoring with Prometheus, Node Exporter, Grafana, and cAdvisor

YouTube Video VVVyeGNXdHBkMUlHSEc5UmJEXzkzODBBLlJBcU1QX05uR2Vj

Thinking about goals in your home lab in 2023, what changes are you thinking about making? What hardware are you going to introduce this year? Software? New technology solutions? What about introducing cloud technologies to the mix? In this video I discuss with you guys my home lab goals in 2023 and what I look to do and accommplish with the lab environment this year.

Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrxcWtpd1IGHG9RbD_9380A?sub_confirmation=1

My blog:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com
_____________________________________________________

Social Media:
https://twitter.com/vspinmaster

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-lee-vht/

Github:
https://github.com/brandonleegit

Introduction to home lab goals in 2023 - 0:00
Looking at my goal of refreshing my VMware vSAN cluster - 0:59
Spec'ing out servers for the hardware refresh - 1:34
What are the sweet spots with servers available? - 2:00
My recent upgrade to a Palo Alto PA440 - 2:24
Thinking about upgrading to 25 Gb/sec switches - 2:50
Update on cleaning up and rearranging my network and server rack - 3:45
Thinking about software updates this coming year and what I want to introduce - 4:16
Expanding my Linux footprint in the home lab this year - 4:41
Other Linux distros to play around with - 5:24
Looking at more monitoring and observability in the home lab in 2023 - 6:03
Looking at new technologies and solutions - 6:23
Continuing the journey of modernization of the home lab - 6:30
I want to play around with Hashicorp Nomad for orchestrating containers - 6:52
What would I like to do differently in the home lab? 7:14
Microservices and containerization - 7:38
Taking applications running in full virtual machines nad migrating to containers - 7:51
More automation in the home lab coming up in 2023 - 8:12
Using automation tools like Terraform, Ansible, and committing Infrastructure as Code - 8:36
Looking at integrating more cloud technologies into the home lab - 8:57
Businesses are currently facing many of the same challenges with hybrid cloud technologies - 9:22
Concluding thoughts on my home lab goals in 2023 - 9:45

My home lab:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/home-lab/

Supermicro specific information:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2020/06/supermicro-vmware-home-lab/

Home Lab GOALS 2023 - Server, networking, containers, Kubernetes, and more!

YouTube Video VVVyeGNXdHBkMUlHSEc5UmJEXzkzODBBLnY4Z3l5a1B1NjBv

With skyrocketing energy prices across the world, many may struggle with the idea of running a home lab with the power requirements. However, in our video, we are going to show a simple trick to drastically cut the power consumption of your home server. Using out of band management and automation, we can run our home server like a cloud environment and have things powered off when not using them to save on costs.

Clone the code repo for the scripts in the video here:
https://github.com/brandonleegit/LabPower

Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrxcWtpd1IGHG9RbD_9380A?sub_confirmation=1

My blog:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com
_____________________________________________________

Social Media:
https://twitter.com/vspinmaster

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-lee-vht/

Github:
https://github.com/brandonleegit

Introduction - 0:00
Describing the situation of inefficiency running a home lab - 0:48
Looking at auto shutdown functionality in the cloud - 1:37
Describing using out of band management and automation to control power state - 1:59
Looking at Supermicro's out of band management for IPMI - 2:49
Looking at the Supermicro command line tool to interact with IPMI - 3:14
Coordinating shutting down or suspending VMs and shutting down physical host - 3:40
Looking at the script for shutting down or suspending VMs and then powering down server - 4:07
Describing the next steps - 5:24
Running the script and testing the results of suspending VMs and powering down host - 5:34
Describing the timing of the loop and how it moves from VM to physical host - 6:08
Time lapse of the script running - 6:26
Showing the command to shutdown the Supermicro server runs and server is powered down - 6:41
Looking at the reverse process script to power up the lab server - 6:58
Describing the sleep time in the script to allow the host to power on, boot, and connect to vCenter - 7:36
Waiting a few seconds between each power on of a virtual machines - 8:13
Testing the power up script to start the physical host and start the VMs - 8:52
Talking about schduling your scripts to power down and power up your home lab servers and VMs - 9:38
Wrapping up on lowering your power costs for home servers and home labs - 10:10

Read my written write up of this process here:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2020/07/supermicro-vmware-home-lab-automatic-power-on-and-power-off/

Nested virtualization home lab:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2020/09/nested-esxi-lab-build-networking-and-hardware/

Supermicro home lab:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2020/06/supermicro-vmware-home-lab/

Low Power Home Server using automated shutdowns to conserve energy

YouTube Video VVVyeGNXdHBkMUlHSEc5UmJEXzkzODBBLnE2OVZaa2RKaUNr

A Synology NAS is a great platform for many services, including running Docker containers. Many may not realize that you can use your Synology NAS as a container host. You can simply install your Docker container engine from the Synology Package manager. Once installed, you can browse the Synology Docker container registry and pull many great containers for use in the home lab. This video covers a list of the best Docker container hosts for Synology NAS.

Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrxcWtpd1IGHG9RbD_9380A?sub_confirmation=1

My blog:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com
_____________________________________________________

Social Media:
https://twitter.com/vspinmaster

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-lee-vht/

Github:
https://github.com/brandonleegit

Introduction to running Docker containers on Synology NAS - 0:00
Why Synology is a great NAS solution - 0:54
Great security reputation - 1:20
Why use a Synology NAS device as a Docker container host? 1:38
How to install the Docker Engine on your Synology NAS - 2:36
The best docker container - media server using Jellyfin - 2:59
Running home automation with Home Assistant - 4:02
Running your own Git repository with Gitlab - 4:57
Running your own email services that integrate with modern notifications - 5:49
Introducing Apprise and Mailrise - 6:08
Self-hosting a VPN solution on your Synology NAS with Twingate - 7:04
Running your Unifi Network Controller on your Synology NAS - 8:04
Portainer container management - 8:49
Running Pihole on your Synology NAS for DNS filtering, blocking ads, ransomware, etc - 9:36
Running a home lab dashboard using Dashy on your Synology NAS - 10:12
Wrapping up thinking about the best Docker containers on your Synology NAS - 11:22

Best docker containers for Synology NAS:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2023/01/best-docker-containers-for-synology-nas/

Best Docker Containers for Home Server:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2022/05/best-docker-containers-for-home-server/

Monitor docker containers with 6 Free tools:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2022/12/monitor-docker-containers-with-6-free-tools/

Best Docker Containers for Synology NAS

YouTube Video VVVyeGNXdHBkMUlHSEc5UmJEXzkzODBBLi1BcGdPNFAzRFdj

After receiving complimentary Intel Optane drives via the VMware vExpert program for testing in the home lab, I am excited to share with you guys the journey of adding Intel Optane storage to my home lab VMware vSphere vSAN environment. Take a look with me and the benchmark results as we look at the differences between NVMe cache tier and Optane and the results I saw in the lab.

VMware vExpert program: https://vexpert.vmware.com
Intel Optane: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/memory-storage/optane-memory.html

Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrxcWtpd1IGHG9RbD_9380A?sub_confirmation=1

My blog:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com
_____________________________________________________

Social Media:
https://twitter.com/vspinmaster

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-lee-vht/

Github:
https://github.com/brandonleegit

Introduction - 0:00
How I received the Intel Optane drives - 0:45
What about the end of life of Intel Optane storage? - 1:24
Notice of end of life driving price down - 2:05
Introducing information about Intel Optane - 2:23
NAND uses transistors where Intel Optane doesn't - 2:46
NAND changes data inefficiently compared to Intel Optane - 3:02
No backend processes needed with Intel Optane data changes - 3:40
Looking at the form factors of the Intel Optane drives - 4:07
Looking at the cable I am using to connect the U.2 drive to the motherboard - 4:42
Other ways to connect M.2 to U.2 - 5:04
Looking at the calbe after installation and U.2 Intel Optane drive mounted - 5:41
Introducing VMware HCIBench benchmarking utility - 6:28
Looking at deploying the HCIGBench OVA appliance - 7:15
Configuring the HCIBench benchmarking parameters - 7:29
Looking at the Easy Run - 8:10
Choosing the benchmarking tool to use - 8:45
Looking at the results of the Intel Optane tests! - 9:30
Talking about my Supermicro Xeon-D vSAN hosts - 9:40
Numbers before Intel Optane - 9:57
With Intel Optane numbers - 10:30
95th percentile write latency - 11:16
Concluding thoughts on Intel Optane and the use case for home lab - 12:20

Is Intel Optane worth it?
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2022/12/is-intel-optane-worth-it-awesome-vexpert-opportunity/

NVMe server for vSAN virtual machines:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2022/08/nvme-server-for-vsan-virtual-machines/

My Supermicro home lab:
https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2020/06/supermicro-vmware-home-lab/

Best Home Server Storage for virtualization - Intel Optane in VMware vSAN

YouTube Video VVVyeGNXdHBkMUlHSEc5UmJEXzkzODBBLnI2allKbGlMLVJn

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