Image above adapted from Anthony Spiteri's excellent VeeamON 2018 Recap. See also my extensive, picture-filled @paulbraren #VeeamON timeline. I may not have been VMware's first choice to cover this Other Veeam Vanguards from VMware's Technical Marketing team were unable to attend due to…
Above image adapted from What's New with vSphere 6 HOL. This short article is really just about one of the very first questions that pops up very soon after any major release of VMware vSphere, for enthusiasts looking to test the latest release, while not putting their VM backups at risk. You can…
Two years and 2 months ago, I enthusiastically announced the first time Supermicro Xeon D-1500 systems arrived on the VCG (VMware Compatibility Guide): Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T mini-tower now ready for business as the first Intel Xeon D-1500 in the VMware HCL (Compatibility Guide)…
This is a basic overview document, highlighting the steps that I walk you right through in the accompanying video below. The video features my live recording done on the very day vSphere 6.7 was announced and released, so it's a bit rough around the edges and completely unrehearsed. All that aside,…
This article will is under construction, and will be updated frequently these first few days. BIOS 1.3 has been released mostly just to address Side Channel Speculative Execution and Indirect Branch Prediction, also referred to as Spectre (type 2) mitigation. This new release was first spotted by…
Turn Your QNAP, Synology, ASUSTOR, or WD NAS into a VM Backup Appliance - Improve backup performance by up to 2X and offload your IT infrastructure It's no secret that I quite enjoy the simplicity of installing the NAKIVO Backup & Replication appliance in a home lab. Getting your most precious…
Just over 2 years ago, I enthusiastically announced: Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T mini-tower now ready for business as the first Intel Xeon D-1500 in the VMware HCL (Compatibility Guide) Feb 10 2016 Then, I visited Supermicro's booth at VMworld 2016, I politely inquired why ESXi 6.5…
A TinkerTry reader send this great comment early today, how timely! I'm disappointed that I don't have a great answer for Koen, at least not yet anyway. Click to visit the Supermicro SuperServer E300-9D Product page. For folks who don't need much storage and don't mind 1U fan noise, the only…
I recently bumped into an issue after a public demonstration of my home lab. After the successful day, I routinely replaced the VCSA appliance I had been messing around with by deleting the old one and installing a new one. I re-used the same DNS name, which for my home lab is vcsa.lab.local,…
So many Xeon D form factors There are so many form-factors for Xeon D out there, thanks to the System On a Chip design that allows for a variety of embedded and IoT centric-designs. See my recently updated: Intel Xeon D is a rather versatile platform, have a look! Xeon D home lab success…
Come back and refresh, this new article is a work in progress! I'm happy that Xeon D finally has some competition, validating the value of the embedded/IoT market niche that home virtualization lab enthusiasts have benefited from. There are many popular Intel Xeon D designs that take advantage of…
March 1, 2018 - New Haven, Connecticut Don't forget to register, it's free. Don't forget to enter the raffle when you stop by my pedestal, and stick around for this very special end-of-day give-away! Connecticut VMUG UserCon was at the Connecticut Convention Center in 2016, and on March 1 2018,…
This article will be updated as I collect information, after a couple of days of personal travel to see a launch that happened to coincide with this Intel launch. It's been just one month shy of 3 years since I first wrote about the Intel Xeon D here at TinkerTry, which promised to deliver what I…
Introduction This article takes a quick look at Intel's latest SSD specs, and their potential for use in a VMware virtualization home lab environment. I do not currently have a sample of the 760p for first-hand testing. The information here is based on a briefing I recently received from an Intel…
This story continues to develop. Please expect that the information in the article below may be updated at any time, especially these first few days. I suggest that you to revisit and refresh. For example, it appears that No image profile found with name 'ESXi-6.5.0-20180104001-standard' has been…
click to view "What's New in v7.3" Full NAKIVO v7 install/configure demo video below is available, using my home lab's vSphere 6.5 environment! I haven't had a chance to test v7.3 yet, as it just came out today, and I haven't gotten my hands on the NFR version yet. The trial version is…
There are three recent Intel announcements that are quite interesting. The first is about 4 recent detailed technical publications, the second is about a maximum Optane capacity doubling, and the third is about a new 3D XPoint fab, in collaboration with Micron. Of most interest to me personally is…
The only change in this release is "Added patch for Intel SPI vulnerability," seen in the release notes, not to be confused with Intel® AMT Critical Firmware Vulnerability. Supermicro has confirmed to me that 1.2c is their Xeon D fix for CVE-2017-5701. Initial testing of BIOS 1.2c has…
List of VMware software included in EVALExperience, as of October 2017. There have been many enhancements to this invaluable $200-a-year EVALExperience program lately, including the additions of vSAN 6.6 / NSX 6.3.1 and vRealize Automation Enterprise. Don't forget that your $20 discount is still…
Looking to ignore release notes and disclaimers/warnings to get right to the downloads and detailed upgrade procedures? There's no big fix or issue we're trying to resolve here, but if you're still in a hurry to try anyway, jump below. Here's the current Supermicro Xeon D-1500 systems with X10SDV…
I realize a vast majority of my readers can't make it to VMworld: Meet me at the VMworld 2017 US PEX and HCI Zone booths, or at the TinkerTry Virtualization Hardware Discussion Zone in the VMTN Community Blogger area Tue. Aug. 29 11am-2pm Aug 17 2017 This video helps you feel a little like you…
There was a little-discussed and finally mature capability that arrived with VMware ESXi 6.5, back in November of 2016. With last month's release of ESXi 6.5 Update 1, it's only gotten easier to configure your ESXi server to allow you to pass a single NVMe storage device, such as an Intel Optane…
Turns out the question of what backup solution to use to protect a home lab's VMs in a home lab comes up a lot here at TinkerTry, especially when a major new release of vSphere arrives on the scene. It's become such an important thing to consider for IT Pros working off the NFR code…
Disclosure This SSD is on a temporary loan from Intel, and it appears to be an engineering sample, in the 375GB size that is planned for product launch. This loaner was made with no formal expectations or stipulations, just a brief chance to TinkerTry this datacenter technology in my own VMware…
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technology in the IT Pro's home. My opinions here, not my employer's.
Paul Braren, VCP 2.5/3/4/5,
vExpert 2014-2018,
vExpert vSAN 2017.
Veeam Vanguard 2015-2018.
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Detailed Intel Xeon D and NUC specs at: TinkerTry.com/compare
