From the Samsung NVMe Driver Version 1.1 Installation Guide. Available now on Amazon in 256GB and 512GB sizes, 1TB not expected until early 2016. Just in case you've got yourself a Samsung 950 PRO PCIe NVMe M.2 internal SSD, there's a new Windows 10 device driver for you, and a new Samsung…
Train your Logitech mouse to do new tricks! Logitech SetPoint can allow mouse button controls instead of awkward multi-key shortcuts, for instantly navigating among multiple desktops See how to use this almost hidden but very useful Windows 10 productivity feature at Microsoft at: Multiple desktops…
See also my recent article about performance optimized BIOS settings that includes a way to quickly and easily revert to the general purpose settings in this article, just in case you don't wish to have to do this 7 minute procedure twice. Given there are so many use case scenarios, no BIOS setting…
Back in early November of 2015, I came up with a set of performance optimized BIOS settings that seemed to squeak out the best performance from this particular system: World's fastest consumer SSD - Samsung 950 PRO M.2 NVMe benchmark results Given there are so many permutations and use cases, no…
Important Update - On Mar 20 2018, VMware VMSA-2018-0004.3 announced that CVE-2017-5715 (Spectre-2) mitigation is now included in the latest patch that you should be using instead of the older patch featured in the original article below. You'll find the newer article here: How to easily update…
Important Update - On Mar 20 2018, VMware VMSA-2018-0004.3 announced that CVE-2017-5715 (Spectre-2) mitigation is now included in the latest patch that you should be using instead of the older patch featured in the original article below. You'll find the newer article that features an even easier…
I recently found myself involved in a Twitter discussion about getting Nutanix Community Edition going in my home virtualization lab environment. My thinking went something like this. Instead of more tiny tweet replies, how about I just figure it out using one of my SanDisk flash drives and my…
I've done such "what's ahead" pieces before, but it's been a while. Why not kick off this fresh new year by giving TinkerTry fans a glimpse at the sorts of topics they can expect to see coming up soon? Things change constantly in any successful home lab. Surprises, discoveries, and life…
This is one of those home lab housekeeping duties that I just hadn't gotten around to. Kind of gets your attention when your datastores start to fill, or you can't Storage vMotion VMs in. Eventually you get weary of the warnings, and you certainly don't want to get to 100% full, when VMs get…
Available now on Amazon in 256GB and 512GB sizes, 1TB not expected until early next year. These past few hours, I've been quite enjoying doing some basic tests of my two new 950 PROs, 512GB capacity, ensuring I'm getting expected performance levels. I short, I am! This first series of tests use…
You know what's cooler than a Samsung 950 PRO? Two Samsung 950 PROs. The Xeon D-1540 SoC platform has PCIe 3.0 by 4 lanes, for both the single PCIe slot, and the single M.2 socket. That means the speed should be roughly the same, regardless of where it's located. That's something I'm about to…
How to boot from NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory express). Why is that a thing to learn? Well, consider that it's an entirely new storage technology. The issue is not so much about the tiny M.2 2280 form factor, or PCIe or U.2 connections. It's everything to do with leaving legacy SATA/AHCI behind, which…
It's gotten very easy to install this VIB, with the easy method right up top, featuring the latest well tested Jul 19 2017 4.5.3 driver, with a full description of how I developed and tested an easy 4.5.3 install procedure below. For the original fully supported but more time consuming method for…
If you're on ESXi 6.0, you'll likely want to use this latest version, since it resolves the potentially serious NETDEV WATCHDOG issue KB 2124669 that could cause your hypervisor to hang. See also the release notes. If you don't have a commercial VMware license, and instead are using a trial, free,…
If you're at an airport or hotel WiFi, you'll want to be sure your Windows 10 is set to the Public network type, to block network neighborhood browsing by you, and of you. Yes, Network Location Awareness might guess wrong. As Tim Anderson explains, this can also be a common, self-induced scenario…
This is admittedly a very niche article, of high value to a select few folks that have this very specific need. That burning desire to get past Windows 7 Professional's dirty little secret. Did you know that Pro has a very annoying and seemingly arbitrary restriction? You can Remote Desktop to Pro,…
If you're the type of person who enjoys seeing How It's Made, you like seeing the curtain pulled back. You've come to the right place! TinkerTry offers complete transparency here, with a video below that shows you exactly what happens during preparation of your new TinkerTry Wiredzone Supermicro…
Don't like it when your vSphere Web Client logs itself off after 2 hours? For your lab, you may want to adjust this time-out duration. Just edit a text file called webclient.properties that's already on your VCSA (vCenter Server Appliance). For production, tweaks that affect default security…
Great news, this article has already been written, it's good to go as-is! How to Update or Patch the vCenter 6 Appliance JUL 07 2015 by Simon Davies at Everything-Virtual How do I know? Because I tested it, updating the patch (aka upgrade) from VCSA 6.0.0 to VCSA 6.0.0.5120, aka, 6.0.0.b, and…
Great news, this article has already been written by Vladan Seget, it's good to go as-is! How do I know? Because I tested it, updating to ESXi 6.0.0 build 2715440, and recorded each and every step of the process in the short video below. JUL 21 2015 Update - I've now tested updating to ESXi 6.0.0…
[pictures of the event now available below] It's an honor to have been invited to present at the Connecticut VMUG UserCon on May 21, 2015. What's extra nifty here is that participating at the demo zone at this UserCon also turned into an offer to record a 14 minute video that will soon be appearing…
While installing and configuring ESXi 6.0 hasn't changed much since 5.5, that VCSA sure as heck has changed a lot. In mostly very good ways, making it a much stronger contender for the enterprise. And a faster performer for the home lab, especially when run off an SSD based local datastore. But…
I actually enjoy playing around with beta code, because I like getting a peek at where things are headed. I also enjoy hitting the ground running, when the final product finally arrives. For over a decade now, in my home the family's PCs tend to be at the very latest OS level, usually a month or…
May 08 2015 Update - The detailed video is finally here, with very handy chapter markers below! This new video was recorded on April 19th, and was edited down to about 1 hour 20 minutes. It's a detailed step-by-step video, geared toward those who want nice hostnames in a home lab. If you want a…
TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here, not my employer's.
Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2024, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.
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After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop selling them in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. So far, Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh looking a little better for 2024. More cores, but still just PCIe Gen4 and DDR4. Looking ahead, I'm glad it's Pat Gelsinger at Intel's helm. I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when Pat was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.
Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi
