If you're just here for the nostalgia, no problem, check out the Photos, Videos below, or have a look back at all my VTUG tweets. Don't get misty on me, not yet, I got more for you, read on... Magic moment #1 One of the most touching moments in my IT career ever was thanks to Matt Broberg…
* Customers pay only the cost of Software Assurance. See also visitor comment below. You may recall me doing a bit of Hyper-V testing and demonstration earlier this year, using the impressively-stable Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 (beta) code. I also tested it as a VMware ESXi 6.0U2 VM…
You may have recently read about VTUG Co-Leader Chris Williams, in my recent post about falling DDR4 prices that are helping make Supermicro Xeon D-1541 SuperServers more obtainable for virtualization enthusiasts who are always thirsty for more RAM. Well, just so happens he's taking delivery of his…
I now have measurements of watt burn and dB levels for each of the SuperServer Xeon D form factors, seen near in TinkerTry's exclusive comparison table. The mini-tower is still by far the quietest and most versatile. The faster and cheaper Samsung 960 M.2 NVMe drives run cooler than the 950 PRO, so…
Just a quick update to the original article back on February 7 2016: First look at the new Intel Xeon D-1541 Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T since a number of questions have come up about the CPU and the multiplier. While this Xeon D-1541 loaner is a pre-release BIOS on a pre-release Rev.…
What a nice way to start the day, thanks to TinkerTry commenter Jay Oliphant @JackOfAllTech. I somehow hadn't spotted this article yet, what a great find! Jay is also the super helpful TinkerTry visitor who helped me squash a strange TinkerTry CDN bug, back in 2014. A Lego server, nice! Hey…
I've said this before. Using VMware vSphere in a home lab isn't without its challenges. For IT Pros, it's best to know multiple platforms anyway. For me personally, VMware is still a vast majority of what my customers run, so keeping up on the latest vSphere is what spend much of my time doing in…
VMware ESXi or Microsoft Hyper-V home labs crave RAM. Lots of RAM. It's likely the bottleneck you'll bump into first. It's also not easily upgradeable, once you hit your CPU/motherboard limits. So we continue to wait for possible solutions. My own 2011-vintage Z68 based vZilla build has 32GB of…
Disclosure. I work for IBM's storage division, but am not involved in this NVIDA collaboration in any way. This is a personal blog, reflecting my own opinions and observations. Today, I was rather surprised to see announcements about this new NVLink. Can you imagine a shared (a vGPU/vSGA) GPU ready to…
, thanks Chris Harney! It's cold. It's dark. It's foggy. It's winter, in New England. The perfect time to head on over to the Gillette Stadium to hang out with over a thousand other IT Professionals, and talk about virtualization! C'mon, let's face it. We work in indoors, so does the weather…
. Another wonderful event, thank you Chris Harney @csharney! See also Virtualization Technology User Group Summer Slam 2013. Met a lot of new folks, learned a lot in the breakout sessions, and enjoyed some beautiful autumn weather on the drive over. A pleasant day, and a very worthwhile trip for …
Mar 12 2014 Update, see also ESXi 5.5 Update 1 info, just released Mar 11 2014: TinkerTry.com/download-vsphere-5-5-u-1-lab original article appears below. Do you have an efficient and affordable home "vZilla" system of your own, that's got some RAM, and a yearning to juggle many…
See the BrontaStor 822R-E4/SNU at Armari Performance In Computing. Other models announced Sep 18 2013 to follow, seen here, with a full review at Hexus.net, and product overviews at the BrontaStor YouTube Channel.* If you've been following my site for a while, you know that back in the summer of…
Mar 12 2015 11:15am EDT update – with ESXi 6.0 now released, worth noting that Rufus still works just fine, including the new but very similar Rufus 2.0 Portable, and this USB flash drive. 8 people are reading this article right now! : The executable is digitally signed and the signature should s…
: The executable is digitally signed and the signature should state: "Akeo Consulting" (v1.3.0 or later) "Pete Batard - Open Source Developer" (v1.2.0 or earlier) Rufus: Reliable USB Formatting Utility (with Source), read the introduction, FAQ, and support forum. If you're trying …
Remember this post, from Dec 16 2011? Practical ways to deal with VMware ESXi 5.0′s 2TB virtual disk size limitation by Paul Braren on Dec 16 2011 Well, 2 Terabytes isn't cool, you know what's cool? 62 Terabytes. With my new ESXi 5.5 GA build, passing through some or all of my 4 port USB 3.0 PCI card …
Well, this is a first for TinkerTry. A blog post that simply asks a question for site visitors to weigh in on. No need for me to stir the kettle on this one, since "MooTrader" has done that for us last night here: A bigger question, is it time for the home enthusiast to move to Hyper-V?…
Here's the fun email I received a while back YOU’RE INVITED: Summer Slam VTUG (aka NEVMUG) and Lobstah Bake! Hey All, I wanted to reach out to the VTUG community. As most of you know Summer Slam 2013 is fast approaching. It is a great event and in this day and age of training budgets being cut, it i…
It tends to take a while for the latest and greatest in consumer tech to sneak its way into the datacenter. Think about USB 3.0, for example. It can allow a small businesses or test lab to implement much more affordable external storage and backup options. For example, USB 3.0 passthrough allowed…
A little summer fun, combined with some summer learning, and a bit of travel tech. Today, I traveled from Connecticut to Maine, for the free Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals, where I'll use my eSATAp cable to non-destructively install Hyper-V on my laptop Wednesday July 17th, …
This is big news today. I'm fortunate to have an active, corporate bulk MSDN subscription through April of 2016. But those with TechNet-only aren't likely to be terribly happy about today's news. Microsoft to shut down TechNet subscription service Ed Bott, Jul 1 2013 Summary: One of the best s…
Yeah, nothing polarizes opinions more than talking about Apple. Hang on a second though, keep an open mind. I've used PCs since the mid 1980s, and I have to admit, from an engineering and design perspective, little out there impresses me like the surprisingly affordable 2011 Mac mini. Excellent…
SPCS001 - Technology Insight: Intel® Next Generation Microarchitecture Code Name Haswell Per Hammarlund, Ronak Singhal, Hong Jiang This technical deep-dive with video is from an April 10 2013 presentation at IDF2013 (Intel Developer Forum) in Bejing, China is now available, with a brief …
When working at an IBM customer center from 1995-2005, I spent a lot of evenings helping host local user groups, something I thoroughly enjoyed. If you've been to this site before, you already know I like getting out, such as attending the Hyper-V Loadfest. The value I get out of these events is f…
TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here. IT Professional offering part-time consulting.
Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2025, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.
Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi
These systems still work great for many even 9+ years later, mine included, even with (unsupported) vSphere 8 and Windows 11 Version 21H2. But unless you added the optional TPM module, it may be the end of the line as far as repurposing them for running the latest Windows 11 Version 24H2 and beyond.
After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop SuperServer bundles in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. Bare bones system sales continued for years longer.
What's next in 2025? I don't yet have my answer for my home lab, especially now that VCF certification is required to keep non-production home lab licenses going, even as a vExpert and VMUG Advantage EVALExperience customer.
As for a SuperServer follow-on, the Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh slightly better in 2024, and hopefully Xeon 6 (Granite Rapids-D) much better in 2025 featuring PCIe Gen5, MCRDIMMs, and 100GbE networking, wow! Feb. 27 2025 update update looks promising, but pricey. Infortunately, it's become clear to me that Supermicro is less focuses on the mini-tower form factor these days.
As for the CPU industry, it's unfortunate that Pat Gelsinger was apparently ousted from Intel's helm in these challenging times, but I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when he was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.
