Introduction I'm pleased to present you with the result of a massive installation and documentation effort by a TinkerTry fan. This voluntary article was authored by Greater Detroit's Steve Shanks, who is currently a Senior Consultant at The Speedware Company. He volunteered to help speed folks…
Here's highlights of Veeam's recent announcement that I received from Clint Wyckoff (@ClintWyckoff), Product Strategy Evangelist at Veeam: As you probably know, we’ve recently announced a number of features of Veeam Availability Suite 9.5. Today, I’m happy to announce that version 9.5 is here! I hig…
Backstory Why did I want to do this? Well, I was setting up to record this one-long-shot 4K test video, where I wanted my Window Server 2016 test system to automatically go right into maximum CPU and RAM abuse mode, without requiring a keyboard or monitor. A little strange, I know, and certainly a…
* 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…
With the initial release of Windows 10 a year ago, first, there's was the Media Creation Tool that can either upgrade the Windows 7/8.1 system you're working on to Windows 10, or download Windows.ISO for installation on another PC. With yesterday's release of Windows 10 Summer Update, the official…
I recently figured out an easy way to clear out that sometimes long VMware vSphere Client history, as I was cleaning up my home lab and starting fresh. I believe you'll find this simple technique quite handy as well, especially if you're a busy and meticulous VMware sysadmin wishing your list…
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…
Jun 27 2016 Update - Veeam's Anton Gostev has left a word of warning below, please read before you proceed! 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…
Problem The Shut down and Restart options are removed from the Start Menu when you’re connected using Remote Desktop (aka Terminal Services), as pictured above. These intentional omissions protect you from yourself, since there's a risk when doing such power operations remotely. If something goes w…
This article has been replaced with a newer, much simpler technique I've developed: VMware vSphere taskbar shortcuts: uncluttered Chrome UIs act like native Windows apps! Mar 27 2017 Table of Contents - add vSphere admin shortcuts to your taskbar Use these links to jump to each section's…
Register now at xenappblog.com/expo. This event is over, but I have video of 30 minutes of the presentation/demonstration available already! Supermicro SuperServer demo Mar. 31 2016 at 3:15pm EDT, part of xennappblog's all day virtual expo, free! Those of you who were in attendance will be getting…
It began with my article two days ago: Intel Xeon D-1500 full specs for new 8/12/16 core models now available at Supermicro, good fit for home labs? where I had this little pre-formed search link for you, All Intel® Xeon® Processor D-15xx models but the results didn't show any of the new 12 and 1…
Hats off to Patrick Kennedy, for not only having the very latest gear straight from Intel, and for getting such comprehensive benchmarks out so quickly, with many more such tests to come. As always, great information over at his STH (ServeTheHome): Intel Xeon D 12 and 16 core parts launched – f…
Supermicro has a reputation for stable servers, thankfully devoid of BIOS bells-and-whistles that could adversely affect system stability. My last 7 months of Supermicro SYS-5028D-TN4T mini-tower ownership have held up to those expectations. Had my hands on 3 other identical loaner SuperServers for…
Back on July 24th 2015, I purchased my first 850 EVO SSD. A whopping 2TB in size, which was an admittedly huge investment: My experience with the Samsung 850 EVO 2TB SSD, and how it fits into my hybrid home lab strategySee various capacities and current Samsung SSD 850 EVO pricing at Amazon. But…
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…
DELL XPS 15 9550-4444SLV CORE I7 512GB SIGNATURE EDITION LAPTOP A family member recently got a Dell XPS 15 Core i7, with the 512GB SSD option. With a need for virtualization performance and a bit of light gaming, the extra bit of umph of the Core i7 seemed worth the trade-off in battery life. After…
Supermicro is a bit behind on some refinement of their web site listings for OS compatibility, but with their recent compatibility table update, I can now assure you that indeed, the Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T is very much compatible with:OS Compatibility Chart indicates VMware ESXi 6.0…
Yesterday, I said: Next torture test? Abuse of that 10GbE connection to the loaner Supermicro SuperServer right next to this one... Well, that's what I went and done. Since the moment the idea entered my brain, until the test was done, I couldn't get the unanswered question out of my head. I just…
First, you got your Samsung 950 PRO NVMe M.2 drive, 512GB size, specs here. Next you got another identical 950 PRO (borrowed), installed in the same PCIe 3.0x4 equipped Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T, using a simple $20 PCI adapter. Available now on Amazon in 256GB and 512GB sizes, 1TB not…
Configuration On Amazon. Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T with 128GB of RAM (Bundle 2) BIOS 1.0b (directions here) BIOS set to UEFI for Windows 10 fresh install, using Microsoft's MediaCreationTool.exe to make the bootable USB 3.0 flash drive installer media no network connection through the…
Download/Install from Chrome - Mac or PC bit.ly/video-speed How many others downloaded from the author's shortened URL before you Ilya Grigorik "pushed out" his latest update on Nov 7 2015, with 47,000 active users, so far. bit.ly/video-speed+ You may have noticed that YouTube is…
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
