TinkerTry Highlights 001

Posted by Paul Braren on Oct 19 2016 (updated on Nov 20 2016) in

New tech evolves quickly, TinkerTry's agility reflects that reality

My ongoing home tinkering tends to bring new insights to previously published topics. As I explained here, when the technical updates below articles are significant, I'm pulling together a curated list of those changes in this series of articles called:

TinkerTry Highlights

that you may want to bookmark. If you'd like to get weekly notification of new articles with summaries, sign up for TinkerTry Weekly too.

Depending upon popularity and feedback, I'll likely go with publishing a new TinkerTry Highlights every few months for now. Longer term, I'm exploring automated approaches as well, to help visitors easily find all recent updates, at any time.

The first edition of TinkerTry Highlights starts right here, right now.

Storage

All articles in same category.
Oct 17 2016 Update - Samsung 960 EVO and Samsung 960 PRO pre-orders begin

TinkerTry-Updated-on-date-highlighted-SSD-850-example

Currently only available for pre-order at Samsung's web store, I placed my pre-order for the 1TB EVO, see update for the reasons why I chose that particular model for my Platinum level of VMFS formatted storage. There are now some 960 reviews arriving as well, indicating speeds are about as incredible as the manufacturer's stated specs. More about what's new in VMFS in Duncan's article that highlights storage enhancements coming in vSphere 6.5.

Jul 19 2016 Update - Samsung 850 Pro
Updates to my long-term saga of Samsung 850 EVO 2TB SSD ownership.

Sep 19 2016 Update - vSAN
vSAN continues to be rough going for any reasonably priced home lab, see details in this discussion. I recorded some rough videos of some of my vSAN adventures, but haven't felt their worth publishing yet. Nov 20 2016 update - Xeon D Watt burn and sound level measurement video is published. Test results are also in the popular Intel NUC6i7KYK / Supermicro Xeon D spec comparison table.

Home Lab

All articles in same category.
Oct 19 2016 Update - World's first Supermicro-branded Xeon D-1567 12 core system
arrived here at TinkerTry today! This system exists because TinkerTry visitors took the time to cast their votes. Can you tell I'm pretty stoked!? Having a faster system as my 2nd vSphere cluster node should really help, especially if I choose to produce more 4K video, as described below.

Oct 18 2016 Update - vSphere 6.5 has been announced
Looks promising, but we have to wait until VMware releases the bits sometime in 4th quarter 2016, see details. Very handy that Windows Server 2016 ISO has now been released and Windows 10 Anniversary Update ISO has been released, ahead of time for the IT Pro and virtualization enthusiast's holiday season home lab refresh.

Oct 17 2016 Update - Supermicro release notes for BIOS 1.1c for Xeon D
This was released to also address Intel Xeon D/E issue with PSODs, with release notes now available as well.

Web Design

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Sep 21 2016 Update - ALPN Implemented for more universal HTTP/2

which-browsers-are-used-to-visit-tinkertry-dot-com-30-days-sep-to-oct-2016

I managed to implement ALPN (Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation) support on my Cloudways (Digital Ocean) web hosting. Firefox was all set for months, but this new change should also speed up the page load times for Chrome visitors as well, the browser of choice for about 58% of TinkerTry readers.

Given all the preparations I've been doing since the March 2015 TinkerTry move to https with HSTS, this final step for ALPN turned out to be pretty simple. Read all about TinkerTry infrastructure, and HTTP/2 testing happening at TinkerTry.com).

Like many sites, QUIC is a future thing, but fun to read about now, see Google’s QUIC protocol: moving the web from TCP to UDP, Jul 30 2016 by Mattias Geniar at ma.ttias.be.

Productivity

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Oct 17 2016 Update - TinkerTry's first 4K video is published
I used the new Camtasia 9, and added 4K production tips and Snagit 13 performance tips to the article.

Network

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Oct 18 2016 Update - Updated plans for ASUS XG-U2008 10G switch tests

Dec ?? 2016 Update - Compact router that handles DNS/DHCP for easy vSphere w/ VCSA, and 1GB of Internet throughput

My beloved, fast, and stable Ubiquiti Networks EdgeRouter Lite

First in the World for Value
The EdgeRouter™ Lite is the world’s first 1 million packets per second router for under $100 USD MSRP.

continues to be stable, and has remained in stock at Amazon, B&H, & Newegg. It's also ready for my expected 1GB G1gablast internet, coming to my home soon. Why haven't I published a write-up dedicated to this router yet? I'm waiting for a more feature complete DNSMasq implementation, likely to be included in whatever firmware comes after the current August 8 2016 EdgeRouter ERLite-3/ERPoe-5 Firmware v1.9.0. Unlike consumer routers, Ubiquiti routers enjoy years of multiple-updates-per-year. I currently use a somewhat clumsy approach to provisioning my home network for proper DNS resolution for vSphere VCSA (FQDN, forward and reverse lookup). For now, I just add both a "Services / DHCP Server / Actions / Configure Static Map" and a "Wizards / Feature Wizards / DNS hosts name" entry for each IP/Mac address combo for each additional device or server. I have to keep them in sync manually. I did record an initial unboxing and initial configuration video, I just haven't had a chance to publish that yet. I'm still so stoked that I finally have a way to avoid the need for a DNS or AD (VM or server) in my home lab, greatly simplifying things, reducing the time cost of deploying and maintaining a proper vSphere datacenter. My second ER3-Lite (cloned) will allow me to do the final 3 SuperServer live demos on the road this year, with the travel servers not even knowing they've left the home lab. See also Trond Haavarstein's Cheapeast Dual WAN Router for Failover.

Sep 30 2016 Update - eero WiFi experience
I continue to be happy with the performance and reliability of my eero WiFi, and note that the Netgear Orbi and Google Wifi have entered this increasingly crowded mesh market. I personally mostly care about the speed and ease of deployment, since I have the fortunate luxury of being able to use a wired backhaul to each device. The tendency of most of the current mesh products is to require an automatic, dedicated wireless inter-device communication, to make hand-offs seamless as you move about your home.

Home Automation

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Oct 18 2016 Update - ecobee3 lite
Still happy with my family's ecobee3, and the just-announced ecobee3 lite makes the product more obtainable at just $169. It's really only for rooms where you absolutely won't need a remote motion/temperature sensor, like my basement.

Sep 04 2016 Update - Ring Video Doorbell Pro
Still happy with mine, use it almost daily. Having moved to a 24 volt transformer seems to have solved all remaining significant issues. Turns out Ring had to mail me a new Pro though, after my old one apparently bricked itself while I was away from my family. They proactively reached out to me, and mailed the unit overnight. The new unit was easily installed, joined to my Ubiquiti's Guest WiFi since it doesn't have the pesky captive portal, for enhanced security through isolation from my home's network. Maybe eero should add this to their selling points.

Podcasts

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PC Perspective Podcast: 416 - 09/08/16
https://overcast.fm/+IsKXdlh4/1:08:53
AirPod discussion.

PC Perspective Podcast: 421 - 10/13/16
https://overcast.fm/+IsL95QA4/29:32
The performance advantage of iPhone/IOS/Safari.

PC Perspective Podcast: 421 - 10/13/16
https://overcast.fm/+IsL95QA4/1:01:47
ASUS $249 10G switch.

Security Now (MP3): 577: Your Questions, Steve’s Answers 239
https://overcast.fm/+JSKZytU/1:07:36

And so, for many applications, I think that running one's own VPN server at home can make much more sense.

Security Now (MP3): 579: DDoS, Breaches and Other Records To Be Broken
https://overcast.fm/+JQmUPWg/1:22:46

The server that is issuing the certificate also provides a sufficiently recent OCSP status reply with the certificate

Security Now (MP3): 581: Yahoo and Primal Worries
https://overcast.fm/+JSvrSmo/1:10:00
You can only submit the base domain to the HSTS list, can mess you your non-https subdomains (something I've noticed).

Windows Weekly (MP3): 484: Microsoft for Life!
https://overcast.fm/+BUtQBl2Y/1:27:54
NSX explained in an easy to understand way.

Virtually Speaking Podcast: 26: Migrate 2 VCSA (you should)
https://overcast.fm/+GDc5IgQdQ/20:44
by Emad Younis of VMware.

Mobile

iphone-6-plus-v-iphone-7-plus-performance

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Oct 12 2016 Update - iPhone 7 Plus 3x performance, improved Photography
After nearly 4 weeks of ownership, I added some observations and sample photos to the original article, one example appears below.

New tech evolves quickly, TinkerTry's agility reflects that reality

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