Featured on “The Home Tech Podcast" Episode #76

Posted by Paul Braren on Jun 13 2012 (updated on Oct 30 2012) in
  • Podcasts

    • More about what we discussed here:
    TinkerTry.com/hangoutfrom36000feet

    Replay of the recent live broadcast (Google Hangout) found here:
    theaverageguy.tv/2012/06/08/76-home-tech-podcast-linkedin-disaster-lastpass-hangout-lower-third-nasa-flight-aware

    Here's a teaser:

    76 Home Tech Podcast: Linkedin Disaster, LastPass, Hangout Lower Third, NASA, Flight Aware

    Jim, Andrew and Christian are joined this week by Greg Welch, and Paul Braren (from an interstate flight) for Show 76 of The Home Tech Podcast.

    The guys start off trying to have a quick chat with Paul, who purchased some air time with gogo in-flight WiFi on a flight between JFK and LAX. Even though the upload performance isn’t great, for those of us who have always wanted to be online during a long flight, the dream is here!

    HomeTechPodcast76

    VCP logo TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here. IT Professional offering part-time consulting.

    vExpert logo Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2025, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.

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    Update ESXi Hypervisor

    Necessity to sunset SuperServer Bundles

    SuperServers 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.