Having a backup solution is imperative in any IT environment, whether it be Production or a simple Home Lab like I have. There are many different brands and companies that offer backup solutions, such as Veeam or Nakivo, to name a few. But I personally like to stick with the VMware product line so that I […]
Have you ever wondered to yourself, “What is OpenVPN and what is it used for?” I know I have! I currently leverage OpenDNS’s servers in my network, and when I saw that they offer an Open-Source VPN solution, I figured I had to give it a whirl! While I have used VPN’s before for connecting […]
For the last 6+ months, I haven’t had much time to dedicate to my home lab and overall home network. Between holidays, transitioning to a new employer/role, and everyday life getting in the way, I found that I had to put everything on the back burner for a bit…so I inevitably shutdown by home lab. […]
Create a macOS/OS X VM on VMware ESXi 6.5 & VMware Workstation 12.5.2 Pro **NOTE: This is completely for experimental purposes and is unsupported by both Apple and VMware** Running a MacOS/ OS X virtual machine is not anything new and has been supported for quite some time, as long as you are running […]
Earlier today, I got the notification and I am honored that I’ve been awarded the VMware vExpert 2017 title! The current vExpert count is 1,472 people and this marks my 2nd consecutive year (2016-2017) that I’ve been awarded with the title. I could not be more grateful and humbled! It takes effort, passion, and dedication to […]
Create A VMFS5 Datastore On A USB Drive Ever wondered if it was possible to use a USB Drive as a VMFS5 datastore in VMware vSphere 6.0? I sure know that I have! Not that I would like to run any VM’s on said datastore, as I’m sure performance would not be optimal, but instead […]
PernixData FVP Freedom Woes With Missing System UUID Recently, I’ve been wanting to give PernixData FVP Freedom a run in my HomeLab Datacenter to better familiarize myself with the product and see how much of a performance improvement I’d get if any at all. I’ve heard from so many people how much they love the product so […]
Installing phpIPAM on Ubuntu 16.04 I have been thinking, for a while now, about deploying an IP Address Management (IPAM) system in my Home Lab environment to keep track of my assigned addresses across my various VLANs. In looking for the right solution, I came across many different choices, from Infloblox to Microsoft’s very own […]
Creating a Single-Node VSAN Many of us homelab enthusiasts tend to build “whitebox” systems from spare PC parts and a few internal hard drives for local storage that we’ve either ordered or had laying around in order install ESXi and run a single-node lab environment. VMware Virtual SAN (VSAN) enables the ability to build […]
Create a Synology VM with XPEnology I’m a huge fan of Synology NAS systems, but I must say, they do often put a gaping hole in your wallet. Well, fortunately the folks over at XPEnology have created an alternative way for us to create your own Synology devices, whether it be deployed on a […]
