Upgrading VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP)

March 27, 2017/ No Comments

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 […]

Deploying OpenVPN on ESXi

February 12, 2017/ 2 Comments

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 […]

Create a macOS/OS X VM on VMware ESXi 6.5 & VMware Workstation 12.x

February 12, 2017/ 36 Comments

Create a macOS/OS X VM on VMware ESXi 6.5 & VMware Workstation 12.5.2 ProRunning a MacOS/ OS X virtual machine is not anything new and has been supported for quite some time, as long as you are running said VM on a supported hypervisor with Apple Hardware. But many of the “Non-Apple” users in the […]

How To: Create A VMFS5 Datastore On A USB Drive

August 14, 2016/ No Comments

Create A VMFS5 Datastore On A USB DriveEver 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 to […]

PernixData FVP Freedom Woes With Missing Supermicro System UUID

August 6, 2016/ No Comments

PernixData FVP Freedom Woes With Missing System UUIDRecently, I’ve been wanting to give PernixData FVP Freedom a go 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 I […]

Installing phpIPAM on Ubuntu 16.04

May 8, 2016/ 20 Comments

Installing phpIPAM on Ubuntu 16.04I 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 IPAM […]

Creating a Single-Node VSAN

May 2, 2016/ 5 Comments

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 a local […]

Create a Synology VM with XPEnology

April 30, 2016/ 4 Comments

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 bare-metal system […]

Configure OpenDNS on Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite

March 27, 2016/ 2 Comments

I recently picked up a new router/firewall for my home, and chose the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite (ERLite-3). This device comes with a lot of bells and whistles and if you would like more information on it, please see here.I am a huge fan of speed and security, and for this purpose I always choose to […]

Intel NIC not detected by ESXi

March 21, 2016/ No Comments

Intel NIC Not Detected by ESXi In this post I am going to cover a random issue I encountered after installing ESXi 6.0 Update 2 on one of my new Home Lab 2016 hosts. The actual installation of ESXi was extremely easy and painless (I may cover that in another post). After I had completed the installation, […]