Hello all,
I hope that everyone had a great holiday season, and are ready for New Years? I am writing this while traveling and just before New Years is when my wife and I get home, and will exchange gifts. I am a little worried as I still need to wrap things. This week has been very busy but also very nice. Glad I am heading home as I need a break! I have lots to share with you so lets get started!
I have done a few articles lately - Veeam releases, Where is my Veeam Agent for Window UI, and how to install your macOS over again without losing data.
Are you familiar with SovLabs? I have been working with them and what a great bunch of smart people. They do plug-ins for vRealize Orchestrator and vRealize Automation. I am working with them on a technical white paper I am working with. Very cool stuff.
BTW, thanks to Anthony, I found a nice service that will provide you with info and an infographic on your flights. See mine here. This covers off personal and business travel since January 2010. If I could add in all the flights since I was a kid you would be amazed. Lots of flights on military flights growing up and then my own flights in the military and after I left and become professional services - so this is really only a snippet.
Have a wonderful New Years!
Michael
vCenter 6.5 Update 1d now available
You can find the 6.5 U1d release notes and while it is a small update it is an important one - some important security updates.
ESXi Update -ESXi650-201712401-BG
This ESXi update has really a lot of fixes in it. When I upgraded my hosts, one of them had an issue. I used the info in this article to fix the problem and update successfully.
Using HCIBench to perform test vSphere 6.5 and vSAN 6.6 - part 2
This article will will help you get HCIBench going and that is handy as HCIBench is a good benchmark tool. I think when you install a new cluster, or start building out a new environment it is quite worth doing a benchmark to confirm what you are deploying can handle things nicely.
ESXi 6.5 Patch 2 - vSAN Support Insight
John talks about this release and it is a big one. Adaptive resync, and Support Insight is pretty darn cool.
vSAN 6.6 Proof of Concept guide now available
You can find the very useful vSAN PofC guide on StorageHub. If you are going to do PofC stuff with customers or with yourself for that matter there is a lot of very useful info in these documents.
Upgrading ESXi Environment with PowerCLI
A nice article on how you can use PowerCLI to update hosts. Good info to know - thanks Drew.
Want to create a purple screen of death (PSOD)?
This is a good thing to do before you turn a cluster over to a customer, or put it into production use. You should test it pretty good, and that includes how HA works. So if you want to do a PSOD check out this article.
What you can, and what you cannot, change in vSAN Ready Node
I was asked about this a number of times in the past, and I did not have a good answer. So happy I saw there is a KB article now which answers these questions!
Patch a vCenter in High Availability Mode
Here is the good info on how to patch a VCSA when it is in HA mode.
Tip from Engineering - Use UEFI firmware for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016
William has an article on this subject that I have shared before, but I heard people talking about this recently. Now I need to remember which VM I tested this on? I think this worth doing for Win2K16 VMs as a default.
Log Insight: Root Cause Example
Steve gives a nice root cause example using Log Insight. Very good example and a very good use case of Log Insight.
Log Insight 4.5: Enhanced Silent Install Options
I suspect there are a number of customers out there that use silent install to put the Log Insight agent on servers and workstations. With 4.5 there was additional silent install options - and it turns out there is some difference between Linux and Windows. Good thing Steve has this article to help.
View Client on a Raspberry PI?
Yes. I know it is hard to believe but you can do that and the confirmation is in the docs. I can think of some interesting use-cases for this in schools and cafeterias.
VMware Identity Manager and Office 365 Integration
If you wish to learn a little more about this here is a video to help.
Quick Look: Veeam Agent for Linux 2.0 - Now with Cloud Connect
Anthony has a nice look at the updated VAL and how to get it working. Very cool it can go to Cloud Connect. I should mention that Veeam Backup & Replicator can manage - install / update - Veeam Agent on Linux. While it is nice to be able to have the option for CLI, I think it is nice to have the option for remote management too.
ONE 9.5 Update 3 is now GA
This update was out last week, but it is a big one. You can find the release notes and the bits are available via the release notes. I particularly like the location reporting and the reporting on agent backups. Very nice. It is a very big release so be sure to check out the release notes.
Managing Veeam Agent for Windows with Veeam 9.5 U3
This nice article will help you understand Veeam Agents a little better. It will help you move from free agents to managed agents as well. One thing I will mention is that when it comes to install the agent license, if you have an Enterprise Manager install the license there - it is more efficient.
The Update that is so big, it should have been 9.9
Hal has a great article about the latest Veeam update but about some of the stuff that is less visible in the release. Great info. Michael has an article on this subject with good info too. BTW, yes, the download ISO is much bigger as it has Windows and Linux agents in it, but there should be another ISO there without the agents in case you want to download something smaller.
Flasharray 3.0 plug-in for vSphere Web Client
You can learn about the new vSphere Web Client from Pure in this article. Also note, like many plug-in vendors, it will be the last release before HTML5 versions next year.
Microsoft SQL Overview
I use SQL in the lab, and I can do what is necessary - connect apps to it, create accounts and databases, but it is amazing how much I do not know. Check out this article to see the breath of SQL.
Investing in Crytocurrencies: A tutorial for beginners
Some good info in this article for people to think about before they dive into investing in this stuff. First thing is can you afford to lose what you invest? Interesting how many people skip that.
Remote Tech Support: Best ways to screen share on iOS, macOS and more!
Some interesting and updated info on how to share screens. If you do any tech support for your friends and family, and you are an iOS or macOS user this article will be helpful.
iMac Pro Buyers Guide: How to build your perfect pro Mac!
This is serious hardware - the processor, memory, and video are serious, and I love how it comes with 10 GB networking. I am not getting one - I love laptop and monitor combinations, but this hardware could run ESXi and VMs pretty good, or even better the video and graphics stuff it is designed for. But if you are getting one, or curious, check out this article.
Edward Snowden made an app to protect your laptop
An interesting app to protect your laptop and I can definitely see a use for it that some people need. Be very happy if it is not you.
Can Magic Leap Deliver on it’s Big Hardware Reveal?
Are you following the VR that Magic Leap is almost talking about? They have some serious VC money, and from some very smart VC’s. Here is the recent info from them. The hardware certainly looks interesting.
5 Availability Predictions for 2018
Danny has an article where he talks about availability predictions for next year. He is a smart guy, and I do agree on the replicator idea. I think we have a simple start on that with the idea of 3D printers. Also, I disagree with his point that DR orchestration won’t hit the main stream in 2018 - it hit a few years ago with the release of SRM.
Amazon is killing off its Music storage subscriptions
To learn more about this situation check out this article.
Why good dedupe is important - and hard to do
An interesting article about dedupe, and well written and interesting too.
Soapbox: CDC gets list of forbidden words: Fetus, transgender, diversity
The list is quite long, and has other words on it like “science-based”. Full story here. I am a Canadian, and don’t live in the US, but there is a lot of people I care about in the US, and I like the country itself very much indeed. It worries me when I see this sort of thought police stuff. I truly hope that everyone votes at the next election. Fixing things will take a term or two at the very least.
Word to the wise on apps
My wife and I are adventure tour types. We travel to amazing places and we don’t sit on the beach. We go into the desert or mountains, or rain-forest and go exploring. I take pictures and Angela takes even better pictures. She also writes in a journal. Really a lot of great info accumulates in her journal - especially to help identify the pictures but also to share good tips with people that want to visit the same area. The holiday app she used was never upgraded for 64-bit operation so she lost everything when iOS 11 surfaced.The next app she choose lost all her data when she installed an extension (and no support). So the morale of the story is chose your apps carefully when they are going to contain important info. Check when they were last updated? Are they from a one app company? Do they have any current reviews? She is going to start using Evernote. Another question is around backups - can you export your data to PDF or is there a local copy you can work with? What is nice is when apps use iCloud or Dropbox to keep their data. That means you might be able to get at it if you lose access to the cloud or app.
The story behind SCUBA and re-breathers
I have not used a re-breather before, although I have done a lot of SCUBA. But I know people that have and they seem pretty useful. I had no idea where they started but here is the story.
Apple and iOS and batteries
There are some nice changes from Apple in this area. An apology, some price changes, and a commitment about an update in 2018 that will provide us users with more info on the battery. Update - 12/31/17 - I have heard that Apple is honoring the new price now. So you don’t to wait.
iMore’s best of 2017
You can find a list of iOS and Mac products, accessories, and software in this article. A very good list of things actually and worth looking at.
How I automated my Smart Home with Apple HomeKit and Raspberry PI
Andre has a most excellent article about how he has automated much in his house. And some good ideas he has - I love the “Siri Goodnight” and how the porch light comes on when the doorbell goes off. Great stuff Andre and thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading or skimming this far, and a very Happy New Year!
Michael
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