Clik here to view.
Extracting Text Messages from your iPhone
Over the course of two years I have accumulated several SMS text messages that I wanted to archive. I could have used iTunes to backup the contents of my phone to my Mac, unfortunately to read the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Becoming a VCDX – How much time is required?
During the last week of July 2014, I delivered the VMware NSX: Install, Configure, Manage [BETA] class in Austin, Texas. One of the students in class was a VCDX and two others were on the path to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Becoming a VCDX – How much does it cost?
There is certainly no argument about the value of becoming a VCDX. I can tell you firsthand that I am a better architect as a result of completing the process. I’ve written this bLOG post to detail...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Unable to format USB Flash Drive, “device media write protected”
One of my favorite USB Flash Drive formatting utilities is the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool. It is also bundled as part of the firmware download for HP computers, located in a folder named ROMpaq...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Configuring NFS on the QNAP TS-251 with VAAI for vSphere ESXi 5.5
I recently purchased the QNAP TS-251 to use as a shared storage solution for my VMware NSX Lab environment. QNAP offers both iSCSI and NFS connectivity, however in my lab environment I will only be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dell U2412M vs Dell U2713HM & Monitor Resolution for the MacBook Pro
Last month I was in the market for a secondary monitor that I could connect to my MacBook (Apple 13.3″ MacBook Pro Notebook Computer with Retina Display – Late 2013). With a modest budget of around...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Propane Savings by Turning the Thermostat Down 1 Degree
We live in the Hill Country in Austin, Texas and although natural gas is common in most areas of Austin, and is a less expensive fossil fuel for heating, our street doesn’t have a gas line. Instead we...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Installing vCenter Server Appliance vCSA 6.0
vSphere 5.5 offered the vCSA as an .ovf file, which was imported into a running ESXi host. Installing the vCSA is a little different in vSphere 6.0. First, you begin by downloading an .iso file, yep...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The NFS server does not support NFS version 3 over TCP – QNAP
After recently powering-on an ESXi host I found that all of the NFS Shares hosted on my QNAP TS-231 storage appliance were disconnected. I first attempted to reconnect by using the vSphere Client...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Identifying VMware Software Versions in your SDDC
I recently had to conduct a software inventory on a customer’s VMware Software Defined Datacenter (SDDC). The environment consisted of the following VMware software products: VMware vCenter VMware...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Running pfsense in a Virtual Machine on a QNAP TS-251
Introduction I was considering consolidating some equipment in my home lab. I wasn’t happy with the Surveillance Station software offered by QNAP and recently switched to a different NVR solution....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Installing ESXi 6 does not take 5-minutes!
If you ask most VMware Administrators how long it takes to install vSphere ESXi 6 the most common response is, “About 5-minutes”. In fact, I recently had to install ESXi on a rack of 24-servers and I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Install VMware VCSA using Mac OS X
There were a few gotchas involved so I wanted to write a quick post. First I downloaded the VMware Client Integration Plug-in for Mac After installing the Plug-in it appeared as though it was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Install VSAN 6.2 on a single ESXi Host
I recently purchased a single HPE DL160 Gen9 1U Server with following: Single Intel Xeon X5 2609v4 CPU 128 GB RAM One 256 GB Samsung NVMe SSD One 3 TB Samsung 12G SAS SSD One 8 GB SanDisk USB Storage...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Single ESXi Host VSAN 6.2 Performance Stress Test
I recently bootstrapped a single ESXi host with VSAN 6.2 see Install VSAN 6.2 on a Single ESXi Host and wanted to test performance before installing any virtual machines. My goal was to determine if...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Configuring iSCSI for QNAP on VMware 6.5
It has been awhile since I last configured iSCSI on my QNAP TS-251 network attached storage appliance. A lot has changed in a year, including the NAS Operating System known as QTS. The document How...
View ArticleClik here to view.
FIX: Sonos Playbase No Sound from Apple TV, Amazon Firestick, Google Play, or...
I recently purchased a SONOS PLAYBASE for my Sharp Aquos 60″ LED TV (LC-60LE600U). The sound quality of the PLAYBASE is a significant improvement over the internal TV speakers, the PLAYBASE certainly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Upgrade HP OEM ESXi 6.5 to 6.7 via Command-line without vCenter
I have a HPE ProLiant DL160 Gen9 server running as a standalone ESXi 6.5U1 (5969303) host. The build number is important, to determine your build number see Build numbers and versions of VMware...
View ArticleVMware vSphere 6.7 Character Limits for Objects
I was recently working with a customer who had a very detailed naming scheme for objects. The naming scheme was so detailed that some objects would have exceeded the maximum number of characters...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Install or Upgrade VMware PowerCLI 10.1.1 on Windows 10
Step 1 – Download and Install the PowerShell core installation package from the official Github repository: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell Click on the link above and scroll down to the Get...
View Article