Interactive installations of ESXi are great in theory but what about when the datacenter scales in size? There are a few options when it comes to automating ESXi installation- one is the scripted installation. Scripted
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Upgrade vCSA from 6.5 to 6.7 with CLI Installer
Or is it “automate all the things”? Here’s a run down of a little bit of both. CLI vCenter Server Appliance upgrades starts at the same place as with a GUI install. Download the vCSA
Read moreDeploy Additional Embedded vCSAs with CLI Installer
I’ve been toying with automated and scripted deployments of vCSAs and ESXi recently so thought I’d do a quick run through deploying an additional embedded vCSA in Enhanced Linked Mode via CLI. This topology is
Read moreRemove Enhanced Link Mode vCenters from Inventory with cmsso-util
Setting up Enhanced Linked Mode is easy and almost mandatory for bigger environments; but what about when things go wrong? Dead vCenter instances in your inventory is, if nothing else, unsightly. Here’s how you can
Read moreDeploy VMware vCSA with CLI Installer
The whole point of a homelab is having an environment that’s detached from production and can be broken without consequence. Recently though, my homelab has become a bit more prod/DC/darling, why is the internet not
Read moreJonny, the 12u Rack and the Jig of Death
During my final years at uni I decided to move out of my spacious house on the outskirts of the city to student housing within walking distance of university. There was one problem- the homelab.
Read moreFixing “The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed.”
Top tip when using Active Directory: always keep the credentials for a local administrator in a password manager somewhere disconnected from your main environment. When the day comes (and it will come) that you’re greeted
Read more“Duplicate SID” When Joining Active Directory Domain
I’ve been doing some fairly large scale labbing at work recently and came across a problem I’ve somehow dodged until now. I’d created a fully patched Windows Server 2012 R2 VM with a few things
Read moreCreating a NAS on VMware ESXi with Nexenta
Nexenta NexentaStor is an enterprise grade NAS appliance that provides block (iSCSI) and file (SMB, NFS) services. It’s also great for homelabbers as a restricted ‘community’ edition is available, which makes for a great alternative
Read moreFinding VMware vSphere Update Manager Build Numbers
With the recent discovery of both Meltdown and Spectre I’ve been dispatched to do some patching. This has led to more than a few compatibility and interoperability checks- fun times indeed. I then realised I’ve
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