ESXi Lab

When I first got into the technology field I recall taking classes and getting intrigued to setup my own lab.  During that time I purchased physical desktop machines and a bunch of Cisco routers and firewalls so I can learn and better my skills.

Time’s changed and now with virtualization, methods to learn has become much easier.  Now you will see tons of posts of people like me setting up their labs using all sorts of methods such as using a NAS with shuttle pc’s or baremetal ESXi on a Dell or HP desktop server. Every way works.  I believe the main goal to building a lab is to learn the product.  In my lab my intentions are to learn VMware as well as keep my skills sharp with networking and Server networking and configuring.  Things I can accomplish with my lab are:

1. VMware setup and testing failovers, upgrades, etc.

2. Networking.  Setting up multi-site locations.

3. Server OS: Setting up Active Directory and sites.

4. Testing

In my case I am pretty cheap so I don’t want to have a always on lab.  Always on lab is probably the best way to go but i decided to save on as much power as I can and go with a nested ESXi setup using my desktop PC.

Desktop Specs:

• CPU: i7-4790K @ 4GHz
• RAM: 32GB
• Disk 1: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
• Disk 2: Kingston 128GB SSD
• Disk 3: Microsoft Storage Pool (4x 1TB Seagate 7200RPM Spindle Drives)

….. This post is still in the works….. Will continue when I get more time 🙂

Home Media

I have to admit I love home entertainment.  I guess it’s one of those things that just come hand and hand with being a IT guy.  I spent a good load of time setting up entertainment just the way I want.  As time progresses and technology advances I always try to keep updated with the latest if only the benefits outweighs my current setup.  In most cases it does!

To start off for my home media setup I purchased a Synology DS415+.  Here is where I store all my digital media.  AVI’s, MP4’s, MKV’s, MP3’s, etc.  The Synology as stated in a previous blog post is perfect because you can install media servers such as Plex or use their built in Video Station.  I prefer plex however the Synology is too weak to allow jitter free streaming on large 50″+ Tv’s.  If your TV is in your LAN, you should be good to go but often times if you try streaming remotely you may run into issues.  To combat that I use my powerful desktop computer to stream off when remote.  Powered by i7-4790K CPU @4GHz, 32GB ram and an SSD, my desktop can handle the load!

Obtaining the digital media.  Now were in a grey area.  My preferred method is Usenet.  For those of you who is unfamiliar with usenet please do your homework.

Media Players:

I used to love the Western Digital  WDTV Live plus but since the launch of Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV sticks I instantly made a changeover.  I love my Amazon Fire tv.  The Fire TV streams music and Media.

Some streaming content:  There are tons more then what I listed below.

1. Netflix

2. Plex

3. Amazon’s streaming

4. Hulu Plus

5. Pandora

6. Youtube

The other benefits of the Amazon Fire Tv is the ability to side load applications.  One certain program I side loaded is XBMC.  I used the Kodi version of XBMC where I then loaded the live tv plugin.  This allows me to stream TV channels for free off my Amazon Fire TV.  With free always comes it’s drawbacks such as links that become invalid but overall it’s pretty nice.

As for my setup, I decided to make my office my workplace and my mini mancave of technology.  2×24″ LCD monitors and a 42″ LCD TV above my monitors for watching movies and tv shows.  My computer is Link aggregated to my managed switch and so is my Synology NAS.  Not that I need it but I wanted no lag so got 2GB network throughput to the NAS for supreme connectivity.  Hooked up to the 42″ LCD is the Amazon Fire Tv, not the stick version, with the sideloaded XMBC.  To not disturb the kids next door I have the Sennheiser RS 170 Wifi over the ear headphones.  This badboy is nice as it packs lots of bass and surround sound!

Downstairs I use the Amazon Fire tv stick to a 50″ Plasma.  It does the job.  Everything is connected to the Synology for central media streaming.

Automation

Automation dramatically decreases the amount of work each of us IT guys can handle.  Repetitive tasks calls for the need for automation.  In an ideal situation we as System Admins should automate whatever we can.  Once processes are automated our jobs should be to troubleshoot what broke on the automation and or to modify the automation process versus doing all the leg work the automation process takes care of.  If a process cannot be automated what I like to do is to automate as much of the process I can and leave some manual work.  This method is still better as it still cuts lots of time.

Benefits of automation include:

1. Less mistakes.

It’s easy to make mistakes.  We are only humans, most issues in the technology world is human error.  Taking human’s manual process helps to limit the mistakes being made.  Yes we can mess up on the automation process and screw things up but that’s why we test automation in a testing environment prior to pushing the process to production.

2. Better use of time.

If we take the time to automate and streamline processes we can use our precious time to do other things, perhaps more important.  If the process we automate takes 30 minutes to do manually and we automate 5 things, that’s 2.5 hours we can spend our time doing other things.

3. It’s fun.

I have to admit the process of creating automation is fun.  Trying to figure out the requirements, the tasks, the tools used and putting it all together is fun.  The feeling after you complete the process is also great!  I love challenges!

Automation Tools:

These are only some of the tools I use, everyone will have their own methods to the madness.

1.  Powershell Scripts

2. Batch Scripts

3. PHP Scripts

4. AutoIT – Visit Site

5. Telerik

6. Cronjobs/Scheduled tasks

Synology DSM

Home entertainment and media is hobby of mine.  I’ve done lots of research on many NAS systems such as Thecus, Iomega, QNAP amongs many more.  Of the many NAS’s out there I decided to go with the Synology.  My first Synology was the Synology DS412+.  This was a great NAS and still is however due to my needs of streaming media I opted to upgrade to a Synology DS415+.  More CPU, more ram, simply more horsepower than it’s predecessor.  My main requirements in a NAS is:

1. Plex Media Server (To be able to run plex in good quality)

2. Lots of storage to centrally backup computers and house data such as (Movies, Music, Pictures, etc)

3. Linux Operating system and ability for modification

4. Ability to stream music, have a surveillance system, serve photos, and any other benefits was a plus!

5. Proxy Server

Out of the box there are a few things to get my system going.  Setup the RAID type, I used Raid 5 for more space as I am not going for too much performance I/O wise, rather just want space for all my media and backups.  I use my Synology as a central source for all my backups and my media server.  I setup 1 IP camera using a Foscam wifi camera where I mounted downstairs.  The camera is setup to record based on time, usually the times where I am not home.  As you can see this is not just a storage system.  It’s a security server, media server, backup server, proxy server, etc.  If anyone is looking for a great NAS, I would highly recommend Synology as it is extremely user friendly and so many packages, both third party and onboard.

Other uses with this NAS I think is handy:

1. IT ticketing system

2. DNS Server

3. WordPress Server

4. Cloudstation (Just like dropbox.  Only you host it and you got tons of space)

5. Apple time backup server

6. Audio Server (Stream audio straight from your NAS using audiostation!)

7. Docker

8. Mediawiki

9. Sabnzbd, Couch Potato, Sickbeard