Apple
Using accented or special characters in macOS
This post shows how to type accented characters in macOS when the press and hold or screen keyboard are not available.
Electronics
Logitech MX Master mouse pointer freeze
Got intermittent freezes of your mouse pointer with a Logitech MX Master mouse, this guide should help.
Homelab Networking NSX Security VMware
NSX Tidbits: Fixing failed IDS signature updates
In my lab NSX Manager 4.1.x is deployed and licensed with a vExpert based NSX Enterprise evaluation license. In this case I wanted to check the IDS / IPS feature for testing. Part of the configuration consists of updating the IDS / IPS signature. Updating started with the message “Updating IDS Signatures.” but failed with the error “Installation Failed.“. When this happens, the most probably reasons are: In my case it was the latter. The Read more…
Cloud Director Homelab Linux VMware vSphere
vSphere Tidbits: Using ovftool on Linux
During re-install of my Cloud Director lab, I noticed that the installation of ovftool (officially named OVF Tool) is not documented. Which seems odd to me, because with 2 variants at hand, it should. In this post I show you how. It’s good to know that ovftool for Linux is not available in some form of distro specific package (deb, rpm etc.) nor via Snap, Flatpack. Therefore ovftool is not found in any repository. The Read more…
Homelab Linux PowerCLI PowerShell VMware
PowerCLI 13 installation hurdles on Linux
In November 2022, I wrote a post on my endeavor about installing PowerCLI on my Windows box. I needed PowerCLI 13 ImageBuilder feature, which was the only way to add the USB Network Native Driver for ESXi fling to a custom ESXi ISO image. Check these posts here: PowerCLI 13 update and installation hurdles on Windows Create ESXi 8 Customized ISO Installer Over a year has passed and I wanted to do the same on Read more…
Homelab Linux VMware vSphere
vSphere Tidbits: vCenter Log partion full due to vLCM
vCenter raised several alarms because its /storage/log partition was full. The errors were: Find the large logs Logging into the vCenter appliance using SSH is a good starting point for troubleshooting. When searching for the largest file in the /storage/log partition it showed: Of the files listed above, the updatemgr-vmon.log.stderr file was by far the largest Log cleanup Now let’s delete all larger files in the /storage/logs/vmware directory While browsing though the other directories and Read more…
Homelab VMware vSphere
vSphere Tidbits: Fix ESXi Host Certificate Status alarm
When logging into my Lab vCenter the other day, I noticed one of my lab hosts showed an red “ESXi Host Certificate Status” alarm. That was the case because the host was 5 years connected to vCenter and therefore the hosts certificate was expired. Luckily fixing the Host Certificate Status alarm is quite easy since the vSphere 6.x days. Select the host and go to “Configure > System > Certificate” and use the “Renew” button. Read more…
Homelab Networking Security VMware vSphere
FortiGate support overview for vSphere
Many enterprises and service providers use Fortinet products like FortiGate, often running them as a VM’s. If running them virtually on vSphere, what are the current supported versions? FortiOS supported vSphere versions The vSphere 8 support status for FortiGate appliances in VM factor (including the pay-as-you-go variant) was until recently not clear in the Fortinet documentation. After consulting a contact at Fortinet, he responded that FortiOS starting with version 7.2.0 is supported for vSphere 8 Read more…
Homelab Networking Security Ubiquiti
Create a dual-stack DMZ with Ubiquity EdgeRouter
Due to planned maintenance, I needed to temporary move the blog to my home network to prevent downtime. Hosting a public facing website without precautions, can cause threat actors to laterally move through the network. To lower the risk, the web server running the blog needed to run in a DMZ, separated from the rest of my equipment. At home I use an Ubiquity EdgeRouter 6P for routing, VPN, NAT and firewalling. On an EdgeRouter, Read more…
Homelab Storage vSAN
What makes Intel Optane stand out
Once in a while new hardware is released that makes a difference. Such a device is the Intel Optane series of high-performance SSD’s for professional use, which was released in late 2017. In this case I’m talking about the Intel Optane P4800X and P5800X and their consumer counterparts (900P and 905P). All drives are based on the 3D XPoint Technology that Intel co-developed with Micron. In contrary to regular SSD’s, Optane drives like the P5800X Read more…