My Proxmox server was at 85% capacity. The daily email from Proxmox reminded me of two drives throwing SMART errors. It was time to replace the array. I like to think hard drives can last 5-years so it’s best to proactively replace drives around that age before the failure rate starts to increase. I ask … Read more
We finally got fiber pulled under the railroad tracks. Josh from Ting dropped by this morning and lit it up! Now we have symmetrical gigabit Internet. It is 970/980 on Josh’s computer, but the speeds come in around 730/845 for me due to the old age of my computer equipment, but I can survive. My … Read more
Netdata – The Hidden Gem of System Monitoring Netdata is now my favorite system monitoring tool. It is not widely known. But it’s rapidly gaining popularity. Traditional system monitoring (Nagios, Zabbix, etc.) done right requires quite a bit of work. For smaller networks it’s almost overkill. It involves setting up a central network monitoring server, … Read more
The Problem with Surveillance On several occasions, someone has engaged me in a conversation about software to monitor remote employees. If you have to install surveillance software, you’re doing management wrong. This article in the Washington Post describes precisely what you should not do. Monitoring employees in this manner is an invasion of privacy; it’s … Read more
What’s the best virtualization solution for your homelab? The other day a friend asked me this. I replied with two options: VMware ESXi or Proxmox VE. What is a hypervisor? In case you’ve been in the dark for the last decade, a hypervisor is a server that allows you to run multiple virtual machines (VMs) … Read more
So, you want to know how to make WordPress fast. Speed matters. People are impatient. Especially people who use the internet. Every second a visitor is waiting is a chance for him to give up. He’s not going to sit around waiting for your site to load. He’ll just try another site. That means less … Read more
Panic. Mayhem. Stock market crash. Toilet paper shortages. School shutdowns. Is the Corona virus something to panic about? The Coronavirus, or COVID-19 is not on the top 10 things I’m concerned about. But because of the number of people bringing this topic up I thought I’d make a page I can point people at. Am … Read more
AMD’s new EPYC 3201 is a good processor for a near-silent server …without sacrificing performance. I saw good price on an open box Supermicro M11SDV-8C-LN4F. It includes an embedded AMD EPYC 3201 8-core processor (Update: 2023-03-21: the 3201 is no longer available, I’ve updated the post and links to point at the newer 3251). I’ve … Read more
We were locked outside. The sliding glass door had locked itself upon being closed. Perhaps it had been slammed just a little too hard. Minutes earlier the kids had shot off poppers. We were celebrating the new year standing out on the back deck; 20 feet off the ground at my in-laws house. It was … Read more
Today, my first eBook has launched! I’m running a $10 off promotion to celebrate the launch until February 15th. Use code password123 at checkout. Head on over to the LastPass Guide eBook Page. If you’d like to help me out please share it!