@fateknollogee
I don't have experience with that particular brand but have used Intels NUCs in a number of different applications.
I think the CPU is too weak on that one. Intel have a couple of NUC models that are priced similarly and some with bundled Win10 and memory / HDD so I would have a look at those. Look for instance at the older model with the J3455 cpu.
MSDN OS had perpetual license keys if you got the retail version. It's in the EULA so they are valid for sure both legally and practically. When Microsoft dropped the MSDN OS thing I checked it to make sure.
Since I don't develop anything anymore on Visual Studio I didn't want to spring for MSDN Visual Studio Pro subscription when the MSDN OS was discontinued.
I have valid MAK keys from my lapsed (discontinued) MSDN OS subscription for Win10 Enterprise but I have misplaced the ISO file. Is there another way to download it again?
I know Microsoft have the other Win10 ISO files available here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 but not the Enterprise version.
@penguinwrangler
Good work! I admit I would have been to lazy to go through all that. I would just have written a program to deal with it straight up instead instead of trying to use nix commands and scripting. Anything to avoid "escape hell" as I like to call it.
What do you set swap to when you have systems with a lot of RAM?
It seems ridiculous to have 128GB or 256GB of swap on the boot drive when you have 128GB RAM. Even more so when you have 1TB RAM or something like that.
@travisdh1 said in AMD Epyc experience?:
I haven't heard about any issues with them yet. The price/performance of EPIC is just to good to pass up. Unless something is horrifically wrong, that's definitely the way I'd go if I have a choice in the matter.
That's kind of what I'm thinking myself.
@travisdh1 said in AMD Epyc experience?:
@pete-s said in AMD Epyc experience?:
Does anyone have experience running VM hosts on AMD Epyc CPUs?
Are there any gotchas or is it just smooth sailing?
I haven't had the opportunity yet. That said, why did this question even come up? It's not like the Opteron's that were the previous server CPUs had any issues, and this tech has just worked for something like 18 years in the x86 world. Something weird would be going on for someone to even put this question forward.
Of course the CPUs will work but there might still be issues.
Hardware problems are not likely but not unheard of - for instance Intel's C2000 series CPUs have premature death problem. Maybe more common would be software issues like for instance Intel X553 NIC drivers that sits inside the C3000 CPUs.
With new CPUs you have new chipsets and whatnot that could cause problems until everything is sorted out. There could also be performance issues depending on kernel versions or patches. There could also be situations for certain workloads where maybe the Epyc surpasses or doesn't live up to expectations. That's the kind of things I was thinking about.
@scottalanmiller said in Easy to manage KVM host setup:
@pete-s said in Easy to manage KVM host setup:
Fedora Server was a no go on the old HP server I had. It would hang during install.
I tried xcp-ng (= xenserver ~ centos) on it and it installed fine. Debian 9 also installs fine.I'll try CentOS next.
That's surprising. What server is it?
I had to go check what it was and it's a HP DL360 G5.
It's too old and slow anyway so not a big deal, but still surprising.
I have two Dell R710 laying around as well that I could use instead. They're a little less ancient I think (xeon 5500 series). It just for testing so as long as it works performance doesn't matter much. Just need to have enough RAM.
Fedora Server was a no go on the old HP server I had. It would hang during install.
I tried xcp-ng (= xenserver ~ centos) on it and it installed fine. Debian 9 also installs fine.
I'll try CentOS next.
Does anyone have experience running VM hosts on AMD Epyc CPUs?
Are there any gotchas or is it just smooth sailing?
We have been running Citrix Xenserver for simple virtualization needs.
I was thinking about setting up a KVM host as an alternative and was wondering what I should install to make it as easy as possible to manage?
On xenserver we would use xencenter. So it has to be a GUI of some kind. Is ovirt what I'm looking for?
Also is CentOS the easiest way to install KVM? Xenserver has it's own ISO so it's really easy to install and I'm looking for something equally hassle free.
Windows 2016 server has a better NTP server that earlier versions.
Here is some more info (and with hyper-v).
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/networking/windows-time-service/accurate-time
@scottalanmiller said in Proper NTP server usage?:
@pete-s said in Proper NTP server usage?:
Best practice is to actually have a real NTP stratum-1 NTP server on site (or two). But not everyone has that need.
That's not a best practice then. That's an "optimum way to get super accurate time", which also includes having your own cesium clock. If it were a true best practice, everyone should do it without considering anything else. But 99.99% of companies shouldn't have one, even if they could afford one. Generally only companies like Wall St trading firms need millisecond accuracy, or see even a penny's worth of value from it.
Best practice depends on your needs. You assumption about which companies needs NTP servers are incorrect. Many companies have local NTP servers - maybe not in the SMB sector though.
There are a couple of different things to think about when it comes to NTP.
First, for every server that picks the time from another server, the time will become less and less accurate. This is called stratum in NTP lingo. The most accurate NTP server is stratum-1. A NTP server that picks the time from stratum-1 servers becomes a stratum-2 server, etc etc.
Best practice is to actually have a real NTP stratum-1 NTP server on site (or two). But not everyone has that need.
Next best would be to have a dedicated non-windows non-virtual NTP server that get the time from ntp pool servers or other ntp servers that are stratum-1. It could also be something that does other work, for instance a firewall.
Windows don't run real NTP and can not work as accurate NTP servers out of the box. But you might not need accuracy in which case you should sync the DC to the NTP time server and let the windows clients automatically get their time from the DC. This is the easiest to manage.
The most accurate time sync on windows will be if you install NTP (compiled for windows) on it. This will replace the w32time service.
So a typical scenario without a real stratum-1 server would be:
Pool NTP servers -> local NTP server -> DC -> windows client
Pool NTP servers -> local NTP server -> linux and appliances
Pool NTP servers -> local NTP server -> windows OS running NTP
Local NTP server could be your firewall if you don't have better options.
Or if you only have windows:
Pool NTP servers -> DC -> windows client
or a little better:
Pool NTP servers -> NTP server installed on DC -> windows client
NTP servers should preferably be non-virtualized and preferably non-windows as linux and bsd are much better at this.
@wrx7m When we looked for 4G modems we only found the USB type which didn't feel solid enough for business use. In either case with a separate firewall it also easier to add another 4G link maybe using a different provider or other type of WAN connection if you want to.
Don't have much experience with solutions like this but when we needed it we used a 4G router with external antennas and then put it in bridge mode, essentially turning it into a 4G modem. And then used our regular firewall/router choice to make a VPN tunnel to the main office. Easier to configure and you're much less affected by the features of the 4G router.
I don't know how much bandwidth your ERP system needs and how much bandwidth you get over 4G but when having problems I have found that doing remote desktop over the link to a VM is a lot less demanding on bandwidth and gives a better user experience.
@jaredbusch
You might want to have a look at Redmine if you haven't already.
What tool depends a lot on what kind of IT projects you want to manage.
Well, a webserver can easily be stateless
@pmoncho said in Statefull vs Stateless:
@pete-s
My mind gets tangled in details many times instead of staying generalized.
In many of the posts I've read, individuals speak of creating stateless machines. One of many examples being, whip up a new/identical system in minimal amount of time. I get confused when I think, "How can a machine be stateless? Where is the data and configuration? Those can't be stateless?"
That is where I get confused. Separating the two.
Well, if you consider that the configuration is static (at least for a while) and the data could reside on another machine then it could be stateless. For instance a webserver connected to a database on another machine.
A simple webserver serving static pages would be stateless, as in doesn't keep track of the state of the client or the request.
The http protocol itself is stateless. The client just requests information and the server delivers.
But I assume you had something specific in mind when asking this question?
@jaredbusch said in Need a web GUI interface to MySQL:
@pete-s said in Need a web GUI interface to MySQL:
@jaredbusch said in Need a web GUI interface to MySQL:
@emad-r said in Need a web GUI interface to MySQL:
For admin stuff, most devs uses mysql workbench its 28 MB and has alot of functionality.
@pete-s said in Need a web GUI interface to MySQL:
If it doesn't have to be web based you could use MySQL Workbench - which I think is more capable than the web GUIs.
Overkill and slow.
It's not overkill if you're a DBA or developer.
And if you're smart you install it on the machine you do admin from and not on each server.
And you did ask for the best...Actually, no I did not. Read the OP again. Don’t forget the title of the thread.
A fat client is almost always overkill and slow. But MySQL Workbench is a total piece of crap.
The web tools you are talking about also requires a web server and a php installation so they're not exactly "thin" but you want something simple on a LAMP server or similar. I get that.
MySQL Workbench has it's place too. It's to MySQL what SQL Developer and Enterprise Manager is to Oracle DB. I find it useful and use it almost daily.