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The lonely tech post thread.

So now I'm actually doing some work, been busy re-building data centres, hosts and virtual machines in Vmware\Vcenter\Vspehre

Never done it before as not had much actual virtual infrastructure experience but I'm really enjoying it so far.
 
ruffneck23 said:
So now I'm actually doing some work, been busy re-building data centres, hosts and virtual machines in Vmware\Vcenter\Vspehre

Never done it before as not had much actual virtual infrastructure experience but I'm really enjoying it so far.
Click to expand...

I really enjoy it. Even if after 20 months I'm still not sure what call each product. I actually paid for the training licence for VMware so I can use all their stuff at home, even though I've barely scratched the service.

I've had some quite cool tasks this week on Windows server stuff, nice to have a project to work on, I just wish my boss was a bit more of a mentor sometimes. If I send him just 3 lines on WhatsApp I can guarantee he will only read one. My colleague is off this week so I've been having to try and communicate with him more and it's an exercise in fustration. :(
 
Why is YouTube asking me repeatedly if I want to allow it to download 1.2 GB of something every time I go to their page in Safari on my MacBook?

But not if I go there in Chrome on the same machine.

I logged into the same YT account in both browsers by the way.

:confused:

1687802032474.png

it keeps fkn asking me :mad:
 
Last edited:
Rant alert. I think I need a new job. It's probably more for the work frustrations thread, but I think some of you might understand more? :(

It's hard because many of things that make my job awesome are also things that are driving me to distraction. I mean there's only 3 of us including the owner and he doesn't seem to want to take any interest in the day to day, despite him saying he would be doing more when someone left and wasn't replaced. My colleague knows more then me, but before he joined he was solid second line support in big company, not a small MSP where we are meant to be able do everything and it does feel like the blind leading the blind sometimes. Like I'm desperate to learn, but sometimes being able to ask a question or just bounce ideas without worrying I'll just be told to Google or even worse, just ignored. Or if I really push for help (so I don't like look a complete tit the client) not feeling it's being given reluctantly. When I do it's pointless putting down more the two lines about what I've already tried, because it won't all be read. I've been building some new VMs for our VDI, in the past it was all scripted, but half the tools were written in house and don't work more and we've updated vCenter, so I stayed away because my PowerShell troubleshooting hasn't been up to the task of making it work. I've been told it's ok to manually create VMs, which I'm down with and as we're supposed to be using Server 22. I asked for an image as I don't have access to the volume licensing centre (asked for this and been ignored several times). Gave up the other day and built one on 19 instead as the ISO was already on the host. Asked again today for the image, but he must have totally not read what I'd written again as he thought I'd solved it.

My colleague has been off since last Wednesday, so I've been doing support on my own since then. Boss only realised that my colleague was on holiday when I mentioned I couldn't go visit a client to look at a printer, because it's just me. :D
 
UnderOpenSky said:
Rant alert. I think I need a new job. It's probably more for the work frustrations thread, but I think some of you might understand more? :(

It's hard because many of things that make my job awesome are also things that are driving me to distraction. I mean there's only 3 of us including the owner and he doesn't seem to want to take any interest in the day to day, despite him saying he would be doing more when someone left and wasn't replaced. My colleague knows more then me, but before he joined he was solid second line support in big company, not a small MSP where we are meant to be able do everything and it does feel like the blind leading the blind sometimes. Like I'm desperate to learn, but sometimes being able to ask a question or just bounce ideas without worrying I'll just be told to Google or even worse, just ignored. Or if I really push for help (so I don't like look a complete tit the client) not feeling it's being given reluctantly. When I do it's pointless putting down more the two lines about what I've already tried, because it won't all be read. I've been building some new VMs for our VDI, in the past it was all scripted, but half the tools were written in house and don't work more and we've updated vCenter, so I stayed away because my PowerShell troubleshooting hasn't been up to the task of making it work. I've been told it's ok to manually create VMs, which I'm down with and as we're supposed to be using Server 22. I asked for an image as I don't have access to the volume licensing centre (asked for this and been ignored several times). Gave up the other day and built one on 19 instead as the ISO was already on the host. Asked again today for the image, but he must have totally not read what I'd written again as he thought I'd solved it.

My colleague has been off since last Wednesday, so I've been doing support on my own since then. Boss only realised that my colleague was on holiday when I mentioned I couldn't go visit a client to look at a printer, because it's just me. :D
Click to expand...
If we need any more resources, il send you a DM, youre keen to learn and you know your way around Vcenter , so you never know, I cant promise anything but...
 
ruffneck23 said:
If we need any more resources, il send you a DM, youre keen to learn and you know your way around Vcenter , so you never know, I cant promise anything but...
Click to expand...

That's appreciated. I do need a plan of sorts. It's not so bad I need to run to the hills just yet, but I'm certainly reading job adverts and focusing more. I know a little bit about a lot, but beyond being nice to clients and making the right noises I need to be confident on what I say I can do. But i guess that never goes away?
 
I fucking hate supporting Sage. It's caused me stress all week cumulating in having to restore a clients database from backup which was frankly terrifying. Especially when it still had errors. Anyway my colleague was back today so it was nice to have someone to be stressed with. :)

So this afternoon as I finally wasn't to busy, I thought that it would probably be a good time to learn more about vSphere so thought I'd try and script creating new VMs which run Server 22. The old scripts are hundreds of lines long and I don't have a clue what most of it does, so I thought I'd start from scratch using Bing and ChatGPT and build out from there. I mean they are fantastic tools, but far far from perfect and you need to keep adding prompts and playing with stuff, so I think you really need to know the process in the GUI. And they also lie :D

After many hours I've just managed to get my VMs to the screen where it says press any key to continue. I mean I suck at scripting, which is why it's taking so long, but it's been quite educational just to figure out why things don't work and try and organize it so I can keep track of what's happening.
If anyone's interested or wants to tell me how much a combination of me and AI suck...

# Connect to vSphere
Connect-VIServer -Server sol.xxxx.co.uk -User administrator@vsphere.local -Password xxxx?
# Define VM parameters
$vmName = "TestVM111"
$datastore = "Crucial SSD"
$network = "VM Network"
$vmHost = "192.168.0.253"
$vmFolder = "Test"
$isofile = "[1.5TB HDD] ISO/SERVER_EVAL_x64FRE_en-us.iso"
$controllerType = "VirtualLsiLogicSAS"
$OS = "windows9Server64Guest"
# Create new VM
$vmSpec = New-VM -Name $vmName -Datastore $datastore -Location $vmFolder -cd -DiskGB 40 -MemoryGB 4 -NumCPU 2 -NetworkName $network -VMHost $vmHost -GuestId $OS
# Mount the ISO from datastore
get-cddrive -VM $vmName | Set-CDDrive -IsoPath $isofile –StartConnected $True -confirm:$false

# Set SCSI controller
$vm = Get-VM -Name $vmName
$disks = Get-HardDisk -VM $vm
foreach ($disk in $disks) {
$controller = Get-ScsiController -HardDisk $disk
Set-ScsiController -ScsiController $controller -Type $controllerType
}
#Boot Options Firmware EFI
$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec
$spec.Firmware = [VMware.Vim.GuestOsDescriptorFirmwareType]::efi
$vm.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)
# Modify VM settings to enable automatic boot from ISO
$bootOrder = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineBootOptionsBootableDevice[] (1)
$bootOrder[0] = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineBootOptionsBootableCdromDevice
$vm.ExtensionData.Config.BootOptions.BootOrder = $bootOrder
# Power on VM
Start-VM -VM $vmSpec
Click to expand...



So I think now I need to work on building an unattended install which I think means Windows ADK. I remember trying to play with it shortly after I started, but it was a bit much for me. Hopefully I'm bit further on can figure it out now. But that's probably a job for tomorrow. :hmm:
 
I'm impressed. Though I've never had to deploy so many VMs at once that it would make sense to do that over "Deploy template to VM".
 
Chz said:
I'm impressed. Though I've never had to deploy so many VMs at once that it would make sense to do that over "Deploy template to VM".
Click to expand...

Thanks. It's mostly an academic exercise for now. I suck at scripting and we're to small with to many variables between clients, that it often gives me an advantage rather then just do things manually. I also find simple tasks I often google and just find something that works, which doesn't force me to properly look at the script and fix it. The VM creation bit doesn't take long, but the whole process of setting up a new Windows VM does take a little bit of time. I'm also trying to learn more about the Microsoft stack, on prem, hybrid, Intune, etc, so it would be useful for my home lab to be able to make a complete VM really quickly. It's also made me realize how little I know about what's going on in vSphere, for example with that SCSI bit it defaulted to a type I'd never seen before and if I'm honest I don't really understand the difference between the different types and why I'd use them.

That said hopefully I can use it for work if I crack it, we've still got a fair few VDIs that are on 2012 so it would be good if I could do these. I'm beyond the point in hoping the boss will be impressed, but it might me give me some satisfaction or at least stop me making silly mistakes when I forget to do something and wonder why things don't work.
 
Last edited:
I have a problem.

I'm trying to install Outlook as my E-mail client, but it isn't working.

I took screen shots of the settings before I deleted the old Office.

1688389348535.png

1688389437186.png

The settings screen is a bit different, but this is what I've put in:

1688389741270.png

This is the result.

1688389839882.png

Can anyone assist me as to where I've gone wrong please?
 

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Sasaferrato said:
I have a problem.

I'm trying to install Outlook as my E-mail client, but it isn't working.

I took screen shots of the settings before I deleted the old Office.

View attachment 381713

View attachment 381715

The settings screen is a bit different, but this is what I've put in:

View attachment 381716

This is the result.

View attachment 381720

Can anyone assist me as to where I've gone wrong please?
Click to expand...

I think in the new settings you need to put 995 as the port, not 110. 110 is the unencrypted POP3 port, nowadays most things require encryped (SSL/TLS = port 995 usually).

e2a: you will likely need to change the outgoing (SMTP) port from 25 to 465 as well, for the same reason.

e2a2: port numbers 995 and 465 confirmed here for virginmedia.com email addresses:

Virgin Media Email settings

Virgin Media Email settings Access your email through a Web browser Before you read on, did you know that you can access your Virgin Media Mail through a Web browser? This means you can send and receive messages through just about any computer with a connection to the Internet and also access...
community.virginmedia.com community.virginmedia.com
 
prunus said:
I think in the new settings you need to put 995 as the port, not 110. 110 is the unencrypted POP3 port, nowadays most things require encryped (SSL/TLS = port 995 usually).

e2a: you will likely need to change the outgoing (SMTP) port from 25 to 465 as well, for the same reason.

e2a2: port numbers 995 and 465 confirmed here for virginmedia.com email addresses:

Virgin Media Email settings

Virgin Media Email settings Access your email through a Web browser Before you read on, did you know that you can access your Virgin Media Mail through a Web browser? This means you can send and receive messages through just about any computer with a connection to the Internet and also access...
community.virginmedia.com community.virginmedia.com
Click to expand...
Thank you, I'll try that.
 
prunus said:
I think in the new settings you need to put 995 as the port, not 110. 110 is the unencrypted POP3 port, nowadays most things require encryped (SSL/TLS = port 995 usually).

e2a: you will likely need to change the outgoing (SMTP) port from 25 to 465 as well, for the same reason.

e2a2: port numbers 995 and 465 confirmed here for virginmedia.com email addresses:

Virgin Media Email settings

Virgin Media Email settings Access your email through a Web browser Before you read on, did you know that you can access your Virgin Media Mail through a Web browser? This means you can send and receive messages through just about any computer with a connection to the Internet and also access...
community.virginmedia.com community.virginmedia.com
Click to expand...

I'd also switch over to IMAP.
 
I've spent all day and much of last week trying to fix a Sage database that keeps getting corrupted. I've spent hours on the phone to Sage (to their credit they answer quickly).

I built a new VM for a user and even built a new file server today. It was pretty demoralising to tell the company owner that I was going to ask to restore from a 7 day old backup and they'd have to renter data. Especially when she asked if it was all going to be fixed afterwards. :(
 
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