Had to ditch my Hyper-V cluster, went back to ESXi. I've tried ProxMox, but my Windows VMs just struggled performance wise. Hyper-V was good but the cluster kept getting screwed up and I spent more time troubleshooting than it was worth. I had to go back to VMware, at least vCenter/vSphere will almost self-correct most of the time. Anyhoo, I think Docker has finally sparked my interest. I turned my Rasberri Pi 4 into a docker host. Plugged it into the back of my main router for power and ethernet connection and my ras's resources are the limit lol.

Check out my post today on Ansible Semaphore UI. I reviewed it a couple of years ago but a lot has changed and improved since then with it: Ansible Semaphore UI: My New Go-To Infrastructure Automation Tool

The upcoming Prime Day deals has me taking a look at great deals out there. Here are a few to note and I will continue to update the list as I spot good deals: Beelink GTi13 Ultra Mini PC, Intel Core i9-13900HK 21% off: https://geni.us/beelinkgti13ultra Samsung 990 EVO 4TB is 28% off: https://geni.us/samsung990evo4tb-prime Crucial 128 GB DDR5 SODIMM kit 6% off: https://geni.us/crucial128gbddr5-prime GMKtec M3 Plus with Core i9 25% off: https://geni.us/gmktecm3plus-prime Minisforum UM870 Mini PC 20% off: https://geni.us/minisforumum870-prime MINISFORUM UM880 Plus Mini PC AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS 20% off: https://geni.us/minisforumum880-prime Acemagic mini PC with N150 41% off: https://geni.us/acemagicn150-prime Beelink Mini S13 Mini PC,13th Intel Twin Lake-N150 23% off: https://geni.us/beelinkminis13-prime

Challenge 3: Document Your Home Lab in Git Repository: https://github.com/brandonleegit/homelabexplorers.git Folder: challenges/<your-github-username>-challenge3/ ⚠️ IMPORTANT: Do not commit any sensitive information—redact or anonymize IP addresses, hostnames, credentials, keys, or any other secrets before you push your changes. What to Do - Clone the Repo - git clone https://github.com/brandonleegit/homelabexplorers.git - cd homelabexplorers Create a New Branch - git checkout -b docs/home-lab-inventory - Create Your Challenge Folder under the root /challenges folder - mkdir -p challenges/$(git config user.username)-challenge3 - cd challenges/$(git config user.username)-challenge3 - Add Your Documentation Hardware Inventory (hardware.md) - List each device (e.g., “Server-1: Dell R420, 2×E5-2650, 64 GB, 4 × 4 TB”, IP: 10.1.X.X – redact last octet). Network Topology (network.md) - Describe VLANs, subnets, uplinks. Redact exact IPs (e.g., 192.168.1.X). Optionally include an ASCII or PlantUML diagram. Services & Workloads (services.md) - Catalog VMs, containers, clusters, key apps (e.g., “Prometheus on VM-2, Gitea on container-1”). - Configuration Snippets (configs/) Add sanitized versions of critical .yml or .conf files (e.g., remove API keys, passwords). Stage & Commit - git add challenges/$(git config user.username)-challenge3 - git commit -m "docs: add home-lab documentation for Challenge 3" Push & Open a PR - git push origin docs/home-lab-inventory - Then open a pull request against main. Share Your Submission - Post the PR link (or the commit SHA) back in the “Challenges” thread. - Call out one tricky part you documented (e.g., your VLAN tagging approach or a custom storage config).

Hello, I have a Dell R420 in my home lab, and I just noticed something odd my iDRAC license appears to have suddenly changed from Express to Basic Management. I didn't manually change anything. Does anyone else have this experience or know what might be causing it?