In my previous post, we discussed creating a VM template in Proxmox. In this post, we will see how to move a Proxmox VM or container to a different disk.
The post Move a Proxmox VM to a different disk first appeared on 4sysops.Traefik is an open-source, cloud-native reverse proxy and load balancer that simplifies the deployment and management of applications across multiple servers or containers. With Traefik, developers can easily and seamlessly route traffic to the appropriate service instance and ensure high availability, reliability, and security. In this article, I'll explore the features and limitations of Traefik as a reverse proxy and load balancer for containers.
The post Traefik: Reverse proxy for Docker first appeared on 4sysops.HashiCorp Nomad is a powerful orchestration and scheduler tool that can be an easily operated Kubernetes alternative. Nomad provides an orchestrator for containers, virtual machines, and other resources. The de facto standard for a container orchestrator today is Kubernetes. However, Kubernetes is extremely challenging and complex. It requires a specialized skillset that can present a barrier to entry regarding running production workloads in self-hosted clusters.
The post HashiCorp Nomad: An easy-to-use Kubernetes alterative for orchestrating containers first appeared on 4sysops.A Proxmox VM template is a preconfigured virtual machine image that can be used to create new virtual machines. The template is essentially a snapshot of a virtual machine that has been configured with a specific operating system, applications, settings, and any other necessary configurations, allowing you to deploy new virtual machines quickly to save time and effort. In this post, you will learn how to create a VM template and quickly clone a new VM from the template.
The post How to create a Proxmox VM template first appeared on 4sysops.You can use built-in Docker commands to commit, save, and export Docker container images and data for the Docker backup container processes.
The post Docker backup container commands: Commit, save, and export container images first appeared on 4sysops.A Docker registry allows your organization's users to store and distribute Docker images, which are used to create and run containers. There are two main types of registries in Docker: public and private. In this post, you will learn how to configure a private Docker registry.
The post Private Docker registry setup first appeared on 4sysops.K3s is a lightweight, production-grade Kubernetes distro that provides high availability. See how to install K3s using the K3sup utility.
The post Install K3s, a lightweight, production-grade Kubernetes distro first appeared on 4sysops.VMware's NSX Advanced Load Balancer is a rebrand of the Avi Networks load balancer, as VMware purchased Avi Networks in 2019. The NSX Advanced Load Balancer is one of the central technologies in the current VMware software-defined networking stack. It provides modern software-defined load-balancing capabilities for VMware NSX, Tanzu Kubernetes, and traditional web applications.
The post VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Installation and configuration first appeared on 4sysops.Portainer allows you to manage Docker containers and Kubernetes with a graphical user interface (GUI) without ever touching the command line. Aside from this, what else is Portainer good for? Read on as we delve into the benefits of using Portainer.
The post Portainer: A GUI for managing Docker containers and Kubernetes first appeared on 4sysops.In my previous article, we discussed the MacVLAN network in Docker. Today, I will outline the differences between IPvlan and MacVLAN, explain the advantages of IPvlan, and show you how to create a VLAN with IPvlan.
The post Configuring IPvlan networking in Docker first appeared on 4sysops.The macvlan network driver allows you to assign a MAC address to Docker containers, which enables your containerized application to connect directly to your physical network.
The post Macvlan network driver: Assign MAC address to Docker containers first appeared on 4sysops.
Old hardware calls for a refresh. Otherwise, you’ll be dealing with slow computers, meaning you’ll reduce your productivity and your company’s ROI. Even worse, slow computers are an open door for security breaches.
When refreshing your server hardware, you should consider your budget, support plan, warranty period, and capacity planning. But it’s another story when you’re refreshing server hardware to use it as a virtualization host. So I’ll be showing you 3 extra things you need to keep in mind when planning for a virtualization host hardware refresh.
When refreshing your virtual hardware, you can put yourself ahead of the game in many ways. These transitions aren’t always easy, so you want to try your best to make it as smooth as possible for your systems. I’ve got 3 of my favorite tips for making your virtual hardware refresh as easy as can be:
When it comes to purchasing a virtualization host, the natural tendency is to try to estimate your future capacity requirements. You can then select server hardware with the CPU, memory, storage, and network resources to meet the anticipated demand.
While this type of capacity planning is undeniably important, it’s also important to consider any additional hardware requirements. For example, when Windows 11 was released, Microsoft included a TPM 2.0 chip among the hardware requirements. So, it seems that any future Windows releases will also have a similar requirement.
Finding a current-generation server that doesn’t include a TPM 2.0 chip is hard. But it’s worth your time to list TPM 2.0 among your hardware specifications before making a server purchase.
You should also consider GPU hardware. It’s becoming increasingly common for workloads, particularly those that leverage machine learning, to require a physical GPU. You may already have VMs running in your data center mapped to a physical GPU.
When purchasing new server hardware, consider how many GPUs you’ll need to invest in. It’s also important to think about how you’ll migrate GPU-dependent VMs off the old hardware and onto the new hardware. That’s because VMs don’t generally support live migration.
Cluster capacity is another key consideration when refreshing virtualization host hardware. More specifically, you’ll have to consider whether or not your failover clusters have any room for growth.
Suppose, for a moment, you run Hyper-V on a group of clustered Windows servers. The maximum number of nodes in a failover cluster is 64. If your cluster consists of fewer than 64 nodes, you can simply join the new servers to the existing cluster, live migrate VMs to the new hardware, and then evict your old servers from the cluster.
On the other hand, if you have a 64-node cluster, you won’t be able to join any new nodes to the cluster until you remove one or more of the old nodes. Removing a cluster node will momentarily reduce the cluster’s capacity, at least until you add the new node to the cluster. So you’ll have to consider the impact of the upgrade process on the cluster’s ability to absorb any node failures that might coincidentally occur at the time of the migration.
If you’re running Hyper-V, you’ll have to consider whether or not you can live migrate your VMs to the new hardware. When you migrate a Hyper-V VM to dissimilar hardware, you may have to enable processor compatibility mode for the VM before moving it.
That said, you may have to shut down the VM to enable processor compatibility mode. Another option is to simply power down the VM before attempting the migration. In either case, you’ll need to plan for possible downtime.
When refreshing your virtualization hardware, you must consider factors beyond capacity planning estimates. Otherwise, you’ll be dealing with a slow computer that causes your company many problems. That’s because the hardware you choose directly impacts how easy or difficult the migration process will be.
You also shouldn’t focus your hardware planning solely on capacity when refreshing your hardware. In addition, you should consider how the transition will impact clustered workloads. Lastly, you must also assess the impact the refresh will have on normal operations.
If you have more questions in mind, check out the FAQ and Resources sections below.
No, not every situation requires using CPU compatibility mode. If the new hosts are architecturally similar to the old hosts, you probably won’t have to enable CPU compatibility mode. Likewise, you won’t have to worry about CPU compatibility if you were to replace all of the hosts at once rather than trying to work new hosts into an existing cluster.
Burn-in tests fell out of fashion at some point, but I still find it important for any hardware that’ll host mission-critical workloads. The basic idea behind a burn-in test is that when you plug in and power up a new server, that server is unproven. You have no idea at that point if the server will be reliable or if it contains faulty components that made it past quality control. A burn-in test is designed to confirm the integrity of the server’s hardware.
Performing a burn-in test doesn’t have a standard method. Everyone has their ideas about what such a test entails. That said, you can find guides online that can walk you through the process.
A VM using GPU passthrough is linked to a specific GPU device within the server hardware. So, the hardware dependency once made live migrations impossible for such VMs. Today, you can live migrate GPU-accelerated VMs. That said, doing so requires you to have just the right hardware.
According to Microsoft, you can only enable or disable processor compatibility mode while a VM is off. Processor compatibility mode will allow you to move a running VM to a host with a different CPU version. That said, you can’t move a running VM to a host equipped with a processor from a different manufacturer. For such moves, you must shut down the VM, and processor compatibility mode isn’t required.
Learn some tricks for Hyper-V capacity planning.
Read more on GPU assignments within Hyper-V hosts.
Find out about Hyper-V resource health monitoring.
Discover why you may have to use processor compatibility mode.
Read more on Hyper-V live migration.
Discover what Microsoft has to say about GPU acceleration.
The post Best Practices for Refreshing Your Virtualization Hardware appeared first on TechGenix.
You’d think the process of deploying Microsoft’s Hyper-V couldn’t be simpler. Simply install Windows and then the Hyper-V role. Unfortunately, it really isn’t that simple. This is because you need to complete several other tasks to ensure a successful deployment. It’s also very easy to forget about these tasks.
That said, I’ve created a checklist of some easy-to-miss steps in the deployment process to help you get started on the right foot for Hyper-V. I also divided the checklist into categories, depending on which stage of the deployment process you’re in. After going over this checklist, you should be all good to go!
Before I get started, consider the following:
Alright, now that that’s all said and done, here’s the checklist!
You’ll find 4 main checklist categories. As mentioned above, these categories depend on which stage of the deployment process you’re in. Underneath each category, you’ll find a checklist to ensure you don’t miss any important tasks.
First, you need to ensure that your host hardware is ready for provisioning. You could just take a new server out of the box, mount it in a rack, and install Windows. But you’ll be better off doing a little prep work before deploying an OS on a new server. Some tasks you might consider completing include:
In this next step, you need to ensure you have the necessary Windows licenses and that you’re running an appropriate version of Windows Server. Here are a few things to consider:
Once you’ve installed and updated Windows, it’s time to install Hyper-V and the required supporting software, if any. Consider the following:
Once you’ve installed Hyper-V and any required supporting software, you might need to work on some post-deployment tasks. Some of these tasks include:
And we’re done! If you’ve reached this point, you’re probably all good to go in terms of Hyper-V host deployment. Let’s wrap up now.
Deploying Microsoft Hyper-V involves much more than just installing the Hyper-V role. You must complete several other tasks as well. These tasks range from preparing the server hardware and purchasing the correct software licenses to adjusting the server’s clock and power profile.
The checklist above gives you a good idea of the tasks that are easy to miss when deploying Hyper-V. You might want to save it as a reference for the future. Overall, I hope it proved to be useful to you and your business.
Do you have more questions about Hyper-V deployments and other related topics? Check out the FAQ and Resources sections below!
If you can’t see a server or its connected hardware listed on the Windows Compatible Products List, that server may still be able to run Windows. An omission from the list doesn’t necessarily indicate that you’ll have problems getting Windows to work properly. It means that Microsoft hasn’t certified the hardware for use with Windows. In other words, Microsoft doesn’t guarantee that Windows will work properly on the device.
You shouldn’t worry about any issues from a licensing perspective. But if you experience problems, you may have trouble getting Microsoft support to resolve the issue if they suspect it lies with your hardware. You may also have difficulty explaining to your boss why you chose to run a production workload on non-certified hardware.
Yes, Windows Server Essentials does support Hyper-V. However, Windows Server 2022 Essentials is only available from an OEM. You can, however, purchase Windows Server 2019 Essentials licenses from Microsoft.
They recommend against it for several reasons. For one, doing so might weaken security or diminish performance. One of the main reasons Microsoft recommends against installing the Hyper-V role with other roles is that those additional roles could result in more frequent update-related reboots.
While it’s true that electricity is one of a data center’s greatest costs, minimizing a Hyper-V host’s power consumption can adversely affect the server’s performance. As such, it’s a good idea to balance power efficiency and server performance.
Learn how to create a failover cluster in System Center Virtual Machine Manager.
Find out how to deploy the Windows Admin Center if your hosts aren’t connected to the internet.
Read about the differences between virtualization and containerization and which is better for you.
Discover why using the wrong power plan can degrade your server’s performance.
Check out how Hyper-V’s live migration works.
The post A Checklist for New Hyper-V Host Deployments appeared first on TechGenix.
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