I’ve written a few times about my quest to build the ultimate home storage/server rig. But one issue was surprisingly vexing: What kind of case has room for a dozen or more hard disk drives? In this update, I’ll talk about the various options as well as the one I ultimately picked: The NZXT H440 (and a Corsair power supply).
Free as in Coffee – Thoughts on the State of OpenStack
Last week I headed to Austin, Texas to attend the semi-annual OpenStack Summit there. Along with the usual socializing, I was looking to understand the current state of the technology: What does OpenStack really mean these days, and where is it going? Let’s start with “free”. As “the Internet” is quick to point out, this critical word has multiple […]
Rocking Out With the Topping VX1 Desktop/Bookshelf Amplifier
A few months back, I asked folks on Twitter and LinkedIn for recommendations for a desktop amplifier for a pair of bookshelf speakers. I ended up with a Topping VX1, one of the many “Class-T” digital amps lauded by audiophiles for their excellent sound reproduction. Boy am I impressed! It’s rare that such an inexpensive gadget (around $100!) delivers so much performance!
Review: TP-LINK TL-SG2424 Smart Gigabit Ethernet Switch for Home or Office
There comes a time when a cheapie Ethernet switch just won’t cut it. That’s where the TP-LINK TL-SG2424 really shines, bringing the features you need at a price you can afford.
Adding a Second Ethernet Port to an Intel NUC via Mini PCIe
As I mentioned in my previous post about Raspberry Pi power monitoring, I recently built a VMware vSphere “datacenter” from three Intel NUC mini PC’s. One limit of the NUC is that it has just one Ethernet port. But there’s a Mini PCIe slot inside the fourth-generation NUC that can be used to add a second Ethernet NIC!
Automated UPS Monitoring for vSphere with NUT and Raspberry Pi (Cheap!)
NUT is a wonderful and extensible power management framework, and the Raspberry Pi is an awesome platform on which to run the UPS monitoring drivers and upsd server daemon. Even if you’re not running vSphere, a Pi running NUT makes sense for the connected servers found everywhere today.
Blatant Fraud At Amazon: Do Something About It!
This is not a link blog, but I just had to highlight this blatant fraudulent activity at Amazon reported by my friend Lee Badman. A quick glance shows that the same thing is widespread – too-good prices on items offered off-Amazon with payment through gift cards. It’s a straight-up scam, and I wonder how many people have been hurt by it and why Amazon hasn’t done anything to stop it!
Having Trouble Keeping Your Cool? You Need Some AC Infinity Fans!
I’m pleased with the solution to my cabinet cooling problems. The AC Infinity fans are quiet and effective, especially in combination with the AI-ATC smart controller. My drives can now keep their cool with the cabinet door closed and I had fun designing and 3D printing the mounting bracket. The best part is the cost: The whole package of fans and controller cost under $60 shipped!
A Fairy Tale of Two Storage Protocols
It’s clear how this fairy tale ends. So many companies are using “S3 plus” as their standard interface, and even inside their solutions, that it’s safe to say it’s won the cloud storage API battle. But S3 isn’t a finalized spec – the industry will extend and improve it over the coming years. Soon we’ll have a cloud storage standard based on S3, just like we have a LAN file services standard based on CIFS.
Cloud Without Virtualization
Lots of folks conflate cloud computing and virtualization, but these are not necessarily intrinsically related. Although most cloud servers today use a hypervisor like KVM or Xen to share compute hardware, there’s no reason it has to be this way. My takeaway from Gigaom Structure this week is that an alternative paradigm is emerging: Cloud without […]