Passing through the weekend

One of the things I do on the weekend, is run my small data center….

Step(s) 3:

  • On new server
    • turn off hardware raid
    • install 6 new hot swap 2.5 to 3.5 to 5.25 enclosures
    • install 6 new ssds
    • boot and install xcp-ng on a raid0 array x2 ssds for boot partition
    • Build new software raid10 array for storage
    • build new storage resources, network resources and configure xcp backups
    • build guest for XenOrchestrator opensource & compile from source
  • On existing esxi server; for each vm:
    • remove open-vm-tools and disable service
    • shutdown vm
    • Use vmfkstools to convert thick provisioned disks to thin
    • Use ovftool to download and convert vmdk to ova
    • import ova into xcp, reconfigure mac address and dynamic memory settings
    • boot up vm, reconfigure primary network adapter, install xen tools

Tomorrow, I’m going to tear down the old esxi and rebuild new arrays for boot and storage and try and merge it into the xen pool and try to live transfer some guests between hosts in the pool. Wish me luck..

Then, if that all works, I’ll need to install another patch panel in the network rack, setup a new ups, and reconfigure the switch for new VLAN and trunk ports.

I will say that the pfsense on a protectli box with 6 ports, and a Unifi SDN costroller, managed switches and WAPs throughout the house had made the networking side extremely easy!

Maybe tonight I’ll find time to finish up the Azure DevOps course and get back to learning React.

Oh, and I mowed the lawn and took Bob for a ride too.

p.s. if anyone knows why mdadm isn’t activating my raid10 on reboot, please drop me a DM.. its a huge PITA.

p.p.s. Second xcp-ng server is up with 2x ssd raid1 arrays, 48GB of ram and the migrations between the two hosts completed; also created and deployed my first Azure ASE tonight. Tomorrow I relocate it to the secondary media closet.

Update a week later: media closet was still too hot so I attached a nice fan to it; dropped the CPU temp by 10 degrees!

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