How to get bits&licenses of VMware for vExperts

First of all, many thanks to the vExpert Pro Giovanni Dominoni for his invaluable help&guide in this process;

I’m in a period of low activity and uncertainty about my future (sadly I’m too poor for the desidered early retirement, yet), and the vCenter 8 running on my *NUC *has broken. Because of this I am trying to get the new **vCenter 9 ISO **and relative **licenses **for try and test the new version on my home lab.

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Gemini Deep Research, an example

Today I wanted to give a try to the new Deep Research feature in Google Gemini. I asked him “who am I?”. The answer sounds pretty professional… I cannot even recognize myself! :-D

https://gemini.google.com/share/a884844be93a

New near, new patches for Veeam VBR

Good day everyone and an Happy New Year! Veeam just released the first build update since the release of V13. If you are using *Tape Operators *in your configuration, it’s worth updating ASAP

KB4792: Vulnerabilities Resolved in Veeam Backup & Replication 13.0.1.1071 *This article documents vulnerabilities found in Veeam Backup & Replication 13 that were resolved in build 13.0.1.1071…*www.veeam.com

Also ONE has been updated, remember the correct update sequence:

Shadow AI: a serious risk factor

Once upon a time, we had so-called “Shadow IT”: devices and software living outside IT’s control, used for convenience or just to bypass restrictions on corporate hardware.

I remember a consultant buddy working at a bank who told me, “*Since I can’t browse the web on the bank’s network, I just tether my phone. That way, I’m connected to the bank ****and ***the internet.” Absolute nightmare… It really makes you think: “It’s safer to just give them internet access than to have people using tricks like that.”

Is History Repeating Itself with AI?

Remember the late 90s? Back then, the big giants of the web were sites like Altavista and Yahoo. They were making tons of money, but there was a catch: they spent almost all of it on hardware. Rumor has it that for every dollar Yahoo made, they had to give about 95 cents to NetApp just to keep things running.

Then Google came along. They won because they figured out a smart way (GFS: Google File System) to use normal, “general purpose” servers instead of expensive storage systems. This meant they only spent about 45 cents on hardware for every dollar earned. They used that extra money for research and basically took over the whole market.

Kobayashi Maru Test

“The phrase “Kobayashi Maru” has entered the popular lexicon as a reference to a no-win scenario. The term is also sometimes used to invoke Kirk’s decision to “change the conditions of the test.”

Yeah, also in IT you can face a“no win” scenario. First af all, recognize no-win scenarios, then avoid blaming yourself for a problem that has no solution by design. Your health is more important, never forget that.

Veeam v 13.0.1 on windows released

Today is the day of the release for the Windows version and for Veeam ONE.

I already had tested Virtual appliance, but naturally I hurried upgrading my primary home lab. The process went fine, absolutely no issues even on a poor and stressed hardware ;-)

I cannot wait to test the integration with *ProxMox *9 and, at the moment, this funny thing happened: this morning I configured in *ONE *and alert to receive an email when a repository is unavailable (customer’s request to test). I didn’t work (no alert, no email).

Veeam V100: Enterprise plugins enhancements

The VeeamON 2024 session that resonated most with my current area of work was the one presented by Petr Makarov, focusing on the latest advancements in backup through the Enterprise Plugins.

Throughout my previous career, I had always steered clear of backup — until virtualization and Veeam came along. And I have to say, I stand by this sentiment: working with fully virtualized machines and their backups is far more enjoyable and exciting. Unfortunately, the real world is full of much less fun stuff we still have to deal with. 😉

Veeam V100 Prague

This was my second V100, and it definitely had a rougher story than the first one. Mostly because my previous company — a Veeam VASP partner — basically shut down, and just a month before the event I had started at a new company. I had no clue what I’d be doing there, whether I’d still work with Veeam clients, or if they’d even let me attend.