Category Archives: Lab Infrastructure

Step-by-Step: Installing Ubuntu 24.04 on a Raspberry Pi for DNS and NTP

In my home network, I have a Raspberry Pi4 which provides DNS (pi-hole) and NTP (chrony). Its a device that I don’t touch often and is a ‘production’ type service — in my lab I don’t mind blowing up / … Continue reading

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Automating Cluster Management with Aria Operations API

As part of routine maintenance, it is sometimes necessary to take an Aria Operations cluster offline. For example, it is recommended to take the cluster offline to perform backups (https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Aria-Operations/8.12/Best-Practices-Operations/GUID-1D058B4A-93BA-44D1-8794-AE8E1B96B3E4.html). Since most folks want to schedule backups, it is important … Continue reading

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Scaling Your Tests: How to Set Up a vCenter Server Simulator

I’ve recently been testing a handful of reporting tools against vCenter Server endpoints. I have several lab instances for various major releases, which allow me to test a wide range of configurations. However, there are some tests that are hard … Continue reading

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Monitoring MongoDB Enterprise using LDAP Authentication

I had a recent need to dig into MongoDB monitoring with Aria Operations. In those posts, I used a preconfigured Bitnami MongoDB virtual appliance. This virtual appliance used MongoDB Community Edition. As a follow-up, I was looking into if it … Continue reading

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Event Driven Automation: Domain Controller FSMO role has moved

In a prior post (https://enterpriseadmins.org/blog/scripting/event-driven-automation-with-aria-operations-for-logs-webhooks-and-jenkins/), I wrote about using Aria Operations for Logs to call Jenkins using a webhook to automate a process. In that post, Aria Operations for Logs is watching for a specific vSphere event and when that … Continue reading

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