The ramblings of a computer geek
The MLAG (Multi Link Aggregation Group) allows two or more links to be bonded together to form a single virtual link, even when that is spread across two Leaf Switches. Fundamentally the approach for this is exactly the same as is the case with Extreme Networks, Cisco etc. only the syntax is slightly different. Its … Read more
SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) is a useful command to copy files between systems, we’ll explore a few example scenarios that you’ll commonly use. I’m not going into great detail about all the various arguments and options you can use, these you can find in other articles elsewhere. Instead this is going to be a very … Read more
If you wish to use plug-in solar within the UK, once installed you need to notify to your DNO (Distribution Network Operator), this will vary depending on where you are within the UK. The documentation here was correct at the time of writing, I urge you to check the current status and not rely fully … Read more
Ansible Vault encrypts secret variables or entire YAML files inside the repository. To unlock (see) these at the point of running the Ansible Playbook you need the Vault Password to unlock them. We’re going to create a simple example to illustate how it can be used. Ensure you have added the SSH Key to your … Read more
So you have a folder and within that folder you have a single subfolder (and no other files) at that level, but then some files inside the subfolder. VScode by default will compact path in the GUI. For example I have a folder structure like this: ~\projects\ansible-lab\~\projects\ansible-lab\hosts~\projects\ansible-lab\plays~\projects\ansible-lab\roles The projects folder only contains one folder “ansible-lab” … Read more
I was getting the following error with Ansible when running a Playbook against a server: It turned out that Ansible was attempting to perform an “apt update” and failing, but just ended up timing out. Manually running “apt update” then gave the following error, which was what was tripping up the Playbook and causing it … Read more
GNS3 can run on Windows, Linux or MacOS, however for large scale network simulations running it on a dedicated server machine (typically Linux) is recommended. The deployment of this can be difficult due to limited documentation, the following provides a guide for the installation of GNS3 on a dedicated Linux server, ideally with as much … Read more
Although the PowerShell ISE is now no longer supported (apparently), you can allow it to use PowerShell 7, which can be handy if you need to use some of the new PowerShell 7 commands, not available in PowerShell 5 or 6 for example. Or just use VS Code! Firstly ensure you have PowerShell 7 installed … Read more
Microsoft has announced that Office 365 (Exchange Online) now supports up to 150MB email messages, quite a large increase from the previous limit of 25MB. Within Exchange Online you don’t get the level of control you had on Microsoft Exchange on-premise servers, where you could configure the size limits on Organisation Wide transport configuration, Send/receive connectors, AD site links … Read more
Kubernetes is a container orchestration platform, it allows you to run many containerised workloads (applications) in a scalable, secure, reliable and adaptable way. It is however quite complex to build and manage. To explore a Kubernetes deployment we are going to be using Kubespray to deploy and manage a Kubernetes cluster which is built upon … Read more