Practical Technology

EDIT#2  Ok, THIS Dell tech guy is also out to lunch.  ANOTHER Dell tech guy (who originally sold us the stuff) insisted that OEM licensing works, and there are two potential issues here: Physical label has a misprinted key Typo I tried the key from another box, activated right away.  Facepalm.  I tried the key several times, triple-checked for typos, so it wasn't a typo.  We actually got a misprinted key, or perhaps it was not allowed to activate, and now today if I try again it'll work.  Ugh. The following is being left for posterity. Our new Dell rep, poor guy, he unhappily told me today that what they (old team) sold us initially would actually never work (OEM licensing + VMware).  Rather unfortunate.  Well, at least it explains why I had so many issues getting an answer from support.  They had to go to a senior senior tech rep to get this cleared up. The link he provided, and a snippet:  http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&

After a few years now of running a fair-size home VMware lab - my thoughts. It has gotten me two jobs so far - or rather, it has piqued the interest of interviewers - and thus paid for itself several times over with the resulting salary increases.  Good job, Mister Lab. It did help me with the VCP4 certification (even though the exam was garbage) - I felt that using physical hosts vs. virtual hosts did give me a 'real-world' advantage, especially around troubleshooting. I am now at the point where I've outgrown it, in a way.  Or rather, I can only go so far with it, so my time is better spent using old equipment from work.  To clarify the point above - I have three 16GB hosts at home, but three 64GB hosts at work.  Math is simple.  OpenFiler "SAN" at home, true iSCSI SAN(s) at work.  Etc. SSDs were 'just' coming out when I built this - or rather, they were just becoming affordable.  My 15k SAS array is kinda stupid now compared to SSD performance/po

EDIT update2: See newer post, it wasn't working because the key was misprinted (apparently very rare, but does happen).  We used another OEM 2012R2 key and it worked. The below is what happens when nobody realizes this is the case. --------------- Posting about this because Google failed me, and 75% of the reps I spoke to (3/4) had zero clue how to resolve the problem. Problem:  You are running ESXi.  Your server has 2012R2 Datacenter (or whatever) OEM licensing that allows unlimited VOSE's.  You make an ISO of the provided & corresponding OEM media and install to create a fresh template.  The server's key (on the sticker) does not let you activate said guest VM. Solution: You should have received the downgrade package 'DO NOT DISCARD' with one or two stickers containing Microsoft license keys - the title post-fixed with PHYS, one with VIRT.  If you did not, request it from your Dell rep. i.e. Windows Svr Ent 2008 R2 Virt .  Use the corresponding 

I've recently noticed my mouse charge levels starting to drop, and this has re-awakened the urge to upgrade. But I shant!  They shall be run to destruction this time around the consumer wheel...getting pretty good mileage out of them so far! Primary monitor - Dell 2405FPW - the venerable first 24" Ultrasharp panel from Dell.  It cost a fortune back then (like $1500?), but I've had it now for 8-9 years!  The only real issue with it is power consumption...it uses something like 140-150w (kill-a-watt-verified), and puts out most of that as heat.  Heck, they have 60" TVs that use less than half that nowadays. Secondary monitors - Dell 2007FP - 16x12 resolution, Ultrasharp quality.  Except the corners of the screen have worn out and the backlight shows through a little.  Can't really complain - they were given in lieu of a raise by a previous employer.  I've used them in landscape and portrait modes, not perfect in portrait mode.  Currently three mounted on t