Same Null, Different Cloud

openstack-ansible

Minimal OpenStack-Ansible deployment

Deploying OpenStack-Ansible, and following the deployer documentation, will result in a production-ready OpenStack Cloud. A typical deployment requires operators to setup various network interfaces, use different VLAN tags, and create several purpose-built bridges. But what if these typical requirements couldn't be met or what if the goal was

nspawn Featured

OpenStack-Ansible machinectl image management

With recent changes in OpenStack-Ansible we're now able to import and export container images for using the built-in systemd tooling via machinectl. This gives us the ability to rapidly provision or replace containers as needed from a pre-seeded source. In this post, I'll cover how an

nspawn

OpenStack-Ansible Machinectl Storage setup

When using the machinctl container storage backend you've got choices on how to setup your host machines. This article will cover the three very common deployment situations. 1. Simply let systemd back the /var/lib/machines directory using a loop device file which has been formatted BTRFS; this

Import 2022-12-12 02:00

Fixing a wedged android update - DTEK60

The other day I received a notice from my mobile device manufacture (Blackberry) of an OTA update containing security patches for my DTEK60. Excited, I rushed to install the patch only to discover that something didn't work quite right. The upgrade window would simply hang after tapping the

nspawn

Growing BTRFS in a Logical Volume

As you may know, I run quite a few nspawn containers which are responsible for running my entire home network, entertainment system, home automation, and a few other applications here & there. What you may not be aware of is the fact that I'm running everything on top

ubiquiti

PXE from an nspawn container

This post will cover the provisioning of a nspawn container and the installation of a tftp-hpa serving pxelinux.0. While this sounds simple enough, and there are millions of other posts just like this one, I will be covering how I set everything up in nspawn using my Edge Router

lenovo

Lenovo X1 Firmware Updates without Windows

As you may know, I have a 4th Generation X1 Carbon and I love it. However, in order to update much of the firmware, I need a Windows Environment but that doesn't mean I have to re-install Windows every time I want to apply a patch. In fact,

lenovo

Lenovo X1 BIOS updates without Windows

The X1 Carbon (I've the Gen 4) is a Fantastic machine and works wonderfully with Linux. I purchased my unit back in December as an upgrade to my aging Lenovo X230 and I really couldn't be happier. Sadly, there's one aspect of the system

nspawn

Networkd for nspawn with OpenStack-Ansible

Within this post, I will cover the systemd-networkd aspect of the PR to create a systemd-nspawn driver within OSA. This post will be working with systemd-networkd and systemd-resolved to integrate nspawn containers within the existing topology of a typical OpenStack-Ansible deployment. Getting systemd-networkd working for you One of the container

nspawn Featured

Nspawn OpenStack with OpenStack-Ansible

The OpenStack-Ansible project has been around for a few years now but if you're unfamiliar with it, the TL;DR is it's an OpenStack deployment project running OpenStack services within containers and uses Ansible. The original project came from the Rackspace Private Cloud, and when it

linux

Luks, Issuing & Allowing Discards, Enabling Timers, Oh My!

If you're running a system with an SSD it's likely that you've heard of trim, if you're running Linux you may have heard of the fstrim command, and if you're encrypting your drives you're likely using Luks with

cloud

Rolling Restart using OpenStack-Ansible

Sometimes it's useful to do a rolling restart of OpenStack services throughout the cloud. In OpenStack-Ansible we've the means to make this easy, you just need a little BASH to tie it all together. In this little aside, I'm restarting the entire cloud using

systemd Featured

NFS mount via systemd

Sometimes you feel like fstab, sometimes you don't. If you're running modern Linux and are wanting to invest all of your brain power in a systemd thing-a-me and you're wishing there's was systemd way to mount a file-system(s), you're

ubiquiti Featured

Running the UniFi controller in an nspawn container

The UniFi controller is an essential part of the Ubiquiti Networks UniFi platform. Getting this controller installed allows you access to metrics, analytics, and features you'd not have otherwise. I've been on a Ubiquiti Networks tear recently and have been replacing my home gear with theirs

containers Featured

Rocket past the white whale and spawn a container

As I'm sure you're aware, Docker is all folks in the IT world can talk about and while Moby(Docker) may be everyone's obsession, there are quite a few of us looking to break away from the oppressive registries and wannabe bash scripts found

ubuntu Featured

Cleaning up Xenial

The folks at Canonical have created a very nice distribution of Linux named Ubuntu. This distro is used everywhere and while folks love this OS there's a lot to hate about it. Recently I've once again picked up my crusade to build a home Lab and

ubiquiti Featured

EdgeRouter Lite FTW

I've recently installed an EdgeRouter Lite 3 (ERL-3) in my home network to facilitate my internet connection and provide service to my local networks. I've setup my ERL-3 in a fairly basic matter at this moment however it's serving its purpose and doing so

networking Featured

AFI-R HD, the best Wifi device I've ever owned, kinda

I recently upgraded my home network after doing quite a bit of remodeling elsewhere in the house. It was time to upgrade my home WiFi and switching as my old gear was released in 2009 and was showing it's age. In the before now I was using an

Import 2022-12-12 02:00 Featured

Garmin VivoSmart HR+ Review

I've worn fitness trackers for the better part of a few years which goes back to the original Jawbone UP. Since then I've upgraded to the UP24 followed by the UP3, and have now switched to the Garmin VivoSmart HR+. In the "before now"

openstack Featured

OpenStack Bulk Job Runner

As OpenStack projects grow its likely that a given project will spawn several repositories and will share code snippets across them. If you're ever in need of updating a mess of repositories all at the same time these steps, and linked script, can help you identify all repositories

irc Featured

Deploying ZNC from source on Debian Jessie

So you want to deploy ZNC Chat clients are a dime a dozen, and chat services are everywhere. So the fact is ZNC is not really a needed thing any longer unless you're wanting to run your own bouncer. I personally run my own bouncer as a means

opensuse

Getting Pithos to run in OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

Pandora is a fantastic service which allows folks to easily stream and discover music. On many platforms Pandora has official supported applications which allow a user to stream music using a desktop applet instead having to run everything through a web browser. Sadly the folks at Pandora have not taken

linux

Installing VidyoDesktop on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

Many companies are using the VidyoDesktop application for teleconferencing and in what seems like an amazing turn of events VidyoDesktop supports Linux. Sadly the Vidyo packages for Linux are a little suspect and have a few issues that have to be handled in order to get the package properly installed.

irc

Adding Spell checking to Konversation

If you're using KDE and need an IRC client Konversation is a fantastic application that can do just that. The GUI driven IRC client it's near perfect out the box. The one thing that simply doesn't want to work is spell checking on the

osic Featured

OSIC Baremetal (Ironic) network Separation

Generating Isolated (Separated) Networks on Baremetal In the OSIC-DFW environment we're running Ironic with OpenStack integration to allow our consumers access to physical compute resources. Because of limitations in Ironic at the time of this writing we're not able to fully provide for L3 tenant networking