How-To

  • EtherInsights: AI-Augmented Cloud Cost Optimization

    AI meets cost control. Tom Fenton looks at EtherInsights, which helps you slash Microsoft 365 & Azure bills with smart, AI-powered insights—built for SMBs & enterprises alike

  • Monitoring Windows and Linux Systems Using Open-Source Zabbix

    After examining and setting up Zabbix, a scalable, open-source monitoring solution designed to track the performance and availability of IT infrastructure, including servers, networks, applications, and cloud services, Tom Fenton cranks it up.

  • Installing Zabbix, an Open-Source Monitoring Solution

    After previously providing an overview of Zabbix, a scalable, open-source monitoring solution used to track the performance and availability of IT infrastructure, including servers, networks, applications, and cloud services, Tom Fenton walks you through the process of setting up Zabbix server.

  • Smarter Security with AI: Spotting Insider Threats

    As AI powers both cyberattacks and defenses, the ability to spot subtle threats in vast digital noise is paramount. Leading the charge is AI's power to intelligently monitor behavior, establishing baselines of normal activity to expose the aberrant patterns that signal attack.

  • Zabbix: An Open-Source Monitoring Solution

    After it catches his eye at VMware Explore, Tom Fenton begins a hands-on exploration of this free and open-source monitoring solution, describing its capabilities and features.

  • You Need a Windows Package Manager

    If you are not using a package manager on your Windows system to install applications and other software, you should, says Tom Fenton, because downloading, and installing applications manually is a waste of time.

  • Hands On with MacStadium Remote Desktop

    Tom Fenton tests MacStadium's remote macOS desktops and finds a smooth, high-performance experience -- despite Apple's virtualization hurdles.

  • Windows 10 Resurrection with ChromeOS Flex: Linux Apps and Shared Folders

    Tom Fenton explores using ChromeOS Flex as an OS replacement on a decade-old, dual-core laptop running Windows 10, as Windows 10 will soon reach its end of life (EOL).

  • ESXi Is Free ... Again

    Longtime IT pro Tom Fenton was disappointed -- along with many others -- when Broadcom discontinued the free version after acquiring VMware, but he's excited it's back.

  • Upgrading a Windows 10 Laptop to ChromeOS Flex

    Tom Fenton continues his investigation, loading the OS, using Gemini AI, Google Docs, the web-based Microsoft Office 365 and much more.

  • Resurrecting Windows 10 Systems with ChromeOS Flex

    Because of technical limitations, many Windows 10 machines won't be able to upgrade to Win 11 in October when end of life is reached, but ChromeOS Flex could extend their use.

  • Creating Time-Based AMI Copies on AWS

    For disaster recovery, Amazon recently introduced a time-based copy feature that allows you to tie the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) copy duration to your Recovery Time Objective (RTO).

  • Using ntopng Community Edition to Analyze LAN Traffic

    In his final article of a series, Tom Fenton shows how he used ntopng Community edition dashboards to analyze his local LAN network traffic.

  • Setting Up Open-Source ntopng for Network Visualization and Monitoring

    In the third part of a series, Tom Fenton explains how he set up and installed ntopng, along with detailing where it will sit in his home/lab network and how he redirected traffic to it.

  • Using ntopng for Network Visualization and Monitoring

    Tom Fenton gets geeky in detailing how he is using ntopng to monitor and visualize network traffic in his home LAN, which he embarrassingly lost control of.

  • Protecting Amazon EC2 Instances Against Removal

    In an accidental termination, thankfully, there are a few things that you can do to protect yourself against the loss of a critical instance, Brien Posey explains.

  • The Missing Piece in the Zero Trust Puzzle

    Paul Schnackenburg looks at Microsoft's entry in the Secure Services Edge (SSE) market, Global Secure Access (GSA), and the different flavors of it, Internet Access and Private Access. Another buzzword for this kind of technology is Zero Trust Network Access, ZTNA.

  • Four Free Network Scanners

    With his home network a mess, Tom Fenton explores how to bring some sense of order using readily available, easy-to-use, free tools.

  • Installing Windows Software from the Command Line Using WinGet

    Tom Fenton waited 23 years for Linux software installation CLI functionality to come to Windows.

  • Creating VMs on a Raspberry Pi 5 Running ESXi

    Concluding his series, Tom Fenton provides step-by-step instructions for creating a VM from different Linux distributions and discusses issues with running Windows on it.

  • Configuring ESXi 8 on a Raspberry Pi 5

    In part three of his series, Tom Fenton configures ESXi to use an NTP server for precise time synchronization, enables SSH access, and adds a datastore for storing and running virtual machines.

  • Installing ESXi 8 on a Raspberry Pi 5

    Tom Fenton walks through the process of installing and using ESXi 8 on the Raspberry Pi 5, providing a hands-on opportunity to explore VMware virtualization technology or to run ARM-based VMs.

  • VMware ESXi 8 on a Raspberry Pi 5

    Tom Fenton, who literally wrote the book about ESXi 7 on a Raspberry Pi 4 hobbyist computer, now tackles ESXi 8 on a Pi 5, the new "computer in a keyboard."

  • Deploying Containers on Specialized Flatcar OS

    Tom Fenton concludes his exploration of Flatcar Container Linux, recently accepted as an incubating project by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.

  • Installing Flatcar Container Linux on VMware Workstation

    After it catches his attention at KubeCon, where it was accepted by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation as an incubating project, Tom Fenton tackles deployment.

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