Home Network Overhaul 2010
For the first time in over a decade, my home network saw no major improvements for almost 2 years.
Let’s just say that the past few years have been interesting…
From March 2008 until December 2009, several major undertakings that I had planned for my networking environment were put on hold. Additionally, I suffered a few hardware failures (one of my domain controllers, also doubling as the source of my redirected folders) that were not easily (or cheaply) resolved. So, I’ve been running on just a single domain controller for the better part of a year. And it was my intention to have my entire environment fully virtualized by now, as indicated in the following post made oh so long ago.
Time passes…
Well, here we are at the beginning of a new decade, and I’ve resuscitated my projects. My virtual host server is finally up, running on Windows 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, but it is now accompanied by a few Windows 7 clients. I’ve just introduced a virtualized domain controller running 2008 R2, and installed the new version of Certificate Services, since my dead DC was running the old version.
I just have a few more steps before I finally update that old network diagram, including a system running 2008 Server Core, so I can practice with that, and also an upgrade of all the client systems from Vista to Windows 7, and replacing my dead domain controller with a virtualized file server for the off-line folders. I also have to remove that old DC from the domain – properly – now that I’ve moved away from trying to repair it at all.
(I originally thought the problem was a power supply, but even after changing it out, the system powers on and right back off. Seems like a short somewhere, but now I can just replace the motherboard and build something different with that.)
So far, I’m loving the performance of Hyper-V, which is really improved over the original release. The management tools are a lot better as well. Given how well the 4-core system continues to perform, I might upgrade the RAM (16GB vs 8GB) so that I can run more than the five (5) virtual machines I had planned to run.
On a side note: Now that I have all the physical servers labeled, it is much easier when I need to ask my wife to reboot any of them. I’m not even going to get into a discussion concerning the significantly different way that men and women (particularly those not in technology) describe computer equipment. Seriously.
Thankfully, 2010 has started with a bang, and my network is finally getting tended to as it has been accustomed. I should have another update by month’s end, once I finish the server portion of this project, and then another update towards the end of February, when the client upgrades have been completed.
Please stay tuned…
About Logik!
Andrew S. Baker aka ASB aka Logik!
Andrew S. Baker is a business-savvy, hands-on IT leader with expertise in mentoring people, mitigating risk, and integrating technology to drive innovation and maximize business results. He creates competitive advantage for organizations through effective IT leadership: implementation of processes and controls, and architecture of robust business solutions.
Mr. Baker has successfully led a number of high-performance technology teams in designing, deploying and maintaining secure, cost-effective computing environments for well-known companies, including Warner Music Group, The Princeton Review, Bear Stearns, About.com, and Lewco Securities.
For over a decade, Andrew has exhibited thought leadership on technology and business topics via mailing lists, technical forums, blogs, and professional networking groups, along with contributions to podcasts, webinars, and over 20 technical/business magazine articles. He also serves on several boards and committees for non-profit organizations, and within the Seventh-day Adventist church.
His personal interests include Astronomy, Basketball, Bible Study, Chess, Comics, Computers,
Family Life Ministries, Reading, Strategy/Role Playing games, and Professional Networking...
A summary of Andrew's current résumé is available here, and he can be reached on a variety of social and professional networks, including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.