Bits, Bytes, & Radio Waves

A Journey Through Discovery

  • MyLab: VMware vSphere

    Overview I am using VMware vSphere 7.0.3 for this lab. Before starting the deployment, ensure there are forward and reverse DNS records created for the ESXi host that vCenter will be installed on, the vCenter Server appliance itself, and optionally any NTP servers. Ideally, there should be localized NTP.

  • MyLab: VMware App Volumes

    Overview I am opting to install VMware App Volumes 2303.1 (current at the time of writing) on Window Server 2022. I am choosing to install VMware App Volumes to separate applications from the desktop to keep the golden image as lean as possible.

  • MyLab: The Timekeeper

    Overview I like to keep accurate time in my lab for various reasons. The main reasons are for authentication and that I will be using Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates. Other reasons are that I think it’s the right thing to do and it is simply my compulsion to keep accurate time. For this service,…

  • VMware, Synology, iSCSI, and Multipath I/O (MPIO)

    Prerequisites Here is a good article from VMware docs that explains this. https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-DD2FFAA7-796E-414C-84CE-1FCC14474D5B.html The Gist There is more than one physical adapter connected on separate subnets. Each subnet provides a path to the iSCSI target. How I configured the ESXi host with the vSphere Client I created two VMkernel adapters, one for iSCSI-A and one…

  • OpenSSL Commands

    Prerequisites Access a Computer with OpenSSL Copy the file(s) to a system that has OpenSSL. If you are on a Windows machine, the easiest way to do this is to use Git for Windows (https://git-scm.com/download/win). Once installed, you can run Git Bash and will have access to OpenSSL. Linux and macOS will likely already have…

  • Ports, Protocols, and Services (PPS)

    Introduction This is my attempt to keep track of various ports, protocols, and services for successful deployments of solutions. Active Directory Port Number TCP/UDP IANA Service Name IANA Description Common Use 135 TCP epmap DCE endpoint resolution RPC Endpoint Mapper 389 TCP/UDP ldap Lightweight Directory Access Protocol LDAP 636 TCP ldaps ldap protocol over TLS/SSL…

This is how it all started…

I started this site with the intent to aggregate as much information as possible in one place. I use this to record lessons learned or frustrating configurations I have experienced on the job or just tinkering (learning) and just couldn’t find a better resource available. I have tried to be as thorough and accurate as possible, but technology is rapidly evolving and every environment is different. I may miss things along the way and my setup most likely differs compared to yours.

I hope you find this site has some value to you.

Welcome to Bits, Bytes, and Radio Waves! 

If you have any questions or comments (or just want to give me a shout-out), please feel free to contact me!

Aaron Rombaut

Writer & Technologist