Sysadmin Desk
Infrastructure & Cloud
Hands-on guidance for infrastructure, virtualization, and containers — Hyper-V, VMware, Docker, and the day-to-day operations work that keeps environments running.
47 guides
Set up scheduled VM backups in Proxmox: create a Datacenter backup job, master the calendar schedule syntax, set retention, add notifications, and avoid window collisions.
Confused by ESXi, vSphere, and vCenter? Here's what each one actually is, how they fit together, and when you need vCenter versus a standalone ESXi host.
Got 'permission denied' on the Docker socket in Ubuntu? Add your user to the docker group, re-log, and verify. Plus why sudo works and the security trade-off.
Grow a Proxmox VM disk safely: resize it in the GUI or with qm, then expand the partition and filesystem inside Linux or Windows guests. Why shrinking is the hard part.
Move Hyper-V VMs between hosts with Export and Import. Learn the GUI steps, Export-VM and Import-VM in PowerShell, the three import types, and how to avoid ID conflicts.
What no, always, unless-stopped, and on-failure actually do in Docker. How each handles crashes, reboots, and manual stops, plus the gotchas that catch people.
Set up VLANs in Proxmox VE: make vmbr0 VLAN-aware, tag VM and container traffic, give the host a tagged management IP, and avoid the usual trunking mistakes.
Enable Hyper-V on Windows 11 Pro using Optional Features, PowerShell, or DISM. Check the hardware requirements, fix a greyed-out checkbox, and build your first VM.
A line-by-line walkthrough of a real docker-compose.yml file: services, image, ports, volumes, environment, depends_on, networks, and the top-level keys.
Disable the Proxmox enterprise repo, add the pve-no-subscription repo, fix the apt 401 error, and understand the login subscription nag without breaking updates.
VirtualBox NAT, NAT Network, Bridged, and Host-only adapters explained: what each one does, when to use it, port forwarding for NAT, and how to fix a VM with no internet.
Practical Docker security for beginners: drop root with USER, avoid --privileged, use minimal images, scan them, keep secrets out of env vars, limit resources, and more.
Pillar Guide
Compare Proxmox KVM VMs and LXC containers: isolation, performance, overhead, when to pick each, why Windows needs a VM, and privileged vs unprivileged containers.
The green turtle in your VirtualBox status bar means the VM is running on Hyper-V's slow execution mode, not native VT-x. Here's how to get native speed back.
Pillar Guide
Understand Docker networking: bridge vs host vs none, default vs user-defined bridges, container DNS by name, publishing ports, and Compose networks.
Add an NFS share to Proxmox VE: configure the export, add it under Datacenter > Storage, pick content types for ISOs, backups, and disk images, and fix mount problems.
Back up ESXi VMs the right way: why free ESXi blocks most backup tools, how snapshot-based backups work, ghettoVCB and OVF export, and why snapshots aren't backups.
Reclaim Docker disk space safely: read docker system df, use docker system prune the right way, and understand the -a and --volumes danger before you run it.
Set up Proxmox Backup Server and connect it to Proxmox VE: create a datastore, add it as storage, run deduplicated incremental backups, restore, verify, prune, and encrypt.
Hyper-V VM backup failing? Work through VSS writers, integration services, checkpoint type, free space, leftover AVHDX files, and the event logs that point to the real cause.
Fix Docker's 'bind: address already in use' error: find the listener with ss or lsof, free the port or change the mapping, and bind to 127.0.0.1.
Build a Proxmox cluster with pvecm: create and join nodes, understand corosync and quorum, set up shared storage, live-migrate VMs, and add a QDevice for two nodes.
Hyper-V asks you to pick Generation 1 or Generation 2 when you create a VM, and you can't change it later. Here's how the two differ and which to choose.
Run WordPress with Docker Compose: a working wordpress + MySQL stack with named volumes for persistence, env vars, ports, a reverse proxy note, and backups.
Fix a full Proxmox local-lvm: see why the thin pool fills, check usage with lvs and df, delete unused disks and snapshots, move storage, and stop it recurring.
VirtualBox crawling on Windows 11? Hyper-V, Memory Integrity, and WSL2 steal VT-x. Learn what to disable, how to allocate resources, and enable nested paging.
Back up Docker named volumes the reliable way: tar a volume via a temp container, restore it, dump databases properly, schedule it, and move data between hosts.
Move VMware VMs to Proxmox: export OVF/VMDK, import with qm importovf and importdisk, convert VMDK to qcow2, fix VirtIO drivers, and boot the migrated guest.
Stuck with orphaned AVHDX files after a failed backup or checkpoint? Learn what AVHDX is and two safe ways to merge the chain back into your VHDX without data loss.
Fix the 'Cannot connect to the Docker daemon' error: check the service is running, fix socket permissions, start Docker Desktop, and verify DOCKER_HOST.
Back up and restore Proxmox VMs with vzdump: snapshot vs suspend vs stop modes, scheduled jobs, storage targets, restoring to a new VMID, and retention rules.
Hyper-V checkpoint failed? Fix it by checking disk space, VHDX permissions, VSS writers, and production vs standard checkpoints — with the AVHDX chain explained.
Install Docker Desktop on Windows 10 or 11 with the WSL2 backend: enable virtualization, run the installer, verify, and fix the common setup errors.
Compare Proxmox storage options: LVM, LVM-Thin, and ZFS. How each handles thin provisioning, snapshots, RAM/ARC use, and performance, plus which to pick for your setup.
Install Windows 11 in VirtualBox the right way: enable TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot in EFI, set VM specs, mount the ISO, handle the requirement bypass, and add Guest Additions.
Set up an Nginx reverse proxy with Docker Compose: route multiple apps on one host, configure proxy_pass, use Docker networks, and add TLS.
Understand and configure vmbr0, the Proxmox Linux bridge: how it works, editing /etc/network/interfaces, attaching VMs, adding a second bridge, and fixing no-internet issues.
How VMware snapshots and delta disks really work, why they grow and slow your VMs, the 72-hour rule, and why a snapshot is not a backup. Practical guidance.
Bind mount vs named volume in Docker: how they differ, when to use each, where data lives, permissions, backups, and the down -v data-loss trap.
Pillar Guide
An honest Proxmox VE vs VMware ESXi comparison after the Broadcom changes: licensing and cost, features, clustering, backup, hardware support, and who each one fits.
Hyper-V VM has no internet? Work through the virtual switch type, NAT setup, VM adapter, host firewall, and DNS to get your guest back online for good.
Fix the Docker 'port is already allocated' error: find what's using the port with docker ps, ss, and lsof, then free it or change the mapping.
Pillar Guide
Install Proxmox VE on a physical server from scratch: write the ISO to USB, boot the installer, pick ext4 or ZFS, set the network, and reach the web GUI on port 8006.
Create an external virtual switch in Hyper-V the right way. Switch types compared, Hyper-V Manager and New-VMSwitch steps, and how to avoid losing host network.
Pillar Guide
Install Docker on Ubuntu Server the right way: add the official apt repo and GPG key, install docker-ce plus the Compose plugin, and verify it works.
Pillar Guide
Learn Docker Compose from scratch: write one YAML file to run multiple containers, with a working WordPress + MySQL example and the core up/down commands.
VirtualBox says VT-x is not available (VERR_VMX_NO_VMX)? Here's how to free your CPU virtualization from Hyper-V, Memory Integrity, and WSL2 — and fix it for good.