Annoyingly stupid things you discover at 11am from code you wrote at 3am... libvirt allows you to create bridge names with spaces in them...
#devops #devopscats

Me several hours later, trying to understand what message/notes I wrote at 3am just before going to bed...
#devops #devopscats

Ugh... So remembered PowerEdge servers of the same model (and most other vendor servers for that matter) with two full height PCI riser expansion bays will probably have different PCI enumeration to those with three half height PCI riser expansion bays... Need to add more levels of obfuscation in sensible to deal with this...
#devops #devopscats

Enabling serial on my custom ISO and connecting to serial interface via IPMI SoL during OS installs so I can see what's really happening, and get the real console output rather than the VGA display has been immensely helpful troubleshooting things, and a horrifying reminder what a house of cards x86 firmware is... Moral of story, if some service is hiding/preventing you from getting console access, there's a good reason, and you should demand it!
Also looking at some of this stuff, if I was younger and back at Uni I'd be finding so many vectors of firmware attack that it wouldn't be funny...
#devops #devopscats

Data Center visit booked for Sunday... Woot this is the exciting life...
#devops #devopscats

OK, in between all the delivery interruptions I managed to turn a power outlet off/on on this ServerEdge switched PDU using Python and Selenium!
#devops #devopscats

AWS S3: You can check out but can never leave
https://blocksandfiles.com/2023/03/15/aws-s3-update/
#devops #devopscats

As this is doing the rounds again…
Show me the types of people who don’t know how to configure their terminal application correctly:
#devoos #devopscats

As I rage against the quirky (shit) yaml interpreter in cloud-init, only to be further screwed by the quirky (shit) curtin in-target install execution, I can only think once again, TGIF... Moral to the story, even if you want to execute one simple command, dump it in a script, copy it to the target, and run the script... #devops #devopscats

So it appears on x86 hardware, even if running in EFI mode, booting from remote devices is often still in legacy BIOS mode... Rage mode on...
#devops #devopscats #x86isshite

Finally a use for AI:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPMEozP8vvY&
#devops #devopscats #ai #cocktails

Ok, this looks useful... Wondering if I can hardware passthrough FC HBAs.... This warrants further investigation...
https://fabianlee.org/2021/11/18/kvm-deploying-a-nested-version-of-vmware-esxi-7-0-on-kvm/
#devops #devopscats #DatacenterLife

Looks like old APC switched PDU has shat itself... Can connect to it, but Device Manager has no entries...
#devops #devopscats #datacenters

New deployment soundtrack…
Large Unit - Clusterfuck
https://youtu.be/NWdyMGqSC70
#devops #devopscats #avantgardejazz

Hints / Observations for creating USB install media on UEFI based systems:

- I've found Rufus the most reliable for creating bootable USB sticks
- When using Rufus and using UEFI based installs, change the Target system to UEFI (non CSM)
#devops #devopscats

I'm not sure if I've passed or failed the latest round of mandatory Security training... In real life I would have failed give I had to ignore the potential phishing warning to enrol...
#devops #devopscats #secops

Oh boy... I think I may have fixed something in my OS install pipeline that has been producing weird results for a while... It's kind of obvious, but not so obvious/easy to track down as dealing with x86 firmware is a shitshow... If you're using UEFI, which you essentially need to these days as some hardware no longer supports legacy BIOS, even if claims to support legacy boot mode, it's lying to you, you need to ensure every step and action in the chain operates in true UEFI mode, not a pseudo mode like legacy boot mode.... #devops #devopscats #x86isshite

Ok, basic AMT support added to Ansible module... Need to do some more testing, but think I've had enough for today...
#devops #devopscats #ansible

Company I deal with has moved parts couriers to UPS who subcontract to Startrack who subcontract to someone else... Unsurprisingly this has turned into a total shitshow with parts turning up at places like Post Offices rather that where they're supposed to, like Datacenters... Luckily there's lots of managers to escalate this to no effective solution and put yet more processes in place that don't work... #devops #devopscats

Who'd have though in 2023 I'd be writing a generic ansible module to drive BMCs via racadm/SSH/etc because redfish is so f**king awful and unreliable, but here we are...
#devops #devopscats