virtualization

I share recent updates on my significantly faster new workstation and my progress through the final 30% of my Executive MBA amidst pandemic-induced changes. Additionally, I discuss my new role at Microsoft and how these life transitions are leading up to an upcoming vacation.

After activating a Windows 365 trial to test its performance and practical value, I break down the licensing structures and pricing differences between the Business and Enterprise editions. I explain why I chose the Business edition for my cloud-only corporate environment and argue that the $45/month Standard plan offers the most reasonable balance of speed and resources for typical desktop tasks.

Join me as I document the upgrade of my five-year-old home workstation, sharing my criteria for selecting components optimized for virtualization and professional tasks rather than gaming. I explain why I chose to build a custom PC instead of buying a traditional server, focusing on balancing performance, noise levels, and cost for a setup that handles Plex, VMs, and daily development work.

In this follow-up to my initial planning phase, I explain how I refined my high-end workstation build to better suit my professional workflow and budget constraints by opting for an AMD Ryzen 9 setup. I detail the specific component choices that prioritized storage performance and development tasks over gaming, along with the straightforward assembly process of this new 1,639 € configuration.

In this follow-up to my homelab series, I share the final hardware configuration of my 18U rack, detailing the integration of a 4U server, NAS, and networking equipment. I also address practical concerns like noise levels, providing decibel measurements to show how the setup operates quietly enough to sit beside my daily workstation.