Stefano Marinelli
@stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe  路  activity timestamp 5 days ago

Tonight I made a simple, yet destructive (or at least partly) mistake: when I told FreeBSD which disk to destroy, I accidentally gave it the system disk of my little home server. This happened because it had the same size as the external SSD I had just plugged in, and I got confused.

I lost some reproducible configurations (the server鈥檚 name was in fact tempfbsd01), but I took the chance to run an experiment. My home server runs FreeBSD in read-only mode (that's the part I destroyed). From there, I manually enable the external drives (encrypted with GELI) and, in turn, the ZFS pools. Then I start the various jails and the (single, Proxmox Backup Server) VM.

Since I also have another test box running SmartOS, I decided to experiment: I connected the disks to it, created a FreeBSD bhyve VM on SmartOS, and passed the entire disks through to the VM. I reconfigured the FreeBSD VM with the bare minimum and booted it all up. The jails with BastilleBSD started without any issues - obviously the Proxmox Backup Server VM itself is still missing, but I鈥檒l deal with that later.

I鈥檓 tempted to leave everything like this for a while.

And yes, for anyone wondering: I had fun 馃檪

#FreeBSD#RunBSD #illumos#SmartOS#DisasterRecovery#IT#SysAdmin#Homelab
stratacast
@stratacast@mastodon.bsd.cafe  路  activity timestamp last week

This summer I got to teach an #ansible workshop. I decided to write on getting set up for it, because it went pretty sideways at the beginning but ended up working out perfectly well.

My #SmartOS Live Demo Failure, and Success

https://blog.passwordclass.xyz/posts/2025-08-21-my-smartos-live-demo-failure-and-success/

alcinnz
Michael Dexter
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Stefano Marinelli
@stefano@mastodon.illumos.cafe  路  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

I think it's time to write an #introduction for this account as well!

I'm Stefano Marinelli, Barista of the illumos Cafe and the BSD Cafe. I'm a technology and open source enthusiast, a strong advocate for #OwnYourData, and against computer monoculture, even when it comes to open source solutions.

I've been active in the #Fediverse for years and am a firm believer in it. I decided to found this Cafe to bring the positive spirit of the BSD Cafe to curious and passionate users of #illumos based operating systems (#OmniOS, #SmartOS, #Tribblix, #OpenIndiana, etc.).

I'll mainly use this account for content related to this instance and illumos-based operating systems, while my account at the BSD Cafe - @stefano@bsd.cafe - remains my primary one.

For more information about the illumos Cafe, you can read the introductory post here: https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/08/18/introducing-the-illumos-cafe/

#illumosCafe#BSDCafe
Stefano Marinelli
@stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe  路  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

My friends, I'm so excited and happy to introduce a new project: the illumos Cafe!

The positive and constructive spirit of the BSD Cafe, created and maintained by all the friends who participated from day one in building a strong and friendly community, deserves to spread to other operating systems. Because there are other OSes that deserve attention, certainly more than they're getting right now.

Operating systems based on illumos (like SmartOS, OmniOS, Tribblix, OpenIndiana, etc.) are mature, stable, secure, and perfectly usable for a wide range of tasks. ZFS is native, zones are an excellent method for containerization, and bhyve and kvm coexist beautifully - and so much more, too much to list in a single post.

So from today, the illumos Cafe will stand alongside the BSD Cafe in creating a positive, respectful, and growth-oriented (but also relaxing!) environment, starting right here in the Fediverse with a Mastodon instance and a snac one.

I've written an introductory article about the project, including some technical details. I invite everyone interested to read it: https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/08/18/introducing-the-illumos-cafe/

Choose your table, take a seat and enjoy your time at the illumos Cafe!

#SysAdmin#IT#BSDCafe #illumosCafe#Community#OpenSource#OSS #illumos#SmartOS#OpenIndiana#ZFS #bhyve #kvm#Fediverse#Mastodon #snac#ITNotes

muppeth
muppeth liked this activity
Stefano Marinelli
@stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe  路  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

My friends, I'm so excited and happy to introduce a new project: the illumos Cafe!

The positive and constructive spirit of the BSD Cafe, created and maintained by all the friends who participated from day one in building a strong and friendly community, deserves to spread to other operating systems. Because there are other OSes that deserve attention, certainly more than they're getting right now.

Operating systems based on illumos (like SmartOS, OmniOS, Tribblix, OpenIndiana, etc.) are mature, stable, secure, and perfectly usable for a wide range of tasks. ZFS is native, zones are an excellent method for containerization, and bhyve and kvm coexist beautifully - and so much more, too much to list in a single post.

So from today, the illumos Cafe will stand alongside the BSD Cafe in creating a positive, respectful, and growth-oriented (but also relaxing!) environment, starting right here in the Fediverse with a Mastodon instance and a snac one.

I've written an introductory article about the project, including some technical details. I invite everyone interested to read it: https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/08/18/introducing-the-illumos-cafe/

Choose your table, take a seat and enjoy your time at the illumos Cafe!

#SysAdmin#IT#BSDCafe #illumosCafe#Community#OpenSource#OSS #illumos#SmartOS#OpenIndiana#ZFS #bhyve #kvm#Fediverse#Mastodon #snac#ITNotes
Raven
@raven@mastodon.bsd.cafe  路  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

I don't know why but I never looked at the illumos based operating systems. I think I will change that and try out either OpenIndiana or SmartOS and compare them with Linux and BSD.

Areas I want to compare:
- Availability of software
- Simplicity of system management
- General system usage
- Security and Storage features

Are there any illumos users or admins out there with an idea on which things I should try out?

#illumos #smartos #openindiana #unix #opensolaris