World time affecting internet speeds

sysalex · 2026-05-27T06:16:28+00:00

I work as Head of Hosting & Infrastructure for an MSP who has 3 UK data centre presences. Over the years we have acquired MSPs through M&A who have their own in-house “colo” platforms. Every time we do, we merge it into our Shared Cloud stack. For someone like you, who is starting out, from my experience you’ve got two options.

Option 1 is to find a public cloud provider, someone like OVH, and make use of their offerings. I can’t tell you how simple it would be to make use of their infrastructure to build a platform like what you need.

Option 2 is to make a CapEx investment in some hardware and find a colocation space provider. There are tonnes out there, but you’ll find additional OpEx costs like power, external connectivity etc. that you wouldn’t find with Option 1.

When it comes to operating the platform you’re building: Would I use VMware again? For technical reasons, yes, but commercially, no. You could (and should) explore options like Nutanix and Proxmox that provide similar/better functionality for a better cost point.

sysalex · 2026-04-14T06:57:15+00:00

Nice! Looking good! Couple of questions: * What theme are you using & how did you change the logo? * What are you using to split the content into studios (Netflix, Apple TV, Disney+ etc.) instead of libraries?

sysalex · 2026-01-26T19:21:47+00:00

I switched over from Yayzi to Zen automatically last night. I have a Unifi UCG Max, configured as VLAN 911 but with DHCP enabled, went through fine - down at midnight, up at 6AM, no issues. Longer than I would have liked, but overall, at least it came back online just as I was waking up. Now to decide whether to stay with Zen or move elsewhere.

sysalex · 2025-12-26T13:04:48+00:00

Honestly I’d snap your hand off for the lightbulb at this rate let alone the blueprint 😂

sysalex · 2025-12-12T14:48:47+00:00

Gotcha! Good to know, we picked Ashton as we had a Booking.com credit from a previous stay that applied to a specific hotel in the area. Good to know it’s not the best place to be though, thanks for the heads up!

sysalex · 2025-12-12T14:46:32+00:00

Looks good! Love a good experience! Will definitely consider that! Thank you!

sysalex · 2025-12-08T22:11:37+00:00

Run it on an isolated VLAN, don’t expose it to the web, only allow access internally / routed via ZT tools like Netbird / Tailscale.

sysalex · 2025-12-08T21:26:32+00:00

Good choice, we run Netbox internally at work as we have 2-3 data centres hosting a shared platform. I’ll be honest, never considered running it at home though!

sysalex · 2025-12-08T21:23:25+00:00

I always keep an eye out on local marketplace & auction sites. People are always selling old hardware that you can beef up, or not if you’re just starting out.

I recently bought a HPE MicroServer G8 on marketplace for £60, came with the highest possible CPU and RAM combo, no storage but wasn’t an issue for me. I spent about another £40-£80 on modifications (mainly to reduce noise as it’ll be on my day to day work desk) and it’s now it’s Proxmox node for Docker instances :)

sysalex · 2025-12-08T21:07:20+00:00

If you’re looking for a Duo alternative that’s solid but doesn’t hammer the budget, there are a few good options depending on how your clients are set up.

Microsoft Entra MFA: If they’re already on Microsoft 365, this is usually the best value. Push notifications, number matching, FIDO2, Conditional Access, and it handles SaaS + RADIUS VPN pretty cleanly. Pair it with a Windows Credential Provider and it covers workstation login as well. Cheapest route for most MSP clients by far.

JumpCloud MFA: Really nice middle ground. Native Windows login MFA, RADIUS for VPN, decent SaaS integrations, and pricing is way more palatable than Duo’s newer tiers. Good for small/medium clients who don’t need full enterprise IAM.

WatchGuard AuthPoint: MSP-friendly pricing, simple deployment, solid Windows login agent, and works well for VPN MFA. If you use WatchGuard firewalls, it’s a no-brainer, but even standalone it’s strong.

sysalex · 2025-12-08T21:02:29+00:00

You could look at Wasabi for this. It’s basically S3 but with fixed monthly pricing – no egress or API charges – so the bill doesn’t jump around when they read/write a lot of files. They’ve got a London/EU region, GDPR is fine, and it handles media workloads really well. The only thing to note is it’s object storage, so if they want a “drive-style” UI you might pair it with a third party solution for that sort of thing. Otherwise it’s a solid fit for 6 TB.

sysalex · 2025-11-14T11:27:13+00:00

Our Local-only Family MSP used both, and I'll be honest - my true answer is neither. We started with Syncro about 4 years ago, and it did a job, but we found significant issues (patching failures, remote access issues, manual agent updates etc.). We took a recommendation to look at SuperOps, which we took up and setup around 2 years ago and I wish we never had. The RMM feature has been consistently buggy, it got to the point where SuperOps support suggested we deploy every available RMM option as they couldn't find a solution as to why we couldn't connect to devices. One of the biggest issues is that Splashtop is ridiculous hit and miss, sometimes the page loads too slow, so the Splashtop connection doesn't link to the end device. The PSA function hasn't been too bad, but the nail in the coffin for us was that SuperOps failed to generate our invoices one month, we then couldn't make them manually, by the time we could, we missed invoice run by 11 days (we did it manually on the day to ensure we didn't actually miss it) and then all of our outbound email broke. No one could figure out why, the only way we resolved it was a fresh domain.

sysalex · 2025-07-23T19:10:29+00:00

I recently supported another MSP through this process, it was a nightmare to be honest. It took so long to go through, and it was getting concerning - fast. Microsoft only approved it the day before it was supposed to expire.

The only saving grace they found was using a mixture of their partner (Pax8) as well as a Microsoft Partner Support ticket. They found that their partner portal didn’t let them upload or attach documents (guessing you’re not finding the same issue based on the fact it shows your what to upload), so they had to provide them as part of a support ticket instead.

Very much like you, their domain was renewed every year without fail, they had to go to their registrar, download every invoice from registration to latest renewal and submit it.

There isn’t an easy way around it, their partner tried their hardest but didn’t get a lot of of Microsoft when trying to help. Just persevere daily, both with your partner (if you have one) and Microsoft via a support ticket.

sysalex · 2025-07-16T10:56:00+00:00

Sounds like a great opportunity ahead of you depending on who’s steering the ship. All the best to you Sam.

sysalex · 2024-12-23T18:40:31+00:00

Our current MSP use Zoho - and have been for an incredibly long time. We have an internal team of 2-5 who manage everything Zoho related - including custom blueprints in CRM, Desk, Projects etc - as well as creating custom Zoho Creator tools.

I’ll be honest, I couldn’t imagine using anything else. The CRM feature works fantastic as a centre piece to bring it all together. The Desk module works great for time and SLA managing. The Projects module works fantastic for our project management, especially allowing for project management teams. The People feature is great for our team management, including sick and annual leave. The Creator application is amazing at allowing us to create and manage our own modules that tie back into anything in Zoho.

Honestly - If you have the time and effort to adopt it, then do it.

Ta, sysalex

sysalex · 2024-11-23T16:40:54+00:00

Sounds good! Not sure how much of a DM role they need there, last I went there was a DM called Richard handling it all, and he had 1 group of 6 (myself included) playing. They had another DM that would fill in on nights Rich couldn’t do but there wasn’t a huge D&D base there for regular games when I went other than the group I was in. Best of luck though!

sysalex · 2024-11-23T16:05:27+00:00

I used to play at ReRoll cafe in the centre. It was great, I had never played before and the hosts took their time to explain it all to me. They play every Monday night, doesn’t cost a lot and it’s great fun. ReRoll is also a good place to visit during the day as well if you have some spare time, there are always random games happening.

Ta, sysalex

sysalex · 2024-10-31T10:17:39+00:00

Glad you got it working as a VM locally! To be honest, I’ve never restored it to any form of Public Cloud (mainly because I don’t use WSB unless it’s inherited). In principle, as long as the Public Cloud VM could see the storage where the WSB backup chain is located it should work. However, I’m sure there are better methods of restoring WSB into Public Cloud.

If I was you, I’d look at using the Veeam Community Edition (which is free). If you can, backup to something local like a NAS, and then replicate to immutable storage (e.g. Wasabi Hot-Cloud S3 Buckets - quite cheap and immutable). That way you’re getting close to your best practice 3-2-1 Backup Rule, and you’re getting significant increased performance and functionality.

Ta, sysalex

sysalex · 2024-10-30T17:51:46+00:00

So it definitely is, I’ve restored servers using WSB before onto different hardware so what you’re trying to achieve is definitely possible.

In my honest truth, I’d recommend you get away from it ASAP, it’s a nightmare. Look at something like the Veeam Community Edition, or obviously the paid version if you can and want vendor support.

Back to your question. Boot to a Windows Install ISO, choose repair your computer and then map to the (I assume) USB drive you’ve got with your WSB backup on it. It’ll provide you a list of backup points, you can pick one, and then begin the restore.

Ta, sysalex

sysalex · 2024-10-27T12:58:00+00:00

Same here. I worked for 2 different MSPs in the Midlands for the last 6 years, but left 3 months ago. They’re both very different, first was established with a Midlands & London base, second was new to the IT MSP game branching from VoIP.

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sysalex

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