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No, I haven't, although I've been considering it for a while. Thanks for your interest. There's no machines nor a central server/repository, just a single mach

No, I haven't, although I've been considering it for a while. Thanks for your interest. There's no machines nor a central server/repository, just a single machine with a local config. In a nutshell, I work in a very lean firm as a designer lead but since I'm fairly proficient with tech and there's no IT department, I'm in a position to make some decisions. Situation occurred when it was necessary to launch an always-on service which is strictly Windows, with RDP access from a local network. Outside specialist was brought in to set it up. However, since the service is very low on resources I suggested to launch it inside a VM and use the linux host for other needs, such as back-ups, file-sharing, etc. I had been interested in NixOS (I just try to stay aware of promising tech innovations) for a while and it looked like a good platform for the problem at hand. The interesting bit is that I had a bit of an edge case with libvirt, since I wanted to cut Windows guest from the outside world leaving only RDP and SMB access. Default forwarding options in libvirt couldn't provide that. Someone helpful on IRC mentioned there's some network bridge configuration that's not fully described (or at least clear enough) in the docs, so I had to edit VM's XML Network part and write a bunch of NixOS firewall rules (and rewrite them more than a few times). This sounds easy but it was a bit out of my skill-set and I had to sweat over it for a while, but satisfaction was absolutely worth it. All of this felt like an achievement for me personally, but went invisible for the management, which is both a good and a bad thing. TLDR: A lot of complications for no particular reason except self-education and self-amusement with no monetary reward whatsoever.

hardwaresofton 8y ago
Thanks for sharing so much of your experience! > The interesting bit is that I had a bit of an edge case with libvirt, since I wanted to cut Windows guest from the outside world leaving only RDP and SMB access. Default forwarding options in libvirt couldn't provide that. Someone helpful on IRC mentioned there's some network bridge configuration that's not fully described (or at least clear enough) in the docs, so I had to edit VM's XML Network part and write a bunch of NixOS firewall rules (and rewrite them more than a few times). This sounds easy but it was a bit out of my skill-set and I had to sweat over it for a while, but satisfaction was absolutely worth it. Yeah that doesn't sound easy -- "someone helpful on IRC" and "network bridge configuration that's not fully described" convey the difficulty quite accurately for me. Sysadmin life is death by a thousand cuts with stuff like that, which is why everyone becomes gray beards so quickly. I bet you someone out there has already run into this and gave up when they didn't find that helpful person on IRC or somewhere else how to solve this was written down. > All of this felt like an achievement for me personally, but went invisible for the management, which is both a good and a bad thing. Uhhhhhh yuuuuup? I'm don't have an MBA but I'm fairly sure you should get them to compensate you more or make you CTO or at least Director of Technology or some better title if resources are constrained. Of course, that might come with being the go-to for more of these sorts of issues but if you don't mind and want a chance to build tech with real stakes that then it seems fair. > TLDR: A lot of complications for no particular reason except self-education and self-amusement with no monetary reward whatsoever. It might be a little late now, but when things like this come up, you need to go out and get that monetary/other reward! I don't know what the outside specialist was going to charge, but you essentially did their job... If there's no IT department, then it should be pretty easy to just make one and be the head of it :)
- ZoomZoomZoom 8y ago
  Thank you for your encouragement. Two things to consider: 1. It's hard to have an IT department when it's about 10 people in a whole firm. 2. I'm afraid it wouldn't be as much fun if all I did the whole time was something like this. This is a plot that hinders my career my whole life: too interested in too many things to fully commit to one of them. And the field for which I feel enough passion (music/studio work) has no money to compete with other jobs I can do. I really wish there was some position to exercise more of my wide but not-excitingly-deep skill set. In regards to writing it down: I have a residual sense of guilt for not expanding the libvirt wiki right after I was finished, but, honestly, I was low on energy and had a bunch of my regular work built up. And, as usual with memory, I'm already not clear enough on the details to write a coherent guide.
  - hardwaresofton 8y ago
    If you don't mind I'll push a little more > 1. It's hard to have an IT department when it's about 10 people in a whole firm. I think that's both a blessing and a curse. If it was a 10000 person firm it might be a really big step, but right now it's a small step! Nothing wrong with getting in a role early and growing with it (and the company). > 2. I'm afraid it wouldn't be as much fun if all I did the whole time was something like this. That's true, and there are very real downsides like burnout and there's on problem with staying where you are if you're happy and getting what you want out of your job, but if what you're doing now isn't your dream job, and you don't absolutely hate the upper tier of the company, why not do a job you like slightly less for much increased future career prospects? > This is a plot that hinders my career my whole life: too interested in too many things to fully commit to one of them. And the field for which I feel enough passion (music/studio work) has no money to compete with other jobs I can do. I really wish there was some position to exercise more of my wide but not-excitingly-deep skill set. Yeah, that's difficult -- Imagine how much time you'd have to be a renaissance man/woman with the money/freedom a good C-level gig might afford? Of course responsibility would also increase, but it might be possible to keep it to the same usual 9-5 schedule, and that might not be too different from what you're doing now, except with a bit more stress at work, and maybe in a year or two you can take a whole year off and just do music/studio things? or fund a "startup" that's really just you having fun in the music/studio space and maybe finding a way to make it your living (if that's what you want). Definitely don't decide your future off of a random HN comment... But also maybe it's worth some thought. > In regards to writing it down: I have a residual sense of guilt for not expanding the libvirt wiki right after I was finished, but, honestly, I was low on energy and had a bunch of my regular work built up. And, as usual with memory, I'm already not clear enough on the details to write a coherent guide. Well if you've got a list of TODOs, why not write it down? even if you share something as vague as you wrote here I'm sure it'd give someone out there enough of a clue to move forward.

hardwaresofton 8y ago

Thanks for sharing so much of your experience! > The interesting bit is that I had a bit of an edge case with libvirt, since I wanted to cut Windows guest from the outside world leaving only RDP and SMB access. Default forwarding options in libvirt couldn't provide that. Someone helpful on IRC mentioned there's some network bridge configuration that's not fully described (or at least clear enough) in the docs, so I had to edit VM's XML Network part and write a bunch of NixOS firewall rules (and rewrite them more than a few times). This sounds easy but it was a bit out of my skill-set and I had to sweat over it for a while, but satisfaction was absolutely worth it. Yeah that doesn't sound easy -- "someone helpful on IRC" and "network bridge configuration that's not fully described" convey the difficulty quite accurately for me. Sysadmin life is death by a thousand cuts with stuff like that, which is why everyone becomes gray beards so quickly. I bet you someone out there has already run into this and gave up when they didn't find that helpful person on IRC or somewhere else how to solve this was written down. > All of this felt like an achievement for me personally, but went invisible for the management, which is both a good and a bad thing. Uhhhhhh yuuuuup? I'm don't have an MBA but I'm fairly sure you should get them to compensate you more or make you CTO or at least Director of Technology or some better title if resources are constrained. Of course, that might come with being the go-to for more of these sorts of issues but if you don't mind and want a chance to build tech with real stakes that then it seems fair. > TLDR: A lot of complications for no particular reason except self-education and self-amusement with no monetary reward whatsoever. It might be a little late now, but when things like this come up, you need to go out and get that monetary/other reward! I don't know what the outside specialist was going to charge, but you essentially did their job... If there's no IT department, then it should be pretty easy to just make one and be the head of it :)

ZoomZoomZoom 8y ago
Thank you for your encouragement. Two things to consider: 1. It's hard to have an IT department when it's about 10 people in a whole firm. 2. I'm afraid it wouldn't be as much fun if all I did the whole time was something like this. This is a plot that hinders my career my whole life: too interested in too many things to fully commit to one of them. And the field for which I feel enough passion (music/studio work) has no money to compete with other jobs I can do. I really wish there was some position to exercise more of my wide but not-excitingly-deep skill set. In regards to writing it down: I have a residual sense of guilt for not expanding the libvirt wiki right after I was finished, but, honestly, I was low on energy and had a bunch of my regular work built up. And, as usual with memory, I'm already not clear enough on the details to write a coherent guide.
- hardwaresofton 8y ago
  If you don't mind I'll push a little more > 1. It's hard to have an IT department when it's about 10 people in a whole firm. I think that's both a blessing and a curse. If it was a 10000 person firm it might be a really big step, but right now it's a small step! Nothing wrong with getting in a role early and growing with it (and the company). > 2. I'm afraid it wouldn't be as much fun if all I did the whole time was something like this. That's true, and there are very real downsides like burnout and there's on problem with staying where you are if you're happy and getting what you want out of your job, but if what you're doing now isn't your dream job, and you don't absolutely hate the upper tier of the company, why not do a job you like slightly less for much increased future career prospects? > This is a plot that hinders my career my whole life: too interested in too many things to fully commit to one of them. And the field for which I feel enough passion (music/studio work) has no money to compete with other jobs I can do. I really wish there was some position to exercise more of my wide but not-excitingly-deep skill set. Yeah, that's difficult -- Imagine how much time you'd have to be a renaissance man/woman with the money/freedom a good C-level gig might afford? Of course responsibility would also increase, but it might be possible to keep it to the same usual 9-5 schedule, and that might not be too different from what you're doing now, except with a bit more stress at work, and maybe in a year or two you can take a whole year off and just do music/studio things? or fund a "startup" that's really just you having fun in the music/studio space and maybe finding a way to make it your living (if that's what you want). Definitely don't decide your future off of a random HN comment... But also maybe it's worth some thought. > In regards to writing it down: I have a residual sense of guilt for not expanding the libvirt wiki right after I was finished, but, honestly, I was low on energy and had a bunch of my regular work built up. And, as usual with memory, I'm already not clear enough on the details to write a coherent guide. Well if you've got a list of TODOs, why not write it down? even if you share something as vague as you wrote here I'm sure it'd give someone out there enough of a clue to move forward.