Measuring how much time vagrant up is using to complete orchestration

A little bit of effort to search the net and encountering the solution, powershell will is a simple way to measure time spent executing a command. In Linux environment, time command can be used, but in this post, it is limited to Windows environment.

Based on the conventional wisdom from the documentation of Measure-Command of powershell. The command would be as follows:

Measure-Command {vagrant up}

However, by running the above powershell command, the output to the screen will be not available.

Hence, more searching in the internet (Source: time – Timing a command’s execution in PowerShell – Stack Overflow) leads to the complete command below:

Measure-Command {vagrant up|Out-Default}
Console output is shown when the command running is being piped into Out-Default

Based on the previous post of the vagrant orchestration of GitLab, the orchestration takes about 50 minutes in my computer with timedotcom broadband connection.

Total time spent for the command to end, 50 minutes plus.

Conclusion, measure-command is easy way but lack of detail such as time spent on CPU, IDLE time and network operations time. It will not be suitable for use if more details are needed.

How to use Hashicorp Vagrant to quickstart GitLab docker compose sample

The code of the project is available at chowkarmeng/vagrant_gitlab (github.com), the docker compose is based on the sample provided in GitLab Docker images | GitLab

The improvement done was to change the folder sync for virtual box into docker volumes.

First, git clone the repository https://github.com/chowkarmeng/vagrant_gitlab.git

Fire up the quickstart by running “vagrant up” in the localdev

The process will take hours depending on the speed of your computer and speed of your internet connection.

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Bandai HG 1/60 ARX-7 Arbalest version I.V.

Bandai HG 1/60 ARX-7 Arbalest version Invisible Victory package

The plastic model kit is the rendition of ARX-7 Arbalest in the Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory. Despite a 1/60 scale, it is just a small model after build. The impressive aspect of this kit is that it has good articulations and high detail, as what is expected from a modern model kit produced by Bandai.

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Unboxing Metal Build ARX-8 Laevatein Version I.V.

It has been ages waiting for this product to be released by Bandai. Icing on the cake, Bandai just release this figure in its highly detailed and high-quality line collectible the Metal Build. Laevatein for fans of Full Metal Panic series knows it is a major upgrade of ARX-7 Arbalest after Sousuke defeated by Leonard.

Front package Bandai Metal Build ARX-8 Laevatein Version I.V.

It has some heft to the box and package, not overly complicated box art.

Back package Bandai Metal Build ARX-8 Laevatein Version I.V.

Nothing too fancy, from the back of the package, just overview of the Laevatein with accessories and how the base can be used as a weapon storage and display stand.

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Making your windows RDP accessible from your home network

It is simple to make your computer in your home LAN accessible from internet.

The pre-requisite would be understanding how Network Address Translation works. To make the dynamic IP of ISP provide to your home internet access, feel free to research into finding Dynamic DNS providers. This will make it easier than using websites like whatismyip.com . And you just need to fire up the RDP client, and use the Dynamic DNS FQDN which will be always pointing to your static IP.

Depending on the network equipment used in your home or provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), you may need to look for NAT or in my case IPv4 port mapping.

The screenshot above, shows how to create a NAT mapping or a IPv4 port mapping for a computer with LAN IP, 192.168.100.12, take note that the port of RDP is 3389 and the protocol used is TCP. Hence, the internal port must be numbered 3389.

External port set to 3389 are for the sake of simplicity.

If there are more host in your LAN need to be accessible from the internet remotely using RDP, there is no need to change the default port of RDP of your host.

Instead, use the known port that is not blocked by your ISP. Example assuming that higher port numbers are not blocked by your ISP, you could use 13389, or 23389, or 33389 or 43389, or 53389 or 63389, as long as it is not more than 65535 or lesser than 1024. Those port number can be used as the External port number, while maintaining the internal port number to 3389.

Setting up custom domain in Zoho mail for free

From the previous post, this is definitely a follow up to enable my vanity email.

I was recommended by a friend to try our Zoho mail as it is free and offer use of customed domains.

Here are the results and how to get started.

First sign up a free plan with Zoho at Zoho Mail Pricing and Editions – Free for 5 Users

Do not panic, scroll down to view the free plan sign up.

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DNS routing traffic for subdomains using AWS Route 53

Long explanation in AWS Routing traffic for subdomains – Amazon Route 53

GROUND RULE or RULE OF THUMB of DNS, NEVER change the NS record of your domain in your Domain registrar before completing setup of your DNS server. The result may cause 72 hours of outtage.

Using my domain karmeng.my as an example, the objective is to have chow.karmeng.my to be a valid domain for email hosting which offers customed domain.

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