Posts on LittleBeansByt.es

Awarded MVP for another year

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 07:49:00 +1200

It’s July, which means the annual Microsoft MVP renewal notifications have landed. This marks my 8th renewal, putting me in the program for 9 years now across the Hyper-V and Azure Hybrid tracks.

Looking back, it’s wild how much the landscape has shifted. When I first got awarded, I was spending my time deep in the weeds of a brand-new technology called Storage Spaces Direct, back when “hybrid cloud” wasn’t even standard terminology. Fast forward to today, and the daily reality has completely evolved into things like Azure Local and Azure Arc.

But even as the names and scale change, the part I still enjoy the most remains exactly the same: getting under the hood of the tech to figure out how it actually works, and trading notes with the crew over in the Azure Local Slack community. That’s where the real-world troubleshooting, architecture debates, and shared headaches happen every single day.

A massive thank you to the Microsoft product groups for keeping the lines of communication wide open, and to everyone who keeps the daily technical chats sharp.

Here’s to kicking off year 10.

Force SOBR Offload

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 09:28:00 +1200

Did you know that if you press the “CTRL” key while right clicking on a Scale-out Backup Repository, you get additional menu options to proactively run a Tiering Job or kick off an extent rebalance?

Hello World

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:26:00 +1200

Well hello from LittleBeansByt.es!

Another Blog? Yes, I’ve found my ability to quickly release posts day-to-day on https://bcthomas.com lacking, as I end up spending too much time debating over the level of technical detail and clarity and layout and I never get anything finished and published as soon as I’d like

So my attempt here? A microblog, inspired a bit by Simon Wilson’s blog. Where I’ll aim to just drop smaller posts and thoughts, much like used to happen through Twitter back in the day.

Simon Willison’s Weblog

AI Mania Is Eviscerating Global Decision-Making (via) Here’s an entertaining perspective from Nik Suresh on the AI mania that is overwhelming the large companies that he consults with. It’s crammed with spicy anecdotes from anonymous sources.

TUIs are back—Claude, nmtui, etc. Could terminal U

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 08:43:54 +0000

TUIs are back—Claude, nmtui, etc. Could terminal UIs be the next big thing for #VBR?

Imagine opening your console, running a command, and keyboard-navigating your backup dashboard to inspect runs or repo storage.

Reality? Or a bad April Fools joke? #Veeam100 #Keeah #Veeam

Monday morning at the Microsoft MVP Summit and the

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:01:12 +0000

Monday morning at the Microsoft MVP Summit and the shuttle lines are already massive. It is just the pre-day! I am going to need a lot more coffee to get through this week. ☕ #MVPBuzz Microsoft #MVPSummit

Manual Veeam audits for VDC Vault migrations are a

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 04:30:52 +0000

Manual #Veeam audits for VDC Vault migrations are a total slog. I got tired of clicking through 100s of jobs to check encryption and retention, so I built a local analyzer tool to do it for me. Drop in a HealthCheck JSON and see your blockers. buff.ly/YibmAsg #VeeamCommunity #VDCVault

Ben Thomas' Blog

Introducing the VDC Vault Readiness Analyzer

A new pre-flight check tool to validate Veeam environments for VDC Vault migration readiness.

Microsoft Defender scanning a 4TB .vbk file is a g

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 23:40:59 +0000

Microsoft Defender scanning a 4TB .vbk file is a great way to kill your backup performance. I got tired of manually adding the 50+ exclusions from KB1999 every time I built a server. So I scripted it. Smartly. buff.ly/LIl0mfN #VeeamCommunity #Veeam #MVPBuzz #PowerShell

Ben Thomas' Blog

Automating Veeam Defender Exclusions

A role-aware PowerShell script that automates Microsoft Defender exclusions for Veeam Backup & Replication infrastructure using KB1999 recommendations.

Veeam Data Cloud finally has dark mode. My eyes ca

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 21:42:59 +0000

Veeam Data Cloud finally has dark mode. My eyes can finally stop burning during late-night config sessions. It is tucked under the appearance menu in the top right. 🌙

#VeeamCommunity #Sysadmin #DarkMode

It’s the little things that win me over. In Veeam

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 18:30:15 +0000

It’s the little things that win me over. In #Veeam v13, the #VBR console finally handles its own updates. No more digging for ISOs or manual installs after patching the server. Just connect, click update, and you’re back in. Huge time saver for the lab. #VeeamCommunity #MVPBuzz

Just knocked out a full VBR appliance patch before

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 20:51:20 +0000

Just knocked out a full #VBR appliance patch before my coffee even got cold. ☕️

Under 10 minutes to hit v13.0.1.1071. No RDP, no mounting ISOs, and zero Windows Update drama. It’s hard to justify sticking with the Windows install for the lab after seeing this.

#VeeamCommunity #MVPBuzz #VSA #Veeam

Love the VDC Vault UI, but sometimes you just need

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 20:49:43 +0000

Love the VDC Vault UI, but sometimes you just need raw data for Excel?

I built a Chrome Extension to export tenant stats & storage usage directly to CSV. Handy for billing/chargeback workflows.

Details on how it works here: buff.ly/Vv5qldX

#VeeamCommunity #MVPBuzz #Veeam #VeeamDataCloud

Ben Thomas' Blog

Exporting Veeam Data Cloud Vault Data to CSV

How to export VDC Vault tenant usage, subscription limits, and storage statistics using a custom Chrome Extension.

My mate Andre is attempting the impossible: a Veea

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 03:40:18 +0000

My mate Andre is attempting the impossible: a Veeam blog Advent Calendar. 🎄 He’s publishing a new technical post every day until Christmas, covering automation, security and hidden features. Check out the first few posts and follow along here: buff.ly/gOzhHWS #Veeam100 #VeeamCommunity

Veeam Blog Advent Calendar 2025: Unwrapping 24 Days of Backup Magic | Homelabpro Blog | Andre Atkinson

Doing something a little crazy this silly season, a Veeam Advent Calendar, blog style! Every day for the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a new Veeam-inspired post, diving into topics like security, AI, automation, and hidden features, all leading up to Christmas Eve. Whether you’re a seasoned Veeam user or just starting out, I hope there’s something valuable for everyone. I’m just going to have fun with it, so come join the journey, maybe learn something new or just watch the insanity unravel! https://lnkd.in/g58MEb6x And because I’m already a day late, here is day 2. 😄 https://lnkd.in/gEHBDxpS

Quickly building a VM back in my homelab in NZ for

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 08:34:49 +0000

Quickly building a VM back in my homelab in NZ for a demo as Im on a train from Florence to Pisa 😂😂😂

Getting ready to test the new mass Instant Recover

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 08:27:27 +0000

Getting ready to test the new mass Instant Recovery to #Azure in #Veeam V13? Here’s a quick tip. The default settings can cause restores to fail at scale by hitting Azure API throttling limits. 1/2

Kicking things off at the VeeamOn Tour in Perth! T

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 04:37:22 +0000

Kicking things off at the #VeeamOn Tour in Perth! The agenda looks solid, and honestly, I’m also here for the swag. Looking forward to catching up with everyone. Say hi if you’re around!

#VeeamCommunity #Veeam #Perth

The room is filling up and we're ready to go! Grea

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 03:11:07 +0000

The room is filling up and we’re ready to go! Great to be at #VeeamOnTour Melbourne this morning. Looking forward to a packed day of backup and recovery talk. If you see me, come and say hi! What’s the one feature or update you’re hoping to hear about from Veeam this year?

Early flight this morning. On my way to Melbourne

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 18:29:33 +0000

Early flight this morning. On my way to Melbourne for the VeeamON Tour! Looking forward to catching up with the ANZ tech community. Who am I going to see there? #VeeamCommunity #VeeamOn

Made a classic mistake, deleted a LHR VM before I

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 02:41:01 +0000

Made a classic mistake, deleted a LHR VM before I removed it from Veeam. Left me with an entry that wouldn’t clean up from VBR. The fix from Rhys Hammond was brilliant in its simplicity: just deploy a temp Linux VM with the same IP address. buff.ly/nCZrbOU #VeeamCommunity #Veeam100 #VeeamVanguard

rhyshammond.com

Infra item delete failed Error: A connection attempted failed | rhyshammond.com

I recently deployed a Veeam Hardened Repository (VHR) ISO which involved removing the old Ubuntu based VHR server. Unfortunately I was a little too eager and deleted the VM before I had removed it from Veeam Backup and Replication (VBR). When I attempted to remove the old VHR the following error was displayed.

A new patch 8.0.0.376 for Veeam Backup for Azure a

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:30:21 +0000

A new patch (8.0.0.376) for #Veeam Backup for #Azure addresses critical bugs, including data corruption risks and failed infrastructure rescans, while enhancing API handling to reduce Azure costs. More details: buff.ly/HzzqemR #VeeamVanguard #Veeam100 #VeeamCommunity #MVPBuzz

🔗 https://buff.ly/HzzqemR

Happy to share I've been renewed as a Microsoft MV

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 18:28:46 +0000

Happy to share I’ve been renewed as a Microsoft MVP for Hyper-V & Azure Hybrid & Migration. My drive is always solving problems & sharing insights. This is a cool recognition of that work, and I appreciate it! #MVPBuzz #MicrosoftMVP

Okay, okay, I'm here! 😄 Part 2 of my homelab upgra

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 08:16:08 +0000

Okay, okay, I’m here! 😄 Part 2 of my homelab upgrade is finally live. Turns out writing about hardware takes longer than racking it… who knew? Check out my journey (and the server shenanigans) here: bcthomas.com/2025/03/upgr… #homelab #VeeamVanguard #MVPBuzz #sysadmin

Ben Thomas' Blog

Upgrading My Homelab: Choosing and Building the Right Hardware

Learn from my experience upgrading my homelab hardware! This post details the research, comparisons, and build process, including a surprising server acquisition and insights for your own DIY projects.

Is your homelab ready for the future? Mine wasn’t,

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 09:03:44 +0000

Is your homelab ready for the future? Mine wasn’t, so I’m upgrading!

In Part 1 of my blog series: 🔹 Why a homelab is invaluable 🔹 My current setup & challenges 🔹 Goals for the upgrade

Read here: bcthomas.com/2025/01/upgr… #Homelab #ITPro #TechBlog #MVPBuzz #VeeamVanguard

Ben Thomas' Blog

Upgrading My Homelab: Planning for the Future

Explore the evolution of my homelab! In Part 1 of this series, I share my current setup, challenges, and the goals driving my upgrade journey.