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  • Bring File Sharing Home: 4 Reasons to Keep Collaboration On-Prem

    Bring File Sharing Home: 4 Reasons to Keep Collaboration On-Prem

    By Mike
    File sharing has become more remote, more complex—and more expensive. Between slow cloud syncs, broken folder structures, and escalating subscription fees, many teams are discovering that the promise of cloud-based collaboration doesn’t always hold up. That’s why more organizations are bringing file sharing back in-house. With on-prem infrastructure, you get fast, secure access to shared files...
  • Rethink Big Data: 4 Ways to Run Analytics On-Prem

    Rethink Big Data: 4 Ways to Run Analytics On-Prem

    By Mike
    Big Data is powering smarter decisions, faster operations, and better customer insights, but managing those workloads in the cloud isn’t always the smartest play. Between soaring storage costs, data transfer fees, and compliance risks, cloud-based analytics can introduce as many challenges as they solve. That’s why more teams are turning to on-prem infrastructure to get better performance, cos...
  • 4 Ways to Use On-Prem Servers for Zero Trust Security

    4 Ways to Use On-Prem Servers for Zero Trust Security

    By Mike
      Zero Trust is quickly becoming the standard for modern cybersecurity. As remote work expands and threats become more sophisticated, the old “trust but verify” approach is no longer enough. But you don’t need to move everything to the cloud or start from scratch. With the right on-prem infrastructure, you can take meaningful steps toward Zero Trust—on your own terms.   1. Internal Network Seg...
  • Keep Your AI Workloads In-house and On-Budget

    Keep Your AI Workloads In-house and On-Budget

    By Mike
    AI and machine learning are no longer niche projects. They’re foundational to how businesses drive automation, optimize operations, and deliver smarter customer experiences. But while the ambition to scale AI is clear, the path to doing it affordably and securely isn’t. Many organizations default to the cloud for AI infrastructure, only to encounter soaring costs, unpredictable usage fees, and...
  • Secure It. Stream It. Own It. The On-Prem Video Streaming Advantage

    Secure It. Stream It. Own It. The On-Prem Video Streaming Advantage

    By Mike
    Video has become a revenue engine and strategic differentiator for modern businesses. From premium content platforms and product demos to telehealth consultations and enterprise live events, organizations are turning to video not just to communicate, but to grow. But with greater opportunity comes greater risk. Public cloud platforms and third-party video services often fall short when it come...
  • Simplifying IoT Complexity: Centralized Management Servers Built for Scale

    Simplifying IoT Complexity: Centralized Management Servers Built for Scale

    By Mike
    The rise of IoT has reshaped industries, fueling automation, real-time decision-making, and operational efficiency across manufacturing, logistics, financial services, and beyond. But with scale comes complexity. As IoT device fleets grow into the hundreds or thousands, IT teams face mounting challenges around visibility, configuration management, network performance, and security enforcement....
  • Building Purpose-Built Development and Testing Servers to Accelerate Software Delivery

    Building Purpose-Built Development and Testing Servers to Accelerate Software Delivery

    By Mike
    Building a high-performance development and testing environment is more than just installing high-end components. It’s about crafting custom infrastructure that reflects the specific needs of your workflows, whether that’s streamlining CI/CD pipelines, supporting legacy frameworks, or embedding compliance into every commit. After configuring countless Development and Testing Servers for teams ...
  • Transforming Raw Data into Business Intelligence: Why You Need a Data Science Workbench Server

    Transforming Raw Data into Business Intelligence: Why You Need a Data Science Workbench Server

    By Mike
      At TechMikeNY, we've seen firsthand how the right hardware transforms a company's relationship with its data. After configuring thousands of Data Science Workbench servers for organizations ranging from financial institutions to healthcare providers, we've learned that the difference between generating reports and driving decisions often comes down to the dedicated infrastructure powering yo...
  • Beyond the Lag: How We Configure Gaming Servers That Create Communities

    Beyond the Lag: How We Configure Gaming Servers That Create Communities

    By Mike
      At TechMikeNY, we understand that gaming servers are about more than just hardware specs - they're about building experiences and communities. After helping thousands of gamers move from frustrating commercial hosting to dedicated servers they control for popular titles like Minecraft Java Edition, Palworld, Rust, Ark: Survival Evolved, Valheim, Terraria, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike 2, S...
  • From Cloud Control to Owner Control: How We Benchmark Application Hosting Servers

    From Cloud Control to Owner Control: How We Benchmark Application Hosting Servers

    By Mike
      At TechMikeNY, we've seen a growing trend among forward-thinking IT leaders: strategic repatriation of critical business applications from the cloud back to on-premises infrastructure. After helping thousands of businesses migrate their ERP systems, CRM platforms, and custom applications to dedicated hardware, we've learned that this shift isn't just about cost savings—though those are signi...
  • Tired of Cloud Storage Bills? How We Configure Surveillance Servers That Pay For Themselves

    Tired of Cloud Storage Bills? How We Configure Surveillance Servers That Pay For Themselves

    By Mike
        At TechMikeNY, we've seen the shock on customers' faces when they review their cloud storage bills for surveillance footage. Between per-camera licensing fees, bandwidth charges, and storage costs that grow every month, cloud-based security solutions can quickly spiral out of control. After helping thousands of businesses move their surveillance systems back on-premises, we've learned exac...
  • From Lab to Live: How We Configure Servers To Match Your Virtualization Goals

    From Lab to Live: How We Configure Servers To Match Your Virtualization Goals

    By Mike
      At TechMikeNY, every virtualization server we configure starts with understanding the endgame: Are you building a home lab for VMware certification? Scaling a DevOps environment? Running production workloads? This shapes how we prioritize four critical performance areas:   VM Density Performance: We test how many VMs can run simultaneously while maintaining responsiveness. Unlike basic cor...
  • How We Put Media Servers to the Test: The 4 Key Benchmarks

    How We Put Media Servers to the Test: The 4 Key Benchmarks

    By Mike
    At TechMikeNY, we've learned that creative work demands hardware that can keep up. After equipping countless post-production houses, design firms, and creative departments with media servers, we know that the difference between smooth workflows and frustrating bottlenecks often comes down to how the hardware performs under real-world conditions. That's why we put every media server through a r...
  • How We Put Network Attached Storage (NAS) Servers to the Test: The 3 Key Benchmarks

    How We Put Network Attached Storage (NAS) Servers to the Test: The 3 Key Benchmarks

    By Mike
    Look, storage is personal. Every customer we talk to has their own take: video production teams need fast streaming of 4K footage, backup administrators require ironclad data protection, and small businesses want simple file sharing that just works. We've shipped thousands of storage servers running everything from TrueNAS, Unraid, OpenMediaVault, and Windows Storage Server. And after decades ...
  • How We Put Database Servers to the Test: The 4 Key Benchmarks

    How We Put Database Servers to the Test: The 4 Key Benchmarks

    By Mike

    At TechMikeNY, we don't just sell refurbished servers - we obsess over finding the optimal configurations for even the most demanding enterprise workloads. Over the past 20 years, we've shipped thousands of database servers running everything from MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SAP, and HANA.

  • Another Use for a Raspberry Pi: Pimoroni Enviro + Air Quality Setup Guide

    Another Use for a Raspberry Pi: Pimoroni Enviro + Air Quality Setup Guide

    By Mike
      Here at TechMikeNY, we love Raspberry Pis. And as you know, we’re pretty big on watching out for the environment. So when we found the Pimoroni Enviro + Air Quality sensor kit for Raspberry Pi, we realized we had to try it out. The Enviro+’s sensors can monitor environmental conditions like temperature, humidity, and air quality - and they’re all on one teeny board! And as it turns out, there...
    flagData Visualization flagDIY Project flagDocker flagHomelab flagIOTStack flagNode-RED flagRaspberry Pi flagVirtualization
  • Setting Up a RAID 1 Virtual Disk in UEFI

    Setting Up a RAID 1 Virtual Disk in UEFI

    By Mike
    It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... another RAID tutorial from TechMikeNY? (Yes, yes it is.) This time, we'll walk you through how to set up a RAID 1 Virtual Disk in UEFI Mode.For the following process, it is best if the server is in UEFI boot mode. TechMikeNY configures servers in UEFI before shipping so you should be good to go, but if you need help setting it up on your own, you can see our i...
    flagDell 14th Generation flagDell 15th Generation flagHow To flagRAID flagRAID 1 flagRAID Controller flagTutorial flagUEFI flagVideo
  • How to Configure a BOSS Card: Setting Up RAID

    How to Configure a BOSS Card: Setting Up RAID

    By Mike
    If you don't have fault tolerance for your OS and your drive fails...no worky. As in, the magic smoke has leaked out. As in, your device won't boot. Enter: the BOSS card. Setting up a RAID 1 array on a BOSS card can provide data redundancy and fault tolerance for the OS. So here's how you do it.   Creating a RAID 1 Array in the F2 Menu 1. To begin setup, boot into the F2 Menu and head to...
    flagBackup flagBOSS flagDell 14th Generation flagHow To flagRAID flagTutorial
  • Upcycling Projects: Turning a Chassis Into a Planter

    Upcycling Projects: Turning a Chassis Into a Planter

    By Mike
    As you may know, TechMike’s office is practically a jungle at this point. It’s also filled to the brim with server chassis. Amid the greenery and the gear, TechMike realized that you could totally turn an R720xd into a planter… so that’s exactly what happened. We put together a quick tutorial for how you can upcycle your old equipment; whether it’s because of forced obsolescence or your rack ju...
    flagBehind-the-scenes flagCreative flagDell PowerEdge flagDIY flagGardening flagHome Lab flagHow To flagPlanter flagUpcycling
  • AMD or Intel Inside?

    AMD or Intel Inside?

    By Mike
    Dell PowerEdge servers come in models optimized for Intel or AMD processors. But how do you know if the PowerEdge model you’re looking at is an Intel or an AMD server? Turns out, it’s all in the title. Dell PowerEdge model names typically consist of a letter followed by either 3 or 4 digits. Here’s how to tell what’s what. Dell PowerEdge Naming Conventions   Three digit naming convention If yo...
    flagAcronym flagAMD flagComparison Chart flagDell 14th Generation flagDell 15th Generation flagIntel