Tobias Knöppler’s Post

Stop overpaying for SQL Server Enterprise in virtualized environments—see exactly when physical core licensing beats VM licensing (and vice‑versa) in seconds. - Compare core vs VM licensing side‑by‑side to reveal the most cost‑effective option per host and workload. - Enter hosts, VMs, and custom pricing to get instant license requirements and total cost breakdowns. - Ideal for high‑density virtualization (often favors core licensing) and small deployments (often favor VM licensing). - Supports Perpetual, Subscription, and Pay‑as‑you‑go comparisons for accurate budgeting. - Calculate SQL Server Enterprise Licensing Cost: https://lnkd.in/dbeePw8w #SQLServer #Licensing #Virtualization #DBA #FinOps #ITBudget

🚀 MCP Servers: Just APIs in Disguise? Here’s my take: MCP servers aren’t some mysterious new concept. At the end of the day, they’re just APIs for tools. Which means? 🔹 You wire them up. 🔹 You send/receive data. 🔹 And you use them in the same repeatable way, over and over again. Nothing magical, but also nothing to dismiss. The value isn’t in what they are, but in how we standardise and reuse them. The more we treat MCP servers as reusable APIs, the more predictable and scalable our workflows become. Do you see MCP servers as just “another API” … or something fundamentally different? #DataEngineering #APIs #MCP #Automation

AWS Transfer Family now supports changing identity provider type on a server - AWS Transfer Family now enables you to change your server’s identity provider (IdP) type without service interruption. This enhancement gives you more control and flexibility over authentication management in your file transfer workflows, enabling you to adapt quickly to changing… https://lnkd.in/eTkQ9acy

The MCP Kool‑Aid is strong these days 😅 Most MCP servers are not only redundant—they might actually underperform existing options if your agent already has a built-in shell tool and a solid CLI or API is available for the task. Agents will load all MCP tool definitions at session start, whether they are used, burning context tokens for nothing. Even on a model with a theoretical 1M token window, your effective usable budget might be closer to 100k: throwing 10ks away on “just in case” tool definitions is a big deal. Agents can also pipe CLIs through jq, yq, grep, or custom filters, keeping the token footprint lean. MCP servers can however be marginally faster, as they sidestep e.g. Claude Code's system prompt to check for malicious commands. Remote MCP servers used to be easier to distribute/update compared to subagents, though Claude plugins have changed that. But ultimately, the real differentiator is tool design and token efficiency. Ironically, the least-discussed MCP feature might be the one that matters most: MCP Prompts. These let an MCP server act as a prompt templating engine, steering agents across multi-tool, multi-step workflows, making these real agents reasoning improvers rather than just a change of plumbing.

"Good news all, public beta of our XCP-ng integration is now available." Anton Gostev (Veeam Software). 🚀 For this beta, usage reporting must be enabled — not for telemetry, but so Veeam can gather essential adoption data (unique installation ID + number of protected VMs only). These numbers will help make the case for a full release. If you’re currently using Veeam Software with VMware and are evaluating Vates Virtualization Management Stack (XCP-ng / Xen Orchestra)-ng / XenServer as an alternative (or already running it in production), this is your chance to influence the roadmap. The beta requires Xen Orchestra for management (not XenCenter/XCP-ng Center), but setup is quick even with the free community edition. Additional details on the open beta can be found here: https://lnkd.in/eUDJ4agd https://lnkd.in/e9N2etGr https://lnkd.in/etu7qwtp #Veeam #XCPNG #Vates #Citrix #EUC #VMware #Backups #Hypervisor #Xenserver #VeeamXCPNGOpenBeta

What happens when a new server joins a running system? Does all the data move around again? Or does only a small part shift to balance things out? Today I learned about a process that answers this perfectly -- Consistent Hashing. Here’s the idea in simple steps: 1)Servers are arranged on a circular hash ring. 2)Each piece of data finds a position on that ring. 3)Data is stored in the next server moving clockwise. 4)When a server joins or leaves, only a few data items change place. It’s simple but clever — even a small change, like adding one server, only shifts a tiny part of the data, yet the whole system stays balanced. #SystemDesign #BackendLearning #ConsistentHashing #LearningInPublic #BackendJourney

🚨 New Blog Post — #Veeam v13: A Linux-First leap toward secure, simplified Backup Infrastructure 🚨 Veeam Software has just released #Backup & Replication v13, and it’s not just another version bump, it’s a strategic reset. At the heart of this release is the Veeam Software Appliance (VSA): -Pre-hardened, Rocky Linux-based (Built-in PostgreSQL 17.6 -SSH disabled by default -BLAKE3 hashing for faster, lighter backups -A brand-new Web UI (Aurora) with SAML SSO and RBAC -Immutable backup repository included -Agentless support for Nutanix AHV, Proxmox VE, and vSphere 9.0 This is a Linux-first, security-first, and appliance-first approach to modern #DataProtection and it’s fully production-ready for greenfield deployments. In our latest blog post, we break down: -The architecture of the VSA -Deployment options (OVA, ISO) -Performance and security enhancements -Limitations and roadmap 🔗 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dzVx97_M 💬 Curious how this fits into your backup strategy? Let’s discuss in the comments. Christopher Glémot Philippe DUPUIS #Veeam #VeeamSoftwareAppliance #CyberResilience #Linux Anton Gostev Rick Vanover Nikola Pejková Madalina Cristil Safiya Mohamed

Building MCP Servers the right way from Docker, Inc. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) standardizes AI-to-tool connections, simplifying integration, reducing overhead, and enhancing scalability — though developers still struggle with secure, large-scale MCP server deployment. Learn the right way to do it. https://lnkd.in/gPx6jTzh

🚀 InfrastructurePassion v1.5.0 is Live! Never lose track of server upgrades again! Our latest release introduces comprehensive Upgrade Management that automatically logs every package update and creates support tickets when things go wrong. ✅ Complete upgrade history - Track every package change across all servers ✅ Automatic issue detection - Failed upgrades instantly create support tickets ✅ Advanced filtering - Find upgrades by server, package, status, or date ✅ Better reliability - Fixed heartbeat tracking for accurate server monitoring Focus on building, we'll handle the infrastructure complexity. Try it now: https://lnkd.in/eUZkdC87 #DevOps #ServerManagement #Laravel #SysAdmin #CloudInfrastructure

𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻: Snowflake-𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗖𝗣 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀! Snowflake-managed MCP servers are the missing link between retrieval over your data and agents that live anywhere. Create an MCP server with Search and Analyst tools, and then connect it to the host of your choice! 🤯 The most overlooked part? The tool description. MCP isn’t magic, and agents still rely on high quality tool descriptions to determine their trajectory. Two tips to help you write tool descriptions ready for your agent! 🛠️ Tool descriptions should be grounded in the API functions and parameters. This allows agents to create executable plans to reach their goals. 🛠️ Don’t push too wide of a surface area in a single tool. Bundling multiple capabilities in a single tool makes it difficult to clearly specify the tool in its description, and lead to agent trajectories that seem logical but cannot be executed. Go try it! Tips courtesy of Ishita Gupta