Home Lab: Redo

Centos, Computer, Containers, Docker, Hardware, Just 4 Fun, Linux, macOS, Networking, OEL, RedHat, Solaris, Storage, Synology, Virtual, VMWare, Windows 2 Minutes

In the beginning there was a lab…

This my makeshift lab before I got my 42u rack in. In this version I have used a steel rack I believe I got at Lowes. It worked well for years but wanted something more accessible and take up less room. It all came to a head when I started changing over my network to Ubiquiti UniFi from Linksys Velop. I wanted something more reliable the Velop had been nothing short of a nightmare. I was planning on retiring my Dell T110’s but have since put that off. I did retire my Sun v210 since it is pretty worthless these days. I did keep my T1000 not sure why I don’t use it often but its nice to have a Sparc box from time to time and it does run Solaris 11.

Prior Lab components

  • UniFi Dream Machine Pro
  • Trendnet 2 x 16 Port switch’s
  • Apple AirPort (management only)
  • 3 x Dell T110’s: Mix of older 4 Core Xeon CPUs, 16G memory, 2 Disks
  • Sun T1000: Solaris 11(LDoms, Containers/Zones)
  • Sun v210
  • Mac Mini
  • Trendnet KVM 8 Port
  • Synology 418+ – 4 x 8TB
  • Raid 5 – 4 x 4TB (Media USB to Mac Mini)
  • 3TB External (Clones Media)
Old Lab

I broke down and purchased a 42U rack to get organized. Worked out very well and I still have room to pull out the R440, sweet!

Current Lab components

  • Arris Cable Modem: 1GBs Down/40MBs up
  • UniFi Dream Machine Pro
  • UniFi 24 Port Switch
  • UniFi RPS
  • Trendnet 16 Port switch
  • Dell R440: 10 core Intel Silver, 128G Memory, 2 x 1G & 2 x 3G Disks (vSphere 7.x, RedHat 8, KVM)
  • 3 x Dell T110’s: Mix of older 4 Core Xeon CPUs, 16G memory, 2 Disks (Test boxes) transitioning to r440 may not keep these very long. Currently running TruNAS on one of them.
  • Sun T1000: Solaris 11 (LDoms, Containers/Zones)
  • Qotom Intel i5: Centos 8 (PCS HA, Kickstart/PXE Server)
  • Qotom Intel Celeron: Had pfsense on this but have since been using it as a the second PCS HA node, just because I can 🙂
  • Mac Mini: Media (iTunes)
  • Trendnet KVM 8 Port
  • Synology 1621+ 4 x 8TB, 2 x m.2 SSD Cache, 20G Memory (DNS, LDAP, iSCSI)
  • Synology 418+ – 4 x 4TB (DNS, LDAP, NFS, SMB, Time Machine) I still use this even-though I have a new ds1621+. I use it mainly for generic home stuff and my kickstart share.
  • Raid 5 – 4 x 4TB (Media USB to Mac Mini)
  • 3TB External (Clones Media)

I used a 42U rack since I am a bit of a lab hoarder. I bought a UniFi UPS because I wanted the APC and CyberPower to be dedicated to CPU only. I also have two 12-outlet scripts mounted on the back of the rack one tied to each UPS. I also mounted the KVM Monitor and also my WirePath security camera monitor.

It can get messy at times since it seems to be in transition all the time but I try and keep it tidy as much as possible.

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