Show off your rig..

[xnappo 1611]

I was going to post a pic of mine, but why bother when Newegg has better pics

 

Really good sale on this right now if you want swappable drives but not quite ready to do for a rack.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133188&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Cases+%28Computer+Cases+-+ATX+Form%29-_-N82E16811133188&gclid=CMzw66SB_9ACFQOBaQodetgG7w&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Guest asrequested]

That is definitely a case with some flare 

[politby 88]

I didn't have time to finish the post last night so here comes the ´´back end´´ part. I used to run a big server with lots of hard drives for both storage and apps but have now moved to a more efficient setup with one virtualized 1U server and all data on a NAS.

 

This is a combined storage room and data center hence all the boxes. I am fighting a losing battle with the rest of the family to keep it tidy 

 

 

The NAS is a Buffalo Terastation 4800 with 4x WD Purple 4TB and 4x WD RE 3TB in two Raid 5 arrays. To the left of it is a  small Mikrotik router which is permanently connected to my VPN server in the U.S. 

They sit on top of a Sophos UTM 220 firewall/router that has two incoming Internet connections, one direct and one via the VPN router. The UTM has a nifty feature called multipath routing that allows me to direct the Internet traffic of any device in the house either direct or via VPN at the flick of a switch in the web UI.

There is also a 4G dongle for failover.

 

 

 

The main switch is a D-link DGS-1510-28. The orange fiber cable goes to the attic where it connects to a Netgear PoE switch serving surveillance cameras and IP phones, the green one is a 10 Gbps link to the DL360.

On top of the switch are two Vera Z-wave controllers.

 

 

A 1U HP Proliant DL360 G6 above a 2U DL380 G6. The 380 is currently powered off awaiting a new owner. The 360 is running ESXi and the following virtual machines:

 

1. Win 2012 r2 - Emby Server, CrashPlan
2. Win 2012 r2 - domain controller, Milestone Xprotect surveillance 
3. Ubuntu 12 - OSCAM card server 
4. Win 10 - DVBlink Server receiving satellite signals from an Elgato 4x DVB-S2 network tuner 
5. Win 10 - 3cx VoIP PBX & Ubiquiti Unifi Controller 
6. SuSE Linux - VMware Management Appliance and UPS shutdown controller 

The card reader is connected to the OSCAM VM which gets the decryption keys off the card and decodes th subscription channels before DVBlink sends them to the Kodi clients. This is really the coolest part 

 

Finally the entire rack is protected by an AEG 2200 VA UPS. It can power everything for 50 minutes in case of a power loss.

 

We have a fiber connection to the house but I am getting 200/100 because anything higher is too expansive.

 

 

 

[PenkethBoy 2068]

Very nice setup

 

couple of things i have not heard of that i will have to google a bit - z-wave controllers? and that card reader thingy?

 

[politby 88]

Very nice setup

 

couple of things i have not heard of that i will have to google a bit - z-wave controllers? and that card reader thingy?

 

Z-wave is for home automation.

 

You being in the UK could use an identical card reader setup for e.g. Sky 

[politby 88]

What's a good 8 drive controller card under $200?

 

I was looking at these:

 

LSI and High Point

 

I'll be plugging my 8 NAS drives into it.

For anyone who is interested this is a great card.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/541-3731-Sun-Oracle-96GB-Flash-Accelerator-F20-SAS-Host-Bus-Adapter-FAST-SHIP-/152346670565?hash=item237891b5e5:g:9bUAAOSw44BYRzfp

 

Straight HBA - no flashing needed - and it comes with 96 GB of fast flash storage, great for storing small VMs or the Emby cache. Only 3 Gb/s but plenty fast for a media server. I have used 2 of them. Works great!

[Guest asrequested]

Thanks, but I'm preparing for future high bandwidth usage.

[politby 88]

Thanks, but I'm preparing for future high bandwidth usage.

 

So you are going to build now for the future and never upgrade again?   

[Guest asrequested]

So you are going to build now for the future and never upgrade again?

Lol.. You know I'll be constantly upgrading, but this is one area I don't want to change, often. As I know where I want to be by the end of next year, I can build for that.

[Luke 42077]

Sounds great !

[JeremyFr79 228]

Damnit I gotta get new pics up of the rack, but I wanna wait untill I have time to manage all the cabling first, Weekend project soon and then new pics from the new house/new Rack.

[Guest asrequested]

Nice! Yeah, I'm in the middle of mine, too. Not as impressive as yours, though.

[JeremyFr79 228]

Mine's actually shrunk quite a bit, I sold off my 2 QNAP's, moved onto a new box for pFsense that's actually purpose built for the role. done some other changes.  New house didn't have any Cat5 so had to pull around 25 drops throughout the house all coming back to 2 main punchdown panels by the rack (far better than the old house where everything literally terminated at the switch lol.

 

My problem is I make all my own cables rather than buying pre-made, so I've got a few (roughly 40) to make for the new Rack and stuff, just need to find a weekend where I have enough time to actually commit to it.  probably not until after the new year at this point.

[Guest asrequested]

Damn! I envy you, so much. Lol

[Guest asrequested]

I think this thread should be renamed "show off all of your tech" lol

[JeremyFr79 228]

Damn! I envy you, so much. Lol

I spent many years of my career working in Data Centers, needless to say say I take a certain amount of pride in my cabling, mind you I'm not as skilled as some guys out there but I try.

[JeremyFr79 228]

If I don't have a couple of 500 or 1k foot boxes of CAT5E/CAT6 laying around in the garage then I'm slackin lol.

[Guest asrequested]

I used to be an electrician and have worked in satellite TV installation, so I completely understand having pride in your cabling.

[JeremyFr79 228]

I used to be an electrician and have worked in satellite TV installation, so I completely understand having pride in your cabling.

Just never look behind my main equipment stand in my media room.  That's the f'ing rat's nest of doom! lol 

[Guest asrequested]

Just never look behind my main equipment stand in my media room. That's the f'ing rat's nest of doom! lol

Lol... Mine is nightmare, right now. I've bought all new cables. Once I get the rack all set, it all gets renewed.

[JeremyFr79 228]

Lol... Mine is nightmare, right now. I've bought all new cables. Once I get the rack all set, it all gets renewed.

I have tried with my "TV Stand" but there's no making it pretty in the back lol

[Guest asrequested]

I have tried with my "TV Stand" but there's no making it pretty in the back lol

That's part of why I'm putting all my equipment on a rack. The cables behind the TV will be minimal, and I can 'dress' them at the rack. I've got myself a plan

[JeremyFr79 228]

That's part of why I'm putting all my equipment on a rack. The cables behind the TV will be minimal, and I can 'dress' them at the rack. I've got myself a plan

Yeah my old house was like this, Rack sat in a room directly behind our theater, Had a projector back then to.  Unfortunately though the new house the rack is in the garage, and the media room is up on the 2nd story.  So the gear has to be up there instead of the rack.  And honestly noone is going to be looking behind the stand buy myself lol.  My rack looks damn near empty these days though lol.  All it has now is a 2u Battery, 2 1U PDU's, 1 1U KVM 4u file server, 2U VM Host, 1U Domain Controller, 1U Router/Firewall, and 1U switch. in a 36U 4 Post lol . Eliminated 2 2U Qnaps, the HTPC (roughly 2U) Receiver (3U), Security VNR (1U now a VM).  So cut alot of gear from the rack lol

 

If it wasn't for the power circuits I need for the rack I could have probably been a bit more creative with placement, but I have a UPS that needs a 30amp 120V circuit, and I run 2 additional 20amp 120V circuits for the other UPS's.

[Guest asrequested]

Yeah my old house was like this, Rack sat in a room directly behind our theater, Had a projector back then to.  Unfortunately though the new house the rack is in the garage, and the media room is up on the 2nd story.  So the gear has to be up there instead of the rack.  And honestly noone is going to be looking behind the stand buy myself lol.  My rack looks damn near empty these days though lol.  All it has now is a 2u Battery, 2 1U PDU's, 1 1U KVM 4u file server, 2U VM Host, 1U Domain Controller, 1U Router/Firewall, and 1U switch. in a 36U 4 Post lol . Eliminated 2 2U Qnaps, the HTPC (roughly 2U) Receiver (3U), Security VNR (1U now a VM).  So cut alot of gear from the rack lol

 

If it wasn't for the power circuits I need for the rack I could have probably been a bit more creative with placement, but I have a UPS that needs a 30amp 120V circuit, and I run 2 additional 20amp 120V circuits for the other UPS's.

 

lol, I'm no where near the stuff that you have. This is my first rack build. So entry level stuff...but I'm working on it lol. You guys have a massive head start on me. I have so much to learn from you guys, and I'm having fun with it all  Right now, my system is all caddywampus, because the two SAS controller cards I ordered are both defective, and I don't have any breakout cables (which are now on order). The server box rails just arrived, but I have to move all the equipment in one day, for me to continue to use it. Look at this mess!

 

[clarkss12 304]

This conversation is all greek to me, but very interesting indeed.