Setting up a personal rack at home

Zswizzy

Zswizzy

Zswizzy

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So as a networking student who has no means to get to grips with all the networking and server stuff I need to know Im planning to build a small rack to set up a server or two for testing and friends, I need some help.

I need to a small rack to put the servers in
2 or 3 (depending on cost, Blade/rack servers, Storage isnt the primary focus of these, I guess Ill need a switch, a router/modem will be downstairs and Ill ethernet up to the rack and finally powering it.

I may sound like a complete noob, Ive always learnt best by diving in headfirst so thats what im planning to do and help from you fellas is greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
 
Depending on what you actually want to learn, I'd focus on buying the kit first, and rack it all up after you've got to grips with it all.

My Cisco lab is quite tame compared to some on here, but I've been growing it for nigh-on 10 years now, and as of yet it's never been in a rack :p
 
If you are just learning then you only need three desks tops computers.

Two Intel i5 machine each with at least 16G RAM, no storage except for a USB stick to boot the OS from. Basic graphics, at least 2 NICs (1 for general traffic and 1 for storage)

One Intel i3 machine with 8G RAM, boot drive plus larger storage drive or better 3 drives RAID'd. Basic Graphics, at least 2 NICs (1 for general traffic and 1 for storage) You can drop the 8G RAM to less than 1G if you don't plan to use ZFS.

Run VMWare ESX5 on the two i5 machines from USB.
Run NAS4FREE on the i3 machine. This will provide NFS/iSCSI storage to the two ESX servers

Then you will need at least a layer 2 switch or if budget will stretch a layer 3 switch.

Then you have the basic lab to try anything.

I would suggest running pfsense as a Virtual machine on one of the ESX servers. This will give you basic network routing, firewall, VPN, VLAN functionality.

If you want to do actual exams like Cisco's, there may be some training virtual appliances available to run on the ESX servers to simulate their equipment.

For most of above there are Youtube videos available that show how to build the various elements
 
Do you have somewhere to put a server class rack, which is typically 800mm wide by 1000mm deep? Rack servers are usually loud - you wouldn't want in a living room or bedroom.
 
Yeah I have somewhere to put it, ASE001 your idea sounds rather expensive, I should have pointed out that ill be purchasing pretty low grade equipment, Im doing cisco certs at the moment and just want some stuff to mess around with but decent enough stuff that I can transfer the skills over to proper full datacentre racks and such.
 
You could lower the spec of the i5 to AMD x4 or similar. And the i3 to lower spec just means it would be slower. All the software mentioned is free.

I built mine systems up by watching the OCuk clearance corner for bargains. There is an AMD Athlon X4 750K currently in there for £35 paired with a motherboard £45, 4G RAM £35, 500Gbyte HDD £40 and Case/PSU £40 is the basis of you NAS/SAN server. £200 Total

The i5 systems could be AMD Bulldozer FX-4 Quad Core £70, 8G RAM £50, motherboard £40, USB stick 4Gbyte £5 and Case/PSU £40. Total £205 per system.

So far we've spent 200 + 205 + 205 = £605

You will definitely need a layer 2 switch to do any meaningful which you can get for about £90 (I use a SMART D-Link 24 port 1Gbit layer 2 switch, and managed to get an old CISCO layer 3 switch from ebay although its only 100Mbits)

Cables approx £30

So the total cost of the basic rig is £725


You don't need a RACK or RACK based equipment to learn about datacentres unless you what to get into supporting the lights out element of it. I work in and out of datacentres as part of my job. But I very rarely need to to go there. We have engineers who rack the equipment and cable. Then we have network guys that configure the lights out access. Then I connect remotely and work on the systems from home. I can config the BIOS, the RAID controllers, the SAN, Switches, in fact everything is done remotely.

I develop all my datacentre designs and build instructions based on a similar rig to the one mentioned earlier.

If you're looking at the future you should be looking at Virtual networking, this is were technology is leading us and I know there is lack of experience around in this area. Read the latest press releases from VMWare and CISCO.
 
Forgot to mention you will need 3 NICs at £5 each.

This rig will support at least

1 pfsense virtual network appliance
1 AD domian controller
1 SQL server
1 Web server
1 Exchange server
1 Enterprise management server

Add more memory and you can add more virtual servers.
 
P.S if you pass you CISCO certs, you won't be working in datacentres you will be to expensive:) a resource to waste on that type of work!

We get general engineers to do datacentre racking and cabling, the CISCO cert engineers do everything remotely.
 
What are you trying to learn?

Edit: What Cisco certs are you studying for?

GNS3 can be used to emulate Cisco routers very effectively, though depending on your level of study and your choice of track you may need more than just GNS3.
 
Last edited:
kalvindeane said:
What are you trying to learn?

Edit: What Cisco certs are you studying for?

GNS3 can be used to emulate Cisco routers very effectively, though depending on your level of study and your choice of track you may need more than just GNS3.
Click to expand...

Ive done ccna 1, doing ccna 2 in the autumn, I mainly want it to just learn setting up of servers/mail servers/domain name stuff and vm config ect.

It shouldnt take long to get something simple put toegether.
 
ASE001 said:
P.S if you pass you CISCO certs, you won't be working in datacentres you will be to expensive:) a resource to waste on that type of work!

We get general engineers to do datacentre racking and cabling, the CISCO cert engineers do everything remotely.
Click to expand...

Thats pretty cool, Is that what you do?
 
Zswizzy said:
Ive done ccna 1, doing ccna 2 in the autumn, I mainly want it to just learn setting up of servers/mail servers/domain name stuff and vm config ect.

It shouldnt take long to get something simple put toegether.
Click to expand...

Just to make you aware, the old ICND exams are being phased out at the moment and I believe you can only take them to September. So I would make sure you have the correct study material as they renewed the whole ICND / CCNA program.

I can also highly recommend CBT nuggets, as I have found them a great aid for learning and studying for exams.
 
Zswizzy said:
Thats pretty cool, Is that what you do?
Click to expand...

I mainly specialise in multinode SQL clusters, but you have to have a good knowlodge of most things including networking.

You seem to have the right plan, start with a simple AD controller (server). Then add a member server, from there you need to learn domain based security before moving on.
To start with you could get this up and running on your desktop using VMplayer. if your system has 8G of memory it should run quite well.

But stict to networking if that is what you enjoy, if you are good you can earn seriously good money. But again key is network security, eventhing is security, security in IT.
 
Indeed. I recently passed the CCNA and have been trying to get a job in the industry, pretty much all of the networking positions that I've seen have been asking for security experience in one form or another. Mostly Juniper and Checkpoint, quite a few asking for ASA/FWSM experience too.

Anybody want to hire a lowly CCNA? :D
 
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