Soldato
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- 16 Nov 2003
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Well the card I got has a PCI-Express x16 slot which I'll use for a RAID controller once I run out of ports, so I hope not 
Your home server & Network
- Thread starter knowlesy
- Start date
Associate
- Joined
- 14 Apr 2008
- Posts
- 1,230
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- Manchester
I can never resist these things, piccy:
Full details at http://www.lewty.org.uk/index.php?p=computers
But to summarise:
1U Compaq as VMWare ESXi server for 5 VMs including router, www, AD, etc
1U Viglen as new PBX (for Asterisk)
Home brew Solaris box for ZFS with 6 1Tb Disks
L2 100Meg switch and 1Gb switch
I did have a nice Cisco 3524XL-PWR but it broke... i've got several 7940's and 7910 ip phones dotted about as well as network sockets in every room.
I only have the rack because it only cost me £50 which was a bargain considering how useful it is (it hides everything away with only network and power going into it).
Full details at http://www.lewty.org.uk/index.php?p=computers
But to summarise:
1U Compaq as VMWare ESXi server for 5 VMs including router, www, AD, etc
1U Viglen as new PBX (for Asterisk)
Home brew Solaris box for ZFS with 6 1Tb Disks
L2 100Meg switch and 1Gb switch
I did have a nice Cisco 3524XL-PWR but it broke... i've got several 7940's and 7910 ip phones dotted about as well as network sockets in every room.
I only have the rack because it only cost me £50 which was a bargain considering how useful it is (it hides everything away with only network and power going into it).
Here's mine:
Not quite to the same scale as some peoples lol, just use it as a file server/download box and a place to backup files from my main PC.
It's running Win server 2003 with a small mobo designed for embedded systems (think touch screen systems, kiosks etc), wider than a mini-itx board, probably a similar size to a Shuttle mobo except all the back panel connectors are on the longest edge lol. It's got a 1.6ghz Pentium M, 1gb of DDR mem, a PCI Raid Card and 2x Western Digital 1TB Greens in Raid 1.
There's a couple of acousti-fans in there to keep the whole thing cool and very quiet and its all running off a 120watt Pico-PSU. During normal operation downloading/extracting it consumes anywhere between 25 - 30 watts of power according to my energy monitor plug thingy lol. I've disabled all the built in devices I'm not using such as Firewire, Audio, Comm ports, Parallel Port, IDE bus etc and its connected to a Netgear GS108 gigabit switch and a Linksys WRT54GL running Tomato.
Oh and I made the case my self while I was unemployed earlier this year for something to do
the original plan was to have a second one stacked ontop of this one with 4x HDD's in and a 4-way multilane SATA/SAS connector joining both boxes but it seemed like too much effort so modified this case to fit 2x HDD's under the lid instead.
Not quite to the same scale as some peoples lol, just use it as a file server/download box and a place to backup files from my main PC.
It's running Win server 2003 with a small mobo designed for embedded systems (think touch screen systems, kiosks etc), wider than a mini-itx board, probably a similar size to a Shuttle mobo except all the back panel connectors are on the longest edge lol. It's got a 1.6ghz Pentium M, 1gb of DDR mem, a PCI Raid Card and 2x Western Digital 1TB Greens in Raid 1.
There's a couple of acousti-fans in there to keep the whole thing cool and very quiet and its all running off a 120watt Pico-PSU. During normal operation downloading/extracting it consumes anywhere between 25 - 30 watts of power according to my energy monitor plug thingy lol. I've disabled all the built in devices I'm not using such as Firewire, Audio, Comm ports, Parallel Port, IDE bus etc and its connected to a Netgear GS108 gigabit switch and a Linksys WRT54GL running Tomato.
Oh and I made the case my self while I was unemployed earlier this year for something to do
the original plan was to have a second one stacked ontop of this one with 4x HDD's in and a 4-way multilane SATA/SAS connector joining both boxes but it seemed like too much effort so modified this case to fit 2x HDD's under the lid instead.
Some great pics here guys. 
I notice the use of patch panels in one or two of the photos. I'm using a couple of 24 port switches in my setup and could never quite see the point of using a patch panel (or two). So, the cables for my house network are all terminated with RJ45s and plugged straight into the network switches.
What am I missing? Are patch panels really required in a home network setup?
I notice the use of patch panels in one or two of the photos. I'm using a couple of 24 port switches in my setup and could never quite see the point of using a patch panel (or two). So, the cables for my house network are all terminated with RJ45s and plugged straight into the network switches.
What am I missing? Are patch panels really required in a home network setup?
Some great pics here guys.
I notice the use of patch panels in one or two of the photos. I'm using a couple of 24 port switches in my setup and could never quite see the point of using a patch panel (or two). So, the cables for my house network are all terminated with RJ45s and plugged straight into the network switches.
What am I missing? Are patch panels really required in a home network setup?
its all about showing your kit of to the homies ya nar ?
lol no in all serious its not necessary although given the chance Id defiantly do it as it would be a lot easier if you wanted to have multiple networks etc plug other stuff directly into them etc etc etc ....
Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Nov 2003
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- 9,682
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- On the pale blue dot
Nice work there cokecan. I spent ages looking for a perfect case for my Mini-ITX server but had to go with a micro-ATX case in the end as the only cases I found were extremely expensive! I don't have the skills to make one myself!
Some great pics here guys.
I notice the use of patch panels in one or two of the photos. I'm using a couple of 24 port switches in my setup and could never quite see the point of using a patch panel (or two). So, the cables for my house network are all terminated with RJ45s and plugged straight into the network switches.
What am I missing? Are patch panels really required in a home network setup?
Well in my case we have the ethernet cables buried in the walls so if they weren't terminated in a patch panel and you yanked on them you'd pull the plaster off the walls
It certainly makes life easier. Before I put mine in I had about 40 badly labelled cat5 cables, some terminated and some not, dangling around. The stiffness/weight of the cables that were plugged into a switch would try to pull it off the shelf, and any troubleshooting or making even a small change was a nightmare.What am I missing? Are patch panels really required in a home network setup?
Oh, my other reason was to be able to show it off, of course
Thanks for the replies guys. My switches live in loft spaces and so there's no chance of tripping over the cables (I don't go dancing around in the loft very often 
). And the switches themselves are screwed to the rafters.
Since I don't generally take guests into the loft it follows that I'd not be able to "show them off" to anyone who came round.
So it looks like I'll stay as is.
(Although I'm very envious when I see them, so perhaps might buy a couple just for personal gratification)
). And the switches themselves are screwed to the rafters.Since I don't generally take guests into the loft it follows that I'd not be able to "show them off" to anyone who came round.
So it looks like I'll stay as is.
(Although I'm very envious when I see them, so perhaps might buy a couple just for personal gratification
)
Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Nov 2003
- Posts
- 9,682
- Location
- On the pale blue dot
(Although I'm very envious when I see them, so perhaps might buy a couple just for personal gratification
Just buy one, don't patch it in but screw into a cupboard. No-one will know it's a fake
Just buy one, don't patch it in but screw into a cupboard. No-one will know it's a fake
LOL! Yeah good point. If I also bought a bunch of different coloured patch cables and plugged both ends into the panel then in it'd look the business.
Obviously I'd have to make everything look messy just for a bit of authenticity
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 30 Jun 2005
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- 9,515
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- London Town!
Interesting to see what everybody has! Personally I've given up on a massive home office setup these days, I'm just not home enough and I do almost all my work on laptops now so it makes no sense...
When I do get home I'll take a photo of my rather over the top network setup at home (I'm a network architect, so the enterprise level firewalls are a legitimate business expense...somehow...)
When I do get home I'll take a photo of my rather over the top network setup at home (I'm a network architect, so the enterprise level firewalls are a legitimate business expense...somehow...)
Cool, your job always interests me to be honest. It something i always wanted to do. But at 24 i think i am past it! I do work in IT, but not at that equipment level
ML115 with about 1TB of storage, severely needs increasing, currently running xenserver, Netgear 5 port Gigabit switch, nothing special, just the ML115 was cheaper than a decent NAS at the time and provided scope to "play around"
Cool, your job always interests me to be honest. It something i always wanted to do. But at 24 i think i am past it! I do work in IT, but not at that equipment level
What are you on about man! 24 is the perfect time to specialise in something, especially if you already work in IT.
Associate
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- 14 Apr 2008
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- 1,230
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- Manchester
Technically i'm employed as a Software Engineer, but these days i seem to be doing IT Management as well as my main job.
Computers/Networks are/were my main hobby so that's the only reason i collect kit and home plus it's nice to play with stuff in a more relaxed environment - i rarely get the time at work and we certainly don't have the resources to buy two of everything.
This way i can pick up cheap kit from eBay and the likes to play with before using the knowledge to sell the idea to the bosses and get the proper stuff in.
Computers/Networks are/were my main hobby so that's the only reason i collect kit and home plus it's nice to play with stuff in a more relaxed environment - i rarely get the time at work and we certainly don't have the resources to buy two of everything.
This way i can pick up cheap kit from eBay and the likes to play with before using the knowledge to sell the idea to the bosses and get the proper stuff in.