10G Fiber Home Network and Rebuilding my Server Rack

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[rakhanreturns]

You: "I hate networking"
Me, a network administrator: "meeee

[Akselmoi]

Kinda offtopic but seeing KDE software being used in one of my favorite youtubers videos always makes me happy :D (I'm one of the many devs, hi! Hope everything is working well for ya!)

[mulad]

Good job getting those networks set up -- yeah, cluster computers often have a similar configuration with one network for BMCs, one for lower-speed access to the OS running on the nodes, and another high-speed network. And it's great you spent time labeling things nicely -- always helpful in the future.

Yeah, I was cringing a bit seeing that ConnectX-3 card, since I knew it might have compatibility issues. Mellanox/Nvidia dropping support for that generation of hardware bit me on a couple systems a few years back. Glad you got the Ethernet mode setting figured out. I haven't had to directly deal with transceiver compatibility, but I've seen other people at work moan and groan about it.

Nice improvements, and hopefully they'll last you quite a while.

[awesomefacepalm]

I'm an embedded developer. But I've worked a couple of years as a network tech. I can say it has definitely helped me in many ways

[BrianNYMusicMaker]

I live in Goodyear. . .I must be going to the wrong Goodwill stores. BTW I love your channel. Brings me back to my hardware and networking days of the early 90s. Looking forward to rebuilding some vintage computers myself soon. You know a power supply is serious when it has a bright yellow Anderson connector on it!

[darkhanzo]

Ugh, I've got PTSD from those APC UPS's. That particular model has a design flaw where when the battery goes bad, and it will, the battery will bulge and jam against the frame. This sucks because the front of the battery slot has a lip on it at the top that the battery gets stuck behind when it bulges. I lost many an hour having to pry batteries out with a couple of screw drivers and lots of swearing.

[evensgrey]

A word of advice from somebody who doesn't himself do a lot of networking, but works on specific bits of networking gear, and has seen some horror shows: Write everything down, on paper as well as in digital documents, and keep copies locally on multiple workstations as well as on storage servers and in backups. And make sure all changes are ALWAYS recorded. If your network, or some critical component, fails on you, you want to be able to get hold of a copy of your current network design, and you need it to be CORRECT to what you actually were running, so you can put it back together the way it was before. I've seen people who didn't have a valid network map (they were the entirely NEW networking team at that organization) and they were urgently working on building a true and accurate map of their network

[johnhauser]

I would love to have more retro enthusiasts in my Facebook group and sometimes I think I am the only one lol. Would be cool to have someone like you in the group Custom PC Builders. I have shared your work in the group in the past.

[NiiWiiOriginal]

One thing about the switching throughput: Add up all switchport speeds and double it for full-duplex and you have the total throughput. If you get a switch that cannot handle all ports at full speed at once, you are either looking at the "el cheapo special" you definitely should not buy or some kind of specialty switch I have never seen.

[entropynme]

Hey I'm a field service tech for Schneider Electric working exclusively with UPS' in SLC, if you're willing to pay for shipping I might be able to get my hands on a functioning UPS that a customer is getting rid of for you; or bring one down next time they send me to Phoenix. My colleague also has a Galaxy VS he's trying to get rid of but that's probably way overkill for you. I say that only because finding the batteries for the apc guy you've got might be difficult. Home depot is getting rid of their apc lx's in droves

[ffsireallydontcare]

From memory the gig port on the Mikrotik is directly connected to the management CPU, not the switch chip. If that's the case all gig traffic is software switched, so you won't get amazing performance but at least you have connectivity.

[sbrazenor]

When you were talking about moving the server, you almost seemed embarrassed to be using a piece of equipment. In my experience working in a lot of fields where heavy equipment is involved, I have come to find two types of people. Those that use equipment effectively and unapologetically, or prideful 'strong' guys with bad backs that feel that it's more manly to damage themselves than use tools.

I use a hydraulic table all the time, myself. It's an amazing tool for when I need to move something heavy, but also precisely. Or in some cases where that heavy object might also be somewhat fragile and needs to be handled with care.

[needfuldoer]

Aw, I wish I knew you were doing networking stuff, that's my wheelhouse! For the core switch I would've recommended a Brocade ICX6610. It's got plenty of SFP+ ports and is one of the few relatively affordable switches with native 40 gig QSFP ports. There's a great thread on ServeTheHome about setting them up for a homelab environment. Power consumption isn't the greatest, but it's a hell of a lot better than that 400 watt HP monster. (Seriously, early 10 gig stuff isn't worth messing with outside of a curiosity.)

[SenileOtaku]

You mentioned Infiniband, and I just realized it's been **18 years** since I last worked with it. My daughter was just a few months old at the time.

[jeremylindemann]

I love videos like this that give me insights into the world of server equipment.

I recently found a RAID HBA in an old machine that I had in storage for years. I was able to flash it to IT mode so it can be used with TrueNAS. Just had to buy a couple of SFF8087 cables so I could connect to the SATA ports on the backplane.

It's fun messing around with this stuff and other enthusiasts like Shelby actually make this stuff feel accessible.

[That_alexgtnz]

the fact that i dont have the balls to rebuild a server. Great work man!

[romanrm]

10G copper heat and consumption is kinda solved, check out Marvell AQC107 (and others), it has like 6W TDP.

Or one could go 5Gbit with the RTL8126, which even ship and work normally without a heatsink at all.

[mortarmopp]

Remember the good old days when Lantastic was all you needed?

[EthanBB]

I have a drives spinning down after 30 minutes in my server, and the they are happy for 10 years now (WD Reds) ... HDDs are way more robust than people make them out to be.

[Saturn]

OMG, that's so smart. Putting your power cable out the top! I have all my batteries at the bottom of my racks, and I keep running into the UPS wires!