#Acceptable top-level responses to this post:
#Previous WIYH:
#View all previous megaposts here!
MM~~
Posted Feb 15, 2018, 9:46 AM UTC
First some picture (people love pictures): https://imgur.com/a/6GInQ
Hardware:
Dell T20 specs:
VMs: (running on the T20 in ESXi 6.5)
Bacula director (centralized backups), mysql (for bacula), netdata controller, nut server (to control the UPS), ntpd, NFS server (hosting Gentoo portage tree, distfiles, bin packages etc), syslog-ng logserver
pppoe (for DSL connection), dnsmasq (DHCP and DNS), radvd (for IPv6), igmpproxy (for IPTV), OpenVPN, Shorewall Firewall, miniupnpd, ddclient (dyndns client)
Samba, netatalk, Plex, minidlna, smartd
Unifi controller software
FreePBX
Windows Server 2016
Just playing around with it, recently tried PRTG
in addition every (Linux) VM runs: netdata client, bacula client, nut client, ntpd client
VLANs / zones: I have split up my network into the following
Plans
I'm planning to buy a new apartment in 2018 or 2019 and will move to a rack. Probably migrating to something like a R720 + 24 port Unifi POE switch. Depending on the available internet services i might switch to a USG as well.
Addressing my previous plans:
Storage upgrade
I've purchased more storage and upgraded the memory in the R610 from 24GB to 74GB (thanks again Muffin), so I've now been able to move all VMs from the Microserver to the R610 and turn the Microserver into a NAS with Server 2016 bare-metal for Storage Spaces.
New naming scheme
I don't really have a proper naming scheme so far and it's now almost more messy than it was before. I just need to rename some of the older VMs.
Deploy Nextcloud
Completed this and managed to sort out AD integration after a couple of hours of pain.
Home lab:
Network:
DrayTek Vigor 130 modem
pfSense 2.4.2 (pfSense1)
Cisco Catalyst 2950G
TP-LINK TL-SG1016DE (16 port Gbit switch)
Netgear GS208-100UKS (8 port Gbit switch)
Ubiquiti AP AC Lite
Physical:
ESX1
Dell PowerEdge R610 - 2x Xeon L5630, 74 GB memory, 3x 300 GB SAS 10k.
ESX2
HP/Compaq 6300 Pro SFF - i3-2120, 18 GB memory, 1x 160 GB SATA 7.2k, 1x 500 GB SATA 7.2k.
2x 1TB and 1x 2TB in a USB3 caddy, passed through to a VM running Veeam.
FS1
HP ProLiant Microserver G8 - Celeron G1610T, 16 GB memory, 2x 4 TB HDD, 2x 120 GB SSD.
Virtual:
Backups (Backup1) - Win Serv 2016
This runs Veeam B&R and Veeam One. It has a USB 3.0 HDD caddy passed through to it as a backup destination. A 1TB disk and a 2TB disk. Striped to create a single volume with Storage Spaces.
Nextcloud (Cloud1) - Ubuntu 16.04
DC1 (dc1) - Win Serv 2016 Core
This runs AD DS, DNS, and DHCP.
DC2 (dc2) - Win Serv 2016 Core
This runs AD DS, DNS, and DHCP.
Downloads (Download1) - Win Serv 2016
Running Sonarr, Radarr, Jackett, uTorrent and SABnzbd. This would have been Ubuntu or Debian, but I hate Mono and really like uTorrent.
Lidarr (Lidarr1) - Ubuntu 16.04
Currently testing this before I chuck it in with Sonarr and Radarr.
Management (mgmt) - Win 10 (1607) Ent. N
Also pretty self-explanatory.
Media (spme1) - Win Serv 2016
This runs Subsonic. It used to also host Plex, PlexPy and Ombi, but they are now in their own VMs. I have Subsonic installed in an Ubuntu VM, just waiting for me to get round to configuring it.
pfSense (pfSense1) - FreeBSD
This is my router & firewall, and has two NICs assigned, one for LAN and one that's directly connected to the DrayTek modem that I mentioned above.
Pi-Hole (PiHole1) - Ubuntu 16.04
Pi-Hole (PiHole2) - Ubuntu 16.04
Plex Media Server (Plex1) - Ubuntu 16.04
Plex-related services (PlexTools1) - Ubuntu 16.04
This runs Tautulli and Ombi.
Pyazo (Pyazo1) - Ubuntu 16.04
This runs Pyazo. Shout out to u/BeryJu for this awesome software.
Remote Desktop Gateway (RDS1) - Ubuntu 16.04
RD Gateway for external access, pretty much exclusively to MGMT.
Reverse Proxy (RProxy1) - Ubuntu 16.04
This runs NGINX for reverse proxy services. This is what handles everything web-facing in my lab.
UniFi Controller (UniFi1) - Ubuntu 16.04
vCentre Server Appliance (vCSA)
Wiki (Wiki1) - Ubuntu 16.04
This runs BookStack as my internal wiki and documentation platform. I'm planning a move to Confluence soon.
Windows Server Update Services (WSUS1) - Win Serv 2016
There's a few other VMs that aren't running at the moment, couple of game servers and test machines, but these aren't worth mentioning at this point.
Muffin lab (colo):
Muffin has been kind enough to let me utilise some of the resources on his colo host. I really appreciate this as it allows me to run some services off-site, where there's a much better connection and multiple IPs.
Ghost blog (Blog1) - Ubuntu 16.04
This hosts my blog, running on Ghost.
DC3 (dc3) - Win Serv 2016 Core
Exchange (Mail1) - Win Serv 2016
This is running Exchange 2016, still to be properly configured.
pfSense (pfSense2) - FreeBSD
Firewall for my internal network on Muffin's host. Also facilitating a site-to-site link.
Subsonic (Subsonic1) - Ubuntu 16.04
Waiting for me to get on with configuring it, as mentioned before. My library is being synced to this server from home using Resilio Sync (formerly BitTorrent Sync).
That's all for today folks, don't think I've missed anything.
I've tried to condense this as much as possible but I don't think I've done a great job of it to be honest.
How do you like Lidarr compared to something like Headphones?
It's only just reached alpha and it's already sooo much better.
I'm not the op but Headphones was a disaster compared to Lidarr IMO.
Just wondering, why the planned switch from BookStack to Confluence?
There's no solid reason but I think knowledge of Confluence is more likely to be of use to me in work, I also prefer the look and functionality of Confluence.
I do still love BookStack though, it is fantastic.
Not a lot of progress since last month. For the most part I've just been acquiring some more racking materials. I also dug into Grafana and SNMP for metering/switching on my Baytech PDUs since they seem a bit more feature packed than the typical RPC models. On the key issue of the Intel NICs, I located some advanced diagnostic software (lanconf) which was tough because Intel puts very tight confidentiality controls on its distribution. Fortunately I was able to pull the tools down from a random unsecured FTP somewhere in Scandinavia...
Acquired:
To-do
This is the first I'm hearing of the Baytech PDUs. The product looks interesting, but prices appear to be behind a "sales call".
Did you get yours direct or secondhand? Which configuration do you have? And how much did you pay?
I got two 8 outlet, 1U rackmounts. Mostly just found them by searching eBay for PDUs that came with L6-30P on the end. I needed 208V for my particular application. I think I paid something like $150 for both after shipping. The Baytech RPC units are more common to see and pretty popular for homelabbers. Honestly this gear isn't really something that gets swapped out of a DC/rack once it's installed, it just is run until it dies or the whole thing gets decommed.
From my last post here, I've finally made some networking upgrades.
Hardware
VM
Here's what's different from my last post:
Since then I've also decommissioned:
What are you planning to deploy in the near future? (software and/or hardware.)
I did of course pick up the switches, which was a much needed upgrade over the 5 port TP-Link. And my girlfriend once again came in clutch with a gift card for NewEgg, so I'm eyeing a new AP.
I also have 4 10Gb ports not being used, so I'm planning on building a FreeNAS box (R320, most likely) to serve ISCSi and move my file servers datastores over to FreeNAS.
I'm also at the point where I'm turning off VMs to conserve RAM. Work has some 8GB DIMMs laying around, so I'm hoping to grab those.
Why are you running said hardware/software?
Mostly for personal consumption, testing for work, and keeping my skills sharp. But I'm taking a VMWare O&S class soon, and taking the test later this year.
Hardware:
A few updates since last month!
Since last month I went to another surplus sale. I also disposed of all of my Sun J4400s. I think I also found the only piece of Sun/Oracle hardware that isn't a complete waste of time, space, and effort: The Sun Netra X4270. I'll mess with it and update next time around.
Current Setup
Physical things
Dell PowerEdge R710 SFF (2xL5520,72GB PC3-10600,PERC H700,LSI 9200-8e) running ESXi
Dell PowerEdge R710 LFF (2xE5530,72GB PC3-10600) running Windows 10 for WCG.
New Dell PowerEdge R510 (8 bay, 2xL5520,24GB PC3-10600) running FreeNAS but it's off because there's no hard drives and a Perc 6/i. I will be installing an LSI 9261-8i once I get cables for it (it's not ideal since I don't believe it supports drive passthrough, but FreeNAS will have to deal with it).
Barracuda BYF310A (1xAMD Sempron 145, 8GB Corsair XMS3) running Ubuntu Server 16.04
HP/3COM 1910-48G
New Avaya 5520-48t-PWR
UBNT ER-X
TrippLite LC2400 PowerVault MD1000 connected to VMWare R710
Dell 15FP Rack Console
Virtual things
Plans
Any particular reason you went with OpenNMS? I poked around the demo and it didn't make much sense trying to navigate around. I'm trying to figure out LibreNMS as their CentOS guide has some errors on it (again). I might just drop it and try another monitoring system.
I didn't know of any others off the top of my head, it seems solid.
Configure the new server as an ESXi host. Setup IPMI in shared mode. ESXi will exist on vFlash. Eight (8) 275GB Crucial MX300s will be installed and setup in a RAID10 on an RAID controller for just around 1TB of storage. Initially six (6) 4TB 2.5" drives will be installed for data storage.
Once configured I'll be racking it in colo next to my current server, which I will network together. Slowly over the span of a month I will be migrating existing software in colo (and data) onto the new host. Once nothing is running on the old host, it will be decommissioned and sold.
Need funds for trays and the 4TB drives. Selling off existing equipment and servers (C6100 listed, R210 v1 needs to be handled). But I need to juggle this and get the C240 M3S installed before March 10th (I'm moving).
Chenbro RM23212 w/Tyan S7012. 2x L5640, 72GB DDR3, 256GB SSD (RAID1), 15TB (RAID6 of 2TB HDDs).
3rd Party Hosting
Stop running unused software (meemo, huginn, Zammad). Setup a virtual machine for Vesta Panel and migrate away from CPanel. Replace seedbox setup with a more stable platform. No longer use pfSense internally (perhaps OpenSense).
Rent more IP space.
A small setup specifically designed to be quiet and use low power, at idle (where it will spend much of its time) consumes 110W. It lives behind the tv in the living room.
Hardware
In Win MS04 mini itx case, Seasonic SSP-300SUB (Fanless up to 30% system load), 16GB ECC RAM, Core i3 4130, 4x1TB WD, 2x 750GB WD Blacks ZFS Mirror for VM images/disks, 2 x 16GB SSD for Proxmox Host
IGEL H820C, 2GB CF storage, 1GB DDR3, Intel Pro 1000 dual Ethernet PCIe card
Apple airport extreme
APC 1500 SmartUPS
Software
Proxmox running with ZFS proividing RAID for drives
Windows Server VM
Plex VM
MineOS VM
pfSense (on IGEL as firewall/router)
New projects
Bring up another proxmox node using an intel g3220 thin itx build, play with sharing workload across nodes. Looking into integrating UPS into proxmox for graceful shutdown of VMs once power goes out. Install newly acquired 8 port gigabit switch.
First time posting about my "lab," which consists of a single server supporting my desktop, an HTPC, and a few laptops/tablets.
Server
Supermicro CSE-813MTQ-350CB Black 1U Rackmount Server Chassis
Supermicro MBD-X7SPE-H-D525 (Atom D525 mobo)
4 GB RAM (2x 2GB)
4x 2TB WD Green in removable bays
Arch Linux
Running:
Sonarr
Lidarr
Radarr
rTorrent w/ ruTorrent front-end
Jackett
Plex Media Server
Ombi
Organizr
Unifi Controller
SMB share for the 4x 2TB drives in a software raid5
Desktop
i7 3770K CPU
Asrock Z77 Extreme 6
12GB RAM (2x 4GB, 2x 2GB I had laying around)
120GB SSD
Had 1 TB WD Green that died last week for storage
Running:
Android Studio
Unity
Games (Factorio, Elite: Dangerous, Path of Exile, Warframe, Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress mostly)
Plus media/etc, basically whatever tickles my fancy
HTPC
Silverstone HTPC case (ML06 or something like that)
AMD A6-3500 LLano CPU
ASRock A75 PRO4-M FM1
8GB RAM (2x 4GB)
32GB SSD
Running:
Plex media player
VLC
Netflix
Currently looking to purchase another server to virtualize some of the services including actually transcoding 2-4 streams with Plex as well as adding some more so that I can convert the D525 box into a dedicated Pfsense/OPNsense box or similar. Been watching Labgopher for a deal on a DL380/R710 or similar, just needs to be somewhat quiet since this will be in the living room. Also looking for a decent gigabit switch since the FiOS router is out of ports already with Desktop/HTPC/3D Printer/Unifi AP hardwired.
WAF will be a big factor in the expansion of the lab and budget is like $300-400, maybe a little more if anyone has a lead.
[removed]
What are you currently running? (software and/or hardware.)
What are you planning to deploy in the near future? (software and/or hardware.)
Edit: Forgot an item
Just pulled the trigger on starting my homelab! Ended up getting a couple of servers, switches, a 12u rack, and a UPS.
Hardware
Server 1:
Dual-Core Intel Xenon E5502 1.86GHz Processor (x2)
16 GB RAM
3.5” drive trays - 500 GB WD Blacks (x6)
PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
Server 2:
Six-Core Intel Xenon X5670 2.93 GHz Processor (x2)
48 GB RAM
2.5” drive trays - no drives yet
PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (x2)
PCIe Fiber Optic Network Adapter (x2)
Other Stuff:
Dell PowerConnect 2824
Dell PowerConnect 2848
APC Smart UPS 1500
StarTech 12u Open Rack
I ended up spending a crap-load of time trying to update the BiOS and firmware for the servers, but it was an awesome learning experience. Definitely got to know more about how the Life Cycle Controller and IDRAC systems work. Also learning about the switches was fun, LAGs, VLANs, and stuff. I can't wait to dive deeper into building out my network.
I installed Proxmox on one server and ESXi on the other, just playing around with the software and getting a feel for what I really want to accomplish with my homelab. My original idea was to turn Server 1 into a NAS and use it for storage, and have Server 2 used for virtualization, but i'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to do that.
What is next?
Figuring out the best way to go about setting up a NAS and deciding which OS would be best used for VMs/Containers. I definitely need to do more research.
I am also thinking about trying to upgrade the RAM/CPUs on the first R710, as I'm not sure if 16GB will be enough.
If anyone has any suggestions please let me know! Thanks!
Up and running with my dual-node Proxmox cluster:
Plans:
Edit: The Pi is now working as a witness node. Power bill, improved.
Just setup a Dokuwiki container on Proxmox, starting to actually document things
Started with setting up PowerDNS & PowerAdmin, going to try to move to that from Bind (I like the web gui for managing static ips)
Also looking at a custom build in a free supermicro 2U chassis, planning on an X10 supermicro board with a E5-2630L v4. This will allow me to move my R510 into a dedicated NAS role.
Currently my whole setup is just the R510 w/ a couple VMs and a spare desktop testing proxmox. Ideally the new build will be a proxmox server
Under-way plans!
Prior to this, my active lab consisted of my NAS (Moonhawk: Supermicro X9SCL-F, 4x4GB ECC, E3-1260L CPU, and an H200+Expander in an SC-836TQ chassis running OpenMediaVault) and my ESXi host (Odin: Supermicro X8DTE-F, 8x8GB RDIMMs, 2x L5630 CPUs in an SC-815TQ chassis).
Almost all of my services were running on the NAS either via OMV plugins or Docker containers. (There's also a Pi 2 running OMV doing DNS/DHCP/NTP/Radius(for network gear only) but that's to prevent maintenances from breaking the internet connection, so it's not really lab.)
I looked around and decided this was silly, because the ESXi host was shut down most of the time due to power draw, and I had all this other gear I could be using. So now we have this (all running ESXi except the NAS):
Baldr: Supermicro X10SL7-F motherboard, i3-4150 CPU, 4x4GB ECC UDIMM, 2x1TB 2.5" drives, in an SC-113MTQ chassis. Onboard controller is crossflashed to IT mode. Currently hosting vCSA, and there's an APC PowerChute Network Shutdown VM installed on it but I haven't powered it up yet; still not sure whether to mess with that or just use APCUPSd or NUT.
Mjolnir: Supermicro X8SIL-F motherboard, X3430 CPU, 4x4GB ECC RDIMM, 1x 2TB 3.5" drive, in an SC-512L chassis. I'm using this one almost entirely because the X8SIL-F takes x8 bandwidth Registered DIMMs, and I have a total of four of them. Currently running an Ubuntu VM for 7 Days to Die game server and a FreeNAS 11.1 install to look at the new UI and contemplate changing from OMV. (Not very likely.) Will probably add other game servers to this in the future.
Yggdrasil: Dell PowerEdge R210 II, Core i3-2100 CPU, 1x4GB ECC UDIMM, 1x 2TB 3.5" drive. Currently on my workbench not being used; I had hoped to use non-ECC UDIMMs, but the only box I have that can take those is... the X8SIL-F. The stick I have is a Hynix PC3L-10600E, and I was able to order 3 more over the weekend, so they should be here by Friday. Once that's installed, I'm likely to swap the CPU with my NAS; it doesn't need the compute, but an ESXi node sure would. I also have no mounting method for it; I have generic rail shelves for Odin and Baldr, and I have their outer rails on the way from eBay. Once those arrive, I'll be able to actually use the R210. (Funny note: Got the R210 as an R210 (not II), with the X3430 currently in Mjolnir, for $50. When I went to buy an iDRAC kit, the kits were $18, and an R210 II motherboard with iDRAC Enterprise on it was $29. So now I have an R210 II for $80 with iDRAC6 Enterprise. :) )
That's all well and good, and I'm happy that I've got them up and running (and even with the X3430/X8SIL-F combo, all three combined draw less than Odin does), but they need more bits. (Because of course they do, this is r/Homelab.) So here's the plan of attack:
Upgrade Baldr to an LGA 1150 Xeon of some sort. E3-1230 v3 will do, but it depends on costs. The Haswell low-power chips have such anemic clock speeds I'm not sure I want to bother. (Maybe an E3-1265L v3, but that wastes the graphics on it.)
I have an X10SLM-F board that I got from someone here for dirt cheap due to bent pins. It boots, but only ever sees one core, regardless of what's in there. Supermicro will do a repair for $50 - they say they may reject the repair if it's too complicated, but since it's working otherwise I doubt they will. Next step, no matter what, is to get that repaired. Once it is...
Replace Mjolnir's X8SIL-F. I've used the hell out of this board for various projects, but it's pulling more power than Baldr and Yggdrasil combined. My two options are to go straight to the X10SLM-F and buy another LGA 1150 Xeon, or get another E3-1260L v1, put it in the NAS' X9SCL-F, and put the X10SLM-F with Baldr's current i3-4150 into the NAS. This is honestly the way I'm currently leaning; the NAS is the only thing that absolutely has to stay powered on, so the power savings would be nice. (Alternate: Get an E3-1220L v3 instead of the i3-4150.)
Lastly, and this requires a bit of consideration, I can upgrade Odin. The general plan is to replace the rear window of the SC-815TQ chassis with a WIO Rear Window, pick up a Supermicro X9DRW board, reuse my existing RDIMMs, and get a couple of E5-2650s or similar. The upside would be massive compute at probably acceptable power draws, the downside is the expense. Even the proprietary WIO form-factor X9DRW boards go for upwards of $200 at best, the replacement Rear Window will likely be about $25, I'll need heat sinks, and the CPUs aren't hideously expensive, but they're not pocket change.
Of course, there's the other side - I've now got four, soon five, servers that I would dearly like to have 10G connections for. And my ICX-6450 has four 10G ports... two of which are disabled due to licensing. Buying a license would cost nearly as much as an LB6M for only two ports, but I don't want the LB6M power draw. So I either pick which two servers are the lucky ones (right now the NAS and Baldr), or figure out a way to get something like a Mikrotik CRS317 or similar small SFP+ switch for less than $300.
I'm currently working on an upgrade for my storage situation. Since it was new my Dell T20 has been running as a mixed match of different harddrives and applications, mainly becaus it was so reliable and stable compared to my other machines.
Now though, windows server is going out the door and freenas is in. The mixed drives are being redistributed in to less important positions and the Dell will get 4 brand new 6TB Red drives.
The Dell will get another stick of ECC ram taking it up to the 8 GB recomended for freenas. As it still runs the G3220 it came with all those years ago, an upgrade is in order. What CPU I will go for I have not decided yet, but the i3 looks like a perfect upgrade for my pricepoint.
As the Dell becomes a dedicated storage machine, a less critical server will join the group. Fitted with an i5 2400, Plex transcoding etc will get easier. Also, Nextcloud might join the software suite.
What are you currently running? (software and/or hardware.)
core switch - unifi switch 48
front closet switch - unifi switch 8
main server - 10gbps sfp+ to core switch | 3u topower chasis | 1000w atx psu | 1x e5-2620v4 | 64gb ddr4 ecc | mobo is a super micro 2 cpu socket mobo, fully expanded ill have 32 logical cores and 256gb ram, though i doubt ill ever do this
esxi hypervisor
pfsense for routing, running snort with most of the emerging threat ruleset, subscriber, and open appid
windows server 2016 (ad / dns)
unifi control vm
plex / automation stack
4 websites each in its own vm, behind a 5th vm that is the only one exposed to the internet, acting as a reverse proxy for the web hosts.
hashtopussy server for hashcracking jobs (see the new stuff to show off)
seafile for filesharing
CyberPower OR1500LCDRM1U (1u 1500va UPS). newest edition, not yet racked... excited for it to be (it will be replacing a 1000va non rackmount no name ups thats 10+ years old)
What are you planning to deploy in the near future? (software and/or hardware.)
first and foremost, an actual rack. its in the mail right now... finally moving away from the lackrack life. i got a 800mm depth rack, but it is a bit hard to find rails for it... if anyone knows of any hidden jem universal rails that fit 800mm racks, please let me know! im trying some supermicro rails hoping it will fit my non supermicro chassis.
second, i need more storage, an 8 bay nas populated with 8 or 10tb sata drives, currently eyeing up 10tb iron wolfs or scrapping 8tb wd red's out of portable drives. gonna try and build this in a 2u norco case, with a 10gbps sfp+ nic to connect to the server and the switch (for 20gbps to vm's using smb3 multipath, and 10gbps for clients)
next up, i want to move pfsense to be a physical box rather than a VM. im not short on processing power, but virtual pfsense doesnt see the 10gbps nic, only the virtualized 1gbps - i could do hardware pass though on the nic, but i would like to move the router to a dedicated box so i can work more on server hardware without taking down the network
last, i want to migrate from esxt -> proxmox. it would have better hardware support since my server doesnt have ipmi... and reading hardware sensors would be nice. more so, i really like kvm, and esxi was initially to try it out in depth since i only used it lightly in the past.
Why are you running said hardware/software?
plex for movie streaming to various devices, but also to hold my flac collection.
seafile is a share for infosec / programming books for a few friends of mine.
Any new hardware you want to show.
websites are mostly projects ive made in personal time, as well as my personal site.
Any new hardware you want to show.
So i have been getting into gpu compute lately... Currently mining alt coins for profit in the spare time, but i made a job scheduler in python so i can run hashcracking / openCL applications, and then it will auto switch back to mining when finished running the jobs, so i stay the most profitable.
Current Setup:
HP 1810-48G
R610
2x X5570
16GB RAM
Currently waiting for me to have to time to pick back up on my MCSA. Will become a clustered Hyper-V server.
R610
2x 5570
16GB RAM
The other clustered Hyper-V host for MCSA.
R410
1x E5630
8GB RAM
4x 146GB 10k
Currently unused, will get a small boot drive and become Storage for the clustered Hyper-V.
R610
2x X5650
96GB RAM
146GB 10k boot, 1x 500GB SSD VM Storage
"Production" Hyper-V hosting PFSense, AD, Couch/SickRage/Deluge, Plex/PlexPy/Organizr, NextCloud, MediaWiki(s), Grafana, Ombi, GitLab, NGinx reverse proxy, and game servers.
R710
2x E5520
2x8TB WD EMAZ, 4x3TB HGST
24GB RAM
"Production" NAS running StableBit on Windows Server 2016. This was the replacement for my 24-bay whitebox, which unfortunately was just too loud to keep running. I've started slowly replacing the drives with 8TB WD EasyStore shucks as necessary.
** Retired/Unknown **
R610
2x x5550
12GB RAM
Not yet sure what this will be doing. Potentially adding a secondary AD VM or PfSense CARP or maybe a Hyper-V host of IIS and SQL nodes or a hypervisor OTHER than Hyper-V (I can dream)
Whitebox
24 3.5" Bay case of unknown manufacture (craigslist)
i3 7100
32GB RAM
Random remaining assortment of 3.5" SATA drives. 3x 250GB (one of which is bad but haven't determined which yet), 3x 1TB, 4x3TB
My previous NAS box. The power supplies are incredibly loud, and that, in addition to other minor gripes (the power/reset/alarm buttons are tiny and on the back, no IPMI, weird issues with the MB networking and Server 2016) ultimately led to it being migrated/downgraded to my r710. I'll likely end up selling the case or putting it in the storage and re-homing the internals for something (maybe buy a cheap graphics card and do SteamLink streaming from this instead of my desktop).
Planned Tasks:
Get WSUS up
Set up Lidarr
Move my linux ISO acquisition system to Atomic Toolkit
Finally get time to jump back into my MCSA
Learn headless Windows Admin
Once I pull out the whitebox monstrosity, get proper PDU's for the rest of the servers. Possibly re-arrange my rack so my switch is in the back. Then learn how to crimp ethernet.
Get some SQL servers and IIS boxes back up for testing things for my .Net development day job
Spin up a TFS instance for edumacation
Properly set up StableBit cloud drive for backup
Software:
All the above resides on vSphere 6.5 with NSX networking/core routing. Dual Infiniband 40Gbps links for networking/RDMA SRP SAN. 90% of the service above are considered "production" for the lab and are used on a daily basis. A few services are just for testing or POCs for my real job.
Hardware:
This months project: Complete my SCCM deployment to replace WSUS and centralize package and update management. Looking to add some more hardware to the rack so going thru initial design ideas and figuring out network and real estate requirements to double the number of hosts but split the RAM between them. Basically going from 4x 192GB hosts to 12x 96GB hosts.
Next 90 days project:
Hopefully get to the procurement stage of the above, but depends on work schedule and how much free time i get to play.
Jeez, do you have any pics of all that?
I may have missed it, but do you run some sort of dashboard/manager for your game servers or do you handle everything by hand?
For 7 Days, i don't use anything fancy. Just installed as a service and it runs itself basically.
ARK uses the LGSM and its very nice to use. Makes managing mods and backups a breeze.
Minecraft uses a manager as well. Also handy for keeping track of worlds and updates.
How do you handle licensing?