Network and Office Tour 2024

[@bcm50]

Love it! Reminds me of my setup when I was first starting out

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I'm glad you liked the video; thanks for watching! I've been adding to and improving the setup for a while. I started out with a single Dell OptiPlex "server" and a firewall sitting on the floor. I've come a long way since then and still have a long way to go!

[@andymorris3250]

Sophos Firewall running Proxmox...Interesting and awesome!! What are the specs of the firewall?

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Yeah, it is fun to use things in ways other than which they were intended. I can't remember exactly, but I think it is a 4 core Intel CPU and it came with 4 GB of RAM and now has 8 GB I think. It is just a regular PC inside and you can put pretty much anything on there that you could put on a regular PC.

[@leo_craft1]

I hate sophos

[@DJRhinofart]

OMG I would love the xServes with their rack rails! I hear ya about the Sophos. I ran UTM for many years. Since back when they were Astaro, but I did migrate over to XG back in version 16.5, and yes it was a learning curve, but since then I've learned the interface and gotten way better with it, and I really do like it. I managed to get ESXi 6.5 running on my xServe 2,1 It was easier to get running than my MacMini server was. Also, what are those 2 Sophos devices in the top left rack? It looks like an HA Pair of UTMs?

[@G6TechnologyServices]

The Xserves are pretty cool. I’m the second owner. I got them directly from the first owner who I used to work for, so I know they had been taken care of. I’ve used UTM since back when they were Astaro also, around 2008 or so. I have always liked Astaro and I was not happy to hear of the Sophos buyout. I wonder what the original Astaro team would have come out with by now if Sophos hadn’t come along. Oh well. I’ve tried XG a few times, but didn’t stick with it long enough to get used to it. Just messing around with it as a VM. I know a few people who switched to XG from UTM and are liking it, but I guess I’m just bitter about being forced to make a change by the EOL announcement. I don’t like when perfectly good products are killed off. I’ll have to try that version of ESXi on the Xserve. I don’t remember how far back I went. I think they are both SG 425 boxes. They are both the same model and were running UTM 9 in an HA cluster before being decommissioned. They are now wiped and running Proxmox in a cluster. I think one of them still has the orange Astaro rack ears on it if I remember correctly.

[@Hatch3dLabs]

I just bought my 2nd Dell R720 servers for $120 shipped. Love the older Dell servers.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Congrats! I like them too!

[@JasonsLabVideos]

Nice vid ! Keep em coming !

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks! Will do!

[@DiyintheGhetto]

I use to use exsi. Then I switched fully to proxmox myself. I love the interface and web kvm much more. What are the model of the two sophos on the left rack there?

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I think they are SG 425 boxes. They are both the same model and they were running UTM 9 and were part of an HA cluster before being wiped.

[@DiyintheGhetto]

@@G6TechnologyServices Not using proxmox no more or or Switching to proxmox on th UTM9?

[@G6TechnologyServices]

The 2 Sophos boxes are both running Proxmox now. I’m letting a friend use them and that’s what he wants on them. I use ESXi on Dell servers for my operations. I’ve never used Proxmox before, but from what I’ve seen so far, I like ESXi better. I am just running the free license, so I’m missing out on some of the nice features of vSphere. Maybe I’ll end up liking Proxmox. I’m happy with ESXi for now though.

[@STLMetroSirensMain]

What PBX system are you running? I assume Cisco UCM?

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I’m actually running FreePBX with the chan_sccp plugin. It was a bit difficult to get working, but it’s been stable since then. Wouldn’t recommend for a large production environment, but it works for my shop.

[@STLMetroSirensMain]

@@G6TechnologyServices Oh I see, I am too haha.

[@skmer4704]

what size is your rack cabinet?

[@G6TechnologyServices]

They are both 42U.

[@VioletDragonsProjects]

ouch. no redundancy at all, don't run pfSense on a VM it adds more complexity not only that security risks too.

[@JediObiDave]

Nice Tube Monitors so old school. haha

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Yeah, I wish I’d’ve kept a few that I owned in the past instead of getting rid of them.

[@guytech7310]

Sort of a waste for a small office. You can get that down to a pair of vm hosts (ie ESXi, Proxmox). You can run TrueNAS as a VM. For switches I have a pair of Cisco 3700 series with PoE for IP cameras & phones. I have two servers, one is a linux for firewall, DNS, smtp gateway, DHCP, Asterisk (VOIP), VPN, ssh. The other is a ESXi host with everything else: TrueNAS, Windows VMs (AD, MS-SQL, various WinApps), Linux using Bluecherry DVR for IP camera (Better than Blue Iris - Far less CPU\memory hog), Linux Webserver, Linux SQL server (MariaDB). Between the two servers, They use about 200watts, The switches are about 200-250W because of all the PoE IP cameras & phones. I would guess your setup is probably using around 1000+ watts.

[@kristopherleslie8343]

From a budget perspective I suggest 1 server and 1 hot spare. But really you should have 3-4 servers no more for something this small.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks for the input. I'm just having fun. Not trying to have the most efficient setup. Just using what I have. I got most of that equipment for free. I'm going to consolidate some things eventually to get rid of the desktop hardware and move to only rack servers.

[@kristopherleslie8343]

@@G6TechnologyServices makes sense just know micro PCs are basically replacing servers for home labs

[@shephusted2714]

opnsense has better driver support plus much better licensing - you look ripe for some consolidation and full move to remote

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Thanks for the input! I'll check that out.

[@TVJAY]

I lost some stuff to water....never fun. Also pfsense is the best!

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Yeah, it wasn't fun. I lost a Dell server and an HP switch. I wasn't happy at all. I'm looking forward to trying pfSense! I hear a lot of good things about it.

[@TVJAY]

@@G6TechnologyServices I just did a live stream about pfSense (I am a fellow KZbinr)

[@kristopherleslie8343]

Whatever you do don’t let anyone from OSHA see this video.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Haha I'm exempt, but yeah, I could stand to clean up and organize a bit. I recently moved out of a larger space and had to hastily move a bunch of stuff into that room and didn't have time to organize. I'll have an organizing party someday and get it ship shape. 👍

[@kristopherleslie8343]

Lot of stuff needs to be discarded it’s EOL

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I know it is all old. That's why I have it. Got most of it for free!

[@bentheguru4986]

Hate to be blunt but I see a lot of hoarding junk and old gear including in the racks.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

Yes

[@ZippyDooDa435]

Get rid of the old equipment, no point in hoarding it.

[@G6TechnologyServices]

I might need it.

[@leo_craft1]

This is way too much exposed