Our Server Rack Tour March 2023

[@sharedknowledge6640]

Fun casual video. It’s nice you keep your own “house” tidy. There’s the old joke about the mechanic’s car is always needing work done and there’s often some truth to that. When you live and breathe something all day long for customers some are tempted to take shortcuts with their own stuff.

[@TheCheshireCat.]

Linus could learn a thing or too from this nice cable management, and a nice video.

[@rpungello]

I sometimes suspect their "cable management" is intentional to generate discussion. The dude could certainly pay someone to do it right, but having it shitty gets people talking about it every time their server room makes an appearance. "Any publicity is good publicity"

[@GameCyborgCh]

@@rpungello to be fair he does tidy it up but since there are always upgrades all of it becomes messy again

[@nid274]

ya... Linus lives in a cable jungle

[@matthewrlynn]

@@rpungello Linus doesn't sell structured cabling services to customers who watch his videos.

[@paulm6447]

@@matthewrlynn no but it may generate engagement in the comments, in the forums, other socials, etc. (i think this is what Rob meant)

[@andymok7945]

Thanks for sharing. Really like how you looped the networking cables to provide slack for when sliding out a system.

[@gotkrypto7626]

Thank you Tom! Do you have any videos on rack cable management? I’d love to see some common dos and don’ts

[@jonathanpisarczyk]

I love the wiring! Looks great.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Thank you!

[@cessna917]

In a lot of your videos you show a lab environment with pfsense...and I'd like to see more details of how you do this. Is it downstream of a switch? Is it on your second WAN? Would be nice to have a test environment for new builds or features without breaking my production network

[@murderbymusic12]

I've been a real believer of keeping as much in house as possible. Until last Tuesday when the roof collapsed on my client/landloards portion of the building and we've been without power and gas since then. We are going on day 8. On the bright side since we have coax internet here and at home I just brought everything home and got the network back online without having to make any DNS changes. But still have massive pain in the ass.

[@prashanthb6521]

How often does a roof collapse ?

[@chrisumali9841]

Thanks for the demo and info, Tom you are Hollywood lol

[@dhill835]

I’d love to see more on the Aruba instant on.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4aVhad6hp6AoKs

[@totolook]

Gavin Belson signature edition ❤

[@TripTVx]

Very cool to see this! Looks great and well organized. Out of curiosity, it didn't seem like you have much redundancy built in (extra switches, no extra PSUs in your servers/storage appliances, only one UPS) - is that something that just isn't a huge concern at your business?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Not really a concern. We are all technical enough to fix things as have spare parts on hard.

[@TripTVx]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS Thanks for the reply!

[@Dreamtwister2k]

Omg I apologize for the silly request but I need whichever screensaver you are running on that left ultrawide monitor. LOL! (And if it's not, it needs to be one!)

[@zeronxepher]

Nice Rack *wink wink*

[@prashanthb6521]

I agree, I have always felt like CLOUD is being hyped up beyond what it is actually useful for. I find CLOUD is not actually cheap, certainly not for my HPC work loads.

[@jrodrigomor_]

nice t-shirt!

[@DesignsbyBlanc]

Please do a video on setting up UniFi AP Radius with Window NPS.

[@b0park]

Didn't see what IPMI you were using in your parts list, got any details on that specifically?

[@samueldeschamps1179]

I’m curious to know how you setup the storage network. In the switch and vlans. Using which protocol.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Simply a storage network, VLAN only defined in UniFi as it does not have any internet access.

[@Max-jv3yg]

Given the single “Data Connection” (orange), are you NOT doing iSCSI multipath?

[@caseysardoss1343]

Not sure if someone asked but where did you get the Gavin Belson sticker on the rack?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

One of my staff 3D printed it

[@iammeyou]

What are those QR code next to the storage assigned NIC? Are they used for inventory purposes or maybe link to some sort of dashboard?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

They are to make it look fancy, but they're actually Rick Rolls 😂

[@drumaddict89]

2:42 no lacp bond? not so good

[@daan6106]

Storage own vlan and ip's then ? Separating storage is always a good idea

[@jimholloway1785]

What are the cases you use for the Rizen 1 and Rizen 2 servers and are they SuperMicro or some other server motherboards? I am looking to get a case to put in a new home built server and have been looking at lots of cases, not sure what I need yet but just looking for good cases and I would assume you have a good case and not a cheap knockoff case.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Full parts list kit.co/lawrencesystems/ryzen-9-xcp-ng-virtualization-server-build-with-25gb

[@jimholloway1785]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS Thank you for the link to all the equipment.

[@HotHammster]

What part of that is optical?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

The connection to the other switches

[@fmslickful]

That was it?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

What more did you want?

[@davkenrem]

I was expecting "Rack Tour to be something completly different. :(

[@SillieWous]

The shirt would be better if it said "My cloud is @ ::1", but that's none of my business.

[@BillyDickson]

Would that not be "My Cloud is @ ::1" when IPv6 is a thing in 2050. 🤣

[@SillieWous]

​@@BillyDickson well, depends on where you live, but some places in the word already have more significantly more ipv6 traffic than ipv4. And extrapolating the google ipv6 statistics, in about 2 years there'll be more ipv6 traffic overall. But you can keep making that joke until you're the legacy person that doesn´t want to change all you want 😉

[@BillyDickson]

@@SillieWousI run IPv6 dual stack on one of my VLANS, at home, I was of course talking about general consumer ISP uptake, which as we're all aware, is still miniscule in almost all countries. Am I wrong in that assessment? I suspect not, but I'm happy to be corrected.

[@SillieWous]

@@BillyDickson You do understand that most traffic to google is not business traffic right?

[@BillyDickson]

@@SillieWous you are aware that most HOME user's don't have a native IPv6 address on their ,home router or any of their devices right? Or knows what an IPv6 address is to start with for that matter. If you don't get the joke, then cool.

[@alexbright7735]

☁ Cloud @ home 127.0.0.1

[@grahamw4580]

Aggravation switches. 🤣

[@perberg107]

First! 😊

[@alexbright7735]

Someone got 7 minutes ago, and you're 6 minutes ago, therefore not first, sorry

[@rlopez551]

Love the service loops and slack for maintenance. Clean and simple, you can't bet that! Excellent example!

[@PLeeA99]

I like that the lab rack aggregation switch is actually named 'aggravation'. I can relate to that! :) @2:18

[@AlexKidd4Fun]

Came here to mention I saw this too. Lol

[@christopherjbutler]

Rack tours are Nerd fuel! I am happy :)

[@johndroyson7921]

Thank you Tom. I'm a visual learner so having these tours helps me understand what I can do to improve my own setup.

[@sebastiantafreshi4379]

how about that cool background you have on the PC behind you - Where can we get some of that

[@newhorizonitsolutions]

Love the colour coding on the cables. I always hate seeing 30 different colors in a rack

[@walt]

What case are you using on the 2 ryzen systems? I've never seen rackmount case with a front window

[@kyleCorbeille]

Thanks Tom! Just putting together my first little home server rack and the tip about cable slack was very helpful! With all the new things I'm trying to figure out right now, that one piece completely slipped my mind until you mentioned it!

[@pealock]

@1:30 the Gavin B signature!!! Yes!!!

[@bobsmith1098]

One thing we're learning in a multi building setup is that we want an NVR local to each set of cameras. Video just eats up bandwidth that should be reserved for other stuff. You'd think that would be obvious, but lots of SLTT government orgs were moving everything heavily into centralized data centers, and we're finding out the hard way some of the costs associated with that....

[@Chris_In_Texas]

I think a good topic would be LAN segmentation. I know many people may have a "guest" type network and the main network, but with higher end equipment comes with the ability to add many more segments. I know it can add complexity in firewall rules, but it can also add layers to security as well. With basically unlimited VLANs how would you segment a typical home or small business network. That way you can keep those cheap IoT devices away from the home PC, or camera network or pesky guests like grandma, where she clicks every email link.

[@ToastyAnswers]

I like it. The cleanliness of the rack almost took my breath away. There are some /r/cableporn elements to it. Have you found that 10Gbps iSCSI is enough for your workload? Also, what is the 45 Drives server running as a storage OS? I've found issues with certain brands not delivering the performance needed for X amount of production workloads.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

I have iSCSI & NFS and 10G is fine for most workloads.

[@SmokingCrop]

That Gavin Belson logo on the rack though xD

[@jackthecracker44]

Lab Rack Aggravation! :D

[@JamfSlayer]

Haha you noticed that too😂

[@terrydennis467]

Freudian slip? 😂 T-shirt available next week

[@Bill_the_Red_Lichtie]

Love the tee-shirt! Ordered one + mug 🙂 Rack is nice too, very professional, exactly what I would expect from you and your team. 👍

[@CayoBuay]

Hey Tom. Love the new intro, great content as always.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Thanks

[@TechySpeaking]

first

[@MrJeffries]

Please you have to Tell me is that a Gavin Belson Signature Edition Magnet? And where did you get it? 😂😂 I can’t. Lol

[@CoolAEW]

I wish I had a dedicated room to my rack so it could rund 24/7 Now it's in my living room so it's only on when I need it or to charge the UPS

[@noranoxica]

Gotta love those thin Monoprice cables

[@LordHog]

If you do cover VLans perhaps you can show how to set them up using pfsense and UniFi switches? Most importantly, please try to use diagrams how everything is setup. Where devices are connected. Etc. I know words are powerful, but having a visual guide is so much more helpful in these cases.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jX7cq2qJi9GlncU

[@81keyholder]

I feel i can safely say " Nice Rack " without a slap across the face :D

[@lilyydotdev]

Your cloud is on loopback? damn bro

[@wbtrap]

Not good idea to move running hdd

[@projktobeats9244]

The cleanest rack of 2023

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Thanks

[@ThalocoVato]

Could you suggest / recomend a decent rackmount vpn, looking to upgrade from my raspberry pi 4. Ty

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Netgate / pfsense.

[@JacksonCampbell]

WAN 4 SFP can be configured to be LAN on the router it looks like?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Yes

[@TheMongolPrime]

I would love to see how you vlan all of your different connections to your servers. I have some homelab servers with IPMI as well, but don't have a great way of segregating things because of how much difficulty I've had with communicating between multiple vlans. Example: Workstation PC being used to manage everything on the network, being able to communicate to my storage server on another subnet/vlan. I can allow a single IP in the pfsense firewall, but if I ever need to do something on my phone or different device, it's annoying.

[@JustinShaedo]

There's something wrong with me that I just spent time simply admiring the cable management. Probably not alone though...

[@justinmann29]

I hope to have my home servers setup neatly and professionally like this. Raspberry Pi buried in a rats nest of cables under my desk, computers shoved under other desks and crammed into corners…its functional but ugly.

[@tygi]

Is your UPS just for the 45drives server?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Nope, it's for the entire rack

[@nickmatese1394]

Where can the video / application you have playing on your monitor in the background be found.

[@dudeh9702]

Thanks for the tour! Interesting the routers and switches are on the back instead of front. I like the multiple patch panels idea.

[@NeilHyndman]

EXCELLENT video! Thank you for doing it.

[@Andy-185]

"Aggravation" switch? I've dealt with a few of those, too! 🙂

[@nicholasmistry4954]

What case do you use for your ryzen servers?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

kit.co/lawrencesystems/ryzen-9-xcp-ng-virtualization-server-build-with-25gb

[@chiragshroff610]

is it powered by 120v or 240v?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

120

[@yougotkevin]

Thanks as always Tom - Look forward to seeing what you have next.

[@venjsystems]

"Lab Aggravation"... LOL

[@adancalderon8915]

I like the cloud shirt

[@Vijaythalapathy28]

Thank you Tom for this. Loved it

[@esheldon76]

Hey Tom, what monitor are you using in the background of your main studio?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

amzn.to/3T2rDZr

[@esheldon76]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS okay, found the monitor. Looks great! I use a SurfaceBook 3. I'm trying to find a good dock, cable, adapter to connect everything. What would you recommend? Really want this to shine, as it'll be my main monitor for me. Or would you recommend two 4k 27"? I don't game any more, so not needing that.

[@initialb123]

great tips :)

[@strausstechnik1896]

Nice!

[@udirt]

please for the love of ... don't have a non-redundant storage uplink. if you want it really on a bargain, you can grab older EMC/Brocade 1860-2 cards which can be set to 10g or 16g fc, but likely the best choice would be some solarflare cards. wtih some luck, xcp-ng might have a hidden feature or two to discover with these.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Why?

[@bartgrefte]

Can you do a video about comparing your experiences with Aruba (cloud + local management) versus Ubiquiti?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Aruba cloud just does the basic such as setting WiFI, Vlan, monitoring via their ugly menus and can not be self hosted. Not much more to compare.

[@Cary_mac]

Are those Ryzen servers hosted in Rosewill RSV-4100u cases? If so what’re you using for rails or are they not on them?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

No rails on them, just did not feel they were needed.

[@mikeomalleymike]

Love your studio do you have a build video or tour? I want to update my office and would like to setup something similar. Again looks great!

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

here is my studio, but it's separate from my business building kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJishWxsns6IbZI

[@HisLoveArmy]

Is the 45 Drives setup as a SAN for the VMs? If so you worried about not have a second 1 for redundancy?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Yes it is and if it dies we will fix it. There are constant backups running so I don't really worry about data loss

[@McBomber711]

Hey Tom, are you running the management interface for the xcpng hosts off the 25g or the 1g? Thanks!

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

25G

[@onfiya]

Love your rack, looks great ^_^ Would love to hear more about VXLAN's, or other kinds of multi-tenant segmentation.

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Our setup does not use VXLAN just VLANS

[@mannins79]

Great video as usual! Can you make a review of the Verkada CCTV systems please?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

We don't use Verkada CCTV and don't have any plans to.

[@burnnode]

Very clean and well laid out setup. Glad to see you have a Gavin Belson approved rack! 😂

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Gavin Belson Signature edition!

[@joshpaetz495]

What patch cables are you using?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

kit.co/lawrencesystems/home-lab-or-office-rack-build/6359941-monoprice-slimrun-ca

[@paulvancyber1979]

Mate what is the model of the case of the ryzen servers?

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

kit.co/lawrencesystems/ryzen-9-xcp-ng-virtualization-server-build-with-25gb

[@paulvancyber1979]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS thanks!!!

[@shephusted2714]

no clustering or real redundancy here

[@LAWRENCESYSTEMS]

Yup, not needed therefore no implemented.

[@shephusted2714]

@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS you don't have mission critical business systems therefore unneeded

[@ejbully]

I learned linux in less than a year. Pfsense I am moderately confident in my skills to layout/build a network per spec. I would rather work for Tom remote and for a base "training pay" than take a job with a large employee base - because I want to move onto mastering this platform. Only certs/ tls / vlan segmentation I am stuck on for the moment... then looking forward to cli mgmt of the firewall vs gui or console.... Tom, from the bottom of my true -core- scale heart : THANK YOU. 🍻 Valuable content within this channel to get anyones' feet wet and then some... 👍

[@roharbaconmoo]

I wouldn't be too proud of this