How it Started, vs how it's going.
How it Started, vs how it's going.
On the left, my first 'proper' rack. Specs - Router - Cisco 887VAMW Unmanaged Netgear switch Two laptops (Asus X550Jk and HP Pavillion DV6) both running proxmox which has Pihole, Nextcloud, Bitwarden, Roundcube webmail and Nginx proxy server. Both laptops have their batteries removed to avoid them swelling too much. A Phillips Hue hub and TP Link Deco M5 router at the bottom. On top is a mishmash of leftover parts which is currently running TrueNas and Jellyfin. This is going to eventually replace the D-Link sharecentre hidden in the back. Specs of the pc on top - CPU - AMD FX 6100 (An older model but still has it where it counts) RAM - 8Gb DDR3 (Plans to upgrade it to 16Gb at some point) GPU - GeForce GT 710 (Honestly just there so I can get an ouput) Storage 2x 1Tb WD Red drives (With plans to add 2x 4tb WD Red Drives from Sharecentre)
On the right is the mess that is yet to be fixed. On the top shelf is a selection of cisco switches and routers which are being used as a lab for me doing my CCNA (Hence the mess there). On the bottom is the same Lack rack as on the left just with slightly different components. Specs - Router - Cisco 887VAMW Switch - Some managed Netgear switch from 2004 (It's on it's way out and will be replaced very soon) First Dell Poweredge R420, with two Xeon E5-2403, 80Gb RAM and about 3Tb of Storage. This is my new Proxmox host. Second Dell Poweredge R420 with a single Xeon E5-2403, 64Gb RAM and 7Tb Storage running TrueNas. On top is an old AMD Bulldozer machine I only use for ripping and encoding DVD files.
After and before!
Oh no the left picture is the before... Its gone downhill in terms of the mess
Good luck on your CCNA! That's where I started my journey many years ago and I will never regret it.
This is actually my second foray into IT work. I went to college for software development, failed that, went to work as a printer technician, left that, went into retail and now I am here. Thanks!
Hey that's a pretty good setup! It's a lot better than mine! LOL.
Honestly, I just got lucky with a lot of the hardware. The two Dell servers cost a total of about £140, and I got three for that money. Sadly one needs a new motherboard but the rest of the hardware works fine
For anyone who is interested on the software I'm running through my proxmox server -
- A fan controller for the two Dell Poweredge servers
- NGINX Reverse Proxy
- Nextcloud
- iRedAdmin and Roundcube Webmail
- Vaultwarden
- Jellyfin
- Windows 7 (For development purposes, not always on)
- Guacamole
- Frigate NVR
- Foundry
- An ubuntu server purely to access the camera apps as they and the camera are all completely separated from the rest of my network
- Mosquito MQTT
- Home Assistant
- pfSense (For the camera network)
- Second Pihole Server
- Prism photos
- Deepstack
- and three lab pcs for the CCNA-
Apologies Mods I just realised this might fit better in a homelab community, please remove if it is not suitable
Network engineer here, good luck on your CCNA! It's a good first step but dont be surprised if your first environment looks nothing like what you expected based on the lab environments.
They're all "in theory" and in reality... Well let's just say "technical debt" doesn't only apply to software development.
After my first job as a printer technician I can believe some of the horrors to expect. Training on a nice shiny new printer vs one that had been installed upside down, backwards and whilst drunk...20 years ago haha