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Home Lab / Pen Lab Setup Chat
Hi all.
Recently a local software company was purchased by a datacenter, so to my fortune, they were pretty much gutting and selling off their old equipment. Granted, some of it was old, but functional and only sat in one room for 10 years.
Here's what I have so far:
1x - Dell 2650, 2x Intel Xeon 3.0G Ghz 5x 300 GB SCSI / 12 GB RAM - $100
1x - Dell 2950, 2x Intel Xeon 2.33 Ghz 5x 300 GB SCSI / 32 GB RAM - $125
1x - Western Digital MyCloud EX4 NAS (8TB) - $350.
Initially I was considering building a cloud lab, but I do like the idea of managing and using my own equipment, and I found this stuff cheap enough to justify the spend. I also bout 3 routers, but I'm going to hold off on setting those up until I get the initial setup configured. Its a slow moving project (wife and kids, WGU, Work, etc).
My plan is to put ESXi 6 on each server and dedicate 1 to Linux hosts, and the other Windows. But these things are a freakin loud and hot. I don't mind the noise so much as I've been able to install them on a shelf in a utility closet. I live close to a freeway so most of the noise gets drowned out. Heat is another issue.
My workaround idea for the heat is to only spin them up when I need them. I intend to most make use of them during lunch hours at work, where I hope to VPN into the network for my experiments. My roadblock right now is remote management / remote boot. Each server has the Dell iDRAC capability, but looks like it was designed 20 years ago. I can only get into one of the machine remote via iDRAC on IE only with Java, and even then that only works 50% of the time.
Does anyone have any suggestions for modern remote management addon cards, or a remote power strip that I can power things on/off from my cell phone?
Because of the heat, I will keep them off except during test times, so remote boot is essential. I need to be able to totally power them off when done, otherwise I'll be looking at at $500/mo electric bill. I'm only using 1 of the dual power supplies in each to save energy and noise. Availability is not my real concern.
Eventually I'll put this lab behind its own FW/Router, but until I make sure my remote boot is working, that's on the backburner.
Any suggestions on this remote management issue are greatly appreciated.
Recently a local software company was purchased by a datacenter, so to my fortune, they were pretty much gutting and selling off their old equipment. Granted, some of it was old, but functional and only sat in one room for 10 years.
Here's what I have so far:
1x - Dell 2650, 2x Intel Xeon 3.0G Ghz 5x 300 GB SCSI / 12 GB RAM - $100
1x - Dell 2950, 2x Intel Xeon 2.33 Ghz 5x 300 GB SCSI / 32 GB RAM - $125
1x - Western Digital MyCloud EX4 NAS (8TB) - $350.
Initially I was considering building a cloud lab, but I do like the idea of managing and using my own equipment, and I found this stuff cheap enough to justify the spend. I also bout 3 routers, but I'm going to hold off on setting those up until I get the initial setup configured. Its a slow moving project (wife and kids, WGU, Work, etc).
My plan is to put ESXi 6 on each server and dedicate 1 to Linux hosts, and the other Windows. But these things are a freakin loud and hot. I don't mind the noise so much as I've been able to install them on a shelf in a utility closet. I live close to a freeway so most of the noise gets drowned out. Heat is another issue.
My workaround idea for the heat is to only spin them up when I need them. I intend to most make use of them during lunch hours at work, where I hope to VPN into the network for my experiments. My roadblock right now is remote management / remote boot. Each server has the Dell iDRAC capability, but looks like it was designed 20 years ago. I can only get into one of the machine remote via iDRAC on IE only with Java, and even then that only works 50% of the time.
Does anyone have any suggestions for modern remote management addon cards, or a remote power strip that I can power things on/off from my cell phone?
Because of the heat, I will keep them off except during test times, so remote boot is essential. I need to be able to totally power them off when done, otherwise I'll be looking at at $500/mo electric bill. I'm only using 1 of the dual power supplies in each to save energy and noise. Availability is not my real concern.
Eventually I'll put this lab behind its own FW/Router, but until I make sure my remote boot is working, that's on the backburner.
Any suggestions on this remote management issue are greatly appreciated.
浪人 MSISA:WGU
ICP-FDO ▪ CISSP ▪ ECES ▪ CHFI ▪ CNDA ▪ CEH ▪ MCSA/MCITP ▪ MCTS ▪ S+
2020 Level Up Goals: (1) DevSecOps Learning Path (2) OSCP
ICP-FDO ▪ CISSP ▪ ECES ▪ CHFI ▪ CNDA ▪ CEH ▪ MCSA/MCITP ▪ MCTS ▪ S+
2020 Level Up Goals: (1) DevSecOps Learning Path (2) OSCP
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TechGromit
Member Posts: 2,156 ■■■■■■■■■□
My suggestion would be get a Old APC 1500 UPS, you can remotely switch the outlets on and off. You should be able to pick up a older unit with worn out batteries for around $100, make sure you get something that has the remote management interface card. Your not using it for the backup power, but for managing the outlets remotely. I believe some of the higher end models allow you to control outlet groups, but the lower end units, the power outlets are either all on or all off.Still searching for the corner in a round room.