Post Your Lab (PICS)

geek4god

R-Legend wrote: »

Not rich just added piece by piece. Just finished my LAB (top to bottom)
1760 (Home router; Wic-1ADSL ; Wic-4ESW)
NAS (white box)
1760 (Spare home router; Wic-1DSU56k; Wic-2a/s)
2610xm (160d/48f ; Wic-2a/s)
2610xm (160d/48f ; Wic-2a/s)
2610xm (160d/48f ; Wic-2a/s)
2651 (128d/32f ; NM-4a/s) (Frame Relay)
2610 (64d/16f ; NM-4a/s) (Soon to be a terminal server)
(2) 2950t Switches

What are you using the Wic-4ESW for?

R-Legend

geek4god wrote: »

What are you using the Wic-4ESW for?

The Wic-4ESW is a 4 port switch, that I have my Server, Nas, and two laptops connected to.

spiderjericho

I have a Skeletek rack also with 11 routers, six switches and a 4U rackmount server. What UPS or rack-mount power strips do you recommend?

ZeroHunter

spiderjericho wrote: »

I have a Skeletek rack also with 11 routers, six switches and a 4U rackmount server. What UPS or rack-mount power strips do you recommend?

I personally have gotten all my UPS's from CraigsList or eBay, CL is of course better as no shipping, cause those things are HEAVY. I have never paid more then 100.oo for one, and I have 4 now!

APC is the most standardized, and therefore the most common.

I personally like CyberPower, you don't see many of those on CL but they are all over eBay and you can get a deal on them. I would say get something with a minimum of 1500 Watts (2k being better if you are going to run everything at the same time).

As to power Strip, I personally have an APC Rack Basics unit (well 2 one in each rack) but its not really going to matter get whatever you can find a deal on. Only thing to consider is do you want a power switch on it or not. I chose the 'not' model cheaper and the UPS has a power switch.

I will post some updated photos, soon, I have a CyberPower 1U UPS running the Webserver, A trippLite 2U running the rest of the servers in the Server Rack, a ONEAC 2U unit in the Cisco Lab Rack, & an APC XS1500 running the workstations.

I would not recommend the ONEAC unit, but all the others are great.

CyberNBD

BroadcastStorm wrote: »

@ CyberNBD that's a sweet lab you got in there bud, I maxed out my 24U rack, I will take a pix one of this days, I am planning getting a full 48U rack, I think I will eventually max it out, are those 4500 or 6500?

Don't you have to space those switches apart? the 3 3550 I have has a fan underneath it.

Thanks

The big ones are 4006 chassis with 4500 SUP and GB blades (most 4500 modules are compatible with the 4006, but not with the 4003).
I have a third one sitting at storage. Currently wondering if I should use it as the core switch for my home network (and throw the HP 2824 out since it only supports basic routing which is quite hard when connecting some networks together through VPN).

3550 Switches don't have fans underneath? 2600 series routers have, but they have a raised bottom plate where the fan's reside so air can travel through even when they are on top of each other.

Seem to recognize the maxing-out racks issue. Just closed a deal on some Dell PE2950's + MD1000 disk array for a new VMWare setup . This wil eventually replace the current LAB- and some "production" servers.

CyberNBD

spiderjericho wrote: »

I have a Skeletek rack also with 11 routers, six switches and a 4U rackmount server. What UPS or rack-mount power strips do you recommend?

Agree with ZeroHunter.
APC will always be fine, but check the battery status or replace them if you buy off ebay or something. I usually buy quite recent chassis (the black ones) with worn-out or non working battery's and replace those with new ones. There are some vendors on ebay which sell good quality replacements for reasonable prices.

Regarding the strips if you want to switch you can combine the APC 8-port 1Unit switches with the regular cheap rackmount powerstrips so you can switch groups of devices.

spiderjericho

Yeah, I looked on Big River/Amazon and yowza on the brand-new UPS. I think I might just get the powerstrips for right now.

millworx

So here is a pic of my lab at work (this is just in my building) It's probably about 150 rows long. Total square feet is probably about 20,000 sq ft. of racks. All for engineers to test equipment, this is not a production environment. I've also included shots of my rack that I use in the datacenter to playing around.

ITdude

Pretty cool! I hope the out of focus quality on the pix was your camera and not my eyes going from too much reading!

Monkerz

Found this, thought I would share. I would be ashamed to work here.

mikej412

Monkerz wrote: »

Found this, thought I would share.

I wish people would stop reposting pictures of my home lab basement data center. That's an old picture and I've cleaned things up a bit.







Just kidding -- I haven't cleaned it up.

TheShadow

Monkerz wrote: »

Found this, thought I would share.

Management must admire the Borg. Feral cats can stop the rats from nesting in there. I only have one cat; since we don't have basements out here my lab has not grown to meet my expectations. Mikej412 on the other hand has a few cats I believe, and a growing lab.

bertieb

mikej412 wrote: »

I wish people would stop reposting pictures of my home lab basement data center. That's an old picture and I've cleaned things up a bit.
Just kidding -- I haven't cleaned it up.

Who are you kidding? Your basement DC is faaaarrrrrrrr larger than that

pitviper

mikej412 wrote: »

I wish people would stop reposting pictures of my home lab basement data center.

Basement data center, or bedroom? :P

captobvious

2620 w NM 16A - Terminal Server
2950T
2950T
3550-24PWR-EMI
2950T
2950T
3550-48-SMI
2620XM
2621XM
2611XM
2611XM
2611XM
2620 w NM 8A/S - Frame Switch
CyberPower CPS-1215RMS
(3) 3640

All Routers max memory
Various WICs and NM modules

okplaya

captobvious wrote: »

2620 w NM 16A - Terminal Server
2950T
2950T
3550-24PWR-EMI
2950T
2950T
3550-48-SMI
2620XM
2621XM
2611XM
2611XM
2611XM
2620 w NM 8A/S - Frame Switch
CyberPower CPS-1215RMS
(3) 3640

All Routers max memory
Various WICs and NM modules

Very nice! You put my lab to shame lol

Android FTW

Patel128

Not the best picture of my in the works lab because I took it with my phone. This is what i have done with my lab as of now. I just got in the rack a few days ago, so now i have to go back and rewire everything.

Equipment:
(3) 2610XMs with WIC-2T and WIC-1DSU-T1
(1) 2620XM with WIC-2T and WIC-1DSU-T1
(1) 2611 with NM-4A/S
(3) 2950 EI
(1) AS2509 RJ

Jas21

racking question - are you guys router 'innys' or 'outies'?

(back of router at the back, or the front?)

ZeroHunter

Jas21 wrote: »

racking question - are you guys router 'innys' or 'outies'?

(back of router at the back, or the front?)

I did 'inny' purely for cosmetic reasons and compensated for it by a patch panel in the front for the LAN connections and an Console Server for the Console Connections, Yes I still have to turn the rack around for the WIC Connections but that is not that often.





Patel128 & CaptObvious those are some sweet rack setups!

Patel128

Jas21 wrote: »

racking question - are you guys router 'innys' or 'outies'?

(back of router at the back, or the front?)

I also did innys just for looks.

@ZeroHunter
Thanks! Yours looks freaking amazing. Question though. What is the device at the very bottom of your rack that is showing 55?

Excellent1

Patel128 wrote: »

I also did innys just for looks.

@ZeroHunter
Thanks! Yours looks freaking amazing. Question though. What is the device at the very bottom of your rack that is showing 55?

That's his flux capacitor. He wasn't quite to 88 yet, which is why the blinds directly behind it were not yet on fire. It happened moments after this picture was taken. Let's have a moment of silence for the carpet.

ZeroHunter

Patel128 wrote: »

I also did innys just for looks.

@ZeroHunter
Thanks! Yours looks freaking amazing. Question though. What is the device at the very bottom of your rack that is showing 55?

An ONEAC UPS / Line Conditioner, it works fine, but I would never suggest it to anyone, its Heavy as all get out, LOUD LOUD LOUD, its backup time is not that great, communication interfacing is weird.

Only pluses are I got it cheap and it uses a pretty standard battery so replacement batteries are not expansive, if I was to suggest something I would suggest CyberPower their customer service is second to none, and if you jest want the standard it works with everything then get APC.

Also the 55 is % of duty cycle, so with all my Cisco Rack units running I am at 55% of the capacity of the UPS

Patel128

Excellent1 wrote: »

That's his flux capacitor. He wasn't quite to 88 yet, which is why the blinds directly behind it were not yet on fire. It happened moments after this picture was taken. Let's have a moment of silence for the carpet.

With the way his setup looks and how clean and full it is I think that it is his flux. Now the real question is where did you get the plutonium from?

A another question that is on topic. Does everyone crimp their own Ethernet cables or do yall see buying them to be just a heck of a lot easier. I crimp my own cables. I got a box of 500 ft cabling for about 45$ shipped, and I bought the 200 ends and end boots for like 10$ shipped. It saves a good chunk of money, but I am terrible right now at crimping (with practice I will get better, but dang I waste more and more ends every time).

jmc012

I always liked this picture.

jmc012

Patel128 wrote: »

With the way his setup looks and how clean and full it is I think that it is his flux. Now the real question is where did you get the plutonium from?

A another question that is on topic. Does everyone crimp their own Ethernet cables or do yall see buying them to be just a heck of a lot easier. I crimp my own cables. I got a box of 500 ft cabling for about 45$ shipped, and I bought the 200 ends and end boots for like 10$ shipped. It saves a good chunk of money, but I am terrible right now at crimping (with practice I will get better, but dang I waste more and more ends every time).

I hardly ever use pre-made cables, mainly because they are never the right length. Try using the feed through RJ-45's, the individual wires go all the way through the connection and stick out the front and are cut off when you crimp the connection. It makes it easy to check your color code before crimping, I haven't made a bad connection in a year. Another useful tip is to unwrap the wire about one wrap and then stick a small screwdriver in between and pull, it will un-wrap the pair and the wire will be perfectly straight.

Patel128

jmc012 wrote: »

I hardly ever use pre-made cables, mainly because they are never the right length. Try using the feed through RJ-45's, the individual wires go all the way through the connection and stick out the front and are cut off when you crimp the connection. It makes it easy to check your color code before crimping, I haven't made a bad connection in a year. Another useful tip is to unwrap the wire about one wrap and then stick a small screwdriver in between and pull, it will un-wrap the pair and the wire will be perfectly straight.

Oh wow i have not seen those kinds of connectors. I will def buy them and not use the ones I have now. Thanks for the tip

Edit:
I looked on eBay for the connectors. Is it called EZ-RJ45? And if so can i use the normal rj-45 crimping tool i have now or do I need one that is make for EZ-RJ45? Thanks

ZeroHunter

Patel128 wrote: »

With the way his setup looks and how clean and full it is I think that it is his flux. Now the real question is where did you get the plutonium from?

A another question that is on topic. Does everyone crimp their own Ethernet cables or do yall see buying them to be just a heck of a lot easier. I crimp my own cables. I got a box of 500 ft cabling for about 45$ shipped, and I bought the 200 ends and end boots for like 10$ shipped. It saves a good chunk of money, but I am terrible right now at crimping (with practice I will get better, but dang I waste more and more ends every time).

I got a source for the Plutonium ( eBay where else)!

I usually buy 100ft lengths of Cat5e off an eBay seller out of California and then cut that to make the custom lengths that I want, I find I get good quality cable cheap and get two ends/boots for free outta the deal.

Not the really short cables you see on the front the green and read ones, those I bought pre-built again eBay like are like a buck each. And well worth it for the effort it takes to make the shorter cables.

jmc012

Patel128 wrote: »

Oh wow i have not seen those kinds of connectors. I will def buy them and not use the ones I have now. Thanks for the tip

Edit:
I looked on eBay for the connectors. Is it called EZ-RJ45? And if so can i use the normal rj-45 crimping tool i have now or do I need one that is make for EZ-RJ45? Thanks

That's it, EZ, you do need different crimper that has a blade on the end to cut the wires off. I think they cost about $40. Worth it though if you put many connections on!! You will be an expert in no time with those connections.

mikej412

The EZ-RJ45s and crimper has cut down on my failed cable attempts.... but I'm still a strong believer in buying pre-made cables in bulk for my home lab.

nerdydad

After seeing some of these pictures I feel unworthy, but I am still proud of what I have built so far, pardon the mess.

3 x 1721
2 x 2950
1 x 3550
1 x 2509
1 x 2008 server running 3 xp virtual machines as PC1, PC2 & PC3

I am in the final stretch to my CCNA at the University of Cincinnati, which is a Netacad facility.

Thanks to everyone here for all your help.