Post Your Lab (PICS)

Hey Everyone,
I couldn't find any other thread similar to this after searching for a while, so I wanted to get one going. It would be great if everyone could post pictures of their current home or work lab (Big or Small). Hopefully we can get the CCNP/CCIE folks to post in here as well.

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Comments

tiersten

I'm more concerned about the state of your hearing with that lot buzzing away behind you

Jollycork

while having my lab up almost 24/7, the wife complained the electric bill went up $25USD to $30USD per month....and I don't have half of what you have...

Maybe a diesel generator?

Awsome lab!

CyberNBD

phoeneous wrote: »

What's that grey panel on the wall? AC outlet?

Indeed Belgian style

Jollycork wrote: »

while having my lab up almost 24/7, the wife complained the electric bill went up $25USD to $30USD per month....and I don't have half of what you have...

Maybe a diesel generator?

Awsome lab!

Thanks!
Luckily for my electricity bill I don't have the lab running 24/7. Only the two left-side racks excluding the VMware server in the second rack are running 24/7 since those devices are part of my home network. The rest I only switch on when I need it. I'm using the IP 7970 phone on my desk, which can control the APC PDU's, for that

zerglings

simply wrote: »

Noticed you have CCDA, CCNP, but you don't list CCNA... You had to get CCNA before getting CCNP or CCDA correct?

chmorin wrote: »

The CCNA is a pre-req for the CCNP, but it is not for the CCDA. Alot of people don't list previous certifications in the path because they are implied.

What he said...

bertieb wrote: »

Nice lab zerglings btw

Thanks.

mgeorge wrote: »

I just updated my lab folks ^_^ Figured i 'd post a picture. Added three 2811's

Nice! Wish I had more money to spare so I could've gotten 2811s instead of 2801s. Though, 2801s will serve my needs.

chmorin

My company does not even invest in 7970's XD I DREAM of being able to get them in my lab. Very nice, sir.

pitviper

CyberNBD wrote: »

I'm using the IP 7970 phone on my desk, which can control the APC PDU's, for that

Please expound on this - You've got my attention

CyberNBD

pitviper wrote: »

Please expound on this - You've got my attention

It's quite simple.

Each menu item points to a PHP script.
These scripts execute snmpset command(s) followed by an snmpget command. The snmpset is used to switch te port, the snmpget is used to display the new state of the switched port(s) for verification.

There is also one script called status. This includes snmpget commands for all ports that can be switched through the IP phone. That's what's displayed on the second picture.

jason_lunde

CyberNBD wrote: »

It's quite simple.

Each menu item points to a PHP script.
These scripts execute snmpset command(s) followed by an snmpget command. The snmpset is used to switch te port, the snmpget is used to display the new state of the switched port(s) for verification.

There is also one script called status. This includes snmpget commands for all ports that can be switched through the IP phone. That's what's displayed on the second picture.

That is one of the coolest things I have seen to date. How do you integrate the phone with the php script, or how is integration done (if its not to much info)? BTW, badass lab man, simply badass.

pitviper

CyberNBD wrote: »

It's quite simple.

Each menu item points to a PHP script.
These scripts execute snmpset command(s) followed by an snmpget command. The snmpset is used to switch te port, the snmpget is used to display the new state of the switched port(s) for verification.

There is also one script called status. This includes snmpget commands for all ports that can be switched through the IP phone. That's what's displayed on the second picture.

AMAZING! I wonder if it would work with a couple of APC 7901s

Love the lab btw!

CyberNBD

jason_lunde wrote: »

That is one of the coolest things I have seen to date. How do you integrate the phone with the php script, or how is integration done (if its not to much info)? BTW, badass lab man, simply badass.

This can be done through the services button of the phone. You can point the services URL to a web server and make the menu's by creating XML files.

Snippet of the PDU control menu XML file:

<CiscoIPPhoneMenu>
<Title>PDU Control</Title>
<Prompt>Select Object</Prompt>

<MenuItem>
<Name>3 LAB On</Name>
<URL>http://10.0.0.201/APC/labon.php</URL>
</MenuItem>

<MenuItem>
<Name>4 LAB Off</Name>
<URL>http://10.0.0.201/APC/laboff.php</URL>
</MenuItem>

<MenuItem>
<Name>5 VMWare On</Name>
<URL>http://10.0.0.201/APC/vmon.php</URL>
</MenuItem>

<MenuItem>
<Name>6 VMWare Off</Name>
<URL>http://10.0.0.201/APC/vmoff.php</URL>
</MenuItem>

<MenuItem>
<Name>Status</Name>
<URL>http://10.0.0.201/APC/status.php</URL>
</MenuItem>
</CiscoIPPhoneMenu>

I'm in the process of creating a blog (maybeye with some (free) lab rack rentals, although I'm struggling with the frontend part of the scheduling at the moment). When it 's finished I will make a blog post concerning the set-up of this APC control functionality.

pitviper wrote: »

AMAZING! I wonder if it would work with a couple of APC 7901s

Love the lab btw!

Thanks

APC 7901 should be no problem. It's the same as the 7921 only 120V instead of 230V. Basically you can control anything that accepts SNMP SET commands.

Hypntick

SUBnet192 wrote: »

Here's my sort of current lab...

2 VMware ESXi servers

What are the specs on those ESXi servers? Been looking into building something like that for myself and not sure if I want to do pre-built or not. Thanks.

snoopgst

That's my lab for now. Working on snmpv3 and NCM.

lab.jpg

lwwarner

My current batch of toys:
(click pic for hi-res image)

pitviper

CyberNBD wrote: »

I'm in the process of creating a blog (maybeye with some (free) lab rack rentals, although I'm struggling with the frontend part of the scheduling at the moment). When it 's finished I will make a blog post concerning the set-up of this APC control functionality.

Sweet - I'm going to play around with SNMP on the APC AP7901s a little bit. I've had them sitting here for months, just been too busy to track down a console cable to factory reset them. Took care of that last week; One of these days I'll get the power re-cabled in the rack. Feel free to PM me a link to the blog once it's up!!

-DeXteR-

You guys must be freaking Rich to buy all those stuff to rack up . I'm seriously w8ing to get my hands on those

, hopefully everything will fall in place after i get a decent job .

P.s - 5 years down the line i wanna post pics lik those here

R-Legend

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

Around $850.00 so far and a lot of ebay time catching the right deals!

Excellent1

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

Around $850.00 so far and a lot of ebay time catching the right deals!

Nice looking lab. Had to post because the best part about that pic is the baby bottle laying on the floor!

Glad I'm not the only one building a lab with little ones around. Seriously, though, thanks for sharing your setup.

veritas_libertas

Excellent1 wrote: »

Nice looking lab. Had to post because the best part about that pic is the baby bottle laying on the floor!

Glad I'm not the only one building a lab with little ones around. Seriously, though, thanks for sharing your setup.

LOL, in another year I'm going to have protect my equipment from my daughter and vice-versa

BroadcastStorm

@ 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.

BroadcastStorm

Is there anyone in here running a Server Blade system? The HP P-class are affordable as a home lab.

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.