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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JeanM

Thanks, I don't want to use GNS3...I do use PT though, and then do the same thing on the real hardware as well. It's a preference, some learn on PT or GNS3 and some learn on real hardware. I like having physical lab, I've been into electronics since being a kid so I enjoy it. You end up working with real hardware after all

I'll get L3 switches after CCNA.

Jasiono

Do router mounts also work for switches?

JeanM

No, the mounting points are different. If you are talking 26xx vs 29xx... for example.

TehToG

If you mean the rackmounts? No. The 2950 and 2600 series have different rack mounts.

astrogeek

Stidrvr wrote: »

How did you mount the 2850? I was under the assumption that the rack isnt deep enough. Thanks in advance.

The standard Skeletek rack isn't deep enough to hold a server, you need an expansion kit which can be bought with your rack, or separately as I did. It's better to just buy the expansion when you buy the rack even if you don't think you will buy a server because it's extremely expensive to buy it separately, (these racks are heavy so shipping from Chicago to California is very expensive!). And as I originally thought that I would never buy a server.....things changed and I ended up paying a lot more for buying them separately.

Here's a side view so you can see the expansion kit holding the back end of the server - this is the 10u expansion.

Rack before expansion kit:

Rack after expansion kit:

I not only had to buy the 10u mini rack, (8u version would have worked too), but also had to buy the 30" wheel base too because this expansion won't work with the smaller base I had. I also bought some metal brackets to hold the server, but eventually I'll probably replace that with an actual server sliding rack mount kit. Keep in mind that you will need either these metal brackets or a server rack mount kit to actually mount the server.

These pictures are a little old, I need to update them as I now have a Digi CM 32 console server and love it! Also, if you are wondering about the rack mounted PC case...that was going to be my server until the motherboard died. So now that awesome rack mounted case is sitting in the garage collecting dust

Eventually I want to build a PC for who knows what, but right now I don't need that. I even upgraded it's case fans that I thought looked really sick while running!

I had a quick google yesterday, I was struggling to find a place which sells 2950 and 1760 rack kits in the UK..

I found some for the switch, Cisco rackmounts for WS-C2924-XL-EN WS-C2950-24 (rack mount brackets ears) | eBay am I being stupid or shouldn't there be more screws then 4

? 2 for each side to screw the bracket onto the switch and then 2 to screw the brackets onto the rack?

astrogeek

The screws for the rack should come with whatever rack you use since not all are the same. The mount kits only come with the screws to attach the rack ears to the switch or router, but not the actual rack.

oli356

Thanks for that Astrogeek, makes sense. Now to try and find the 1760 mount kit then

TehToG

Most racks just a standard system of cage nuts and screws. The cage nuts clicking into the rack and the screw threads into it. You typically get a small number of cage nuts when you buy a new rack.

lilmansdad

For those of you with these crazy lab set ups, how much are you paying in electricity for them? Looks like some of these set ups would really suck up the juice!

veritas_libertas

lilmansdad wrote: »

For those of you with these crazy lab set ups, how much are you paying in electricity for them? Looks like some of these set ups would really suck up the juice!

I worried about this as well when I first started. You you don't need to have the equipment on 24x7x365. Lab something up and then turn it off. I only turn on what I need to use and don't keep the entire rack on when I only need to use two routers, etc.

I haven't any significant change in my electric bill, but again, I don't keep the rack on 24x7x365

MAC_Addy

lilmansdad wrote: »

For those of you with these crazy lab set ups, how much are you paying in electricity for them? Looks like some of these set ups would really suck up the juice!

Nothing noticeable on the bill, to be honest. I have my lab on while studying, probably 6 - 10 hours per week when studying fully. You wouldn't want to keep them powered on constantly.

spd3432

Same here -- only have what I needed powered on when I'm doing labs. On the other hand, about 5 years ago I had 32 solar panels put on my roof so my normal electric bill is only a couple of bucks a month (connection fee) with annual catch-up to the electric company once a year -- right now, that catch-up is less than $100 for the past 10 months usage.

astrogeek

lilmansdad wrote: »

For those of you with these crazy lab set ups, how much are you paying in electricity for them? Looks like some of these set ups would really suck up the juice!

I have an APC PDU that I can remotely log in and power everything on and off as I please. It's really cool to be sitting at work at 3am on a slow night and log into my gear to test out a few scenarios without having to worry about power consumption or heating issues during these hot days!

JeanM

astrogeek wrote: »

I have an APC PDU that I can remotely log in and power everything on and off as I please. It's really cool to be sitting at work at 3am on a slow night and log into my gear to test out a few scenarios without having to worry about power consumption or heating issues during these hot days!

I want one of those

For now I just leave a couple devices on and turn the rest on when needed.

LinuxRacr

I'm looking into getting one of those switched PDU's as well. I have two in mind: The APC AP7900

Or this: Rack Mounted Web Controlled Redundant Power. Ships Overnight 15 Day Free Trial!

Here is another option if you don't care about it being rack-mountable:

Web Power Switch! - 15 Day Free Trial! - Ships Overnight - From $109!

Stidrvr

astrogeek wrote: »

The standard Skeletek rack isn't deep enough to hold a server, you need an expansion kit which can be bought with your rack, or separately as I did. It's better to just buy the expansion when you buy the rack even if you don't think you will buy a server because it's extremely expensive to buy it separately, (these racks are heavy so shipping from Chicago to California is very expensive!). And as I originally thought that I would never buy a server.....things changed and I ended up paying a lot more for buying them separately.

Here's a side view so you can see the expansion kit holding the back end of the server - this is the 10u expansion.

Rack before expansion kit:

Rack after expansion kit:

I not only had to buy the 10u mini rack, (8u version would have worked too), but also had to buy the 30" wheel base too because this expansion won't work with the smaller base I had. I also bought some metal brackets to hold the server, but eventually I'll probably replace that with an actual server sliding rack mount kit. Keep in mind that you will need either these metal brackets or a server rack mount kit to actually mount the server.

These pictures are a little old, I need to update them as I now have a Digi CM 32 console server and love it! Also, if you are wondering about the rack mounted PC case...that was going to be my server until the motherboard died. So now that awesome rack mounted case is sitting in the garage collecting dust Eventually I want to build a PC for who knows what, but right now I don't need that. I even upgraded it's case fans that I thought looked really sick while running!

Public Service Announcement:

I apologize ahead of time. Id like to be able to PM and keep the thread on topic but that option isnt available.

We now will resume our regularly schedule forum post.

Yeah I understand all that, what I was curious about was how they are actually mounted to the rack. At first I thought maybe the rails do work, or you made a modification. I was looking into getting the Skeletek rack but after emailing them I found out that the space between the front and back supports was to narrow for my rails. I have 3 Dell 1850's and 1 2850, I have rails for all the servers.

After seeing your new pictures, I'm guess you have the brackets that go from the front support to the rear support. The server then sits on this bracket, kind of like a shelf, Correct?

Diggs

4 - 2600xm Series Routers
2 - 2950T Switches
2 - 2950 Switches
1 - 3550 Layer 3 Switch
1 - 2511-RJ Access Server

Cisco CCNA Home Lab.jpg

oli356

I really like those tiny ethernet cables connecting the switches together

Diggs

Haha yeah...wasn't sure when I made them if they were going to work

inscom.brigade

Diggs wrote: »

Haha yeah...wasn't sure when I made them if they were going to work

I thought about that for my trunk etherlink etherchannel but i made 1 foot cables, and made them in a circle.
my lab photo is on page 37.

Forsaken_GA

Recently moved, and finally have an entire room to dedicate to my office, so ended up redoing my entire setup

Network gear rack, CCIE Lab gear + internal network gear

Support shelf, my ESXi boxes, my Synology NAS, and various other things like the cable modem, AP, etc.

The place where I can almost always be found if I'm home and awake

And my wall of knowledge (not quite complete yet, still some more books to unpack, and I have others spread throughout the house)

Roguetadhg

Warcraft 3

Your wall of knowledge is blurry.

Forsaken_GA

Web Power Switch! - 15 Day Free Trial! - Ships Overnight - From $109!

These are great, btw. I use one to remotely power my lab rack so I can work from wherever I'm able to VPN into the network from when remote (usually at work)

Forsaken_GA

Roguetadhg wrote: »

Warcraft 3

Yeah funny story about that. The day I bought that, I went to a movie afterward, and lost my wallet. I had just cashed my paycheck. That was *not* a fun experience. My wallet turned up a month later at a Golden Corral, sans cash of course, after I'd already gone to the trouble of replacing everything.

Your wall of knowledge is blurry.

Yeah, I don't know why that pic is so blurry on the post, it's fine in iPhoto.

Titles are as follows:

Top shelf - Practice of System and Network Administration

Next shelf - Cisco LAN Switching, MPLS Fundamentals, Routing TCP/IP 1 and 2, Network Administrators Survival Guide, CCDP ARCH book, Odom's QOS book, Internet Routing Architectures, and Cisco Certification (the old Caslow book for CCIE prep)

Next shelf - O'reily's BGP book, Linux Server Hacks, World of Warcraft programming, Building a Monitoring Infrastructure with Nagios (hrm, where the hell is my No Starch Nagios book.....), The Book of Postfix, Network Security Hacks, Postfix, SQL Bible, Pro Apache

Next shelf - Essential System Administration, PHP4 (probably time to throw that one out), Hacking Exposed, TCP/IP Illustrated Vol.1 (and where is my Comer TCP/IP book.. argh), Interconnections 2nd Edition

I used to have alot more Cisco Press books, mostly those that focused on CCNA/CCDA/CCNP exam prep, but I tend to give those books away to others who are studying once I'm done with them. The Odom book is the only exam specific book that I've ever held enough regard for to keep around as a reference manual. If I ever run into anyone at work or a friend who decides to take the CCDP, then the ARCH book will disappear as well.

I also tend to do much more digital downloading these days. Hauling my knowledgebase around on my iPad is a hell of alot more convenient than hauling the books around.

Roguetadhg

Im intrigued by the WoW programming book. Is there a story behind it?

Forsaken_GA

Roguetadhg wrote: »

Im intrigued by the WoW programming book. Is there a story behind it?

Coding mods when I was playing WoW was a hobby of mine, especially before mods got really popular and complicated. I coded some of the first boss encounter mods back in the Vanilla AQ and Naxxramas days simply because my guild needed them and they didn't exist. Other times, I wanted a mod, and I found something that was close, but not quite what I needed, so I'd hack on it until I got what I wanted, had to learn the LUA in order to make that happen.

That's not an uncommon occurrence for me. Back when I was 16, I was big into the BBS scene, and I needed some BBS utils that didn't exist, so I taught myself Pascal in order to write them. To this day, I still do that. At most every job I've ever held, I've cleaned up internal processes and scripted them to make them easier (because I'm a lazy sumbitch who'd rather look at pictures of funny cats than do repetitive tedious crap)

JeanM

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Coding mods when I was playing WoW was a hobby of mine, especially before mods got really popular and complicated. I coded some of the first boss encounter mods back in the Vanilla AQ and Naxxramas days simply because my guild needed them and they didn't exist. Other times, I wanted a mod, and I found something that was close, but not quite what I needed, so I'd hack on it until I got what I wanted, had to learn the LUA in order to make that happen.

That's not an uncommon occurrence for me. Back when I was 16, I was big into the BBS scene, and I needed some BBS utils that didn't exist, so I taught myself Pascal in order to write them. To do this day, I still do that. At most every job I've ever held, I've cleaned up internal processes and scripted them to make them easier (because I'm a lazy sumbitch who'd rather look at pictures of funny cats than do repetitive tedious crap)

Oh man, BBS scene ....!!!

Roguetadhg

oh boy. I think I was doing my two rank 14 grinds when you were farming naxx. I was too busy hacking and slashing, and trying to take a nap between the fights to keep my kills up. I developed websites because of my gaming guild, learned html/javascript/css for it. Just stuck.

Now if I only had to code in IOS for my guild, I'd probably memorize a lot of the commands by now :P

alxx

Thanks for the links to the power boards.

Did anyone notice that they also do a serial switch
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