Show Us Your Servers

[Arceles]

I want a floating thing to help me write as well.

[forster]

Switched out the big 1G switch for a POE, and added the old Antec case as a backup. These are both Ryzen systems and it’s working well. The mini HP is an Ubuntu Server install with a Palworld server on it. The big HP is Proxmox and the server at the bottom is TrueNAS Scale. The backup system is running Scale also. 

[Y2KUK]

My home server room with rack:

From top down@

Fiber tray

Cisco ASA 5555-x

cisco dual 3850X 48p poe+ switches with 8 10gb uplinks to main home and servers below

3x DL380 G9 svrs 512gb ram, dual E5-2690 v4, 4x 8gb FC for EMC SAN, 4 x 10GB for server access per server- Running ESXi 8.

FC switches

EMC VNX 5200 SAN array 74TB - SAS, SSD and SAS-NL

3x APC UPS 3000

 

 

 

[Dan~]

On 18/02/2024 at 16:47, Y2KUK said:

My home server room with rack:

From top down@

Fiber tray

Cisco ASA 5555-x

cisco dual 3850X 48p poe+ switches with 8 10gb uplinks to main home and servers below

3x DL380 G9 svrs 512gb ram, dual E5-2690 v4, 4x 8gb FC for EMC SAN, 4 x 10GB for server access per server- Running ESXi 8.

FC switches

EMC VNX 5200 SAN array 74TB - SAS, SSD and SAS-NL

3x APC UPS 3000

 

 

 

I have to ask, why do you need all that?

I use to do things similar and after a while, I was like I don’t really need all this stuff anymore as I started to do IT for a living, and promptly hated doing anything after work

[notta]

On 18/02/2024 at 16:32, Dan~ said:

I have to ask, why do you need all that?

I use to do things similar and after a while, I was like I don’t really need all this stuff anymore as I started to do IT for a living, and promptly hated doing anything after work

Well I imagine he's probably someone that does IT, but doesn't hate it. There are lots of people that do it for a living and have their own home labs.

[neufuse Veteran]

On 20/01/2024 at 09:51, winrez said:

hmm how man U's do I need in my rack? or is it how many U's in that rack, which is it?

[forster]

Update/cleanup now with Virgin 1GB FTTP... 💦💦💦

[forster]

Update to the rack family, Ive gone a bit mad, but it's Xmas right?

I was going to start a seperate thread but my 25u is updated, dedicated machine for proxmox at the top, a new (old) to me Synology 4 bay unit, 16 port switch is gone and replaced with a POE switch.

Also, I have kinda fallen in love with 1L mini PCs for services, so I'm working on downsizing everything into the other bad boy, the Rackmate T1 by DeskPi. Two proxmox machines, third is for testing linux distros/messing about with. I also have another one of these that's running Batocera and connected to the TV. All have 2TB NVMe drives. They are just 1GB on the network side, but that's fine. My main PC and servers all have 10GB but I'm moving all of my Plex media to a seperate 8TB USB Drive (not pictured) which will sit in the botton of the Rackmate. I'm currently not using any Pi's, well, I have some knocking around but when you start running proxmox on dedicated machines they become a bit redundant. I imagine I could probably run all the services I need on a couple of Pi's but I prefer the headroom and versitility of the HP mini PC's. So, now I just need to finish the cabling, and finish transferring media, then I can get it all switched on and running!

Happy days!!

[forster]

All up and running, wired. Machines:

Proxmox - Plex, Nextcloud, CasaOS, on CasaOS I am running Qbittorrent and metube

Proxmox - CasaOS, just as a dropbox alternative

Ubuntu - third machine down is just for testing Linux distros, messing around, all the good stuff

USB 8TB drive - holds all the media for Plex, Ive got this connected through the Plex VM /etc/fstab to mount on boot/reboot

Mapped all the folders through Windows and it's fine, Plex is picking up remotely absolutely fine, very happy!

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

I want..

[forster]

Raspberry Pi 5 8GB, Active Cooler, NVMe HAB! No SD card, but a 500GB NVMe drive.

Using to test new docker containers, just to play with tbh, the fan rarely even spins up

Pi OS, Docker, Portainer = Profit

[forster]

Hi, my name's Mark and I'm a spendaholic. I have a problem 😫

Switched out my old 10gb switch for the aggregation switch, and moved from TrueNAS Scale to the UNAS Pro. Oh, and the little bitty rack! Its a lot more quiet, I have access to more bays for expansion and I hope that it's a bit more power efficient.

🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅 ho ho ho, but my wallet is crying rn.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

On 02/01/2025 at 12:00, forster said:

Hi, my name's Mark and I'm a spendaholic. I have a problem 😫

Switched out my old 10gb switch for the aggregation switch, and moved from TrueNAS Scale to the UNAS Pro. Oh, and the little bitty rack! Its a lot more quiet, I have access to more bays for expansion and I hope that it's a bit more power efficient.

🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅 ho ho ho, but my wallet is crying rn.

What rack is that? Looks cool, the little thing.

[forster]

On 02/01/2025 at 18:40, Mindovermaster said:

What rack is that? Looks cool, the little thing.

https://store.ui.com/us/en/products/toolless-mini-rack

Its the Toolless Mini Rack from Ubiquiti - only 6U, but it's basically just for comms on my side. They do sell 'connector packs' so you can stack them 2/3/4 high if you want to. It's very mobile, Im probably going to get a 75x75 small table to put over the top so that I can have my T1 Rackmate above it and it'll hide some of the cables etc.

[forster]

Here's the whole thing, that's powered on rn.

[forster]

At this point I feel like I'm completely losing touch with reality lol - also I have a Minisforum MS-01 on the way tomorrow...

At least I have everything in one little nook in the corner of my front room! Ill be cable managing and moving the gear to the other side away from the radiator at the weekend, plugging up the MS-01 for Proxmox (probably) and moving the monitor/keyboard/mouse to a second desk to the right of this corner. I have a small portable monitor that Ill rig up here and use it as a 'test' corner for new hardware or just messing around with the Pi's screwing ###### in, etc. I REALLY MUST STOP SPENDING MONEY!!

[+Tantawi Subscriber²]

Wall cabinet:

• Fiber connection (1Gbps)
• Patch panel
• 2.5Gbps Router
• A mini PC with Ryzen 5800H CPU and 32GB DDR4 RAM, for network related tools (Portainer, Pi-Hole, Cloudflared, Tailscale, Uptime Kuma, Wetty)

A headless server running Proxmox:

• AMD Ryzen 9 9950X CPU, 96GB DDR5, RTX 3090 24GB GPU, 10Gbps NIC, and a bunch of NVMs, SATA SSDs, HDDs
• A VM with TrueNAS for backups and media server via Jellyfin, passing through the SATA storage controller
• A VM with an Ubuntu server acting as a web and a GPU server for AI workloads, and a TeamCity build/deploy agent for my personal projects

This setup has evolved many times for the last 2 years, I have not gone completely crazy, yet (I think), but still experimenting, still learning, it is a fun and rewarding experience having a home lab!

[Gerowen]

Main server is my old gaming PC from years ago.  It was an older AMD Phenom based desktop until last year when I "upgraded" it.  It hosts Nextcloud, Minecraft, Jellyfin and my personal website, and serves as a general purpose backup NAS.  It is apparent in this picture though it needs a good dusting.

Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux (stable, but with backports kernel)

CPU: AMD FX 8370

GPU: AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB (Used for hardware transcoding in Jellyfin)

Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 @ 1,866 MT/s

Boot Drive: Western Digital Blue 500GB SATA SSD

Mass Storage: 4 12TB Western Digital Gold HDDs.  Am using mdadm software RAID 5, with an encrypted LUKS/ext4 filesystem on the array.  My "off site backup" is 3 external drives in an encrypted software RAID 0 that I keep stored outside the house and bring in once a month to sync with the internal drives.

Storage drive layout: mdadm -> LUKS -> ext4

Secondary server is a Raspberry Pi 4B that hosts PiHole and Wireguard via PiVPN.  I largely use the PiHole not just for ad blocking, but for parental controls on the kids.  I'm actually thinking of upgrading this to an x86 mini PC so I can get secure boot, SMART monitoring of the boot drive, etc.

Router is a GL-iNet Flint 2, incoming internet connection is 1Gbps up, 1Gbps down, no data caps.  Fiber to my service pole then ethernet from there into the house.

UPS is an APC Back-UPS XS 1500G.  I've had it for ages and had to replace the battery a few times.  The main server monitors it since our power is pretty unreliable (see screenshot) here in eastern Kentucky.  On the occasion the batteries run down the main server will automatically log into the Pi and do a graceful shutdown on it as part of its power down procedure.

Edited June 22, 2025 by Gerowen
Details about Debian setup and internet connection

[Steven P. Administrators]

Neowin's servers (hosted in the UK).

[C:Amie]

On 22/06/2025 at 20:45, Steven P. said:

Neowin's servers (hosted in the UK).

Nice to see you've got some port redundancy going on there @Steven P.😄

Always good to see air flow baffles in a rack 😊

[csc2ya]

Can't get a pic of the physical server as it's in a DC, but what i'm running on it is doable. All for my own use except one VM used by a friend to run her site and other things.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Switch on top, Modem on left, Router/firewall on right, UPS on bottom left.

Swapped out a Zimaboard for a Qotom Q305p. Works well.

[TheReaperMan]

Several million years ago:-  

I used to have 3 x dell servers and a couple of rack mounted desktop Pcs under the stairs with a rack mounted ups.

This was running Windows small business server,  some linux distros and quad dvb-s/dvb-t tuners with a massive motorised dish on the back of the house.

this feed 3 xboxs, one media extender and a mce pc in the living room for media and tv stuff.

Now I have:-

Ds918+, upgraded the ram to 16gb and 80tb storage.

This is plugged into a Cyberpower UPS(a little smaller the the rack mounted one!)

I then run docker on the NAS(2x 256 SSDS) and have 17 containers, Emby, Jellyseer etc running with no issue, I also have and Nvidia shield in the living room and other rooms to stream tv via google and other apps and no longer require a motorized dish or tuners.

The main difference is that this setup uses about 98% less power and is compact and also gets a better WAF factor as it is small and not as loud.