I've been looking into OpenStack a lot lately, trying to learn how it works. Work decided to send me to an OpenStack training class. Holy moly is this a damned good class. I'm not sure if it's the instructor, the curriculum, what... But I wouldn't have minded paying out of pocket for it, at something like two grand a head. It's that good. I'm taking it through Global Knowledge, but the instructor, Michael Clarkson, has his own company - flackjacket Linux. Might be able to take it direct. Dude's pretty awesome. So, yeah, kudos there.
Just bought the RAM and SSD I needed to finish up node 7 of 8 on my ESXi cluster. Realized that I can't keep putting off buying another switch. Tried everything I could think of to find a short-depth fanless 48-port 1000BaseT switch. Nothing available. Finally said "Screw it. I'll just toss it on the floor." and went looking for another HP 1810G switch. Mine works great, why not another, eh? Turns out they're SUPER freaking cheap now compared to when I first bought mine. $70 got one delivered to me. 24 ports. $70. I like this. I only need like 6 ports right now, but I'll take it. Lord knows I'll need more later. Plus I can finally start working up a redundant path. It'll still have a single point of failure at the modem, but I'm not willing to spend a bunch more for a second ISP just for a hobby. Maybe after I move.
Speaking of moving, we're going to start working on the new house plans in December. There's a mechanic's room that I plan on using as a server room. I wonder what I should do with it? Lifted floor seems silly since it'll be sharing space with the "storage room" that's really just an unfinished room. Since the house will be built from scratch, it's no biggie for me to put in custom electric runs. I'm thinking a pair of NEMA 5-30R, each on their own breaker, should be good enough for a 42U rack running 90% at idle, right? I mean, 30A for one rack is plenty for a home setup... Isn't it? I've only got 13U worth of stuff right now... Wait, make that 14U once the new switch gets in. And I want a fiber switch, too. Maybe a router or two, load balancer, a 2U SSD high-speed storage array. If I run out of space, which I doubt I ever will, another MicroCloud could do me well. And 2x 4U UPS. Maybe 3x. Seems like a 42U would be mostly empty, and I think there's something sexy about a fully populated rack. Seems silly to have a 24U rack sitting by it's lonesome, though - Especially with the cables coming in from the roof. Oh, and the house is going to be wired with CAT6A in each room, so maybe another switch for that. I need to find out how long a run I would need to get my GPS antenna from the basement-mechanic's room to the roof. Might have to buy a custom cable for that. Hell, I still need to buy the GPS antenna itself. Freaking $750 because Meinberg.
So, that only leaves one big purchase before my home stack is fully set up. Just one set of RAM, CPU, and SSD away from having the whole MicroCloud up and running. I suppose I COULD buy a set of eight spinning rust drives to fill the empty trays and test out vSAN. Seems odd to buy SATA drives after dumping all of mine for SAS, though. I need to reconfigure it all, too - These USB sticks I'm booting ESXi off of keep dying on me. Not sure what's up with that. Gone through 2 failures out of eight sticks in the last 6 months.
TL;DR: Nothing of value was said.
Just bought the RAM and SSD I needed to finish up node 7 of 8 on my ESXi cluster. Realized that I can't keep putting off buying another switch. Tried everything I could think of to find a short-depth fanless 48-port 1000BaseT switch. Nothing available. Finally said "Screw it. I'll just toss it on the floor." and went looking for another HP 1810G switch. Mine works great, why not another, eh? Turns out they're SUPER freaking cheap now compared to when I first bought mine. $70 got one delivered to me. 24 ports. $70. I like this. I only need like 6 ports right now, but I'll take it. Lord knows I'll need more later. Plus I can finally start working up a redundant path. It'll still have a single point of failure at the modem, but I'm not willing to spend a bunch more for a second ISP just for a hobby. Maybe after I move.
Speaking of moving, we're going to start working on the new house plans in December. There's a mechanic's room that I plan on using as a server room. I wonder what I should do with it? Lifted floor seems silly since it'll be sharing space with the "storage room" that's really just an unfinished room. Since the house will be built from scratch, it's no biggie for me to put in custom electric runs. I'm thinking a pair of NEMA 5-30R, each on their own breaker, should be good enough for a 42U rack running 90% at idle, right? I mean, 30A for one rack is plenty for a home setup... Isn't it? I've only got 13U worth of stuff right now... Wait, make that 14U once the new switch gets in. And I want a fiber switch, too. Maybe a router or two, load balancer, a 2U SSD high-speed storage array. If I run out of space, which I doubt I ever will, another MicroCloud could do me well. And 2x 4U UPS. Maybe 3x. Seems like a 42U would be mostly empty, and I think there's something sexy about a fully populated rack. Seems silly to have a 24U rack sitting by it's lonesome, though - Especially with the cables coming in from the roof. Oh, and the house is going to be wired with CAT6A in each room, so maybe another switch for that. I need to find out how long a run I would need to get my GPS antenna from the basement-mechanic's room to the roof. Might have to buy a custom cable for that. Hell, I still need to buy the GPS antenna itself. Freaking $750 because Meinberg.
So, that only leaves one big purchase before my home stack is fully set up. Just one set of RAM, CPU, and SSD away from having the whole MicroCloud up and running. I suppose I COULD buy a set of eight spinning rust drives to fill the empty trays and test out vSAN. Seems odd to buy SATA drives after dumping all of mine for SAS, though. I need to reconfigure it all, too - These USB sticks I'm booting ESXi off of keep dying on me. Not sure what's up with that. Gone through 2 failures out of eight sticks in the last 6 months.
TL;DR: Nothing of value was said.
