Network changes

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Recently I bought a Dell PowerConnect 5224 off of ebay (brand new!) for a decent price. It is a 24 port Gigabit managed ethernet switch (has 4 SPF’s?). Hoping to use this for my virtual hypervisor servers and with my open filer storage. I’m also hoping I can connect my BayStack switch that I also have that has vlan support up as well, and that these two switches will be the backbone of my network. My plan is to use Bay switch for the 100Mbit stuff and the 5224 for the items that support 1Gb.

Having issues trying to figure out how to setup Trunking or LAG of some sort between the 5224 and 4 ports on my Sun server that is currently running VMWare ESXi 4.1.0.

Time to review what I’m trying to do and match it up with the correct terminology :)

Network Rack

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Ok, I ended up using the recent rack I built to actually house some of my servers and network gear instead.. It is just to big to haul around to lan parties and such, though I do still plan to build another for just that purpose..

“Small” Network rack

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I built a small network rack, intended to use for Lan Parties.. I’ve gotten tired of the time wasted in setting up for Lan Parties. It could take anywhere from 60 minutes to 3 hours to just lay out the tables and network eqiupment etc.. so a few weeks I decided to start building a network rack from scratch after having reviewed some prices for some semi decent rugged boxes..

I wanted it to be portable, maybe 8-12U in rack size.. So that it would go in the back of a truck or jeep, would only require one or two people to carry, and you would just plop in down in a semi central spot, plug in power and then a connection to the internet. It will have at least a dozen network cables bundled up with it, all plugged in so all one has to do is grab one of the bundles and run it to their pc. No more having to decide how long of a cable you need (these are all 50 foot, with a few 100 foot cables for those really long runs). Then when done all you have to do is power it off, wrap up the cables (with included valcro organizers!) and put it in storage.

Problem is, the one I’ve finished mostly building might be too large! 34.5 inches high with the casters on (rolls nice though!).
And indeed, it might actually get used for my home network setup.. I’ll try and get some pics and stuff posted soon, as well as what materials I used etc..

Projects

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Ok, here’s a quick list of some projects that I’m working on…

1. Arduino based Temperature sensors in two flavors. One with web based values (works) and the other with SNMP support, for use with graphing/monitoring solutions like Cacti.
2. Home based media Storage (for use with my virtual servers and for a home media silo setup)
3. CNC machine (debating between home brew and buying a build it ket).. for creating my other projects…
4. LED light kits for ambient lighting around the house..