As with most of us that have been around this a while, I've always reinstalled any new hardware that came with Windows--except maybe a recent laptop I bought with Windows (but it ended up with Fedora on it).
I bought one of those mini SFF machines from eBay to use as a media center, but it came...
About two years or so ago I switched over from a barebones FreeBSD file server with ZFS to Synology (for ease of replication--2 Synology units--and small form factor). At that time I switched from centralized data to local data for better file performance.
I use Advanced Business Backup for...
Currently I have a Micca Origain DAC/amp I'm using with a pair of JBL Stage A130's. The setup is decent enough but I can't use any headphones with it. I think it would be a good idea to add a headphone setup, but I'll probably need a new DAC and amp (or combination).
Right now I have 3...
About a year or so ago I switched from plain FreeBSD to Synology, a 1520+ for a main NAS and a 920+ for a backup NAS. The backup is supposed to go in my garage, which is a separate building, over a wireless link. I haven't put it out there yet because Hyper Backup has been a hand full (and...
I am rebuilding my Blue Iris system, and using a proper case (1U short depth). I've had it in a mini PC with laptop drives for storage, and since it likes to eat them I figured I'd change it up.
I have a 4TB Red drive that's pretty old from my storage server I figured I'd use until it croaks...
I have been using Pi-Hole for a while now, and pretty happy with it. I have no real compelling issue to switch, except one small issue. PiHole, at least the last time I've tried (and what I've read) is that PiHole basically expects to be the only web service running on the host, so if you try...
Right now I have a Cisco SG350-28 (not-P) and a HP/Aruba 2530 (PoE+) switch at the core of my home network. Outside of that I have a HP1810, MT RB260, and a basic Netgear.
I really like the SG350, I know it's not a Catalyst but it's been reliable and does everything I need it to do. The 2530...
For the past couple years, I've been using a pair of HP Omen 32" QHD (2560 x 1440) monitors. I've been pretty happy with these displays, especially for what I paid for them. They've been fine and I really appreciate the space they give me. Back when all the work from home stuff started, I...
A while back I picked up a Cisco SG350-28 switch to replace my HP 1810 (the 1810 was repurposed elsewhere). Overall, the SG350 works really well, but I'm having trouble writing ACLs that work the way I want.
I have 3 VLANs, 1 trusted/internal, one untrusted/guest, and one for security cameras...
I have wanted to build a backup server for some time, but never thought it was useful to have a backup server on the same shelf sitting next to the primary server. Right now I have some USB drives in rotation on sneakernet off site, but it's not the best solution by itself. I'll keep using the...
All prices are shipped (except as noted) CONUS, will ship out of US/CONUS but may cost extra. Open to offers. Local pickup in Utah, USA.
I usually use USPS flat rate for just about everything, and USPS has been pretty good around here still. However, with all the issues people have been...
Several months ago I upgraded my old backup drives from Seagates that sit horizonal to EasyStores that are made to stand vertically. I started having read issues with the disks, they'd get a small number of errors listed in zpool status. Then when I'd run a scrub it'd often say they have...
I recently picked up a X10SLM+-F to "update" my file server (add more drives). It has two Intel i210-AT NICs and a Realtek dedicated to IPMI. In the BIOS it says something about "Failover" behavior in the BMC/IPMI config, but it isn't something I can change in BIOS so I sort of ignored it...
A while back on a whim and a spare couple of SSDs I decided to add a mirror log device setup to my ZFS array. The array is 4 disks in a mirror/stripe, now with two old 128Gb SanDisk SATA drives in a mirror. I only added them out of curiosity and at some point I need to set up NFS.
Everything...
I have a whole pile of hardware and I want to build a single system with Windows 10. I want to run BlueIris, and unfortunately it's a Windows-only platform. I will be running a light load on it, probably 1-3 cameras. I am also considering running PRTG on the system, and *maybe* running...
I am having issues with my backup drives on my server. They are single-disk ZFS volumes. I started getting read/write errors but no checksum errors on an external USB backup drive not long after I swapped my backups. The drive passed quick SMART tests, so I took it offline and swapped it out...
After years of running UTMs, I have been running an ERL for quite some time now. I bought it years ago, ran it for a while, went back to the UTM, then finally permanently back to the ERL a couple years ago. It's great, I feel I've built a good ACL-based firewall on it, and after getting it set...
My storage array just hit 80% capacity on my FreeBSD/ZFS file server, so I guess I need to start thinking about increasing capacity. I want to plan it appropriately to make sure I'm not chasing dead ends or end up with a whole pile of parts I don't need from projects I didn't do like I have...
I've had this file server for years, and have all the config files saved so when I need to do a periodic bare-metal rebuild all I need to do is install the software, put my config files back into place and it I'm back in no time. It has worked every time, except this one. I've been pulling my...
For smaller lightweight services do you prefer to run a lightweight PC-based system running a hypervisor of choice, or is it just as reliable or efficient to run the services on a rPi? I would consider mostly a batch of small production network services.
I've gone both ways and I'm having...
A little frustrated with some things with UBNT, and looking to redo some of my home network stuff, on a whim I purchased a TP-Link EAP245v3. From what I've read it's faster than my current AC-Pro, and since it has a standalone controller in the AP I can get rid of my Unifi controller.
Despite...
It seems like this is an odd issue, while I haven't found the exact issue I might not be alone.
Recently purchased an ASUS ROG Strix B450-i Gaming with a Ryzen 3600X, 16GB RAM and a Sabrent 1TB NVMe M.2 drive. Everything seems to come up just fine in the BIOS, hardware-wise. It said Ryzen...
I am building a new workstation finally I think. My existing rig is in a Corsair 400Q case. It's a nice case, but it's sitting on the floor and I know it's full of dust. My desktop has been down there for years now, but before I moved here I had a wire shelf riser so it wasn't directly on the...
I'm thinking about upgrading my current desktop. I don't really *need* to upgrade as it is still pretty good, but some of the software I use is definitely lagging a bit in certain processes. I switched to Linux full time a few weeks ago, and some of the slowdowns have gone away but the sheer...
I have a Dell T110ii file server running FreeBSD with a ZFS RAID 10 array with all my documents, media, photos, etc. I work directly off the server instead of local storage.
A lot of the transfers I'm doing are from SD cards, which are fast-ish cards but often only seeing 50-60MB/s transfers...
I recently changed my desktop from Windows 10 to OpenSUSE Leap, and I have a AMD XFX R9 390 video card. OpenSUSE runs fine with the radeon driver, but of course I have no OpenCL support. There seems to be a quirk with the AMDGPU-pro driver and OpenSUSE Leap, and I just haven't been able to get...
I have a Dell T20 with a E3-1225v3 in it I'd like to convert from a server use to a workstation. I've been doing a lot of photography and want to try out running the FOSS software out there, and for 90% of my use I can use a Linux desktop. I'm not looking to convert from Windows as there is...
I have a ZFS file server that's strictly storage. It's a Dell T110ii running plain FreeBSD, and I've been using a variant of this setup for quite a few years. I have a lot of stuff that is irreplaceable, photography, files, etc. so I sort of prefer to keep it just file serving (for no other...
I currently have a PiHole running on a small Debian virtual machine in Proxmox. I had it running on an RPi until an issue cropped up with Raspbian and PiHole, and honestly it runs faster. The VM runs PiHole and is my Unifi controller. The only other thing it *might* see on it is UNMS. I...
I've always kind of avoided setting up a Plex server because my music media is a train wreck. Multiple collections, untagged data, separate FLAC and MP3 collections, etc. Over the years I've worked hard at times to get things organized, but it's a very daunting task for this collection. I...
I'm just looking for some quick critique or ideas on my file server setup.
Right now I have a Dell T110ii with a Xeon and 32GB RAM running with a small SSD for the boot drive and 4x 4TB WD Red drives in ZFS mirrors on FreeBSD as a file server. I have three sets of backup drives, a 2TB 2.5" and...
A few days ago my APC Smart-UPS 1500 starting emitting a fairly annoying, high-pitched screech. I thought I had some logs on screen or dmesg on my server that was saying something about full storage or unable to contact the UPS, but I restarted everything.
I'm running NUT on a rPi, and...
I am kind of space-constrained at the moment on my desk with a pair of HP Omen 32" monitors. I'm looking at getting the Micca Origain amp with DAC+amp, as I don't have space for a receiver at the moment either. I have a Polk PSW10 sub to go with the system. In the future I am looking at...
I am looking to put something out in the garage for when I'm out there dinking around. It would be nice to have something to play music across the network or Pandora, run a web browser and watch YouTube videos for how-tos on things I'm tearing apart, and maybe even play a movie from my file...
I'm looking at getting a new WAP for my home network. We're renting a house for the moment, it's about 1500 sq ft I think and it's a split-level. Has a fairly big yard, decent size garage with a boat parking area that I have a project I'm working on.
My previous WAP is an Engenius ECB350...
I currently have a Samsung Galaxy S7 on T-Mobile. I can't remember when we got our phones, probably last May. We've had a lot of issues with the S7's, my wife more than I have.
Neither of them work on the wireless very well, and my wife's phone started eating batteries like crazy. My S7 has...
I recently did a fairly cheap Z97/4790k upgrade, and just swapped my old RAM into the new board. The old RAM is from 2011 (2 kits--4x4):
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
I see I can get 2x8GB Ripjaws fairly...
Is it time to update my rig? I looked back in my Newegg account, and I built this machine in 08/2011. It is:
Intel i5-2500 (non-K, not overclocked)
16GB G Skill RAM (4x4)
Intel Z68 motherboard
Currently 500GB SSD
ASUS HD 7850 2GB video card
Creative X-Fi PCI sound card
LianLi A05 Case...
While I was away for work, I got a SMART email warning saying it could not open one of the drives in my ZFS array on my file server. I have a daily email set up for disk status, and the drive was just gone. It wasn't in the array, or in /dev, and was missing from the daily run report with...
I haven't really been laptop shopping in a while, but my brother in law is looking for a new laptop. I thought maybe you could help pick something out. He is a machinist, and primarily wants something to run Mastercam. He did mention he would like something that plays games, but I don't think...