My Basement Datacenter (21 Pics)

P

PlusLabs

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 13, 2004
Messages
182
Well, I finally moved into my new about 3 months ago and now I can say that I am pretty much all finished with the datacenter that I have in the basement... :rolleyes:

It took a long time and many late nights, but it's all finished. The day of the move, I had to drag all the stuff from my old house here and slap it all together to make sure it was working for Monday. As time went on, I organized it more and more... But enough talking, let's begin the tour!

This is the main shot of the server room, anti-static lenolium floors for the server room floor, epoxy coated concrete for the rest of the area. The ceilings are not done yet, but will be very shortly. We have 3 seperate 20A circuits feeding power to this area:
01.jpg



This is our corporate portal Sun Enterprise 220R Server. It has all the front ends for the Oracle 10g database. It is a dual 450MHz UltraSparc with 2GB RAM and 2x 36GB SCSI Hard Drives:
02.jpg


This is a Sun D1000 StorEDGE JBOD drive array, there is only 2 72GB drives in there for now, but I am looking to expand the storage in the near future as our Oracle DB grows:
03.jpg


Next down the line is our HP ML350 Server which is running Windows Server 2003 Standard w/ Exchange Server 2003. It's our main mail server as well as message store for Cisco Unity Voicemail:
04.jpg


This is our WAN equipment in the same rack as the servers mentioned above. From the top down... First is the Marconi TNX-210 ATM Switch/Router from our carrier Cablevision Lightpath. The fibers on the left are the Single Mode fibers coming in from the demarc (seen later on in the tour) and the fibers on the right go to our switch router (seen later). Next is a Cisco 3662 Router which is maxed out with Flash and DRAM. It serves as our data router as well as our voice gateway to the PSTN for the Cisco CallManager system. Below that is a Cisco PIX525-R Firewall/VPN Server which is used to aggregate our other remote sites into this one. Below the PIX is our Cisco 2600 Dial In Router for remote access and below that is a Cisco VG200 PSTN voice gateway that is used for local POTS lines (911 Calls, Alarm, Etc...)
05.jpg


Next rack over is my switching rack. The patch panel ontop connects all the data cables in my house. Our central switch/router is a Cisco Catalyst 5509 with dual power supplies, RSM routing module, 3 10/100 Baldes, ATM Blade and a 9 Port GigE GBIC blade.
06.jpg


Here is a close up of the switch. I forgot to mention that it has dual supervisor engines:
07.jpg


Below the Catalyst 5509 is two Siecor fiber patch panels and also a patch panel that has cross-connect going to the server cabinet:
08.jpg


Next, we go to the server cabinet. In the lower half of the cabinet, you will find a nice array of servers. Here is the types and their purposes:

IBM X330 - Network Monitoring Server (Debian)
IBM X300 - Media Storage (Windows 2000 Server)
Dell 2650 - Cisco CallManager
Dell 2650 - Cisco Unity Voicemail
Dell 2650 - Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server
Dell 2500 - Windows 2003 DC + DNS + DHCP + WINS
Dell 2500 - Windows 2003 DC + DNS + DHCP + WINS + FTP + TFTP
09.jpg


Artistic shot?
10.jpg


KVM:
11.jpg


The rest of the Solaris Cluster. 3x Sun Netra X1 front end servers and another Enterprise 220R Server. This is our primary Oracle 10g server:
12.jpg


Now we can take a look at the wall behind the racks that has all of the telco equipent:
13.jpg


This is the Cablevision fiber demarc that I mentioned earlier:
14.jpg


And we can open up the access panel... top 2 fiber pairs go to the TNX-210 and the last pair goes to a Fiber-Copper T1 converter for our PRI:
15.jpg


SmartJack for the PRI T1 and also punch blocks for Lightpath and Verizon:
16.jpg


These are my punch blocks for the Cat3 phone cable runs for the house and the office:
17.jpg


And that concludes the tour of the actual server room, now we can take a look at my office which is a couple feet away from the server room....

Overview of my desk:
18.jpg


My Cisco 7971G-GE Gigabit IP Phone:
19.jpg


My HP Compaq NX9600 Laptop:
20.jpg


Overall shot of my office:
21.jpg


Well, I hope you all enjoyed the tour and I welcome any questions or comments! :p
 
sweet setup :D but i only saw 1 UPS there. you have more right?. also what the heck is all this for?
 
That looks like an OC48 line... so I'm gonna guess medical.


or the Pr0n0 industry :p
 
Wait, I am a little confused. All of this stuff is in your house? Or did I misread that?
 
wow, what do you use all of this stuff for?

looks like a pretty sexy setup
 
umm wow lol not much you can really say about all that. Who do you work for or better question what company do you own?
 
The company probably needed a relay point so they bought him a company house and gave him a sick network to play with. :p


This one company I know bought a buiding just so they can use the roof of it for their wireless equipment to relay their connection between two buildings.
 
Wow, very nice. You may want to edit the pic of your phone, I'm not sure if thats a real phone # or what displayed as forwarded to, but may want to blur it if so :)

And a little off-topic, but what's the cost run on the IP phone setup, and what all do you have to have? I'm looking for one for home, but can't find much info on the setup.
 
Wow, nice setup. What's the actual phone system running on? Is it just that one server?
 
jeffmoss26 said:
Wow, nice setup. What's the actual phone system running on? Is it just that one server?
Click to expand...

Very nice, sick, and well-organized setup you've got there. Reminds me of the equipment I saw last night while on a tour of the Level 3 Communications center here in San Diego. Really interesting to see an Internet backbone up close.
 
Ockie said:
The company probably needed a relay point so they bought him a company house and gave him a sick network to play with. :p


This one company I know bought a buiding just so they can use the roof of it for their wireless equipment to relay their connection between two buildings.
Click to expand...

sounds like a sweet deal to me!!
 
Ockie said:
The company probably needed a relay point so they bought him a company house and gave him a sick network to play with. :p


This one company I know bought a buiding just so they can use the roof of it for their wireless equipment to relay their connection between two buildings.
Click to expand...


This looks to be the case. I was looking at the pic a little closer before i left work and in one of the pics it has a name of a NY city datacenter and the it looks like the OP is from NY.


I had to go change my underwear when i first looked at this. :rolleyes: :D :D
 
Quick update...

If you are wondering if this place is an oven, it's the opposite. I have a seperate A/C unit for this room. It keeps it at a steady 71 degrees.
22.jpg


My next door neighbor is going to buy some bandwidth from me in the next couple of weeks, so I am getting ready to run some fiber over to his house... First I have 2 Siecor LANScape fiber patch panels that I will patch the outside fiber cables into:
23.jpg


Next, the Catalyst 5509's Gigabit blade has 2 Single Mode GBICs that will be used to connect to my neighbor:
24.jpg
 
:D Okay, I see that most of you have questions... well I have answers for you, and I will answer them all one by one.

@ flynlr Yes, there is only one UPS. I know it sucks that most of this stuff is being fed "raw" electricity. Trust me, a very nice APC UPS is in the works.

@ Ockie I wish it was an OC-48. It's actually an OC-3 connection that puts out around 5mbps. We have the 10mbit service from Cablevision Lightpath, and they add it all up as a bundle so it comes out to about 5mbps of bandwidth. We are far from medical, we deal with World Wide Artist Management and Transportation Solutions. Most of our business comes from farming out coach buses to other companies (Grey Hound, CoachUSA, Classic Coach, etc...)

@ Darkstar 850 Yes, it's in my home, in my basement. As soon as you come down the stairs to the basement, it's the big door right infront of you. ;)

@ jbog91 Thanks for those links, and yes, that's the house. Here is a picture of it finished:
26.jpg


@ compslckr Well, I pretty much described it along with the pictures. Databases, Management, Phone System, Etc...

@ RiDDLeRThC Well, I actually do both. My primary job is as a Cisco AVVID Engineer for a pretty well known telecommunications company. I design and impliment Cisco Voice/Data networks by profession. On the side, I work with my father's company and do all of the stuff you see in the pictures. The company has around 87 Cisco IP Phones deployed throughout it's 4 locations.

@ Ockie Well, we actually have 4 locations and this location is the core. All the other sites VPN back to here.

@ tdg Cisco VoIP is probably an expensive way to go for the home. To give an estimate, I just designed a Cisco VoIP system for a doctor's office with 67 phones and voicemail, and it came out to $67,300 w/o labor. :eek:

@ jeffmoss26 The phone system runs on several components. The primary controller, kind of like a PBX, is the top most Dell 2650 server, the CallManager. This server is responsible for all of the call setup functions and such. The server below it, is the Unity Voice Mail Server, but it does not store messages on the server, it stores the on the Exchange Server (HP ML350). The 3662 Router is the voice gateway that has POTS and a PRI connection on it. BTW, is this you? http://www.dslreports.com/profile?find=jeffmoss... because if it is, this is me: http://www.dslreports.com/profile?find=oxygen

@ Scroatdog I used to be a loyal Level 3 customer for about 3 years. Then I found out I can get another ISP for fraction of the cost.

@ Stang_Man Yeah, I wish they picked up the mortgage every month.

@ Crosshairs ... No Comment. :rolleyes:

@ oC|-TiTaN Yeah, dude.

@ AcidTone Well, this place is out east in Long Island, NY. We do have some stuff colocated @ 60 Hudson in NYC.
 
Very cool you are a lucky man. I wish i could get my hands on some of that stuff. Working at a public school district doesnt give me enough money to think about that kinda stuff, but i wish it did.
 
PlusLabs said:
@ tdg Cisco VoIP is probably an expensive way to go for the home. To give an estimate, I just designed a Cisco VoIP system for a doctor's office with 67 phones and voicemail, and it came out to $67,300 w/o labor. :eek:
Click to expand...

I'm not afraid to spend a little for a IP phone setup, I bought a PIX 501, 2611 router and 2924 switch for a home network instead of the normal home user Linksys type stuff. I've always had a facination with networking and tinkering with stuff, and always spend more than I really should for high grade equipment. Any good links on how to set IP phones up? I just cant find out what all I need to make it work.
 
5 Points for Clean Network Layout
5 Points for Well Organized Server positioning
2 Bonus Points for Top end Equipment and a Kick Ass office
- 2 Points for Unfinished walls / ceilings (Particulate Fiberglass is a bitch on a HS/Fan, not to mention the HVAC water being 5 feet from the rack..)
- 2 Points for Minimal Backup Power
- 1 Point for No Game Server

7/10


Your Getting There... Keep up the good work.
 
PlusLabs said:
:@ Ockie I wish it was an OC-48. It's actually an OC-3 connection that puts out around 5mbps. We have the 10mbit service from Cablevision Lightpath, and they add it all up as a bundle so it comes out to about 5mbps of bandwidth. We are far from medical, we deal with World Wide Artist Management and Transportation Solutions. Most of our business comes from farming out coach buses to other companies (Grey Hound, CoachUSA, Classic Coach, etc...)
Click to expand...

5Mbps seems awefully 'slow' for a fibre network connection.
 
Nice setup man. I think drizzt81 means 5mbps of bandwith sounds weak for an OC-3 connection.
 
screwmesa said:
Nice setup man. I think drizzt81 means 5mbps of bandwith sounds weak for an OC-3 connection.
Click to expand...
I think the transport method and the bandwidth are not related...

What about when Verizon deploys Fujitsu FLM150 muxes for 1 T1 line?
 
You need to get some drywall and seal that ceiling, not only will it make it look better, but it will protect your equipment. Very small pieces of that fiberglass insulations do break off and well, if that starts getting into the equipment bad things will happen :(
 
Nice home,
Great Network setup
clean install that is the way my room at work should look. Alas.


KM
 
My system is way more advanced then that.

For instance I got a............................................................................ oh wait .
nevermind, i don't got shit.


But seriously, you got some nice equipment. The office is looks nice too.
 
PlusLabs said:
...Cisco VoIP is probably an expensive way to go for the home. To give an estimate, I just designed a Cisco VoIP system for a doctor's office with 67 phones and voicemail, and it came out to $67,300 w/o labor. :eek:
Click to expand...

More power to you for charging them $67k for that stuff. 67 phones is easily supported with CallManager Express running on a Cisco 2811. That sort of set up should be well under $35k for 67 7940s and a couple 7960s. Most places could probably even get by with a majority of 7912s. Then again, I'm guess I'm spoiled in that I have at least a dozen Cisco IP phones on my desk at work. A mixture of 7912s, 40s, 60s, 61s, 70s. To me, these things don't cost anything.

I'm curious to know why you need to run CCM and Unity at home? Then again, why you need a PRI is also curious :) If you're going to run all that voip stuff you should at least run it through something better than a VG200.

Lastly, I find it very humerous that you have TAC's phone number posted on your racks. Please don't tell me you have a Smartnet contract for your house?
 
...that's all i got. just...wow...i hope to be AT LEAST working with that stuff one day :D
 
Last edited:
Arch said:
More power to you for charging them $67k for that stuff. 67 phones is easily supported with CallManager Express running on a Cisco 2811. That sort of set up should be well under $35k for 67 7940s and a couple 7960s. Most places could probably even get by with a majority of 7912s. Then again, I'm guess I'm spoiled in that I have at least a dozen Cisco IP phones on my desk at work. A mixture of 7912s, 40s, 60s, 61s, 70s. To me, these things don't cost anything.

I'm curious to know why you need to run CCM and Unity at home? Then again, why you need a PRI is also curious :) If you're going to run all that voip stuff you should at least run it through something better than a VG200.

Lastly, I find it very humerous that you have TAC's phone number posted on your racks. Please don't tell me you have a Smartnet contract for your house?
Click to expand...
Well, there were many reason why I chose CallManager, plus the customer wanted features not supported by CME.

I am running it "at" home but not "for" home. As I explained earlier, we have 4 remote sites, around 90 phones all together and all have UM.

The VG200 is not the gateway, the 3662 has the PRI MFT and the DSPs. The VG200 is for POTS.

Yes, we have contracts on all of our firewalls and on all of the phones. The remote locations that have Cisco 3725 routers have contracts on them too.
 
TheBluePill said:
5 Points for Clean Network Layout
5 Points for Well Organized Server positioning
2 Bonus Points for Top end Equipment and a Kick Ass office
- 2 Points for Unfinished walls / ceilings (Particulate Fiberglass is a bitch on a HS/Fan, not to mention the HVAC water being 5 feet from the rack..)
- 2 Points for Minimal Backup Power
- 1 Point for No Game Server

7/10


Your Getting There... Keep up the good work.
Click to expand...

Screw the game server. I want to see some pr0n! :p
 
PlusLabs said:
Well, there were many reason why I chose CallManager, plus the customer wanted features not supported by CME.

I am running it "at" home but not "for" home. As I explained earlier, we have 4 remote sites, around 90 phones all together and all have UM.

The VG200 is not the gateway, the 3662 has the PRI MFT and the DSPs. The VG200 is for POTS.

Yes, we have contracts on all of our firewalls and on all of the phones. The remote locations that have Cisco 3725 routers have contracts on them too.
Click to expand...

Why not run the POTS service out of the 3660? Eliminates one extra box.
 
27.jpg


Forgot to post these... my wireless devices. BlackBerry and Cisco 7920 WiFi phone. :cool:
 
Arch said:
Why not run the POTS service out of the 3660? Eliminates one extra box.
Click to expand...
That would kind of eliminate the redundancy of having the POTS. But I guess if the power goes out, the whole company goes pretty much down the drain. :mad:
 
PlusLabs said:
That would kind of eliminate the redundancy of having the POTS. But I guess if the power goes out, the whole company goes pretty much down the drain. :mad:
Click to expand...

2 seperate power companies :)
 
Stang Man said:
2 seperate power companies :)
Click to expand...

that depends on the area...could come off the same line and in the same direction so might do any good
 
it seems as if what you have there is mission critical stuff...why not put it at co-lo?
 
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