Network pics thread

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Tech room at my college radio station.

Yes, it is a mess. This summer, I'm working with the university to move most of the services over to their VM farm. We're also going to be redoing the tech room - routing all the audio through patch panels, that kind of thing.
 
cymon said:
Tech room at my college radio station.

Yes, it is a mess. This summer, I'm working with the university to move most of the services over to their VM farm. We're also going to be redoing the tech room - routing all the audio through patch panels, that kind of thing.
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I like their antenna and its' paper towel balancing rig, lol.
 
Adding the paper towel roll, as an insulator, actually solved a lot of my reception problems. However, it's pretty mission critical so I should zip tie it in place. Or better - grab another roll - for 'load balancing' (ba dum chick).

Also, there's another antenna behind the tin foil taped onto the wall.
 
Here's the engineering room at the campus radio station at UT...I graduated in May.
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Your network side looks better than ours, but we have patch bays for the audio. Our transmitter is on a rooftop penthouse across campus, I've only seen the rack once while it was being built, lol.
PS don't you take your EAS slips off the machine? We had to get a new ENDEC, ours died...2 grand later...
The studio is the window on the left.
 
jeffmoss26 said:
Wish I had pics of our engineering room at the UT radio station.
Your network side looks better than ours, but we have patch bays for the audio. Our transmitter is on a rooftop penthouse across campus, I've only seen the rack once while it was being built, lol.
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Yeah, not having patchbays for audio is a giant pain in the ass. I have:

-3 position euroblock
-5 position euroblock
-XLR
-TRS
-terminal strips
-super propreitary DB25 pinout

in the same airchain. So trying to connect anything is always a giant pain in the ass. So this summer, I'm going to get a bunch of XLR patchbays and connect EVERYTHING back into those - I'm tired of having to scrounge for / make a cable every time something needs to be changed.

I've never seen our transmitter - we run 3.4kW ERP from a dedicated transmitter building and a 400FT tower. Pretty nice setup (not on air right now, transmitter broke). I'd like to grab pics of it sometime.
 
jeffmoss26 said:
Here's the engineering room at the campus radio station at UT...I graduated in May.
230183_1696173930418_1419930107_31407306_1513731_n.jpg

Your network side looks better than ours, but we have patch bays for the audio. Our transmitter is on a rooftop penthouse across campus, I've only seen the rack once while it was being built, lol.
PS don't you take your EAS slips off the machine? We had to get a new ENDEC, ours died...2 grand later...
The studio is the window on the left.
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Nice wiring job hanging out of the cealing....
 
All of the mics, cd players etc are connected to the console with 66 blocks in the studio.
Everything in the rack goes to an ADC patchbay with bantam plugs on the front, their proprietary punchdown on the back.
I had nothing to do with any of this install, good or (especially) bad. I just helped fix random things, and had a couple radio shows.
 
I'm an XLR fan - they're large, sure, but what the hell, I have plenty of rack space.

Will do 66 blocks for our studio redesign - nice and quick to terminate. Easy to bridge connections, too.

Also, I wish our wiring came out of the ceiling. Some dipshit installed a wireway, except it's mounted at waist height. I'm trying to get a real cable tray installed.

I do change out the paper on the ENDEC - but I find it's easier to manage rolls of paper, rather than 600000 little 12" pieces if you tear it after each alert.
 
I use Neutrik XLR connectors for EVERYTHING lol

<3 XLR connectors... 3 pin for balanced audio and my laser interlocks, 4 pin for headphones, 5 pin for DMX
 
FLECOM said:
I use Neutrik XLR connectors for EVERYTHING lol

<3 XLR connectors... 3 pin for balanced audio and my laser interlocks, 4 pin for headphones, 5 pin for DMX
Click to expand...

and in the 2 channel home audio / hi-fi world we still use Analog RCA ( however i use Nutrik springloaded RCA's )

Being a 11 year Diyaudio.com member :)

BTW Below are cables i hand made.

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P1030251.JPG
 
I'd much prefer to use XLR wherever I can but so many of the commercial mixer amps I work on these days use the 3 pin euroblocks, or terminal strips.
Whatever it is, I make it work!
 
I take it that is fiber channel for storage?
Is that an old Rackable Systems box opened up?
 
schnell said:
I take it that is fiber channel for storage?
Is that an old Rackable Systems box opened up?
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Actually it is just Gigabit Fiber with only iSCSI running through it and yes it is a Rackable Sytems server. It has 4 drive bays and I was using it to test the SAN while waiting for the 12 bay supermicro to come. The fiber card is to tall for the case so I had to keep it open.

dashpuppy said:
has to be, because there are no hard drives in the servers :)
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True but they do have one 72 GB drive each to run ESXi and store a couple local ISOs.
 
Been looking through this thread quite a bit over the months, makes me realise that i am one hell of a messy person at work. I'm booking some time to sort out the server room and maybe the patch panel. I will post a before picture then after when i'm done.
 
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New addition to our IT office... waiting on the power cable to come in mail so it can reach the in-ceiling outlet
 
dashpuppy said:
In Canada, you not allowed to open conceal like that :)

your lucky..
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Open conceal? Are you referring to running the attached power cable through a hole in the wall and to an outlet, as opposed to installing a proper outlet behind the TV? If so, we're not allowed to do that either, at least in MI... but maybe I'm misunderstanding?
 
I dont think we're allowed in the united states either... i think code requires an electrical outlet behind... dont think you can run electrical lines (like extension cords) through the wall.

Im quite certain on extension cords, not sure about the TV cord itself though... anybody know? when i say tv cord im refering to power. low voltage i know your okay with, we do it all day long, but how bout the electrical cord from say a TV can that go through the stud channel? or do you have to put in proper electrical wires/outlet behind tv? We have outlets above our ceiling tiles for tv's throughout the office
 
Adam said:
I dont think we're allowed in the united states either... i think code requires an electrical outlet behind... dont think you can run electrical lines (like extension cords) through the wall.

Im quite certain on extension cords, not sure about the TV cord itself though... anybody know? when i say tv cord im refering to power. low voltage i know your okay with, we do it all day long, but how bout the electrical cord from say a TV can that go through the stud channel? or do you have to put in proper electrical wires/outlet behind tv? We have outlets above our ceiling tiles for tv's throughout the office
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I'm pretty sure any high voltage wiring connection needs to have a junction box for it with at least a blank cover plate. In most states that is.
 
Excuse the mess, working on converting garage into a bigger computer room

wh7VQ.jpg

Patch for server connections
Watchguard Firebox x750e running PfSense 2.0RC2 with bonded 6Mb/768Kb internet connections
Dell Powerconnect 2724
Patch for wall connections
19" LCD
Keyboard
4 Port KVM
APC Back-UPS RS 1500LCD UPS
APC Powerstrip

g58Sy.jpg

Supermicro
VMware ESXi 4.1
Intel Core i7 3.2Ghz Quad Core w/HT
24GB DDR3 ECC Memory
2x Intel PRO 1000 CT - Virtual Network
1x Intel PRO 1000 PT - Management Network
1x Intel PRO 1000 PT Dual - Storage Network

Supermicro
VMware ESXi 4.1
Intel Core i7 3.06Ghz Quad Core w/HT
24GB DDR3 ECC Memory
2x Intel PRO 1000 CT - Virtual Network
1x Intel PRO 1000 PT - Management Network
1x Intel PRO 1000 PT Dual - Storage Network
2x 1.5TB HDD - RAID1 - Weekly Backups
3x 750GB HDD - RAID0 - Daily Incremental Backups

Storage Node
5x 2TB HDD - RAID 0 - Mixed Storage
3x 1TB HDD - RAID 0 - VM Storage
2x Intel PRO 1000 PT Dual - Storage Network

Unused Gear:
Watchguard Firebox x700 w/Pfsense
HP 24 port 10/100 Switch
Watchguard Firebox 700 w/Pfsense
2x Enterasys 24 port 10/100 Switch
2x Symantec Firewall systems
Old Blackbox server

Unpictured:
HP 1810G-8 8 Port switch for storage network
2xZoom DSL Modems
Linksys e2000 for my secure network's wireless

Yp24i.jpg

Some wall jacks in the house connected to a Dell Powerconnect 2724 with a 4 Gb uplink to the previous Dell PC 2724.
HP V-M200 802.11n Access Point - Family network's wireless SSID/VLAN, my secure network's wireless SSID/VLAN.

I have 5 subnets I use each with their own VLAN: family wired, family wireless, secure wired, secure wireless, storage. I use the HP AP for both wireless networks and they are split by VLAN, I also use an e2000 to extend my secure network's wireless. Everything is also connected to my various colocated servers via OpenVPN. I've been trying to do everything virtualized as possible just to reduce power consumption. I'm considering moving my pfsense to a VM but I'm iffy on it so far. The ESXi servers are setup with vMotion HA also.
 
NTAuthourity said:
exactly. :)

Nice job on that, spyder. It really looks great. hmm why not just use that Procurve at the bottom?
Click to expand...

Thanks,
It is destine for the iSCSI network traffic with our new servers. I have another Procurve in the back I will add in once a new power line is ran. Currently sitting with 3 APC's, 6 servers, 2 switches, Modem, ASA, router, and AP on a single 20amp circuit.
 
CaseyBlackburn said:
I'm pretty sure any high voltage wiring connection needs to have a junction box for it with at least a blank cover plate. In most states that is.
Click to expand...

That's national; it's part of the NEC. If you'd like the specific sections and qualifications, I can provide them. Doing power wiring in the plenum has further requirements.
 
aaronearles said:
Open conceal? Are you referring to running the attached power cable through a hole in the wall and to an outlet, as opposed to installing a proper outlet behind the TV? If so, we're not allowed to do that either, at least in MI... but maybe I'm misunderstanding?
Click to expand...

no your correct, a iec or any power cord is not certified to be inside of a wall, and in Canada you not allowed to do that in certain parts..
 
FLECOM said:
actually they are completely worthless... you can get them for like $30 on ebay no idea why... they are PoE and have dual radios (one 802.11b/g, one 802.11a/b/g) have integrated antennas (2.4ghz for Radio 1 and 5Ghz only on radio 2) along with dual RP-SMA connectors per radio (one primary port, and a secondary if you want to do diversity) that you can select in the management...

additionally you can configure the AP's in a "group" so when I make changes to one it sends the config changes to the other AP's in the group

they can do a captive portal in the AP, support WEP, WPA, WPA2 personal and LDAP etc

they are really nice, but I guess since they don't have a Cisco logo, nobody wants them lol

also LIFETIME warranty...

I am a big fan of procurve stuff, easy to manage, setup, install, etc... the only reason I have that Cisco 3750 in the rack is I have to power some Cisco 7960 phones which are pre-standard PoE

I have been thinking of getting one of the 24 port GL 10/100 modules for the modular switch and breaking out the soldering iron, making it into a PoE module... only thing is it would be "stupid" and always have 48vdc, so you have to make sure you don't plug in non-poe stuff or else it may end poorly... its a project for a later date lol

as far as the R610, I was really, really surprised at how quiet it is, its definitely the quietest 1U server I have ever worked with... its in a pretty hot room, and while my poweredge 2900 would regularly ramp up during the day (A/C is set to like 82F) the R610 very rarely ramps up... then again, its not really doing much 99% of the time... I picked it up really, really cheap off craigslist so it retired my Poweredge 2900

its pretty basic, single dual core xeon, but for what I need it to do its fine, and the <100W power draw is nice :D
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Actually it looks like its one seller that selling them for cheap. Other then him, the next cheapest one is $90-100. Looks like he is changing them out and started out with 130 of them, and just wants to get rid of them no mater the price.

Thanks for pointing them out though, made an offer and bought two of them, might grab another 2 if he still has them when I get more funds. There a steal at $20.

Does anyone know what the Auxiliary usb port can be used for. Tried looking online, but there ist much on it online. and procurve site just says for use for a later time.
 
Rack before any cleanup, but after the PE2800 was ripped out of the bottom shelf.


Dell PE 2800 before P2V. :)


After! Well, almost... about 90% done. :)


A little more cleanup and I need to P2V the local AD (Intel 1U) box.
 
MikeTrike said:
Rack before any cleanup, but after the PE2800 was ripped out of the bottom shelf.


Dell PE 2800 before P2V. :)


After! Well, almost... about 90% done. :)


A little more cleanup and I need to P2V the local AD (Intel 1U) box.
Click to expand...

Looks way better now, glad that you moved all those tower ups's :)
 
schnell said:
Are those Adtran switches Mike? Opinions?
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Yes, NetVanta's

Do you like cisco? At the time these w/PoE 10/100 were much cheaper than the cisco's. And if you can navigate the cisco CLI, you can navigate this, it's very very similar as far as CLI commands go.

They have been running 24/7 for 2.5 years without so much as a hiccup, pretty solid IMO.

EDIT: Though I may replace them with SMB switches, the cisco 200 and 300 series, so I can get GbE and PoE on the cheap. I have a set at our corp office I've been testing, it's all sorts of web GUI. Not bad, just not completely comfortable with it yet... For GbE I'm willing to take the change, seeing as how proper (IOS/CLI based) GbE + PoE switches don't come cheap.
 
VDI test unit



Running Win 7 Pro, I'm still building a Win 7 Enterprise template with the ISO we downloaded with our VDA agreement. We should be good to go over the course of this week. I did the P2V on our local AD box and our Terminal Server, so that hardware was ripped out and running on the VDI box now.
 
Last edited:
MikeTrike said:
VDI test unit



Running Win 7 Pro, I'm still building a Win 7 Enterprise template with the ISO we downloaded with our VDA agreement. We should be good to go over the course of this week. I did the P2V on our local AD box and our Terminal Server, so that hardware was ripped out and running on the VDI box now.
Click to expand...

Can you tell me your experiences so far? How are you liking that unit and everything?
 
CaseyBlackburn said:
Can you tell me your experiences so far? How are you liking that unit and everything?
Click to expand...

Pretty nice so far, I have them auto-FTP their configs. Basically i just boot once, put in the FTP IP, user, password and reboot; done. It updates the OS and pulls the config from there forward. :)

The user sees a single logon window and thats it.

If HP's thin clients would have been connection broker friendly I would have been happy without the auto config though; $100 cheaper... oh well...
 
last company I worked for had thin clients for 95% of everyone and it was the best thing ever. I want to do it here, but it's kind of a touchy subject not having a physical computer.

oh and how do you guys like using the spark client.. I for one have not been able to stand it.
 
calvinj said:
last company I worked for had thin clients for 95% of everyone and it was the best thing ever. I want to do it here, but it's kind of a touchy subject not having a physical computer.

oh and how do you guys like using the spark client.. I for one have not been able to stand it.
Click to expand...

VDI and/or Terminal Services FTW, VDI is naturally more costly, but the benefits are great!

Spark, a bit bloated and sluggish on old machines. New machines its fast and speedy, the built in features like taking a snapshot of something on your screen and sending it to a user so they know exactly what you want them to click is handy. We won't be changing it anytime soon, we were using PSI, which is lighter weight/faster/etc, but not as useful. Going VDI will give all users plenty of CPU power for Spark, so it's a non-issue now.
 
I wish we had a use for corporate chat honestly. haven't found a great reason for people to go with it for now. I'm really thinking I'm going to run with terminal services this next year and see what I can accomplish. Thin clients in places that just need a terminal sounds like a decent idea for me
 
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