Does anyone else use old equipment for homelab use? If so, what are you running? ( i.imgur.com )

DesertCreosote , 1 year ago

I run a few older things.

In my rack, I have:

• 1x 48-port POE Juniper EX220 used as a core switch with a fiber backbone to my upstairs switch; wish it was 10gig, but it was cheap and I needed ports.
• 1x Dell R720 with 2x Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 @ 2.70GHz, 256GB RAM, and 80TB of raw storage in a RAID-5 array (64TB usable).
  • Runs ESXi with VMs for everything from vSphere to Plex to some websites I host myself.
• 1x Dell R710 with 2x Intel X5650 @ 2.67GHz, 40GB RAM, and 24 TB of raw storage.
  • Currently unconfigured since I recently migrated off of this server to the R720.
• 1x Dell R610 with 2x Intel 5550s, 96GB RAM, and no drives.
  • Got this on a whim, planned to use it for a project, never got to it, now it sits on the bottom of my rack and reminds me of my folly.

Upstairs I have another 48-port Juniper EX220, and I plan to fill most of the ports with 4+ Ethernet drops to every room in my house, plus extras for WAPs, cameras, and remote sensors.
I also use Ruckus R710s for wireless connectivity; I have two right now, and plan to eventually get one of the outdoor-rated Ruckus WAPs to mount on my chimney since WiFi coverage gets a little sparse when you get halfway across my yard.

I was remarking to a friend the other day that I’ve managed to build myself a pretty stellar setup for the early 2010s, at a fraction of the cost it would have taken back then. Though it definitely eats lots of power!

L3s OP Mod , 1 year ago

Very nice setup! My work environment was only VMware ESXi’s, it’s a solid solution but gets expensive!

DesertCreosote , 1 year ago

It certainly can. The VMUG subscription helps out there a little, but it’s definitely a little pricey.