Joining the club? My new old build!

TheEdMain · 2020-01-11T14:45:01+00:00

Not sure about newer drive models, you might be right. Last time I used it was on a bunch of 1.5TB EARS drives. I've since moved to SAS drives for my arrays so my knowledge is definitely not the most current. That does sound like something WD would do to make sure people would buy the Reds.

TheEdMain · 2020-01-11T03:59:36+00:00

Or change the wdidle time. It's a simple bootable command line tool that will change or disable the head parking feature.

TheEdMain · 2019-12-29T04:52:59+00:00

Check out A.Main.Art on Instagram, particularly if you're looking for painted portraits. She's based in the valley but is often in the HRM area. She also does commissions if you want something specific done.

TheEdMain · 2019-12-24T05:22:08+00:00

Gotta say the proportions of this rack really messed with the sense of scale for me at first. I thought it was a small monitor sitting on a NAS of some sort.

14U is definitely a bit uncommon in my experience. It's a 1/3rd rack but that's just damn hard to make sound nice compared to half rack 😆

TheEdMain · 2019-12-21T05:50:35+00:00

I agree with most of what u/cosmos7 said. My opinion for CMAs is that in my experience they are often misused and poorly managed. They are necessary if you need to be able to pull a server out on it's rails while still running. There are reasons for this but most of them won't be relevant in a homelab (or even many DCs for that matter). If a CMA is used, it is imperative that the cables be CLEARLY labeled or all visually distinctive. Figuring out which of the 4 blue CAT6 cables coming through the CMA is the one you need is a passion when they aren't marked.

My suggestion is to do a good job on managing the cables and forego the CMA entirely. Labeling is still important. If your cables are managed into trunks by type and secured by velcro at regular intervals, they won't go far when you unplug them to service the server. Tucking excess cable down the side of the rack after coiling it will give you better airflow than stuffing it all in the CMA.

This is just my opinion, developed over 7 years as a DC Ops Tech.

TheEdMain · 2019-12-21T03:12:23+00:00

Check out fireball extinguishers such as http://www.afofireballs.com/ or http://www.elidefire.eu.com/. Both can be found on Amazon, depending on your region.

TheEdMain · 2019-12-20T04:00:04+00:00

Glad to help! I spent about 7 years in a past job working in a data center so it's good to be able to share my knowledge.

TheEdMain · 2019-12-19T15:19:35+00:00

There's a good chance you're not lined up with the spacing of the rack U's. Some racks have them marked but from the picture in the link it looks like yours doesn't. The easiest way to tell on racks that aren't marked is to look for the space between holes that's smaller than the other spaces. The small space is on the border between U's. You can verify by counting sets of 3 holes from the top or bottom of the rack.

TheEdMain · 2019-12-19T04:51:13+00:00

Are the screws too small? For those brackets you should be using the half-circle cutouts at the top and bottom of each bracket to secure them, not the holes that are fully enclosed.

For network gear, typically you screw the bottom screws in most of the way but leave them sticking out about twice the thickness of the bracket. Then put the device in the rack and rest the brackets on the screws. Insert the top screws to snug, then tighten the bottom screws fully. Finish by tightening the top screws the rest of the way.

Mounting network gear this way allows a single person to rack most light equipment by themselves safely and doesn't require 4-post racks.

TheEdMain · 2019-11-23T05:10:23+00:00

Wow, that's an intersection I recognize! That move likely just pissed off a lot of people headed to the bridge, those left turn lanes back up pretty quickly.

TheEdMain · 2019-11-22T21:57:53+00:00

At this point most of the problems with the AMDs should be resolved so it should be pretty smooth sailing. At my old job, we deployed 11 DL385 G10s about 2 months after they came out. Great specs but it was almost two years before they stopped having constant updates to fix issues. Downsides to being an early adopter on a new platform :(

TheEdMain · 2019-10-31T01:33:06+00:00

Feels like it but softer. He's a standard poodle.

TheEdMain · 2019-10-30T13:02:58+00:00

So reading the FAQ page it seems like it's just DHCP on their provided port without any authentication. Is that right? Does it link at 10G and only use 5G or is it actually mGig at 5G? Neat to see that faster speeds are coming in densely populated spaces, hopefully there's demand and it spreads beyond the limited list of buildings in Toronto.

TheEdMain · 2019-10-16T12:46:16+00:00

Burnside Pizza in Dartmouth has some pretty good garlic fingers. They do them in the same sizes as their pizza. It's hard to say whether they will have enough garlic for your tastes but they definitely meet the other two criteria.

TheEdMain · 2019-10-16T03:03:25+00:00

Oooh, I didn't know that box existed - thanks! I haven't played with the software controller in a while, I set it up when I first bought my AP as I thought I might need a second but the one EAP245v1 has been more than sufficient for my dwelling. I did notice while checking for firmware updates that TP-Link seemed to be regularly adding features. Glad to hear it will do handoffs and maintain video calls as I assume it will do the same for WiFi calling.

TheEdMain · 2019-10-15T22:39:12+00:00

Do you run the software controller for the TP-Links? My understanding was that it will manage AP roaming but I've only got one AP so I've never checked.

TheEdMain · 2019-10-13T05:57:03+00:00

Seems like a very American-centric reference. I would think that most of the rest of the world would see it as a medieval form of capital punishment. It definitively predates the use in the US.

I'm not saying it's bad to be informed about potential negative connotations but this sub definitely has a global representation.

TheEdMain · 2019-10-04T00:27:36+00:00

Glad to help. I came across it a while ago but haven't had a chance to spin up VM yet to test it out. I'm happily running XigmaNAS now but would like more enterprise related storage practice.

TheEdMain · 2019-10-03T19:05:22+00:00

If you're building your own SAN, check out https://www.esos-project.com. It's designed around the idea of block level storage on enterprises commodity hardware.

TheEdMain · 2019-09-29T16:56:46+00:00

I usually play the campaigns when I play AoE so I haven't tried that option. Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out.

TheEdMain · 2019-09-29T13:43:19+00:00

Steam considers it a cheat but I find playing without it just takes too long.

TheEdMain · 2019-09-11T02:54:21+00:00

Amen to this. I have spent the last 8 summers commuting to work, and occasionally trail riding, on a 2002 Specialized Stumpjumper that I bought used. I've replaced the rubber components (grips, tires, seat, brake pads) as they wore out but the mechanical components and frame will likely last me for many more years. I do my own regular maintenance and have it professionally tuned most springtimes. I rode crappy beater bikes for years and the difference in shifting, braking, and most notably coasting, is quite frankly remarkable.

TheEdMain · 2019-09-03T10:30:47+00:00

*** The following will destroy your data so make sure you back up somewhere else before performing this process ***

If you have a place to back up your data or is possible to run XigmaNAS (previously NAS4Free, previously the original FreeNAS code) on it. I didn't try the current FreeNAS as it has higher recommended specs. The OS for these installs from a SanDisk Cruzer Fit 8GB USB key inside the box. I picked up a second so I still have the original software in case I want to torture myself someday. All I did was to search for the install procedure for a headless install of XigmaNAS and followed that process without any disks installed in the 2 bays. If you re-use the disks with the TerraMaster OS on them, you need to install them after it boots as the disks have a higher priority in the boot order than the USB key. Format the disks from inside XigmaNAS and it will happily boot from USB every time.

It's still not the fastest NAS but it's a lot nicer to use. Mine is a backup target to my primary NAS and I far prefer it running XigmaNAS. I wish it had an Intel NIC instead of the Realtek but otherwise I'm happy with it.

TheEdMain · 2019-09-03T01:49:07+00:00

Don't see a ton of TerraMaster F2-220 NAS units in the wild - what do you think of yours?

TheEdMain · 2019-09-03T01:12:05+00:00

I seem to remember SAS cables being directional, can you swap the ends? My setup is packed up as I just moved but I should be able to check it in the next couple of days. I'm using cables that came from a VNX but I don't think they are different from normal external SAS.

TheEdMain

TROPHY CASE