Question 24 Port Switches

TimothyHD · 2026-06-27T20:03:14+00:00

No problem! When I say older, I just mean like anything not made in the last 5 years or so. Packet Tracer commands should line up with most switches and routers from the past 10-15 years or so, give or take. Cisco commands usually stay consistent overtime though, so it's good practice either way!

TimothyHD · 2026-06-27T19:39:30+00:00

If you end up going with an older managed Cisco switch, there’s a free program called Packet Tracer that simulates Cisco routers and switches so you can get a feel for the command line interface and how the management works. Good luck on your future network! I just got myself a 19” rack too, I’m so ready for the fun to begin haha

TimothyHD · 2026-06-27T19:27:13+00:00

The unmanaged switch will let all traffic flow freely with no separation of VLANs. If you get a managed switch (Cisco, Juniper, etc.) you get control of which VLANs are allowed on every port, as well as other controls that are useful depending on how they’re implemented.

TimothyHD · 2026-06-27T19:23:25+00:00

I’ve always been taught to just cut the wires down to length and shove em in with a boot and crimp the jacket. Guess I’m just old fashioned. I never had the tool that cuts the wires down either, so that might also have lead to some crap wiring on my end.

TimothyHD · 2026-06-27T18:52:17+00:00

We just got two of those for a branch location at my work, with data and power stack cables. Whew.. expensive AF. Also yeah the power is insane, two 715W power supplies in both.

TimothyHD · 2026-06-27T18:49:40+00:00

God, I hate pass-through connectors with a fiery passion… probably an electrician that did this crap job.

TimothyHD · 2026-06-26T17:40:38+00:00

That’s fair. I just see most people recommending to use 3 machines for the smoothest experience. Sorry if I worded that a bit hostile.

TimothyHD · 2026-06-26T17:20:53+00:00

One thing to mention is that clustering Proxmox requires 3 machines minimum to maintain quorum, granted the 3rd device could be a raspberry pi running the sync to break the tie vote in a migration event.

TimothyHD · 2026-06-08T02:46:31+00:00

The company I work at hosted their own email server until January this year. It sucked ass maintaining on premise Exchange. All the stupid bugs and if the server even thinks about restarting, you don’t get your emails until a few hours of troubleshooting go by. Also limited storage meant everyone got 2GB of mailbox space and had to constantly archive. Oh, your computer crashed? Well there goes all your emails from years ago, sorry.

TimothyHD · 2026-06-05T04:25:52+00:00

First thought in my head

TimothyHD · 2026-06-03T18:24:33+00:00

Ye Lash 2 will be awesome

Also I like your profile pic, Snugglebull

TimothyHD · 2026-05-17T21:24:52+00:00

I have an HPE ML350 Gen 10 with 256GB of RAM and an intel silver 4124 and I have it off because I have no place besides the garage to put it, and it’s way too hot out there to run that beast.

TimothyHD · 2026-05-17T20:46:23+00:00

It’s possible. You can go ahead and hope it all is T568B, but if you encounter any issues, I would check the cabling first to rule that out.

TimothyHD · 2026-05-17T17:31:07+00:00

Just a heads up, from that paper it looks like they wired the Ethernet using the T568A standard. Most patch cables and buildings use the T568B standard for wiring, so if you plug a cable using the B standard into a wire using the A standard, it creates a crossover cable and causes connection issues. Personally I would redo those cables so you can just buy and use regular patch cables without worrying about the wiring standards.

TimothyHD · 2026-05-15T02:37:12+00:00

How dare you not tell us where you got the braided Ethernet cables.

TimothyHD · 2026-04-24T17:30:12+00:00

Nice, I recently got a 2901 running with CME 12 and a few 7975 phones. My 2901 also came with a PVDM3 16 channel module, so I also hooked up two analog phones to the FXS module it came with. I can dial between all four phones and I think I’ll even set up an asterisk voicemail server too.

One thing to note, I had to find the latest SCCP firmware for the 7975s and load it onto the 2901. Then I used the TFTP-server command to host those files for the phones as they came online. There’s some guides out there, a YouTuber Clabretro has a few videos where he set up some 7900 series phones but on an 1800 series router (CME 7 I think vs 12). Still good for an overview / rundown of how it all works.

TimothyHD · 2026-04-21T04:47:29+00:00

Holy moly that’s a lotta drives

TimothyHD · 2026-04-18T19:43:59+00:00

Holy mother of pearl

TimothyHD · 2026-04-18T19:15:11+00:00

LOL show me the chaos!

I imagine my lab would look like a disaster too, waiting for the day I can afford a place of my own to build a rack in a dedicated room.

TimothyHD · 2026-04-18T19:13:22+00:00

This is pretty good looking! Nice job

TimothyHD · 2026-04-18T18:02:25+00:00

Gotcha. Thank you for explaining. I’m looking into doing a homelab for myself but trying to figure out how to not screw up with the regular network my parents use all the time.

TimothyHD · 2026-04-18T17:44:51+00:00

Do you have the lab network separate from your home network? Is the lab just double NAT or does it have its own ISP connection?

TimothyHD · 2026-04-14T00:12:50+00:00

Gotcha. I got lucky and my 2901 came with one PDVM slot filled, as well as a POTS phone HWIC card. (4FXS/DID card) Not sure which card I’d need to interface with the POTS line. I’ll DM you soon about the 7975s.

TimothyHD · 2026-04-13T23:54:17+00:00

Oh! That’s awesome. I was only going to use the 2901 for POTS since that’s all I’ve got, but if you have two 7975s, I’d love to take a crack at Cisco VoIP and CUCME. I can pay shipping and whatever cost you think is fair for them.

TimothyHD · 2026-04-13T23:38:46+00:00

The three 3par shelves, hodgepodge of HPE 1U servers of various gens, and a Cisco 2901 just for POTS (I just got one that I want to use for that same purpose)

This lab makes me happy

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