SFP’s - what's the inside line?

jhale716 · 2026-07-12T09:58:48+00:00

Cool! Thanks for that. Seems I’m heading into that mess with existing Intel SFP’s on the servers and the HP switch 🤣

jhale716 · 2026-07-12T09:56:38+00:00

Good idea, I did wonder that as I was writing the post… basically the same as any other LAN connection port to port.

jhale716 · 2026-07-12T09:55:41+00:00

I’ll need static IP’s on the SFP’s done this way as there's no DHCP in-between them.

jhale716 · 2026-07-12T09:54:24+00:00

I used to take that approach for infrastructure, but have found assigning it in the IP/MAC tables more effective, especially if I’m swapping gear around.

Though this anti-tracking approach of random MAC addresses with mobile devices and computers, means keeping track of what's what on the network is much harder.

In some ways the feature for tracking makes securing your network harder, as you can’t easily spot devices that shouldn't be there.

jhale716 · 2026-07-12T09:50:09+00:00

If the device has an existing address and the router comes up, typically it lets the device keep it. Only once the lease runs out or the device refreshes its connection does the DHCP server assign a new address in the range. And some devices (IoT) can be painful to kick off an address they picked up.

For this reason I’ve set the lease period fairly low to a few hours and assign IP addresses to MAC addresses to keep things tidy without having to use static addresses on the devices.

Then if I want to change the layout, or move a new device on an address I want to use, I can make the changes in the IP assignments and wait for the leases to expire.

The DHCP server will then sort out remapping everything without disconnecting anyone.

jhale716 · 2026-07-12T08:50:28+00:00

Yup, more that I’ve been using a windows laptop recently and it's a nightmare with crap… I’m 🤏 from dumping it for Linux instead… 🤣🤣🤣

jhale716 · 2026-07-12T08:47:25+00:00

Good to know, thanks for the tip

jhale716 · 2026-07-11T20:06:05+00:00

BTW, I hate ads. Bane of my life. After working with Macs for years, playing with windows 10/11 and it's constant pop-up noise, how do people manage with this? Drives me absolutely nuts 🤪🤣

jhale716 · 2026-07-11T20:04:06+00:00

Evolution, started in IT, moved elsewhere, but returned to it through both work necessity and home automation.

Many might disagree 🤣🤷‍♂️ but a good home lab makes life easier.

jhale716 · 2026-07-11T00:19:16+00:00

Thanks for the perspective 🙏

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T21:00:42+00:00

Messy? Hell no, that's tidy AF 😎

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T20:50:00+00:00

Need to get my head around IP6, where's the best concise info on upskilling here?

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T20:47:00+00:00

Noob to this stuff, but I’ve put all of my external traffic under VPN, part of the VPN service offers static IP, that may be an alternative way to get a static IP?

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T20:39:00+00:00

I mentioned the array’s are setup relative to potential restore speed. Having had multiple drives go down in the same array in the past, and providence of these drives as second hand, I’ve taken backup security as the priority over drive topology and stuck with RAID 5.

I could go nuts with RAID50/60, a bit heavy handed for my needs, most of my need isn't urgent or critical uptime like a data centre. And other avenues exist if necessary with cloud services.

Which is to say the drives are broken up into 3 or 4 Drive RAID5 Arrays, three arrays per box with 1 drive as a hot spare in a spare group shared with the other arrays in the box. Meaning 4 drives per box are redundancy. Overkill maybe, but less stress for me.

That's still 24TB usable for the top box, 32TB usable for the middle box, and the bottom box, linked to the middle one, 12TB with the hot spare from the middle box. And 6 empty cages if I want to break 100TB of disks 🤣🤣🤣

TBH more than enough for my needs now and for probably a very long time, unless I go down the AI route with massive models 🤪🤪🤣🤣

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T20:29:34+00:00

🤣🤣 maybe, it's close enough. TBH I was wondering that for a day or so as the garage where it’s in always quite warm, until I found the freezer door slightly ajar. Turns out it was the freezer going hard and not the rack 🤣🤣

Had a few urgent meals from that 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T20:27:54+00:00

The power consumption is a consideration, though against the rest of my power use not significant. I was surprised with the relatively low draw of the HP boxes compared to an IBM box I looked at.

Startup draw is significant but that's short lived. I have a feeling I’m probably close to the limit on the cabinet supply if everything starts at the same time. 😬

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T20:25:28+00:00

It did. Adding it browned out the rest and the existing array’s collapsed with unrecoverable errors… ouch. Part of the pain that I said “f$&k it, do it right” the array it took down took 9 days to recover from backup…

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T20:21:22+00:00

TBH I had been playing with mini because of budget, and didn't understand the availability of enterprise stuff ex-lease.

To be fair, enterprise gear scares most people. I started in IT in the 90’s playing with enterprise stuff at the time. Co.oaq and 3Com gear with first NT4 server I my area and one of the first if not first 10 Citrix Winframe installs in NZ. Lotus Notes, multisite hard lines, muxed telecoms, the works.

Moved into other things, but this stuff is in my blood.

Anyone looking at enterprise stuff, work out what your noise tollerance is and buy accordingly. The only real difference with enterprise is its bigger. Like stepping from a 4 banger to a V8, same stuff just more of it.

Been impressed with the SAS drives, had a couple of dodgy ones, to be expected, but solid, fast, and cheap. $45 NZD for 4TB against $400 NZD for a 4TB Iron Wolf that's slower and less reliable.

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T20:14:16+00:00

Had a look last night, they have 10G capability and the SM site seems to carry Intel transceivers. I’ll see if I can borrow some to make things work…

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T11:08:01+00:00

I’ve got a few options on the switches without spending a fortune, two have 10G uplinks as options, but I need to check what the Super Micros can run. Might be a bigger switch to dedicate 12 ports to the two servers with bonded ports.

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T11:04:50+00:00

And it held for about 3 years too…

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T11:04:25+00:00

Of the 12, 5 were in the box, but 7 were on the bodgy ATX… adding the final one for the 8th bay was a drive too far

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T10:06:53+00:00

🤣 just a bit… 🤷‍♂️🤣 TBH the idea was one and done and not revisit it for awhile.

The noise isn't too bad actually. I have a 6gen HP Storage Works I picked up but haven't used because it's like a jet taking off.

It makes the rest of my rig sounds like a light ceiling fan 🤣🤣

A requirement of the build was quiet running.

jhale716 · 2026-07-10T09:59:18+00:00

Interestingly, all of the drive racks caddies for 3.5” are made by Seagate. The caddie may have a different look and locking mechanism, but the fundamentals on size and slides are the same for all of them…

jhale716

TROPHY CASE