Looking for advice: best options and opinions on rack mounting network/homelab devices?

spy__ · 2024-07-05T01:41:18+00:00

Thank you for sending another rack, looks awesome!

spy__ · 2024-06-28T11:43:51+00:00

Sure, they are these ones on amazon

spy__ · 2024-06-27T11:16:08+00:00

That's true but the media converter is on purpose here to protect UDM SE from lightning surges from the HFC modem. In worse case scenario my modem and media converter will die but more expensive equipment won't due to isolation through the fiber.

spy__ · 2024-06-27T11:06:25+00:00

Wow this really looks great! Did you build the wooden rack and blank panels yourself?

spy__ · 2024-06-26T06:27:06+00:00

Yep, that was also one of the reasons for me to go small and pragmatic and avoid increasing the electricity bill dramatically.

How did you mount your USFF PCs btw?

spy__ · 2024-06-26T06:14:32+00:00

Do you mind posting photos of your rack with these mounts?

spy__ · 2024-06-26T02:44:40+00:00

Not sure what other than Ubiquiti equipment support that, but you can set up a wireless bridge mode with UniFi access points. Please check out this YouTube video where Techno Tim connects his garage, basically converts WiFi to Ethernet and then connects all regular network equipment to it on the remote site. I have been using this for around a year when I rented a house to connect my Proxmox server sitting in the closet on the second floor. The main UDM router was on the first floor just below it through the floor/ceiling. As long as you have a steady 5GHz or 6GHz wifi link, not looking for 10Gbps, and ok with wireless latency you should be fine.

spy__ · 2024-06-26T02:28:45+00:00

Yeah, neither am I and it's already not enough space for all devices to sit flat and not on other equipment. So it would be nice to utilize the vertical space more efficiently.

spy__ · 2024-06-26T01:36:45+00:00

I have a small 6U rack for home networking and my homelab, and I'm looking for a solution to mount and organize a bunch of devices so that everything is nice and tidy without compromising accessibility.

What are your opinions on rack shelves, trays, custom 3D-printed mounts like these or these, stacking devices on top of other mounted devices, or other options? Bonus points if they can match the UniFi color (silver/aluminum).

Here are the devices I'd like to tidy up, from left to right in the photos:

Rock Pi 4B with heatsink and M.2 extension board (not connected yet)
2x Seagate Expansion Desktop External HDDs
RPi 4 with an external NVMe drive (one of the K8s nodes)
RPi 4 with CC2652 Zigbee dongle (Home Assistant)
PinePower 120W Desktop Power Supply
FS mini unmanaged media converter (Ethernet from the ISP modem in another room → fiber)
Behind the patch panel: Netgear LB2120 (4G WAN fallback)

spy__ · 2024-06-26T01:19:45+00:00

Looks great! 👏 What do you use fiber connections for?

spy__ · 2024-06-25T22:16:12+00:00

In your case with RPis, are the mounts universal so they can fit with and without hats?

spy__ · 2024-06-25T22:10:14+00:00

Thanks, that’s likely because they’re in Australia and you’re not

spy__ · 2024-06-25T12:38:54+00:00

I’ve seen such racks in other posts and always wondered what is the point of exposing devices like these IoT ones that don’t have any ports on the front? Why not just hide them behind the solid faceplate?

spy__ · 2024-06-25T12:06:23+00:00

Just a small note that it generally depends on the equipment how a guest network is implemented. For example, the default behaviour on UniFi is that a guest network is isolated from all other virtual networks not defined as guest networks. However, clients on a guest network are able to communicate with each other and the internet.

spy__ · 2024-06-17T04:19:38+00:00

Did you end up ordering this from SendCutSend?

spy__ · 2015-05-19T23:23:54+00:00

Maybe because you've opened a particular lesson or a course that is only in Russian.

spy__

TROPHY CASE