Updated Setup
I have posted before about the rack setup I deploy. I have recently made a change to incorporate Proxmox into the rack and want to give you all an update.
New Machines, Old Tricks
I just did a post on Proxmox and why I am running it instead of Ubuntu Server. What I didn’t talk about on that post is why I am running either. Long story short, I have had it with TrueNAS and their utilization of k3s. Its not good. There have been a lot of complaints and I don’t know why they removed the ability to run docker on the hypervisor. Honestly, if TrueNAS would let me deploy docker compose right on the server I think it would be an almost perfect OS.
So my journey began for how I would host docker containers. My goal was a VM running Ubuntu Server with Webmin + Portainer; that’s my go-to tool for just about everything. Then I discovered Proxmox and now I am running that on a separate machine. So here is my new rack setup:
Networking
At the top you will see two pieces of networking equipment:
- TP-Link TL-SG108E 8 port POE Gigabit switch
- Netgear ProSafe X5708E 8 Port 10G switch
I already did a post about my switch to 10G Ethernet in my home. I love it and this switch is what makes just about all of it possible. The issue was 8 ports isn’t going to be enough for everything, so for now I am supplementing the 10G switch with a simple TP Link 8 port gigabit switch for devices which don’t need full speed. In the future this will be swapped out for a rackmount switch which has either 24 or 48 ports of gigabit ethernet plus 2xSFP+ 10G uplinks to connect it to the 10G switch.
Servers
I have my trusty TrueNAS server in the Rosewill case from the previous post. I havent made any changes to it (hardware-wise). It is still running all of my data storage, NFS shares, as well as some containers I haven’t moved off there yet.
The new addition is at the bottom – the Dell Optiplex 7020. Its a rescue which has a 4th gen Intel quad core, 16GB DDR3 memory, a 256GB SSD, and gigabit ethernet. That is what I am running Proxmox on and which now holds 90% of the containers I run. The goal in the future is to swap this out for either a full-desktop build in a 2 or 3U case (not unlike the TrueNAS build) or go with a mini-PC with the Intel N100. I am really learning the love those machines the more I read about them. Gtek has one with a 128GB m.2 drive, 8GB DDR4 and 2×2.5G ethernet on it for $149 on amazon right now which is taking everything in me not to buy asap.
Battery
The battery is the same APC1500 as before with a new trick. I purchased a cheap knockoff cable from ebay which allows me to connect it to my TrueNAS box. Now when my power fails and the UPS kicks on TrueNAS can recognize that and alert me via email and discord that the UPS is on when I am not home. I absolutely love that feature and it works instantly and flawlessly.
Extras
You will see another piece of hardware below the Netgear switch as well as some redacted stuff on a shelf.
The USB thingy below the Netgear is a Digi USB Anywhere box which allows me to connect a physical USB device to a PC somewhere else. In my case, EC2 instances on AWS. The redacted items are the USB devices I have plugged into it. The one I have is expensive, but they make smaller versions which are more affordable and I can attest work really really well. I love their products and their support is amazing.
Conclusion
I have more work I would like to do, but so far, this is working very well. The Dell gives me ulcers because even though that thing is a workhorse and will probably never fail, I do want to replace it with something a little more solid. I also want to upgrade the networking. My dream would be 24 or more ports of all 10G ethernet, but I will most likely settle for upgrading the TP Link to a rackmount enterprise switch.
Until then, this is my new base of operations.