Network Tidy-Up 2017
At the end of January 2017, new fibre is being installed for HUBS point of presence at Hacklab.
We need to:
We should also take the opportunity to:
spread our power usage across a second circuit
tidy-up the power distribution to avoid chains of power strips
rearrange the shelving for non-rackmount equipment
consolidate the power connections for the Raspberry Pis to reduce 13A socket usage
Details
New Rack layout
top-front is reserved for HUBS and fibre termination
top-rear is needed for Hacklab primary switch, router shelf and cable management
Hacklab secondary switch can move to mid-rack and be used for servers
Replacement Hacklab router (assuming a 1U full-depth) can go mid-rack
fit two high-capacity PDUs, attached to different circuits
New Shelf layout
Tower PCs should have the same front-to-back airflow as the rack
Take the top-half or bottom-half of two shelf units, instead of top and bottom of one unit
Tower PCs can go on front shelf, Raspberry Pis and console can go on back-shelf
More power strips
Use a single Anker power supply or 2-3 Ikea USB chargers to reduce cabling for Pis
Use a dumb gigabit switch to reduce network cabling (Server
LAN only, special cases can keep connecting to the rack switch)
Circuit Re-balancing
Need to:
Identify suitable back-boxes for cable conduit:
cmsplc.com
Purchase back-boxes, twin sockets, additional cable
Arrange access to plant room to switch-off power
Schedule downtime (can be mitigated by running essential systems from another circuit)
New Router
Ideal configuration would be a Dell R610 with two power supplies. RAM requirement is modest (1G).
Software is likely to be BSDRP.