Homelab: Build Log
June 4, 2021 - Reading time: 4 minutes
Location
The deciding factors when I chose the location were mainly where my runs will be made between finished walls and the multiple floors. At the time I wasn't really familiar with drywall repair nor wanting to patch up finished walls, and I worried about Asbestos being present due to the age of the house. So I settled on doing all my runs through the exterior walls with outdoor rated cabling and lots of caulking for minimal disturbance. All the runs come to a central location in the basement living room closet. See the following image of the runs coming together from the outside.
Patch Panel
About 20 or so runs were completed and terminated to a 1U patch panel. One run was mistakenly ended shorter than needed (ran out of cable) and had to do a coupling to extend a few more feet. I did not consider at the time for the difference in length from the first block to the last as it would made the first few runs 1-2 feet longer. I did try to put in a service loop that is hidden in the back as well. You can see what I mean in the following image.
More Hardware
I did some research where the PDU should be placed in the rack. I ended up placing it at the very bottom which allowed some space for extra power cables to be tucked away from sight. My strategy is to have power bundled and running from left, data on right. I also needed some sort of shelving so I use the PDU itself for non-rack-able items. PoE switch above the PDU needed some support as it wasn't a full width unit.
Other Hardware & Cabling
This is where things really change and almost finished. The managed switch gets placed in the middle due to the patch cables were longer than anticipated. Next time I'll get the half footers instead of the full footers.White colour cables are for connections between other equipment and hosts inside the rack. Red is for non PoE connections to wall plates. Blue is for PoE and IP camera runs.
The original ISP Coax run to the basement from the DMARC box is quiet old so unfortunately the signal is quite lower than how I had it setup before. (Only negotiates with 10/100) It was initially used for a TV which I split off from. Before the modem was from my bedroom upstairs with the office next door over. I ended up running the modem from my bedroom and then through jack #6 to the rack. This then goes to my Edgerouter X.
Previous router was a TP-Link Archer C7 with DD-WRT is now an access point. This router may go upstairs as the signal on 5GHz is a bit low to my liking.
For rack cooling, I came up with a somewhat ghetto solution. I hated the sound it made from the included fans that run from an outlet plug. So I came up with two 900 RPM Noctua Redux 120mm Fans and a fan adapter to outlet plug that runs on full 12V. I'm not that concerned on cooling capacity because everything is virtually passively cooled (thus silent), but I do want some air moving in the rack.
What's Next?
I plan on doing some VLANs for the cameras and guest network. Moving the home phone off the POTS line to a VOIP solution would be nice to cut down on the bill. Even though I won't see this rack on the daily, I do have a heart for some RGB lighting; maybe a smart plug and some IKEA light bar. The black cabling around the house is a tiny bit hideous so I may paint it white or a beige to match the aluminum siding. And as always, the homelab is never truly complete!