Interesting Home/Personal network setups

[Davit2005]

Couldn't find a similar thread so here goes and I'm sure there are many people out there with more complex setups than me at home. Anything can go wrong in a normal home network i.e. loss of internet/WiFi etc. I jus have more that can go wrong :-( .

 

I have 2 low powered Hypervisors, each run the following VM's for basic redundancy i.e.:

Domain Controller (DHCP, DNS)

Virtual Firewall

Virtual Router (providing IntervLAN routing and VRRP for the vlans)

VPN Server

 

A low powered managed layer 2 switch handles wired.

 

Multiple vLANs i.e. Servers, Clients, WiFi, management.

 

On top of those servers a mail server, Radius, Network monitoring server, remote access host, host management and IP management servers are spread between the hosts.

 

A NAS provides storage and a UPS powers enough equipment to give me Internet for approx 20mins of power outage. A Draytek with 4G dongle provides backup Internet connection.

 

Everything is backed up either cloud or portable HDD's.

 

Next on my plans are Unifi WiFi and a second low power managed switch.

 

The whole setup is using about 150 watts of power.

[DavePa]

We have working sites with less equipment than that! Very nice indeed.

 

When we moved into our current house back in 2001 I had cat5 put in and that was considered leading edge at the time! Ran a single server setup for a while (non-virtualised, just a single server doing everytihng) then ran a HyperV with a couple of VMs on it (DC, File/Print, Exchange) but that broke about4 years back and I've never replaced it so now...nothing apart from a fanless 16 port Netgear (10/100 only), and a couple of APs

[thebatman]

WOW, I used to look after a big cadet unit with way less kit than that!

As for me, I have a meda server (Plex), Small Gig switch, email server, a few APs (two in doors and two out doors), laptop and a media PC and a few RiPi for streaming audio and video around the house.

[Sephiroth]

I run something not too dissimilar to @Davit2005:

 

• VMWare hypervisor (Free version), definately not low power! dual 8 thread proc's and 32GB RAM, running:
  
  • pfSense firewall/filter
    
  • Secondary DC
    
  • File server
    
  • PBX
    
  • Print
    
  • CCTV server
    
  • MSSQL server
    
  • Mail server
    
  • WDS/MDT
    
  • Minecraft Server
    

   

  [*]Physical DC (AD, DNS, DHCP)

  [*]FreeNAS iSCSI storage server for all VM storage, including file server

  [*]Backup server, just hosting a CIFS share for inbound connections

 

All servers are rackmount.

 

2 24 port patch pannels feed a 48 port layer 2 managed gigabit switch with VLANs for WAN, SAN, Wireless, Clients, Servers, Printer, Phones and management.

 

I have a Netgear wireless controler and 3 WAPs running my wireless access fed from a 24 port PoE Midspan. Also from the midspan are 2 IP PoE VOIP phones.

 

I then have a 3KVA APC UPS (currently out of service until I can pay an extortionate sum for some new batteries!) to power the lot for ~40 minutes.

 

All this housed in a 24u Rack and consumes somewhere in the region of 700 watts. Most of what I have is repurposed stuff from work that was going in the bin, so I've been quite lucky with that. The things I've not been able to get are hard drives, for obvious reasons.

 

The Windows server licences are 'loaned' to me for development, as I manage the entire network at work and do a lot of development at home which then proves useful or necessary at work. For example, when we upgraded our domain and were looking at adding a new DC, I added one at home to learn how to do it and how it works. Same with MSSQL and file services. We work on the understanding that I will continue development that is of benefit to the school, and I benefit from hardware and software to run my network

[Davit2005]

I run something not too dissimilar to @Davit2005:

 

• VMWare hypervisor (Free version), definately not low power! dual 8 thread proc's and 32GB RAM, running:
  
  • pfSense firewall/filter
    
  • Secondary DC
    
  • File server
    
  • PBX
    
  • Print
    
  • CCTV server
    
  • MSSQL server
    
  • Mail server
    
  • WDS/MDT
    
  • Minecraft Server
    

   

  [*]Physical DC (AD, DNS, DHCP)

  [*]FreeNAS iSCSI storage server for all VM storage, including file server

  [*]Backup server, just hosting a CIFS share for inbound connections

 

All servers are rackmount.

 

2 24 port patch pannels feed a 48 port layer 2 managed gigabit switch with VLANs for WAN, SAN, Wireless, Clients, Servers, Printer, Phones and management.

 

I have a Netgear wireless controler and 3 WAPs running my wireless access fed from a 24 port PoE Midspan. Also from the midspan are 2 IP PoE VOIP phones.

 

I then have a 3KVA APC UPS (currently out of service until I can pay an extortionate sum for some new batteries!) to power the lot for ~40 minutes.

 

All this housed in a 24u Rack and consumes somewhere in the region of 700 watts. Most of what I have is repurposed stuff from work that was going in the bin, so I've been quite lucky with that. The things I've not been able to get are hard drives, for obvious reasons.

 

The Windows server licences are 'loaned' to me for development, as I manage the entire network at work and do a lot of development at home which then proves useful or necessary at work. For example, when we upgraded our domain and were looking at adding a new DC, I added one at home to learn how to do it and how it works. Same with MSSQL and file services. We work on the understanding that I will continue development that is of benefit to the school, and I benefit from hardware and software to run my network

 

Forgot to mention my WDS/MDT. But PBX now that is something to think about.

 

I'm in a flat with no access to loft otherwise the whole lot would be up there and CAT5e plumbed around the house as me last place was :-)

[hardtailstar]

I just have a virgin home hub. With laptops and computer connected. I want more but money isn't​ there lol

[Norphy]

I... just can't be bothered with that sort of thing at home any more! It's my day job, I don't want it to be my home job as well!

 

But to each their own

[free780]

Router, raspberrypi serving DHCP, Print server. Did have squid running on the pi but performance wasn't great.

[fiendishlyclever]

I'd be more concerned about the electricity bill - you need a bank of solar panels and a wind turbine to keep some of these setups running cheaply. [emoji3] [emoji383][emoji383][emoji383]

[Davit2005]

I'd be more concerned about the electricity bill - you need a bank of solar panels and a wind turbine to keep some of these setups running cheaply. [emoji3] [emoji383][emoji383][emoji383]

 

Happy with my 150watts usage for my setup.

 

But it is a bit of a weigh up sometimes, modern low power equipment can be expensive to buy because it's new where as a powerfull DL380 may be relatively cheap to buy but expensive to run.

[Guest obsidianpillar]

Physical hardware wise mine consists of 2x Dell R710's, Custom Build & an HP MicroServer. Total disk space across all devices is around 20TB. Main Hypervisor has 72GB of RAM, 2x 6 Core Intel Xeon w/ Hyperthreading Enabled & Second R710 has 48GB's of RAM and 2x Quad-Core Intel Xeon's w/ again, Hyperthreading Enabled. HP MicroServer is an N40L with 4GB of RAM.

 

We use Hyper-V for Virtualisation on three of the four hosts. We have the following things running (split across different hosts):

 

vDC-01 - ADDS, DHCP, DNS

vDC-02 - ADDS, DHCP, DNS

vFS-01 - File Services, File Screening stuff and WSUS

vWEB-HOST-01 - IIS, hosting my WordPress site

vSOPHOS-01 - Sophos XG Firewall

vSOPHOS-01 - Sophos UTM 9 - Used only for Sophos Endpoint.

vRD-GATEWAY-01 - RD Gateway (in DMZ)

vRD-SESSION-01 - RD Session Host

vRD-REMOTEAPP01 - RD RemoteApp Server

vRADIUS-01-VL4 - RADIUS Server for Main VLAN

vRADIUS-01-VL8 - RADIUS Server for Guest VLAN

vNVR-01 - XPenology Build for CCTV

vBACKUP-SRV-01 - Backup Server

vW7-POOL-01 to 10 - Windows 7 Virtual Desktops (soon to be replaced with Windows 10)

vMGMT-01 - Legacy "Management" Server - running Sophos Enterprise Console and Citrix Desktop Studio for XenDesktop 5.6 Express (hosted on Custom Server)

PRINT-SERVER - Self explanatory (old P2V conversion)

vSBS-01 - Old SBS Build - Old AD stuff, only hosting Exchange for 4 mail accounts now.

vDT-STUDIO-01 - Virtualised Studio PC running Pro-Tools, FL Studio etc as a Production VM (I use OS X mainly)

 

We have 2x UniFi AP's for Wireless and a TP-Link Wireless Router at a dead spot in the house. We have three VLANS setup - Main Network - Video Network and Guest Network. We additionally have a few other managed switches around which are distributed around the house.

 

We have a few HDMI over Ethernet devices around which let's us get Virgin TV in other places without an additional box. We have 1x Virgin Media V6 box, 1x TiVO and 1x VHD Box.

 

We have 5 wired PC's wired on the Main Network and approximately 10 Wireless Clients such as Laptops, iPhones, iPads etc. We have Zero-Handoff enabled on the two UniFi AP's, which works fine. We only have the "Original" UniFi, i.e only 2.4GHz however hoping to upgrade to AC in the future.

 

Not too over complicated. Everything apart from the Backup server is contained within a 15u Server Rack. Power-wise it peaks at 2.2amps under maximum load from the rack.

 

Don't think I've forgotten anything, overkill I know. However, I try to do test builds for stuff for jobs I'm put onto. I ideally want to put the Backup Server separate in the event of a hack/virus I can have an additional layer of security. I have 1TB Cloud Backup to which our Core User Data goes onto which is enough at the minute.

 

Tom

[asc]

Standard Sky Hub, bought a nice Asus router which works pretty well. QOS is nice and it's got a 5ghz AP unlike the Sky router. Sky don't have a 'modem only mode' like Virgin do so there's a fairly crude double NAT setup. Itworks and I haven't run into any issues but it still bugs me that Sky don't let you just bring your own hardware.

 

I built a fairly cheap mini ITX server box. Runs Server 2012 r2 (Dreamspark licence) and acts as DC, DHCP, DNS and File Server. 3TB Western Digital drive is NAS-grade; worth the extra £ for reliability (3 year warranty too). Plex is installed but really just for hosting media up for the Fire box/Chromecast to access. Very little transcoding is done as I use Handbrake to encode everything on my Mac before uploading to server over LAN.

Hyper-V is also running which houses a single Windows 7 VM which I use as a remote desktop 'Terminal Server' for offsite access.

 

Oh, and I also have a Raspberry Pi running FreePBX which runs the 4 VoIP phones in the house.

 

All this goes into a TP Link 8 port managed switch. (£20 amazon)

[CAWJames]

Draytek router, connected to 8 port netgear switch, cat6 runs under the patio to the garage(2 ports) and around the room to the TV(4 ports, 2 used with an HDMI extender)), Wyse thin client with a 2TB HD running Jessie in the garage. Unifi AP's - 1 in the garage, 1 in the house and 1 in the polytunnel. Raspberry pi and touchscreen monitor in the kitchen, 3 further pi's with hifiberry DAC's connected to two technics amps running speakers in the ceiling in the kitchen bathroom and garage. Hue and Alexa integration for voice activated lights in the house. Small but perfectly formed

[Davit2005]

Draytek router, connected to 8 port netgear switch, cat6 runs under the patio to the garage(2 ports) and around the room to the TV(4 ports, 2 used with an HDMI extender)), Wyse thin client with a 2TB HD running Jessie in the garage. Unifi AP's - 1 in the garage, 1 in the house and 1 in the polytunnel. Raspberry pi and touchscreen monitor in the kitchen, 3 further pi's with hifiberry DAC's connected to two technics amps running speakers in the ceiling in the kitchen bathroom and garage. Hue and Alexa integration for voice activated lights in the house. Small but perfectly formed

 

If only I had a Garage or a decent shed I'd prob have a decent DataCenter setup, the car would live on the drive :-) . I'd defo run CAT6 round the house, at least 4 in each room.

 

Nice sounding setup.

[CAWJames]

I had the walls down to brick for a new damp course, so when the electrician came in, was rude not to ask for some cat 6 runs, and speaker cables everywhere Also had 5.1 points put in the living room, everything runs to below my desk, so its all central, but a wire nightmare most of the time. The thin client is the best server, low power, sits in the garage, runs debian to do auto-torrenting, unifi controller, logitech media server etc Used to have a full fat HP tower server, big bills and noisy, no thanks!

[Bedders]

I feel somewhat under developed with my home setup - It's an Asus RT-AC68U router which provides DHCP, DNS etc. and wireless. I have an old PC in one room that I used as a server (made up of previous computer build parts - AMD Phenom II x6 1100t Black Edition, 16GB DDR3 RAM, currently under construction with a 120GB Sandisk SSD Plus and I need to purchase some HDD's to make it into a NAS). Apart from a 4-port unmanaged Linksys switch in my room for my Xbox, PS3 and PC, there's only my parents client devices and some phones/tablets and that's it.

 

Wish I had the space/money for some of these nice sounding setups

[Davit2005]

I feel somewhat under developed with my home setup - It's an Asus RT-AC68U router which provides DHCP, DNS etc. and wireless. I have an old PC in one room that I used as a server (made up of previous computer build parts - AMD Phenom II x6 1100t Black Edition, 16GB DDR3 RAM, currently under construction with a 120GB Sandisk SSD Plus and I need to purchase some HDD's to make it into a NAS). Apart from a 4-port unmanaged Linksys switch in my room for my Xbox, PS3 and PC, there's only my parents client devices and some phones/tablets and that's it.

 

Wish I had the space/money for some of these nice sounding setups

 

Thank goodness I haven't more space :-) . I used to have 3 great big servers in my parents loft, getting them in was a nightmare up a ladder but I wasn't paying elec bill back then.

[computer_expert]

for those of you that run mail servers at home, how do you do it?

 

Do you run a residential internet connection and relay through a smart host, have a business internet connection or via another method

[mukz]

Sorry if i missed this but does anyone run automation at home? Going to be moving soon before i do the house up. I already have the network side planned, the lighting, heating and av is planned, just wanted to see if anyone also had security hooked up?

[2097]

Running at home in the garage and trunked into the loft

 

Fujitsu PRIMERGY RX1330 M1 x2

Layer 2 HP Procurve 2520G-24-POE x2

Qnap Storage for Cameras x1

Cisco Meraki MR18

 

Hikvision cameras , Samsung smartthings ( just for security atm) , Sonos throughout

 

No hardcore services running on the Fujitsu servers, just vmware hypervisor with multiple Linux and Windows OS's.

[Sephiroth]

for those of you that run mail servers at home, how do you do it?

 

Do you run a residential internet connection and relay through a smart host, have a business internet connection or via another method

 

At the moment I use a DDNS address to point to my BT (yeurk! Only went with them to get the line installed as it was free from them and nearly £200 from others) router. When contract renewal comes around, I'll be going with Plusnet as they'll give me static IPs, then buy a domain name from my preferred registrar.

 

As far as mail servers go, I'm using the open version of the Zimbra Collaboration Suite. Due to DNS names not being what I want, I'm only using that for junk at the moment, but the last school I worked at used it for both staff and student email accounts. It's quite a powerful product.

[2097]

for those of you that run mail servers at home, how do you do it?

 

Do you run a residential internet connection and relay through a smart host, have a business internet connection or via another method

 

I have a hosted domain with cpanel . I have a script running on a Linux server that when my local ip changes it updates the DNS entry on the cpanel . This allows me to openvpn into home all the time .

[ITGURU]

Where do you get your licenses from for Windows servers?!

[ITGURU]

for those of you that run mail servers at home, how do you do it?

 

Do you run a residential internet connection and relay through a smart host, have a business internet connection or via another method

 

i'm just using normal residential broadband - BT Infinity.

Port 25 is open - MX record points to a filtering provider, then they forward the mail to me using by dyndns domain.

router has dyndns entry so destination always up to date. never had any issues or downtime.

[2097]

Buy them ? I prefer to do most on linux as its free