New rack for office..

[+BudMan MVC]

Wasn't sure exactly best place to put this - but it is networking related

So finally getting around to redoing my office at home, since I am full time work from home now..  As temp solution until its completed have moved my work and personal pc into garage as my temp office.. Working wireless - man its like watching paint dry moving files from my pc to nas now over wireless vs the 2.5ge connection.  But its only a few days I have to live with it..

But I had built up a pretty bad rats nest over the years with 28 port switch just on top of my desk, with sg4860 netgate router on top of that, then few raspberry pis, cable modem, bridge for wifi wall switches.. Then nas on floor... Couple of UPSes,  And old gen8 microserver (been off for years) so its going in the bin finally.  Couple of POE injectors on the floor next to the desk, etc. etc.. A portable table I was using as work desk for 2 27inch monitors and work laptop, etc.  My main desk had a 32 and 27 inch on it.. It was pretty cramped..

So last night after pulling up the old carpet and cleaning up the mess, I got everything moved into the rack.. Redid the cabling coming out of the wall so nice and bundled.. This the cable coax, some ethernet that runs to other side of the house that goes into my AV cabinet, and another run to the guest room for an AP.. And another run for AP in the main hallway.

I got just a cheap 9U rack, and got a set 1 inch casters I put on the bottom of it.. So now it will sit in the corner of the room under my new L shaped desk so I can just easy turn in my chair and be at my personal workstation, or my work setup.. Think it came out pretty nice, and will be able to roll it out from underneath my desk if need to do something in it.

This way I don't need to shutdown my network as well when flooring goes in and painting, etc.   Can just roll it to different area when doing the flooring there.  Looking forward to nice floor vs carpet that will be easy to roll around vs just the glass mat I had which gave me a little rolling room to move between personal workstation and work setup.. But wheels would fall of the mat sometimes.

It is pretty cramped in there.. Maybe should of gotten the 12U vs the 9? I am a bit concerned about temp buildup.. But keeping a close eye on it for a while.. So far temps seem pretty good.. Original plan was to leave the UPSes out of it - and just have them sitting on a rolling plant holder next to it so they could be easy moved as well.. But they fit so unless it starts to get extra warm in there going to leave them.

I got a couple of wall mount dual monitor mounts.. So will have to install those after the floor and painting is done..   This should free up even more desk space..  But with more room, I might have to upgrade my personal 2nd 27in to another 32

New bookshelf that is going in will make for a nice place for some good bourbon, and couple of glasses for when meetings are driving me nuts

Now the question is - will I have room for a mini fridge for some cold brews? hehehe

Anyone else got any move to rack success stories, or horror stories?

The horror part of this project is when start to move stuff back into the new office.  I had just dumped everything into boxes to clear everything out off bookshelves and desk drawers.. Have to weed out of what to keep what to toss

edit: Pro-tip, my sg300 came with rack ears.. And I had put them away knowing hey at some point I might put in a rack, guess what couldn't find them anywhere! What I should of done is just mounted them to the freaking switch even though it was just sitting on my desk.. So I had to order some off amazon - overnight delivery is great.. And I know when I start putting the office back together I am going to run across them - hehehe..  But 15$ for 2 pieces of bent metal with some holes and 8 screws.. So don't put away your rack ears unless you know for damn sure you will be able to find them years down the road when you want to use them, heheh

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

That is really nice looking; much cleaner than my rat's nest.

Black & Decker, Frigidaire, GE, Honeywell, and Whirlpool are among the many, many companies that make mini fridges, however, I would be concerned about the power draw; you wouldn't to trip the circuit breaker in the middle of something important.  That said, perhaps something like this would be a good addition for, ahem, load balancing purposes, since it looks similar to your rack.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[theefool]

I have a half rack myself, kinda wish it was a quarter instead.  But, I can always fill it up with stuff.

[+BudMan MVC]

hahaha - that does look sim... bookmarked

[+BudMan MVC]

Well still lots of stuff to do, but coming along nicely.. Pretty happy with the cabling - looks clean under the desks, cables pretty hidden away.. Got a few things to add still.. And have a new 32in monitor coming on monday to replace the mismatched 27 currently using.  Going to use the old 27 in portrait mode between the work and personal stations.. Not sure if will use for work or personal pc..

Anyone know easy way to switch monitor between systems - so could use for both?

I changed out the black cable wrap for smaller white, and added a white extension cord for the power cables into the upses in the rack.. Can barely see them against the white wall.. Should of done this years ago vs living with the rats nest I had.

And wife had great idea about moving my bourbon and others to little bar setup.. Just roll over and can pour a little sumpin for those hard work afternoons

edit: just looked and the old 27 has dp and hdmi, so should be able to hook up hdmi from personal and dp from work and just switch the source on the monitor for what I want to use it.. This is going to be slick.. Stand I got for it rotates for port mode, but curious if the tilt will be enough to just tilt it to face the system using it with... Find out monday, if not might need to get a different stand.

 

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

All that alcohol.. LOL

[+BudMan MVC]

hahah - dude that is not all of it.. That is just some of my favs and what would fit..  The purple label on the right is a redbreast brought back from ireland.. I am a fan of redbreast (best irish whiskey that, at least out of the ones I have had), and you can't get that version of single pot stilled here in the states, at least that I have seen anywhere.  And back left bottle is Sean's Bar whiskey also back from ireland.. Great bar, oldest pub in ireland and got my youngest sons name, so had to bring him a bottle and t-shirt from there.

If you think that is a lot - clearly your not a drinker   Didn't you post in some other thread that you never even been a bar?

edit: this stand for my portrait mode monitor should work to just change source and then align it with which station working at..

Curious if anyone else has done such setup, and how its working out..

 

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Yeah, I never drunk anything to do with Alcohol. Closest I ever got was a little wine and beer bread.

I never had whiskey or whatever else.

TBH, due to my medical issues, I'd rather stay away from it.

[+BudMan MVC]

I hear ya, no biggy.. Each their own, and if you have medical problems - then prob not good to indulge that is for sure.. Shoot its not good for you even with out any other medical issues   But I do love a cold beer, and love a nice bourbon/whiskey/scotch to take the edge off.. And wine goes great with a good meal, etc.. Don't think I have ever met a alcoholic drink I don't like - hehehe

Martini's are great as well! Dirty is the best - gin or vodka works - hehhe

See that glass with the red in it - that is my weekend morning drink of choice.. Michelada, sometimes not just weekend mornings hehehe

[+BudMan MVC]

So just to finalize this thread.  Office is 99.9% done - my plan for 5th monitor in portrait mode between crashed and burned when I dropped the old 27in while mounting it, it only fell about 6 inches - but while it turned on the picture was nuts.. So had to scrap that idea, but the replacing that with another 32 was nice improvement now that resolution matches it is much nicer moving windows between then.

It turned out nice I think, and the rack was something should of done years ago..  So far the temps have been great inside, it was like 100 bucks and then adding casters was like another 10 or something - and just a little drilling and screws into the bottom plate of the rack.  I add a couple of usb powered fans on top of the rack to help with air flow

Vs putting big laser printer back on the filing cabinet replaced it with a nice little indoor fountain.. Moving the printer to garage - don't print that much anyway. Scanner is now easy to access vs being on a shelf and having to drag it out any time needed to scan something.

Still have a bit of organizing to do in all the shelf bins, and want to redo some of the wiring in the rack with shorter patch cables, etc.  And need to hook up the ups that are in there for monitoring, etc. might use a pi that is in the rack to monitor both, or run the connections to my pc and nas how it was before. Not sure yet.

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Looks good, BudMan!

[Astral]

A man of culture... *spots the Drambuie*

[+BudMan MVC]

Yeah Drambuie is wonderful relaxing sipping drink, I often get it as after meal drink when out.  And a rusty nail or rusty compass is not a bad cocktail as well.  Its a nice addition to bourbon as well kind of like a rusty nail, but not sure name off the top of my head

[Astral]

Drambuie is ALWAYS in my flask up at the ski hill when I snowboard. Tasty, warming, and a surprise to anyone who gets a sip when they're expecting garbage like Fireball.