FAQ | Search | Memberlist | Usergroups | Register | Profile | Inbox | Log in | SmartFeedSmartFeed


 okgg.org > Forum Index > Modding > Project Hal9000 Goto page 1, 2  Next

  Author    Thread Post new topic  Reply to topic
VinceVaughn
Cougar Hawk


Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 630
Location: OKC
Project Hal9000  Reply with quote  

Well for awhile now I have wanted to go to a nice, black 42u rack. And, since one of my buddies had laid his dibs on my old rack long ago I knew I had the option. So for months I just kept an eye out....I wasn't really actively searching just looking out. Figured something would come along eventually.

Well a few weeks ago it did, good 'ol craigslist came to the rescue. Managed to land myself a 42u Dell server rack in the local area (which is almost a must as freight shipping on a rack can be a small fortune). It was exactly what I was looking for! After a hectic Saturday picking up the rack, unloading it and then getting the old rack to my buddies place....I found myself staring at a giant monolithic monstrosity. That and I had a ton of work ahead of me Very Happy


The thing absolutely dominates the entire room....this is clearly in the realm of the heavy guns. I must say I almost felt intimidated and out of my league. Words and pictures just cannot express just how massive this thing is.





Shiny Dell Badge.....Between this and my Dell monitors a friend had the nerve to call me a fanboy Rolling Eyes





So empty.....well, I shall soon fix that problem (Random Cat photo bomb as well).





The rack had been in a garage for awhile so it had a fair amount of dust on it. So I spent an hour just cleaning it up and removing cage nuts. I had to take a break and where better than a server prison. Razz





Once I finished cleaning it up, I had to re-think the layout I had made up to better suit the aesthetics. So lets get to mounting stuff (I know I am going to hear about that one later Razz) First off we start out with this nice little 2u shelf which will hold my NAS and cable modem.





The shelf is in and the cable modem installed. So far so good. I made the extra u of space up top so my NAS will fit. By the way this is my first time actually working with cage nuts and square mounting holes. And I have to say I love it already, its so much easier to work with.





Mounted my 2u router. Nothing like a 2.4ghz dual core router to make your day Razz. I won't go into the build of the Router as I already posted that. Before putting it in I did swap the 500gb drive out for a 250gb and I also installed a third NIC for an eventual DMZ deployment. Now it just needs a fresh install of Untangle. The 3u in between the shelf and the router will be for when I get rackmount switches. Will put the DMZ switch on top and the regular network switch on the bottom. Then in the middle will be a cable manager so that it will look good.






Mounted the first set of rack rails. They are a pain but once in they are well worth the effort for the ease of access to the hardware. You can also see the bottom access port for cables to pass into the rack which is kind of handy when the thing is all closed up Razz.





Another gratuitous sexy rail shot Razz






Thats all for now.....Figured I would just start off with the basics and leave you all hanging Razz. I will be posting updates in the coming days so stay tuned Surprised
_________________
Core I7 4790K @ 4.7 Ghz
Corsair H115i AiO 280mm Water Cooler
EVGA GTX 1080 TI

Post Wed Dec 08, 2010 2:36 am  View user's profile Send private message
Bobacus
Gov. Surplus FTW!


Joined: 28 Dec 2004
Posts: 741
Location: Watching you make out at the movies
 Reply with quote  

Just wait until you come across server rails that are built for square hole racks, better than midget tossing.
_________________
this is the internet.
Unless proven otherwise, you are a 50yr old man with a bucket of KFC in one hand and your penis in the other.

Post Wed Dec 08, 2010 2:00 pm  View user's profile Send private message
Brules
M F C E O


Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Posts: 11074
Location: Konnichiwa, bitches.
 Reply with quote  

Such a tease.
_________________
K-SWISS Power cologne. Who knew you could bottle the scent of boner?

Post Wed Dec 08, 2010 2:36 pm  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
LightningCrash
Smile like Bob, order your free LC today


Joined: 03 Apr 2003
Posts: 5020
 Reply with quote  

separate switch for the DMZ? Why not VLAN?

Post Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:23 pm  View user's profile Send private message
VinceVaughn
Cougar Hawk


Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 630
Location: OKC
 Reply with quote  

VLAN would mean a managed switch and the cost goes up pretty quick on that level.

Anyway, It's time for a new update or two now that I actually have some free time.

So first things first I set about on a quick transplant for the webserver to my better rack mount case and will be retiring the old one. Quick process and once again already posted that build so I'll not go into it here.






And the webserver slides easily into its new home. I hate how the flash makes the case look pretty beat up....it actually looks pretty nice....its just been around the block a few times thats all.






Next set of rails installed and one of my new Rosewill chassis'. Things are really good quality and at 80 bucks for the case, rails and shipping I really couldn't say no to that sale so I bought 2 Razz. There is no comp in this case for right now. It is planned to be a future Windows Home Server box with oodles of hard drives.






Moving to the back of the rack I mounted my Cyberpower surge strip. Lots of outlets and on the back it has 6 spread out sockets to accept power bricks, so a win-win situation all around. Also, if you look on the left side you can see one of the built in cable management tracks. So I can hopefully avoid the rats nest in the back of this rack.






Meanwhile back in the front I mounted my heavy as hell Cyberpower 1500AVR UPS. Its a sweet unit however the batteries are shot in it so I'm going to have to get those replaced at some point (If anyone knows a good place to go for that, let me know). So right in the middle I now have a kickin power distribution center.










Back at the top I installed the NAS and am using a USB CD drive to install untangle on the Router so I could get internets back.






A quick status shot. Man after all that the thing still seems so empty. But then again I still have lots to do and it seems to be going pretty quick. It was about this time that I ran into a couple show stopping issues. The first is the third case would not clear as the other two are pushing into its space. This one will be an easy fix....I just have to change the planned order of the cases on the bottom half.

The second issue is much more pressing and it actually took some thought before I came up with a solution (More cowbell?). The problem was the handles on the rackmount cases extended too far out and actually interfered with the front door closing by a quarter of an inch.






So I ended up taking the flanges off the sides of the case and re-aligning the rails so the cases would rest deeper in the rack. I didn't want to remove the handles as they actually are needed to pull the case out and also I think it looks ghetto without handles. The two new chassis' were fine on this...unfortunately the webserver had to lose its handles as well since it was one piece. Oh well that case will eventually be phased out.....someday....






Don't mind my makeshift KVM keyboard and mouse those will be nice rack units....its just not the biggest priority right now.







And that wraps this up....Lots more to come on what has turned out to be my biggest project ever.
_________________
Core I7 4790K @ 4.7 Ghz
Corsair H115i AiO 280mm Water Cooler
EVGA GTX 1080 TI

Post Sat Dec 11, 2010 2:47 am  View user's profile Send private message
LightningCrash
Smile like Bob, order your free LC today


Joined: 03 Apr 2003
Posts: 5020
 Reply with quote  

here's a 2950 in OKC for $80
http://cgi.ebay.com/CISCO-2950-SERIES-WS-C2950G-24-EI-24-PORT-SWITCH-/270677208757?pt=COMP_EN_Hubs&hash=item3f059e6eb5

they have some Cisco content switches as well so you could do load balancing etc.

Post Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:01 am  View user's profile Send private message
VinceVaughn
Cougar Hawk


Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 630
Location: OKC
 Reply with quote  

Not a fan of the Cisco stuff....more partial to netgear switches but thanks for the suggestion.

And now for another update Razz


Moved the Webserver to just below the UPS. As you can see I had to take the handles off so the door could close. Looks kind of ghetto that way but with a descent rackmount chassis costing 100 bucks+ shipped it will do for now.






Second chassis mounted....once again nothing in it right now but I have plans for it later on. By the way a small rag proves most useful when handling oily rails.






Both new Chassis' mounted. These ones allowed me to take the side tabs off so they would sink deeper in the rack and the handles can clear the door. Looks pretty good so far.






Now to set about Re-building the secondary computer. A couple fans installed and an OCZ 600watt PSU.






See you later old boring fans! Nice red fans installed into the drive cages. As with all the fans in the rack so far they are Apevia brand. They look good on and have a nice balance of airflow and noise. And most of all they are cheap! Because some of those 120mm fans can run you 15-20 bucks per fan and that adds up quick. These fans run a more tolerable 6.99 per fan.






Now to install the drives. Originally configured as a 320gb OS drive and hodgepodge 750gb WD and 1tb WD drives for data. Now, thanks to Nikola, these are being upgraded to a pair of 1.5tb WD drives. Yeah! I love my Terra bytes!






All drives configured. The drive cage things in these chassis isn't the best but I have dealt with far worse. They will do fine.






Motherboard is installed. Some of you may recognize my old Q9550 Quad and Asus Striker II formula motherboard from my main machine. It has been a faithful companion but sadly its past its prime. And I made the decision to return her to stock clocks and put her out to pasture. The old girl has earned a break. Also I love my chipset cooler....its a cpu cooler from a Pentium III. the thing clipped on so well one might almost believe it was designed to do go with the board.






Had to remove one of the 80mm fans so I could plug in the 4 pin CPU power cord. I tell you that made my day. Nothing I like better than removing a fan and re-installing it 2 minutes later. XD






Everything hooked up and ready to go. Two 8800GTS' drive my four secondary displays and yes still rockin an IDE DVD burner from my original gaming computer back in 2002 Razz.






The thing passed the smoke test first try. No problems encountered which is always a plus. Then a short moment of silence before ordering the BIOS back to default configuration.






New system is all buttoned up and ready to slide into its new home Razz






Now its really starting to shape up into a real grown up rack Razz







Thats all for now. Don't worry there is plenty more to come Razz
_________________
Core I7 4790K @ 4.7 Ghz
Corsair H115i AiO 280mm Water Cooler
EVGA GTX 1080 TI

Post Tue Dec 14, 2010 1:39 am  View user's profile Send private message
VinceVaughn
Cougar Hawk


Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 630
Location: OKC
 Reply with quote  

Giant update here as I just finished a project last night that makes the rack look badass...and I have to catch up on the previous stuff before I can show the latest revision off. So with out further delay....here is another update.


So here is the older CRT monitor mount that I had in the old beige rack. And this just won't work in a black rack. So I set about on an adventure Razz





A few screws later I had the front off and the handles removed.





I started to use painters tape on the plexiglass window but then I figured out how to remove the window. Then it was a matter of putting on a few more pieces of tape and the prepping was done.





I cleaned the surface and then just used black spray paint. I actually almost bought gloss black but decided on matte black and, as you will see later, that was the right choice. I still didn't know how it would turn out....but two coats of paint, and a couple hours later it was done. Old Newegg boxes come in handy sometimes Razz.





Then it was a simple matter to re-assemble the mount. Painting the back half would have been a giant pain in the ass and all for something you won't be able to see from the front. Overall it turned out really nice....almost looks like it came that way.







Mounted the monitor mount and yeah it looks sexy matches the rack as well as the 2u Router case right above it almost perfectly. I am really proud of just how polished it made it look!







Here is an old 15" inch Gateway LCD I had that is the perfect size of the window and is easily jerry rigged into the Monitor Mount. Its only capable of 1024x768 but hey you don't need resolution for a admin terminal Razz.





Monitor mounted and nicely displaying the status of an XP install Razz. Also notice the NAS and cable modem at the very top of the rack....this spanned an unplanned adventure....





So over the last couple weeks since I had the rack my cable modem had been kicking offline occasionally which was annoying. The cause as near as I could figure was heat. As there is a modem, a NAS, a switch and my router computer all producing heat up top. Heat rises and as you can see there is no where for it to go. I didn't take any measurements but just by putting my hand up there I could tell it was pretty warm to say the least.





So I started looking for fan mounts for the back. All I could find were server units that produced like 70b of noise (I am ok with fan noise but that is a little too loud Razz). There were some designed for music racks that were quiet however they tended to be expensive. I didn't feel like dishing out hundreds of dollars for a fan mount. I finally found this little baby. I could mount my own fans (three 120mm ones at that!) and best of all it ran me 29 bucks.





So I got some more of those trusty Apevia fans Razz





Quick pics of the fans assemble to the frame. They are rated for 60cfm a piece so if my math skills serve me well that equates to around 180 CFM of cooling. Overkill I know but then again everything about this project is Razz.







got the power wires hooked together and tucked away with the help of some zip ties.





Now to power them...picked up this handy little molex power supply to do just that.





And with a little Velcro the power brick mounted nicely to the side of the rack.





The whole assembly mounted to the back top of the rack.





Plugged in and been running ever since. And it noticeably decreased temperatures at the top of the rack. Best of all my modem hasn't kicked offline since. So problem solved and it looks good too Razz. All that and it cost me a total of 60 bucks...I guess you can have your cake and eat it too....








Thats all for now....will try to post another update tomorrow....Let me know what you guys think Razz
_________________
Core I7 4790K @ 4.7 Ghz
Corsair H115i AiO 280mm Water Cooler
EVGA GTX 1080 TI

Post Wed Jan 05, 2011 11:58 pm  View user's profile Send private message
5][Havik
1337


Joined: 10 Nov 2003
Posts: 314
 Reply with quote  

Is that an old Inter-tel box?

Post Thu Jan 06, 2011 1:23 am  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address MSN Messenger
VinceVaughn
Cougar Hawk


Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 630
Location: OKC
 Reply with quote  

Is that an old Inter-tel box?


In Regards to what? anyway whatever it is, its not I dont have any of that.

But its that time again.....Another update..... Very Happy


A nice little cable manager for the back. Will serve its purpose of routing Ethernet cables nicely.





Mounted it in the rack directly below the fan module. Now I just need to get around to getting a rackmount switch or two....





The next project was another build. Using one of these 1u server cases I picked up awhile ago off of craigslist for 20 bucks total. The sweet thing is I sold the P4 motherboards out of them for 20. So free cases FTW. They are Supermicro brand and used to do service for the Oklahoma Tax department.





Inside view. Actually a nice design. Two hard drive bays, a 250w PSU and a compartmentalized design cooled by a single squirrel cage blower unit. Plus its got a slimline CD drive and Floppy drive to boot!





Since this is only going to be an internal webserver/torrent box/networked storage/streaming media; computing power is not needed. So its a perfect environment for my old Atom 330 dual core motherboard.





The PSU actually doesn't have a P4 power cable....lame. Oh well nothing that a 2.99 adapter can't fix.





Drives assembled into the caddies. Using a Hitachi 500GB drive for the OS drive and an old 1tb WD black for a shared drive.





You know.....on every other build I do.....when I look through my cable box I find these SATA power adapters everywhere....But the one time I need one it takes 20 minutes to find one....I dont get it.





Now I am not one to care about the sound of my comps I am actually quite used to it. However while the squirrel cage blower is silent compared to some of the 1u fans I have heard, it was still pretty loud. This and the fact that it was designed to cool a 65w P4 CPU, which is just absolute overkill for a 4w atom CPU. So I decided to get a fan controller. Xigmatek's PCI fan controller proved just the ticket, that and it was 8 bucks Razz.







I ran into a problem here. You see Supermicro in there wisdom decided to use a proprietary front panel connector to use with the original motherboard.





Why.....ever other case and there brother uses standard connections for the LED's and power buttons. Rolling Eyes





Now to fix this issue. I was able to liberate a spare front panel module from a local computer repair shop. They have a bunch that they salvage from junk computer cases. They actually let me have it for free even after I offered to pay. Fuckin sweet is what that is.





Didn't need the switches....I just needed the cables and motherboard connectors. So a quick snip snip was needed.





Now the length of the cables was short.....I wanted it to have some breathing room for routing and cable management. So I simply extended the connectors using wire and heatshrink tubing.





There was no extra crap on the module so a pass through connection would work and would be easiest. Just started soldering the leads on to the associated LED or switch.







All put together and bundled with zip ties. Not going to lie.....I was pretty proud of myself on this one Razz.





Module installed and everything all put together (Minus CD drive). Had my fingers crossed as I first tested the system.....but it booted fine and all worked as planned Razz.





1u Rails FTW Razz.





And then Supermicro strikes again. The 1u rails I got that fit "most 1u cases" don't fit actually. The mounting holes don't line up at all.





Well thats nothing that a little drilling can't fix Razz.





All fixed Razz





System all mounted up and ready to go.





And a smooth glide into its new home.





Rear view....The fan controller worked amazing. Set the squirrel cage to about half power so it is on par with the PSU fans. Still loud but its no longer a jet engine on take-off Razz.





I named the new machine Serenity after the ship in Firefly. Which if you haven't seen that series drop what you are doing and watch it right now!






Pretty proud of what I have done so far.....feel free to comment and tell me how amazing (or insane) you think I am Razz.
_________________
Core I7 4790K @ 4.7 Ghz
Corsair H115i AiO 280mm Water Cooler
EVGA GTX 1080 TI

Post Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:39 am  View user's profile Send private message
Menos
Broke My Labia


Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 1125
Location: Oklahoma City
 Reply with quote  

Well.... I think we'd all agree you're insane.... The level of insanity, however, is up for debate......

Post Sat Jan 22, 2011 9:49 am  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
LightningCrash
Smile like Bob, order your free LC today


Joined: 03 Apr 2003
Posts: 5020
 Reply with quote  

looks slick

don't think you're insane at all
i don't remember those supermicros but i guess anything is possible

Post Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:11 am  View user's profile Send private message
Sevnn
Candy Cane King


Joined: 22 Mar 2003
Posts: 7711
Location: Kyrat
 Reply with quote  

I'm definitely impressed Vince. Early on I was curious how far you were going to take it and my guess was no where near this far. Do you have more planned?

Post Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:54 am  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address ICQ Number
detox
Naaaaaah. NaaaaaFLAC.


Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 4317
Location: Durant
 Reply with quote  

Vince you have a cool hobby. After doing what you have done in this thread for a living, I am amazed someone would do it for fun!

Are you keeping a price total on the gear? How about hours worked? I'm just curious how much of everything you have put into this cool adventure.
_________________
I7 2600K
EVGA 980ti FTW
16gigs
SSD
3x Dell U2412 Monitors

Post Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:56 am  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website ICQ Number
McPoo
Sand Filter


Joined: 23 Jan 2011
Posts: 11
Location: Black Mesa
Dear Vince  Reply with quote  

You really need to get a house man, all that electronics equipment and poor kitty all need some adequate grazing space......I think HAL9000 deserves his own room
_________________
Oh wow, they can do that with their penis's?

-McPoo

Post Sun Jan 23, 2011 3:46 am  View user's profile Send private message
VinceVaughn
Cougar Hawk


Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 630
Location: OKC
 Reply with quote  

You really need to get a house man, all that electronics equipment and poor kitty all need some adequate grazing space......I think HAL9000 deserves his own room


Yeah I know.....Its on the agenda I would like to have a dedicated room for my computer shit.... Razz

Are you keeping a price total on the gear? How about hours worked? I'm just curious how much of everything you have put into this cool adventure.


Hmm....I'll have to throw together a spreadsheet on those....It will have to be estimates especially on time. Money spent will be better but will still have to adjust for the selling of old shit to upgrade....
_________________
Core I7 4790K @ 4.7 Ghz
Corsair H115i AiO 280mm Water Cooler
EVGA GTX 1080 TI

Post Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:28 am  View user's profile Send private message
Sevnn
Candy Cane King


Joined: 22 Mar 2003
Posts: 7711
Location: Kyrat
 Reply with quote  

VinceVaughn wrote: Yeah I know.....Its on the agenda I would like to have a dedicated room for my computer shit.... Razz


Used raised floor hardware can be found pretty cheap. It would definitely give the room that little something. It would also guarantee that any girl that steps foot in your place won't make be back for a repeat visit...

Post Tue Jan 25, 2011 1:13 am  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address ICQ Number
Drix
SEAT #ASS 10


Joined: 18 Aug 2004
Posts: 1773
Location: Norman
 Reply with quote  

Sevnn wrote: won't make be back for a repeat visit...


In Sevnn's case, it'd be the broken English. Thankfully, in his case, he's no longer looking. wink und grin
_________________
Advocating the end of the world since July 1995.

Post Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:16 pm  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger ICQ Number
TehDanMan
Guerilla Ontologist


Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Posts: 13143
 Reply with quote  

Like he gets repeat visits anyway.
_________________
Blargle Flarg Bergah Merg

Post Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:21 am  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
VinceVaughn
Cougar Hawk


Joined: 20 Sep 2009
Posts: 630
Location: OKC
 Reply with quote  

I have on a few occasions.....but normally I try to avoid repeat visits Razz
_________________
Core I7 4790K @ 4.7 Ghz
Corsair H115i AiO 280mm Water Cooler
EVGA GTX 1080 TI

Post Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:47 pm  View user's profile Send private message
  Display posts from previous:      
Post new topic  Reply to topic

Last Thread | Next Thread  > Goto page 1, 2  Next

Quick Reply

  
Jump to:  
Forum Rules:
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum