Hardware

The final move… Back to MikroTik

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My mind is set.

I’ve moved back to MikroTik for my border router (again) only this time I’m sticking with it. I really enjoyed using pfsense but then when I upgraded to the R230 I messed up a very good installation and subsequently tried to push into opnsense which I just didn’t get along with. Then I re-debated going for a virtual host and running the firewall as a VM as opposed to bare metal. I like the flexibility of virtual but also love having a dedicated “thing” as a hardware firewall.

I opted to go virtual host and run MikroTik as I could achieve quickly what I wanted and I know it’s got the legs to go the distance as the configuration matures and evolves. I will admit I’d love to have some pretty graphs but what’ more important? A system I am comfortable with or graphs I will look at a couple of times?

The final problem was connection speed, my CHR license is a P1 and I am running a 10Gb home core network, this means the unit will only upload at 1Gb per interface if I wish to license it for updates or I run it un-licensed and risk not getting updates, not the wisest of choices currently being as RouterOS 7 is only on version 7.16 at time of writing. The easy answer – invest – shortly to take ownership of a P10 license, I don’t need it right this moment but it will be available for when I upgrade the WAN (which I could do tomorrow to 8Gb) and will appease my mind that I have now made good on my internal network.

Now to find a use for my P1…

RIP Gaming…

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I’m going to need a new banner.

My Gaming PC is suffering in two ways.
It’s starting to lag behind now, the CPU is relatively new but the RAM and the GPU are starting to show their age and the value is depreciating.
the second is that simply it’s not being used for what it’s prime purpose was any more. I don’t have time to game and what little time I do get in front of a screen is spent upkeeping the home server or doing side quest things in life.

Since my first foray into the world of OSX with my M1 MBA, it’s been an eye opener, I was so worried about losing my trusty old Photoshop CS5.1 but where Pixelmator stepped in and took over that role cheaply and easily, I’ve always kept the Gaming PC about for video editing for my YouTube channel and to offer the comfort of a real desktop.

The time has come though! The Gaming Pc has been sold and I have pre-ordered a Mac Mini M4, all of my software will move seemlessly from MBA to Mini (and back as the MBA isn’t going anywhere) and I thought why not sell what I have now to fund the next 5 years?

The MikroTik stuff will likely still keep coming as I run the CHR but also now in professional life I am finding myself ever edging further into Cisco so you never know, that might (read will) creep in to the written words as well.

I’m not completely without Windows, I will retain a VM on my trusty UnRaid box as I do want to keep a hand there but for now, we’re going to where the grass is greener!

Windows Home Lab?

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I’ve got an IT based project on again! It’s been an absolute age since I’ve been “interested” in my IT and computers and servers and all things good like this but I’ve got a project on my hands, add in as well I currently have a renewed interest in learning and relearning some network essentials and generally needing to sharpen back up on these things (more to come on that in the future).

So…
I had a spare HP Gen8 Microserver with one of the 1260 Xeon’s (4c8t) and 16GB RAM so a decent little box by most accounts. A quick amazon order for 2 Oracle SSD>HDD mounting brackets and I’ve got 2 Crucial 240GB SSD’s in the first two 6Gb SATA drive bays.

A quick hop over onto Gamers Outlet and I’d bagged a Server 2022 license and probably 10 minutes of installing later I have a decent little server running. This is being used now in 2 parts, firstly for my project to look at guest accounts, remote desktop access and how to lock down users. The second part of it is to spin up a HyperV environment and get some MikroTik CHR’s talking to each other! A return to MikroTik world albeit brief as I don’t envisage my work going that way again any time soon, it was good to use Tik to understand the concepts and replicate in my own way.

More to come as the IT project unfolds and yeah maybe more networky stuff…

10Gb Firewall > Core Switch

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My Intel X520 card have arrived and have been far better than expected. They’re both like new, one even has the LP bracket with it and all 4 Intel SFP’s are like brand new.
I moved both my LAN and WAN interfaces to the R210’s onboard coppers and installed the new card, connected up with a temporary fibre patch cable and it came straight up. LAN moved back onto the 10Gb along with the VLAN’s and we are now live with 10Gb Firewall>Switch>CaveSwitch – Complete 10Gb backbone.

Will it make a difference day to day? Nope. But it’s been an itech I’ve been dying to scratch and now I have a spare X520 to install into the backup server and get rid of the 4 ether LACP.

10Gb Upgrade has started!

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I’ve ran a 10Gb link from Attic to ManCave for quite a while now and it’s always been in the back of my mind to stretch it out a little bit more. The unRAID server now using a 2.5Gb into the Cave switch eased things a bit however I have just managed to win an auction for two Intel 10Gb PCIe SFP+ cards with SFP+’s so the plan is to put one in the Dell firewall so we have 10Gb Firewall to Attic Switch and then I’ll still have a spare whih may go in the unRAID box or it may go in the Backup Box.