Datacenter@home: Part 1

I’ve got computers in my home running 24/7. They’re pretty pointless, but I still keep them running. The fact that they are noisy, however, was starting to get on my nerves.

I’ve become rather fond of all types of 19-inch rack equipment. Such equipment is typically only found in actual data centers, or other similar facilities. However… I had a spare room at home…

Some time ago I read about the LackRack. Just google it. Basically it’s a way to build really cheap 19″ rack frames by using the cheapest side tables that IKEA offers.

So I went to IKEA and got myself two tables such as this. Fifty-eight swedish kronors. Yikes.

Pretty, eh? Well, not really. But it’s a start. It’s really quite funny that the stuff actually fits, almost like IKEA really had that planned all along.

A LackRack equipped with:

  • Two servers inside really inexpensive (but functional) 4U chassis
  • A short-depth 1U Supermicro server used as router
  • A 24 port GbE Netgear Smart Switch
  • Some other network equipment and a KVM switch from the 90’s

My inner geek is not yet satisfied.