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How Does Your Personal Data Center Measure Up?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the si-per-ft^2 dept.

tachijuan asks: "My job allows me too meet many technically inclined people. Invariably we get to talking about our home setups. I've run across some very sophisticated setups. Some people I've met have enough computing and storage resources to have themselves classified as large data centers. They run this at home, and usually just for the hell of it. How do the setups of Slashdot readers measure up?" How many pieces of networked digital equipment do you have at home? "Here's a description of mine:
  1. 1 x RedHat 9 quad processor PIII Xeon web server+other general duties stuff
  2. 1 x FC3 router/VPN server
  3. 1 x Astaro secure unix firewall/external router
  4. 1 x FC3 email ( http://zimbra.com/ ) server + backup server
  5. 1 x Mac G3 OSX 10.3.9 print server
  6. 1 x WinXP print server/general use machine
  7. 1 x WinXP general purpose home machine + TIVO media center server
  8. 1 x UltraSparc 10, Solaris 9, play machine + web server
  9. 2 x WinXP laptops
  10. 1 x Apple PowerBook 17"
  11. 1 x NetApp 630 with 1.1TB of disk serving both NFS and CIFS
  12. 2 x external USB 200GB drives for backups of main data in NetApp DCF
  13. 3 x inkjet printers scattered around the house
  14. 1 x 8 port GigE main DCF backbone switch
  15. 1 x 32 port Etherport III main home network switch
  16. 1 x WRT54G switch providing high speed network for interal home use
  17. 1 x befw11s4 switch + range extender for slow-speed, high range, general home use
  18. 1 x TIVO!
  19. 4 x spare machines laying around waiting to be purposed
By the standards of some of the people I've run accross, this is not much. To my non-techie friends, this seems either extravagant, puzzling, or both."

3 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. holy overkill, batman! by Clover_Kicker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > quad processor PIII Xeon web server+other general duties stuff

    My file/mail/web/backup server is a Pentium 233 MMX. It's ridiculously overpowered for what it does.

    load averages: 0.10, 0.09, 0.08

  2. But it can be important. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The guy who headed my last IT department asked 1 and only 1 question in his interviews "please describe your home network".


    His logic was that if someone didn't have a home network ("my windoze box is connected to the thingy PacBell gave me") couldn't answer questions about security, etc on his home network, he didn't have the interest level to be well suited in his department.

  3. You know, the funny thing is... by tgd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The funny thing is, if a guy was interviewing with me for an IT position and said he ran a setup at home like that, he'd be round-filed. What a massive waste of electricity and resources. The functions he has listed can be easily met with two or three machines and its either massive intarweb dick-waving or a real lack of understanding about how IT services can or should be deployed when it takes twelve.

    Example: I run my Linux fileserver, my Windows MCE 2005 system for my XBox 360s, another Windows system running some home automation package I can't remember, and my general "this is internet accessible for ssh" Linux system on one piece of hardware, a relatively energy efficient dual Pentium III system with a load of RAM running VMWare and a bunch of external firewire drives. One server, a gigabit switch, a 10/100 switch and my DLink router. Enough to meet everything he was doing, and my electric bill isn't $100/month from it.

    I may actually add "describe your home network setup" to my list of interview questions. I'd never thought of it, and it tells you a lot about people, it seems.