My Network Server Rack Made Simple!

Nice build. Why not use a patch panel?

Not using the Flex Mini switches? I figured with the POE switch it would be a no brainer. One less power cord to plug in.

see that many say you should get the unifi mini switch. those are great just remember that they add alot of latency

I also have a similar rack (but smaller, mounted on wall and closed) in the washer and dryer room, no idea why moisture would be a problem there. On the contrary, it currently has the lowest humidity of all the rooms in the house. Both the washing machine and the dryer are connected to the water drain, so they do not evaporate moisture into the room. They only heat it up a little, so the bigger challenge is the heat, but it's not that acute either.

I got a cabinet from ikea, added legs, and a thermostatically controlled fan kit. It looks like an end table next to my desk,

Nice vid. I would think you might consider going for Unifi Flex Minis for small switches scattered throughout the house. These switches can be POE powered. Using them this way, you get conditioned, battery backed power supply to all network ports and some really clean, centralized management screens via the Unifi console (think vlan mappings). Also, for those patch cables, consider the short Monoprice SlimRun cables. They're very flexible and are a bit easier to manage for crowding around the main switch. Even the longer SlimRuns seem to have no problem with 10gbe speeds.

Almost 100% identical to my setup! Only difference was .y switch from pi to a dedicated computer with proxmox & docker. Little more to learn, but great functionality!!

Im in glendale. Let me know if you ever do any meet-ups. I love to pick the brains of like-minded people :).

What was that cat6 testing device?

You can also setup Home Assistant on the Synology I think. To get rid of raspberry pie

Great info, thank you, Reed.

I feel like more things should be rack mountable to justify a rack.

I think server racks look cool but with today's mesh wifi, I really don't need to hardwire everything. I'm getting at least a gig up/down (paying for 1.2) everywhere in my 5200sqft home. I don't have a NAS or any smart hubs, but maybe one day.

Perfect Automation for you. Pick up an Aqara Temp and Humidity Sensor and a simple Aqara wall switch. Replace the switch for the ceiling fan with the wall switch and then mount/place the Temp/Humidity Sensor in the room. Go right to HomeKit and create automation for - when a sensor detects humidity above 50%, the ceiling fan turns on for 30 minutes. It will run for 30 minutes and then when the sensor detects its still over 50% (or whatever you choose) it will turn on again for 30 minutes. I use this in a bathroom and its set a little higher as I live in the north east now (former AZ resident).

Why are you not running Home Assistant on your NAS?

I'm in the middle of town and don't even have fiber, lucky! Great video n ubiquiti they have a simple ecosystem for homeowners. Hoping to get my UDM Pro next month

I just wanted to mention that even for homes that don't have ethernet everywhere, if they have coax TV cable, you can use those to transmit your network data via mocha adapters. I've got three in my house and they're fantastic. I've got access points thrown at the house that are backhauled from switches that connect to my mocha adapters. There's very little signal loss and it was very easy to set up. I didn't have to run any new lines in the house

I’m so tempted to upgrade to unifi in our home, I just haven’t pulled the trigger yet

Do you happen to have a model number for the in-wall "cabinet" that the builder put in. I am currently doing a renovation project and really need something like that.

Thanks for the videos, keep upnthe great work!

we need a network map/diagram too

Why does someone need a network server rack?

Reed must be on Ozempic

Great setup Reed. I recently installed the Unifi Dream Router and I'm having issues discovering my TP-Link Kasa switches in Home Assistant. Did you have to change to any settings in Unifi for the Kasa switches you have to make them discoverable? When I input the IP address of the switches in the Home Assistant integration, it says no devices found. When I reconnect the switches to my ISP router then it becomes discoverable in Home Assistant again. Thanks.

Have you connected the cameras and doorbells to the PoE switch first and then the UDM Pro or directly to the UDM Pro?

No comments from Ally? 😂

It’s crazy I have the identical setup (minus the rack!)

Thanks for a great video!
Why use both Unifi and Reolink camera? why not just one of them?

I'm stuck at step 1: running ethernet from every room to a central location 🤭

First

Yeah, nah, messy.
Put a small rack up on the wall and run either a duct accross to the network box in the wall. Turn the rack-ears on the switch 90° and mount the switch inside the cable box. If you got keen, opend the plaster and pass cables in a conduit inside the wall. Otherwise, pull all cabling up and out of the wal-box and put into rack on wall up nice and high, out of the way and will be very tidy.

As for the use of the DAC cable speeding things up, lol, thats a placebo effect dude. The switch is only a 16-porter and the SFP port is just that, SFP, not SFP+. Still only 1GbE

What is the reason that switching to that small cable to connect to the sfp modules is faster then the ethernet? I understand it supports fiber but if you were using cat6 and you only get a gig wouldn't it be the same or is the fiber cable still just faster?

In the systems I setup, patch panels are clutch, rack ups, blank plates, side panels, super quiet rack fans, wire management, etc…
My house….looks almost exactly like yours, but more equipment, and more messy.

I wouldn't say SFP makes everything "so much faster". I think it has a little less overhead than Ethernet, which can speed things up marginally (it's common for ethernet to drop speeds by about 5%), but the big reason I like to use the SFP is that is frees up ethernet ports and it makes the uplink obvious.

Hey Reed, beginner here. Do you have hard wired wireless access points in various places in hour attic space? Wondering how you got connectivity to yoir WiFi routers/access points.

This might be one of the nicest setups we've seen with our 20U rack. You're a legend!

Thats how your home builder setup/wired the home with cable terminations in a plastic johnson box? Its 2024 damn builders should be wiring this house/rooms all with CAT6 and finishing it all in a air cooled/vented communications closet.

He needs a patch panel and proper cable management

Hey commenters: If the humidity in your laundry room is high enough to hurt electronics, you probably have mold.

There a way to turn your HA system in to a alarm system for FREE via the hacs integration Alamo, and turn it into a security system

Your cables don’t have a service loop inside of the walls? If you find one then you can pull it and cable out directly into the server rack. Possibly mount your rack to the wall high up to the left of your wall cabling door.

Are you using any matter devices with your unifi? I've been having some difficulties with adding them especially the aqara products.

Great video, just wanna share a Pro tip, install the virtual machine manager on your synology and convert your Home assistant from the Raspberry Pi to a VM. That way you can take snapshots of your Home assistant. Plus you don't need to worry about all the read / write data that usually burn out your SD card in the Pi pretty soon.

why arent you using the Unifi Mini Switch instead of the other switches you have around your house?

bro you need a patch panel. I almost lost it seeing all of those cables hanging out lol

With UniFi's upcoming 5.x upgrade to Protect, they're finally going to support ONVIF, so you might be able to move your Reolink cameras off their separate NAS and onto your Dream Machine. :)

Thank you! You have given me good ideas and food for thought, much appreciated.

Question: If I have my rack in a room far from light switches, for example on the basement, how do the smart hubs connect via WiFi so far away? Doesn't it make sense to have Unifi access points at home and then the hubs can't reach their signal?

In order to run Aqara and smart things sensors devices in home assistance do I need to have hubs for those or would a ZBT 1 usb stick work for those?

I have a quick question, are you using any U7 Pro max AP in your network? I saw a video that talks about some issue with IoT devices not being stable on the 2.4 network and I want to ask before I buy those APs...thank you

What wifi or access-point do you use?

Do you set them separately network for the smart home item?

Thanks for watching! Like I said this is a simple set up compared to what's out there, but works for me and hopefully it’s helpful to some of you!