Techies

[LiveWire_13]

Obviously, y'all a bunch of nerds for being on a weather forum, but how many breathe computers and other tech just as much? Any funny stories or proud moments to share?

 

After an education and career in journalism/PR, I ended up working in IT. Now I'm looking at specing out a rack of high-end networking gear at home for when we move, hopefully first half of next year. Ubiquiti routers, switches and cameras coming soon, hopefully with some other fun toys.

 

If others add to this topic, I'll share some wacky (or other adjectives) stories.

[clm]

I remember way back when we were setting up a lab at work and I placed the rack servers into the rack with spacing above and below them.  My boss asked me why didn't I consolidate the space to put more servers into the rack.  I told him we need that space for air flow.  He replied with "air flow, you're always talking about air flow.  stack as many in there as you can".

So I undid what I did and did what he told me.  For some strange reason (sarcasm) we experienced a lot of server crashes due to overheating.  This all strangely went away when I reconfigured the rack to the way I originally had it, at his request of course.

 

[clm]

On 12/16/2024 at 12:02 AM, LiveWire_13 said:

Obviously, y'all a bunch of nerds for being on a weather forum, but how many breathe computers and other tech just as much? Any funny stories or proud moments to share?

 

After an education and career in journalism/PR, I ended up working in IT. Now I'm looking at specing out a rack of high-end networking gear at home for when we move, hopefully first half of next year. Ubiquiti routers, switches and cameras coming soon, hopefully with some other fun toys.

 

If others add to this topic, I'll share some wacky (or other adjectives) stories.

How many devices are you hooking up?  Any idea on the type of router you're  going to use?

[LiveWire_13]

3 hours ago, clm said:

How many devices are you hooking up?  Any idea on the type of router you're  going to use?

I'm looking at picking up some Ubiquiti gear (gateway, 24-port POE switch, cameras) plus some storage (likely a Synology NAS and maybe a Dell Poweredge server at some point). Also gotta get my hands on a 12-24u rack with castors that'll fit it all.

Goal is to have great control of my network and storage while also providing a platform to learn from (the Mac of networking) since no job wants to train/promote these days).

*EDIT* Update because I have smooth brain when I'm trying to walk the dogs, do the laundry, clean the dishes and do other chores in the time I should be sleeping before work.

I'm debating between the Dream Machine Pro or SE, but if I'm being honest, I'm hoping they'll roll out another model that fits my wants a little better by the time I'm ready to pull the trigger on this foolishness. I'm looking at their 24-port POE pro switch not because I want to spend $800 on a switch, but because I want to run their POE security cameras in lieu of the Amazon Ring nonsense I currently have and I've read horror stories about the POE ports on the Dream Machine itself. Side benefit of going with this level of equipment is I can prepare for 2.5 or 10gb Internet. Also, fancy RGB ports so I can easily tell which ports on the switch/patch panel are going to cameras, APs, endpoints or whatever else I damn well choose.

The goal is not only to have a platform to learn from, but to create SSIDs and VLANs to better control my traffic and ultimately protect my kids when they get old enough to start using the Internet (my 3-year-old already loves classic Millenial YouTube videos). On top of that, I want to set up a Pi-hole somewhere to manage DNS queries/block ads, create my own smart photo storage, properly back up all of my random shit and create an architecture for future projects. Any suggestions?

Edited December 18, 2024 by LiveWire_13

[LiveWire_13]

12 hours ago, clm said:

I remember way back when we were setting up a lab at work and I placed the rack servers into the rack with spacing above and below them.  My boss asked me why didn't I consolidate the space to put more servers into the rack.  I told him we need that space for air flow.  He replied with "air flow, you're always talking about air flow.  stack as many in there as you can".

So I undid what I did and did what he told me.  For some strange reason (sarcasm) we experienced a lot of server crashes due to overheating.  This all strangely went away when I reconfigured the rack to the way I originally had it, at his request of course.

 

I was working either in an Apple-focused phone/computer store or early in my next role as corporate desktop support when I found myself on a train to tie on a few with friends in Manhattan. While riding the LIRR, got to chatting with guy in the seat across. He also worked in a retail-based tech gig. Told me a customer walked in once with a laptop they had... "technicolor yawned" in. Boss told em to get a hose because they weren't going to do any more damage with some water. If it was me, I'd have shoved the customer out the door faster than they walked in.

[clm]

This one happened to me.  And you'd think I would have known better given my previous story above.

Got my first smart tv some years ago and hooked it up.  Worked great, but I noticed if we used the laptop and phones at the same time, the signal would drop and I would have to reconnect all devices.

The one the cable company gave me was 1600 bps.  Went to a 2400 which had 2G and 5G.  Worked fine for a while.  2020 was forced to work from home every 2 weeks and go to office every 2 weeks.  By then we had gotten another smart tv and put it in the other room.

I noticed the signal kept getting slower and dropping.  Finally one day the router would no longer work.  Turn on, yes.  Lights on, yes, but the red light always remained on.  So I go to the router, which is on the desk with stuff around it, reboot it, nothing.  I was at home working, so dug out my cable company modem, the crappy one, and hooked it up and it worked.   A few days later, the same thing happens with the crappy router.  I go back to the desk in the other room and remove the stuff away from it and reboot it, nothing.  I then get out my 2400 one and hooked it up.  It worked.  I was surprised but at that time I didn't bother to figure it out because I had to get onto another meeting.

Fast forward the 2 weeks in office, wife says second tv in other room doesn't connect anymore.  Keeps dropping.  Now i'm back at home.  Same thing starts happening again.  I then decide to just go out and buy another router thinking that the 2400 is flaky and shot but will work in a pinch.  I get a 3000 mbps and hook it up.  Works fine.  A few days later, same thing happens again.  I'm dumbfounded as to why I can't keep a router going.  Thankfully this happened on a day where it was not busy at work.  So I go into the room with the router and dig out the 2400 and the 1600.  Turn them upside down and all and don't hear any rattles, so nothing got inside.  I did notice the 3000 was quite warm but then again, routers get warm.  As I'm staring at the 3000 with its light turned red, I notice that the stuff on the desk is closer to the router than I usually have.  Its a small desk, so not much room and I never gave it a thought, but it turns out even the router needs more breathing room than you would think.  I also don't like where the air vents are on these things as putting it flat on a surface takes away that vent side.  I prefer to stand it on its side.

You'd think I would have known better.  Yep, got the dunce cap that day.  

Although I did learn that the second smart tv only has 2G.  It cannot connect to 5G.  And also learned that the crappy 1600 one from the cable company was being taxed on 2G only and getting a 3000 which may be a bit overkill for my needs, but in terms of what is in my walls and the distance the devices are, it works best for me.  I only allow the phones and the second smart tv on 2G and the big smart tv gets 5G along with my work computer.

[clm]

1 hour ago, LiveWire_13 said:

I'm looking at picking up some Ubiquiti gear (gateway, 24-port POE switch, cameras) plus some storage (likely a Synology NAS and maybe a Dell Poweredge server at some point). Also gotta get my hands on a 12-24u rack with castors that'll fit it all.

 

Goal is to have great control of my network and storage while also providing a platform to learn from (the Mac of networking) since no job wants to train/promote these days).

You are correct on that.  Now I take training on my own.  I found my own public library has some good computer courses.  Though I was not too thrilled with the mobile app course.  The instructor didn't bother to use something like android studio.  So it was just create a program and run it and resize the browser window to what a phone would look like.  

[LiveWire_13]

32 minutes ago, clm said:

This one happened to me.  And you'd think I would have known better given my previous story above.

Got my first smart tv some years ago and hooked it up.  Worked great, but I noticed if we used the laptop and phones at the same time, the signal would drop and I would have to reconnect all devices.

The one the cable company gave me was 1600 bps.  Went to a 2400 which had 2G and 5G.  Worked fine for a while.  2020 was forced to work from home every 2 weeks and go to office every 2 weeks.  By then we had gotten another smart tv and put it in the other room.

I noticed the signal kept getting slower and dropping.  Finally one day the router would no longer work.  Turn on, yes.  Lights on, yes, but the red light always remained on.  So I go to the router, which is on the desk with stuff around it, reboot it, nothing.  I was at home working, so dug out my cable company modem, the crappy one, and hooked it up and it worked.   A few days later, the same thing happens with the crappy router.  I go back to the desk in the other room and remove the stuff away from it and reboot it, nothing.  I then get out my 2400 one and hooked it up.  It worked.  I was surprised but at that time I didn't bother to figure it out because I had to get onto another meeting.

Fast forward the 2 weeks in office, wife says second tv in other room doesn't connect anymore.  Keeps dropping.  Now i'm back at home.  Same thing starts happening again.  I then decide to just go out and buy another router thinking that the 2400 is flaky and shot but will work in a pinch.  I get a 3000 mbps and hook it up.  Works fine.  A few days later, same thing happens again.  I'm dumbfounded as to why I can't keep a router going.  Thankfully this happened on a day where it was not busy at work.  So I go into the room with the router and dig out the 2400 and the 1600.  Turn them upside down and all and don't hear any rattles, so nothing got inside.  I did notice the 3000 was quite warm but then again, routers get warm.  As I'm staring at the 3000 with its light turned red, I notice that the stuff on the desk is closer to the router than I usually have.  Its a small desk, so not much room and I never gave it a thought, but it turns out even the router needs more breathing room than you would think.  I also don't like where the air vents are on these things as putting it flat on a surface takes away that vent side.  I prefer to stand it on its side.

You'd think I would have known better.  Yep, got the dunce cap that day.  

Although I did learn that the second smart tv only has 2G.  It cannot connect to 5G.  And also learned that the crappy 1600 one from the cable company was being taxed on 2G only and getting a 3000 which may be a bit overkill for my needs, but in terms of what is in my walls and the distance the devices are, it works best for me.  I only allow the phones and the second smart tv on 2G and the big smart tv gets 5G along with my work computer.

I bought a Ubiquiti AP because the Verizon gateway has crappy built-in Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, since I don't have the rest of their infrastructure, the phone app limits me to broadcasting 2.4, 5 and 6GHz with a single SSID/WPA3 setup. Guess who learned the hard way that a lot of devices don't support WPA3 and/or 6GHz - including the new Roku device hooked up to the non-smart TV upstairs. Also learned the seven-year-old smart Samsung TV's Ethernet port is only 10/100. I may end up hard-wiring that anyway, if only so I don't have to periodically restart the whole thing to get the Wi-Fi to connect again.

[LiveWire_13]

44 minutes ago, clm said:

You are correct on that.  Now I take training on my own.  I found my own public library has some good computer courses.  Though I was not too thrilled with the mobile app course.  The instructor didn't bother to use something like android studio.  So it was just create a program and run it and resize the browser window to what a phone would look like.  

I haven't looked into the library, but I had started labbing at home and going on YouTube/Google for training material. Played around with VMWare/Windows Server 2019 for a little bit, and started learning Net+/CCNA material. For the latter, I watched YouTube videos, visited various websites and created a text document to take notes both as a reference material and also to reinforce what I was learning.

What type of tech work are you up to these days?

[clm]

6 minutes ago, LiveWire_13 said:

I haven't looked into the library, but I had started labbing at home and going on YouTube/Google for training material. Played around with VMWare/Windows Server 2019 for a little bit, and started learning Net+/CCNA material. For the latter, I watched YouTube videos, visited various websites and created a text document to take notes both as a reference material and also to reinforce what I was learning.

What type of tech work are you up to these days?

With the library, the courses are free, but of course you're paying for it through taxes.  But no additional charge.

For any scripting, SQL, etc... w3schools is pretty good and free too.  I'm not against paying for training, but if I'm going to be paying for it, I want it to be very good.  

Found some decent youtube trainings.  

I used to do SCSI and Fibre channel back in the day.  Now doing software with Java, some SQL, C++, Python, Selenium, JMeter.

I use cherrytree as my database for taking notes on various technologies.  You can add screenshots, upload files, etc...

https://www.giuspen.net/cherrytree/

[LiveWire_13]

24 minutes ago, clm said:

With the library, the courses are free, but of course you're paying for it through taxes.  But no additional charge.

For any scripting, SQL, etc... w3schools is pretty good and free too.  I'm not against paying for training, but if I'm going to be paying for it, I want it to be very good.  

Found some decent youtube trainings.  

I used to do SCSI and Fibre channel back in the day.  Now doing software with Java, some SQL, C++, Python, Selenium, JMeter.

I use cherrytree as my database for taking notes on various technologies.  You can add screenshots, upload files, etc...

https://www.giuspen.net/cherrytree/

I don't do much in Software (hated coding in Virtual Basic in school, forget real languages). That said, I know a full stack developer who specializes in Ruby on Rails if you happen to know of any leads.

Did you start out in tech or end up meandering in like I did?

[clm]

8 hours ago, LiveWire_13 said:

I don't do much in Software (hated coding in Virtual Basic in school, forget real languages). That said, I know a full stack developer who specializes in Ruby on Rails if you happen to know of any leads.

Did you start out in tech or end up meandering in like I did?

Started out in tech before the outsourcing movement.  Now wishing I had gone into something else.

[LiveWire_13]

10 minutes ago, clm said:

Started out in tech before the outsourcing movement.  Now wishing I had gone into something else.

Lol, the grass is always greener. I went from journalism to IT to pay the bills as the industry began dying shortly after college. These days, it feels like may need to transition to another industry, but I couldn't tell you what's safer.

[Electric_CityWx]

Jeez,  y'all are way over my head..  I've just got a docsis 3.0 modem, wifi router, and a switch and a mess of wires strung around the basement lol.  I initially did this to get around the rental fee for the combo modem/router from Concast around 15 yrs ago.  I'm a cheap ass and will admit that, it works for my simple needs lol.  Modem and router are in the kitchen by the desktop and a small 6 port switch is buried behind a TV stand in living room with security cam HD, 2 smart TVs and Blu-ray hooked to it.  

I'm interested in poe cams though, does the box the hd mounts in have the ports on the back or do you need a switch to plug everything in?  My system is old and clarity isn't there anymore, or never was lol.

[clm]

4 hours ago, Electric_CityWx said:

Jeez,  y'all are way over my head..  I've just got a docsis 3.0 modem, wifi router, and a switch and a mess of wires strung around the basement lol.  I initially did this to get around the rental fee for the combo modem/router from Concast around 15 yrs ago.  I'm a cheap ass and will admit that, it works for my simple needs lol.  Modem and router are in the kitchen by the desktop and a small 6 port switch is buried behind a TV stand in living room with security cam HD, 2 smart TVs and Blu-ray hooked to it.  

I'm interested in poe cams though, does the box the hd mounts in have the ports on the back or do you need a switch to plug everything in?  My system is old and clarity isn't there anymore, or never was lol.

You're going to need a router that supports POE.  Otherwise no power will go to the cameras.

[Electric_CityWx]

@clm Ok! Thank you for that Info.  I think I need a new one anyway cuz I caught something on TV I think of TP Link being banned cuz of China spying and or viruses🤷🏻‍♂️ always something!  But it is like 6yrs old.

[clm]

On 12/18/2024 at 1:41 AM, LiveWire_13 said:

I haven't looked into the library, but I had started labbing at home and going on YouTube/Google for training material. Played around with VMWare/Windows Server 2019 for a little bit, and started learning Net+/CCNA material. For the latter, I watched YouTube videos, visited various websites and created a text document to take notes both as a reference material and also to reinforce what I was learning.

What type of tech work are you up to these days?

Heard VMware was bought out.  Articles not too keen on it's future.  Hyper-V I used briefly some years ago.  Was meh probably because I was more used to VMware back then 

[clm]

On 12/18/2024 at 10:43 AM, LiveWire_13 said:

Lol, the grass is always greener. I went from journalism to IT to pay the bills as the industry began dying shortly after college. These days, it feels like may need to transition to another industry, but I couldn't tell you what's safer.

I don't think there is any safe areas.  One may say AI, but what I am seeing is that companies are scratching projects and moving existing employees to AI rather than hire new people and continue with old projects 

[LiveWire_13]

2 hours ago, clm said:

Heard VMware was bought out.  Articles not too keen on it's future.  Hyper-V I used briefly some years ago.  Was meh probably because I was more used to VMware back then 

Yeah, Broadcom is in the process of murdering VMware. I support a school district and some of the lead techs told me the substantial educational discount abruptly ended with the buyout and they're investigating other options.

I'd have to search my records for my free license and to see if I could even find the installer anymore. I ended up repurposing that machine into a Plex/storage box with two large drives in RAID 1; it's temporarily serving as my off-site backup.

[LiveWire_13]

13 hours ago, Electric_CityWx said:

Jeez,  y'all are way over my head..  I've just got a docsis 3.0 modem, wifi router, and a switch and a mess of wires strung around the basement lol.  I initially did this to get around the rental fee for the combo modem/router from Concast around 15 yrs ago.  I'm a cheap ass and will admit that, it works for my simple needs lol.  Modem and router are in the kitchen by the desktop and a small 6 port switch is buried behind a TV stand in living room with security cam HD, 2 smart TVs and Blu-ray hooked to it.  

I'm interested in poe cams though, does the box the hd mounts in have the ports on the back or do you need a switch to plug everything in?  My system is old and clarity isn't there anymore, or never was lol.

POE stands for Power Over Ethernet. Currently, I only have the Verizon gateway I purchased (saved money over leasing all these years later), which has a couple of regular ports. I had to buy a special part, aka POE Injector, to make my enterprise-level access point work. Required plugging in a brick to the wall, running one Ethernet cable from the switch and the other from the brick (don't switch them up!). Having a switch that can provide the correct amount of power would eliminate the need for injectors.

https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/all-switching/products/usw-pro-max-24-poe
This is the switch (not router or gateway) I'm looking at. It's a bit overkill, but if I'm gonna run wires through the walls, may as well build out the system properly.

In addition to needing cameras and their setup, you'd also need some way of recording the footage. There are free options you can build. I'd be willing to spend the money for the networking platform and they have a built-in solution.

TP Link has a reputation for being a reliable brand among techies, but it did come out there was some shady information being transmitted to China very recently. Everyone has opinions and some have facts. Asus has awful support, Netgear isn't the same as it was...

Edited December 20, 2024 by LiveWire_13

[Electric_CityWx]

4 minutes ago, LiveWire_13 said:

POE stands for Power Over Ethernet. Currently, I only have the Verizon gateway I purchased (saved money over leasing all these years later), which has a couple of regular ports. I had to buy a special part, aka POE Injector, to make my enterprise-level access point work. Required plugging in a brick to the wall, running one Ethernet cable from the switch and the other from the brick (don't switch them up!). Having a switch that can provide the correct amount of power would eliminate the need for injectors.

In addition to needing cameras and their setup, you'd also need some way of recording the footage. There are free options you can build. I'd be willing to spend the money for the networking platform and they have a built-in solution.

Isn't it great!! Buying instead of paying monthly fee for their equipment, it's like money in your pocket every month after like the 2nd year!  So just a powered switch is needed to supply the power via cat5 cables to cams?  Similar to the small 6 port one behind the tv stand?

[LiveWire_13]

4 minutes ago, Electric_CityWx said:

Isn't it great!! Buying instead of paying monthly fee for their equipment, it's like money in your pocket every month after like the 2nd year!  So just a powered switch is needed to supply the power via cat5 cables to cams?  Similar to the small 6 port one behind the tv stand?

I think it was ~2 years for the break even point. My brother has been renting his for a while and I just shrug my shoulders.

If you want to go that route you'll want to get a POE switch and update your cabling to at least Cat 5e, but likely Cat 6 or better. The newest iterations primarily make a difference in longer runs only.

[Electric_CityWx]

I see now.. 

Thanks

[clm]

8 hours ago, LiveWire_13 said:

I think it was ~2 years for the break even point. My brother has been renting his for a while and I just shrug my shoulders.

If you want to go that route you'll want to get a POE switch and update your cabling to at least Cat 5e, but likely Cat 6 or better. The newest iterations primarily make a difference in longer runs only.

I'd spend the extra and go to Cat 6 or higher.  

[LiveWire_13]

10 hours ago, Electric_CityWx said:

I see now.. 

Thanks

1. Do your research on any product before buying. Make sure company is legit and product doesn't have massive flaws.

2. That switch maxes out at 120 watts for seemingly eight ports. POE cap is 15.4 watts but POE+ is 30 watts each port. Make sure you don't over tax the device.