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[Server] Basement Stair Rack Project - Node Zero

8K views 84 replies 15 participants last post by  Dalchi Frusche 
#1 ·
Bear with me as this project will span some time.

So I've been playing around with servers in my free time(which isn't much) and finally decided it's high time to get my house wired up properly. It's also helpful now that I actually own a house that I can modify to my liking.
So here's the current mockup of what I'm heading towards.



On the left side, the two 2x4s are spaced just over 21" apart, this is close to what I need but just a bit too much. I'm going to have to install a spacer to reach the proper 19" width of my rack. On the right side is just enough space between the studs to install slide out shelves to hold up to 2 ATX tower cases. Until I start acquiring actual server boxes, this will be my server platform.

The Plan:
- Wire the house with CAT 6 cable to enable connectivity growth for present and future applications.
- Build stationary rack and tower case shelves using existing framework of staircase to basement.
- Purchase a quad or dual NIC to finish PFSense build and get it configured/installed.
- Purchase patch panel and switch to fit in new rack.
- Set Wireless router to AP mode, check old router for same functionality.
- Move file/backup server to sliding shelf.
- Move PFSense build to second sliding shelf
- Run coax cable from cable box to modem in basement
- Purchase remaining Node Zero equipment.
- Install NZ equipment.
- Install XMBC on old laptop to co locate with living room TV as server/media center.

Materials:

Have
- File/Backup server in Full Tower ATX case
- PFSense build(minus NIC) in mATX eMachines case
- Sliding Shelves Hardware and wood for shelves
- Netgear AC Wireless Router
- TP-LINK 5 port switch
- Netgear Wireless Extender
- Old ASUS laptop to use as media server
- Surge protection power strip

Need(list will continue to grow as planning continues)
- 16+ port gigabit switch
- Rack rails
- 2x4s to finish rack structure
- 4+ device KVM(USB)
- Slide out rack tray: Keyboard/mouse
- 1000' CAT 6 solid copper cable
- CAT 6 wall plates and jacks
- CAT 6 patch cables .5 to 3 feet length
- 16+ port patch panel
- UPS Power Distribution

Well, that's all the time I have right now. Stay tuned for updates as I get this planned out more detailed.
 
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#2 ·
Bench grinder = metalic dust = shorted components.
Sawdust = clogged case fans = overheat.

Looks like this is a workshop area. Perhaps enclosing the stairwell and filtered intake fans?
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by billbartuska View Post

Bench grinder = metalic dust = shorted components.
Sawdust = clogged case fans = overheat.

Looks like this is a workshop area. Perhaps enclosing the stairwell and filtered intake fans?
Yeah, the plan is to filter that well. It is a workshop area, but that bench will get moved sooner than later. I came home to find my father in law set that up there. Which is crazy considering my work area is on the other side of the 1400 sqft basement
rolleyes.gif
But the plan is to enclose that area with filtered intakes and cabinet style doors on the front and rear. I just didn't add that to the Sketchup for time reasons. I will be revisiting the enclosure idea right before I start altering the framework.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DogeTactical View Post

Love the idea!
thumb.gif

Billbartuska makes a good point though
Thank you! Surprisingly enough it was easy to convince the wife to let me have that spot. I guess the "When we finish the basement it'll work perfectly and stay out of sight" was enough.
tongue.gif
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalchi Frusche View Post

Surprisingly enough it was easy to convince the wife to let me have that spot. I guess the "When we finish the basement it'll work perfectly and stay out of sight" was enough.
tongue.gif
When you get ready to build a workshop, "And over here, far away from the workshop, will be your crafts area." works well.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by billbartuska View Post

When you get ready to build a workshop, "And over here, far away from the workshop, will be your crafts area." works well.
Funny you should mention a craft space. For her mother's day gift, she is taking over the bay window sitting area and turning it into her craft space. The gift is to build her a craft desk. Sketchup below of the simple yet functional design.



Have you figured out I like Sketchup yet? haha
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalchi Frusche View Post

Funny you should mention a craft space. For her mother's day gift, she is taking over the bay window sitting area and turning it into her craft space. The gift is to build her a craft desk. Sketchup below of the simple yet functional design.



Have you figured out I like Sketchup yet? haha
Sketchup is perfect for getting ideas into a 3d space quickly and easily (and for free)
smile.gif


Seem like a neat project you have going on! Will be following
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by PureAngus View Post

Sketchup is perfect for getting ideas into a 3d space quickly and easily (and for free)
smile.gif


Seem like a neat project you have going on! Will be following
I fell in love with Sketchup when working out my design for my Double Dragon build. Being able to see something in 3D space really helps you understand how things need to fit and if there's adjustments to be made to make something look cleaner.

So my friends over at OCF brought up the point of airflow once it's been shut in. I responded with the following proposal: to put intake filtered fans in the stair risers starting at the 3rd step from the bottom, exhaust grill will be placed at the back and top of the stair area. Adjustments to Sketchup for visual below.



 
#15 ·
Looking like an interesting build for sure
 
#17 ·
I would worry about those intake fans on the stairs, since the stairs will likely collect a good amount of dust, those intake's filters will get clogged up pretty regularly, you could probably just do a giant furnace filter like thing to the left of your rack and either duct it to the lower part of that area so the natural convection can still take place, and as long a the exhaust fans are on, it will suck some air in through the large intake hole.

Also you might want to look in to all the hardware you are using in the rack as many rack mounted devices actually intake air through the front and spit the hot air out the back. So what you can to is actually recess the entire rack 4-5" in to the wall that way you have some fresh airflow up the front of the rack for all the hardware when the cabinet is closed.

You can design the entire front area to be somewhat sealed off aside from a hole in the bottom and put 2 fans down their to force cold air form the floor up the front of the rack. then all their exhaust air will go out the back and rise up to the exhaust fans near the top of your wall cabinet.

I could make some quick sketches if I'm not coming across clearly, I'm use to just drafting in 3D my ideas at work as I'm not the best at explaining things.
 
#18 ·
Post 5/11/16 - The server builds

File/Backup/Minecraft Server Build
After two back to back upgrades for my main rig, Night Shark, I was left with both an AMD ATX DDR3 setup and an AMD mATX DD2 setup at my disposal. Of course running minecraft servers for friends, and having better performance I naturally chose the DDR3 setup with the quad core Phenom.

Specs:
CPU: Phenom II X4 945 3.0Ghz
Motherboard: Asus M5A88-V EVO
RAM: ADATA 6GB
Hard Drive: WD Black 1TB & WD WD3200 & WD WD800(OS) & Hitachi Deskstar 160GB
GPU: None
Power: Raidmax RX 530W
Cooling: Xigmatek Loki
Case: XCLIO A380BK
OS: Ubuntu Server

Old Hardware before…



Upgraded



It works!



PFSense build:

So I finally managed to get ahold of a trash-borne ATX case. A local gentleman had some cases that were headed to the scrap yard. Ended up getting a e-machines mATX, and two slim ITX cases for free. I also bought a 1TB WD Black off him for $10 and he threw in an extra 60GB drive.
thumb.gif


Parts acquired:



Time to begin:



Cable management = meh:



First power on, everything works. I was worried that only running a PSU with a 20pin ATX power and a 4pin CPU would hold the build back. Didn't want to use the bulky non-modular 580w that I had because the cables would've been a rats nest. PFSense is installed and I had a chance to play around with it hooked up to my network. Once I went through the initial setup(cakewalk) immediately I had internet access and full configurability. Took the time that my wife was out on a "Mom's Night" to familiarize myself with the menus and settings while the baby played. Looking forward to getting this set up in Node Zero with the proper cables ran.



Specs:
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H
CPU: Athlon II X2 220 Dual Core 2.8Ghz w/ stock cooler
PSU: I forget, just old and low power.. and quiet
smile.gif

HDD: 60 GB WD Caviar WD600 IDE
NIC: Netgear 10/100 PCI card(until I purchase an Intel Pro Dual/Quad)
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by axipher View Post

I would worry about those intake fans on the stairs, since the stairs will likely collect a good amount of dust, those intake's filters will get clogged up pretty regularly, you could probably just do a giant furnace filter like thing to the left of your rack and either duct it to the lower part of that area so the natural convection can still take place, and as long a the exhaust fans are on, it will suck some air in through the large intake hole.

Also you might want to look in to all the hardware you are using in the rack as many rack mounted devices actually intake air through the front and spit the hot air out the back. So what you can to is actually recess the entire rack 4-5" in to the wall that way you have some fresh airflow up the front of the rack for all the hardware when the cabinet is closed.

You can design the entire front area to be somewhat sealed off aside from a hole in the bottom and put 2 fans down their to force cold air form the floor up the front of the rack. then all their exhaust air will go out the back and rise up to the exhaust fans near the top of your wall cabinet.

I could make some quick sketches if I'm not coming across clearly, I'm use to just drafting in 3D my ideas at work as I'm not the best at explaining things.
I think I'm following and that might work a little better. I'm always open to suggestions from design experts so I'm going to post my Sketchup file(once the upload error is fixed). There is a discrepancy with the stairs though. If anyone has the contracting experience to fix them, that would be helpful
biggrin.gif
See below for the discrepancy.

 
#20 ·
Curious to see how this turns out. With your stairs I personally hate having the turn like that because one side of the stairs are to small to easily step on, plus it takes thought when you carry something down the stairs and you can't see the steps. Axipher I think has a good idea for the vents. In your picture above the intake vents would go below "stairs follow a straight..." and the exhaust would go to the left of "turn towards...".
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by cones View Post

Curious to see how this turns out. With your stairs I personally hate having the turn like that because one side of the stairs are to small to easily step on, plus it takes thought when you carry something down the stairs and you can't see the steps. Axipher I think has a good idea for the vents. In your picture above the intake vents would go below "stairs follow a straight..." and the exhaust would go to the left of "turn towards...".
So I took the recommendations to adding intake at the front of the rack blowing up. Below is what I see, let me know if I'm way off base. Obviously fan size depends on how far I can inset the rack back from the wall.

 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalchi Frusche View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by cones View Post

Curious to see how this turns out. With your stairs I personally hate having the turn like that because one side of the stairs are to small to easily step on, plus it takes thought when you carry something down the stairs and you can't see the steps. Axipher I think has a good idea for the vents. In your picture above the intake vents would go below "stairs follow a straight..." and the exhaust would go to the left of "turn towards...".
So I took the recommendations to adding intake at the front of the rack blowing up. Below is what I see, let me know if I'm way off base. Obviously fan size depends on how far I can inset the rack back from the wall.

Is that grey wall going to represent the cabinet door in front of everything? If so it look like you will have air being pulled in from floor level through that quarter circle piece and direct the air straight up the front of the rack. That would definitely work, but with such a small filter space, the fans might have to run at a pretty good speed to provide enough air for the equipment.

Here is a quick sketch to hopefully convey my idea a little better. The idea is that the large filter would allow as much airflow that is needed in to the cabinet assuming the rest of the cabinet is somewhat air-tight in terms of general air flow. So you would have fans at the bottom of the rack that would force air up the front of the rack space and the ATX space. then the only path for air to flow would be from the big filter, under the rack, up the front, through the equipment, then out the back in to a cavity linked to those exhaust fans up top. This would really just require picking up some 1/8" board of any sort to build the cavities to limit the air flow.

IMG_1038_1.jpg
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by axipher View Post

Is that grey wall going to represent the cabinet door in front of everything? If so it look like you will have air being pulled in from floor level through that quarter circle piece and direct the air straight up the front of the rack. That would definitely work, but with such a small filter space, the fans might have to run at a pretty good speed to provide enough air for the equipment.

Here is a quick sketch to hopefully convey my idea a little better. The idea is that the large filter would allow as much airflow that is needed in to the cabinet assuming the rest of the cabinet is somewhat air-tight in terms of general air flow. So you would have fans at the bottom of the rack that would force air up the front of the rack space and the ATX space. then the only path for air to flow would be from the big filter, under the rack, up the front, through the equipment, then out the back in to a cavity linked to those exhaust fans up top. This would really just require picking up some 1/8" board of any sort to build the cavities to limit the air flow.
IMG_1038_1.jpg
>
Holy crap, I didn't even think about using a furnace type filter. We bulk buy filters for our heat pumps so we always have plenty on hand. That would be an easy way to allow a big filter with easy maintenence. +rep for that and quick sketches
thumb.gif
I do like your idea of running the air underneath both stacks. This will be a little bit easier with my tower shelves vs the cabinet that is in the Sketchup. I've updated Sketchup to follow your design. Let me know if what I did lines up to your thought process.

Proper stair design incorporating Axipher's cooling ducts

 
#24 ·
Yeah, that's a lot more in line with what I was thinking. With your updated design I see you had to move the one ATX rig over, not sure how much fresh air that one will require depending on what hardware is going inside of it, or if it will be far enough back on the shelf to pull some of the air that's going up the front of the rack.
 
#25 ·
Use the stairs as intake, over the server and blow it out into your workspace.

Don't do it the other way around as mentioned in page 1 (dust, iron particels etc)

On the other hand... build in a button on your desk. When you press and hold it, the airflow will turn aroiund (so stairs is exhaust) --> you never know when a girl walks down and she wears a skirt
tongue.gif


Other than that, NICE idea and yes NICE drawings in Google Mayonaise
 
#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by axipher View Post

Yeah, that's a lot more in line with what I was thinking. With your updated design I see you had to move the one ATX rig over, not sure how much fresh air that one will require depending on what hardware is going inside of it, or if it will be far enough back on the shelf to pull some of the air that's going up the front of the rack.
The ATX case to the left is just there temporarily. If I cannot fit both towers and UPS shelf on the right, I will just relocated the UPS somewhere else
biggrin.gif


Quote:
Originally Posted by ASUSfreak View Post

Use the stairs as intake, over the server and blow it out into your workspace.

Don't do it the other way around as mentioned in page 1 (dust, iron particels etc)

On the other hand... build in a button on your desk. When you press and hold it, the airflow will turn aroiund (so stairs is exhaust) --> you never know when a girl walks down and she wears a skirt
tongue.gif


Other than that, NICE idea and yes NICE drawings in Google Mayonaise
I did play with the idea of intakes off the stairs, but with kids running up and down the stairs, this could pose unnecessary risk of dirt/breakage. As Axipher suggested using a standard furnace grill and dust filter to pull in air across the bottom front of the systems, this would allow the front intake of the systems to pull in the cooler air. Exhaust will point toward the workshop.
 
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