Whaler_99

So, now that you know a bit about the underlying makeup of the network in the house. In this Blog I will talk a bit about all the other systems.
Each of the kids have a gaming class rig. My oldest saved up money for a while, and with some parts from dad is running a pretty sweet build. Corsair 540 with all the fans bitfenix spectre with the gold LED's. Asus Z87 pro board, 16GB ram, 4670k, plextar m5 256GB SSD boot, couple of 1TB for storage, and a massive phanteks cooler. Gold one with bitfenix fans on it with the LED's. 660ti,,, Looks really striking. All tied in with powerline to the network.
For the other kids... an 24" all-in-one HP unit, course I did upgrade the CPU, disk, memory... so not so much an HP unit anymore. :) Rest are mid range gaming systems... All hooked up via wireless.
My wife does photo editing and other things, so she has a CAD workstation, Xeon system.
We also have a couple of laptops floating around for the kids to use for homework in the dinning room and to take to school when needed. On the TV's I have Patriot Box Office units as well as HTPC builds for all our viewing pleasure. My main storage system uses PLEX which I love! If you have a large movie/tv collection I recommend you check it out. Anyways, the HTPC's boot right into plex and all the computers in the house can also access it. With friends also using it, at anytime i might be streaming two or three items. Nights can get pretty busy as well with gaming.
Hence the requirements for the rock solid network, at any given time I have an enormous amount of traffic coming in and out. Not to mention voice servers, sending data offsite for backups, etc.
All in all, about 8-9 pc's that I don't directly use each day running here... Did I mention the power company sends me thank you cards? :)

Every good system boils down to the network. This is the underlying foundation for your entire setup. If this isn't rock solid and supports everything you need to do, it doesn't matter how fast that rig of yours is, you will still lag as your switch drops packets due to a network flood.
Most people seem to think when they need one, the thirty dollar switch is just a good as the fifty dollar one. Most cases they are correct, when you only have a few connections not pushing the limits of the switch. But, a two hundred dollar one? In networking most times you get what you pay for. There are reasons why we have five hundred dollar switches and five thousand dollar ones. Course some brand names carry their own costs, <cough> cisco <cough> but that is another story... Why do I rant away on this? So, you might better understand why I have some of the gear I have. Because when it comes down to it, I do not want the network to be the cause of any issues in the house.
So, first off, I have my main network hub in the crawl space. Coming into the house I have my cable connection on which modem I have reset in bridge mode (don't get me started on these crap cable and DSL modem/router units) and use my own firewall.
The firewall is a higher end SonicWall unit. Why this? Due to my job, certifications and partnerships I have access to this and other gear a very low costs for personal use and training. So voila... For those of you that know, I am running all the security services on the unit.
Feeding of the firewall is what I referencing as my "server" switch. This is a mid range HP 24 port GB switch with a very decent back plane. Off this switch are all my secondary connections as well as my Folding farm, which also resides in the crawl space, my Hyper-V server, unRAID server and my voice server. I also have a redundant one sitting there. Why... just in case and because I could.
From this switch I lead out to:
My wireless AP unit, an Aruba unit, powered via PoE, which is nice. I ran cabling up through wall and roof and this sucker sits nicely hidden away on the main floor. A HP GB Switch, a specific edge model, to my main desk. I have a few of my desktops there, test beds, etc. A low end HP GB switch at the main media area, hooked into this is a HTPC, media streaming device and few other things. A powerline adapter for one of the bedrooms. I always wanted to test this and was having wireless issues to this one spot, so voila. And works really well.  
All the networking gear in the crawl space runs off a nice UPS, mostly to protect against power surges. Don't forget a good power surge unit for that shiny gear.
All in all a fairly complicated setup and more then what 99% of home users need, but I work a lot with this gear, so I also do lots of testing and such as well with this gear. Should hear people scream when I reboot the firewall to test something.
As you can see, my underlining network is more then adequate to support the throughput I may have from various sources. The system gets hardest hit when say all of the kids are streaming movies from the unRAID server (I use PLEX, what an awesome product), as well as some buddies and lots of folks on the voice system. Then myself playing some game or other... But everything works without a hiccup.
Now I just need the cable company to stop calling me because I am flooding their network.
The "network room"
http://puu.sh/8gYCh
Closer in...
http://puu.sh/8gYB0
Here you can see the firewall, switch, cable modem and VoIP unit, along with a spare switch. PDU unit...
And here is what my Aruba AP looks like...
http://puu.sh/8gYyP
Yep.. in the floor... In case wondering, that is not a ducted vent - just open to the basement to let air pass through between floors. Very handy.

So, day-to-day, what am I running in my back pocket. Hmmm... Well, as I mentioned, I have a crawl space where all my networking comes into the house. In here I have a few of the "no touch needed" systems. These include an older HP AMD server, ML110 G6 model I think. I have on that a voice solution running for various things. Also in here is the main unRaid server. Beside that I have an HP ML330 G6 system running Server 2012 R2. This is my main test platform and I use Hyper-V extensively on it. I think right now I have a couple of exchange servers, a couple of SQL servers and a few other test systems running. Finally I have the backup firewall here, an untangle unit.
Oh ya, and heating the whole basement, I had the 4P Folding systems in here. Now though I just have a GPU/SMP folding system in here that I use primarily for testing and trouble shooting other users issues on.
Moving over to my desk I have my main work/gaming system, all setup in an Aerocool DS Cube unit. Check my profile for exact specs. I have 2 x 22" monitors and a 24" monitor setup. Over on the side of the desk I have my 8 port KVM setup. I have connections ready to run up to three systems, for testing, builds, etc. I also have one little generic Intel box sitting there. This is my "download" systems, basically where I grab any files I might need, test for viruses and such before they get copied onto the storage server. This is a somewhat isolated little unit.
Right now on my workbench, I have a Hadron Air case that I am doing up with a black/red them. Thanks to @Zeal for all his help doing up a custom job on the PSU and a bunch of additional sleeving work. Once it progresses a little farther, I will be putting up a build log.
So, that pretty much sums up the rest of the systems we have running in Whale's Place. All told, on average there is probably about 14 systems powered on in the house, a NAS unit (for work), storage server, switches, firewall and some backup-to-disk units. Yes, you do get used to the underlying hum eventually. :)

So, now that you know a bit about the underlying makeup of the network in the house. In this Blog I will talk a bit about all the other systems.
Each of the kids have a gaming class rig. My oldest saved up money for a while, and with some parts from dad is running a pretty sweet build. Corsair 540 with all the fans bitfenix spectre with the gold LED's. Asus Z87 pro board, 16GB ram, 4670k, plextar m5 256GB SSD boot, couple of 1TB for storage, and a massive phanteks cooler. Gold one with bitfenix fans on it with the LED's. 660ti,,, Looks really striking. All tied in with powerline to the network.
For the other kids... an 24" all-in-one HP unit, course I did upgrade the CPU, disk, memory... so not so much an HP unit anymore. :) Rest are mid range gaming systems... All hooked up via wireless.
My wife does photo editing and other things, so she has a CAD workstation, Xeon system.
We also have a couple of laptops floating around for the kids to use for homework in the dinning room and to take to school when needed. On the TV's I have Patriot Box Office units as well as HTPC builds for all our viewing pleasure. My main storage system uses PLEX which I love! If you have a large movie/tv collection I recommend you check it out. Anyways, the HTPC's boot right into plex and all the computers in the house can also access it. With friends also using it, at anytime i might be streaming two or three items. Nights can get pretty busy as well with gaming.
Hence the requirements for the rock solid network, at any given time I have an enormous amount of traffic coming in and out. Not to mention voice servers, sending data offsite for backups, etc.
All in all, about 8-9 pc's that I don't directly use each day running here... Did I mention the power company sends me thank you cards? :)

So, many people have asked about the Whale's Place - what hardware, how many PC's, where does it all come from... In this section I will work to describe my various systems builds (or link to my builds already on the forum), upcoming plans, my network layout, etc... I tell you, running CAT6 in coral is a pain in the butt...
To generalize, I have a enterprise grade firewall, three redundant GB switches, high end wireless N and some powerline gear running as the core network. For backups of local systems, I have a backup-to-disk solution running that replicates to an offsite unit. I have a 40TB storage server that basically holds everything that also rsyncs to an offsite unit. I have the main Folding systems running, a Hyper-V host (here is where I do a lot of testing), a voice server, two HTPC systems, about 8 PC's in the house for various things and a couple of laptops floating around.
In upcoming entries I will work to give more details on the various systems and config here that keep Whaler's Happy Fun House running.
Cheers!
Shot of my main work area....
http://puu.sh/8gYAt

Every good system boils down to the network. This is the underlying foundation for your entire setup. If this isn't rock solid and supports everything you need to do, it doesn't matter how fast that rig of yours is, you will still lag as your switch drops packets due to a network flood.
Most people seem to think when they need one, the thirty dollar switch is just a good as the fifty dollar one. Most cases they are correct, when you only have a few connections not pushing the limits of the switch. But, a two hundred dollar one? In networking most times you get what you pay for. There are reasons why we have five hundred dollar switches and five thousand dollar ones. Course some brand names carry their own costs, <cough> cisco <cough> but that is another story... Why do I rant away on this? So, you might better understand why I have some of the gear I have. Because when it comes down to it, I do not want the network to be the cause of any issues in the house.
So, first off, I have my main network hub in the crawl space. Coming into the house I have my cable connection on which modem I have reset in bridge mode (don't get me started on these crap cable and DSL modem/router units) and use my own firewall.
The firewall is a higher end SonicWall unit. Why this? Due to my job, certifications and partnerships I have access to this and other gear a very low costs for personal use and training. So voila... For those of you that know, I am running all the security services on the unit.
Feeding of the firewall is what I referencing as my "server" switch. This is a mid range HP 24 port GB switch with a very decent back plane. Off this switch are all my secondary connections as well as my Folding farm, which also resides in the crawl space, my Hyper-V server, unRAID server and my voice server. I also have a redundant one sitting there. Why... just in case and because I could.
From this switch I lead out to:
My wireless AP unit, an Aruba unit, powered via PoE, which is nice. I ran cabling up through wall and roof and this sucker sits nicely hidden away on the main floor. A HP GB Switch, a specific edge model, to my main desk. I have a few of my desktops there, test beds, etc. A low end HP GB switch at the main media area, hooked into this is a HTPC, media streaming device and few other things. A powerline adapter for one of the bedrooms. I always wanted to test this and was having wireless issues to this one spot, so voila. And works really well.  
All the networking gear in the crawl space runs off a nice UPS, mostly to protect against power surges. Don't forget a good power surge unit for that shiny gear.
All in all a fairly complicated setup and more then what 99% of home users need, but I work a lot with this gear, so I also do lots of testing and such as well with this gear. Should hear people scream when I reboot the firewall to test something.
As you can see, my underlining network is more then adequate to support the throughput I may have from various sources. The system gets hardest hit when say all of the kids are streaming movies from the unRAID server (I use PLEX, what an awesome product), as well as some buddies and lots of folks on the voice system. Then myself playing some game or other... But everything works without a hiccup.
Now I just need the cable company to stop calling me because I am flooding their network.
The "network room"
http://puu.sh/8gYCh
Closer in...
http://puu.sh/8gYB0
Here you can see the firewall, switch, cable modem and VoIP unit, along with a spare switch. PDU unit...
And here is what my Aruba AP looks like...
http://puu.sh/8gYyP
Yep.. in the floor... In case wondering, that is not a ducted vent - just open to the basement to let air pass through between floors. Very handy.

Every good system boils down to the network. This is the underlying foundation for your entire setup. If this isn't rock solid and supports everything you need to do, it doesn't matter how fast that rig of yours is, you will still lag as your switch drops packets due to a network flood.
Most people seem to think when they need one, the thirty dollar switch is just a good as the fifty dollar one. Most cases they are correct, when you only have a few connections not pushing the limits of the switch. But, a two hundred dollar one? In networking most times you get what you pay for. There are reasons why we have five hundred dollar switches and five thousand dollar ones. Course some brand names carry their own costs, <cough> cisco <cough> but that is another story... Why do I rant away on this? So, you might better understand why I have some of the gear I have. Because when it comes down to it, I do not want the network to be the cause of any issues in the house.
So, first off, I have my main network hub in the crawl space. Coming into the house I have my cable connection on which modem I have reset in bridge mode (don't get me started on these crap cable and DSL modem/router units) and use my own firewall.
The firewall is a higher end SonicWall unit. Why this? Due to my job, certifications and partnerships I have access to this and other gear a very low costs for personal use and training. So voila... For those of you that know, I am running all the security services on the unit.
Feeding of the firewall is what I referencing as my "server" switch. This is a mid range HP 24 port GB switch with a very decent back plane. Off this switch are all my secondary connections as well as my Folding farm, which also resides in the crawl space, my Hyper-V server, unRAID server and my voice server. I also have a redundant one sitting there. Why... just in case and because I could.
From this switch I lead out to:
My wireless AP unit, an Aruba unit, powered via PoE, which is nice. I ran cabling up through wall and roof and this sucker sits nicely hidden away on the main floor. A HP GB Switch, a specific edge model, to my main desk. I have a few of my desktops there, test beds, etc. A low end HP GB switch at the main media area, hooked into this is a HTPC, media streaming device and few other things. A powerline adapter for one of the bedrooms. I always wanted to test this and was having wireless issues to this one spot, so voila. And works really well.  
All the networking gear in the crawl space runs off a nice UPS, mostly to protect against power surges. Don't forget a good power surge unit for that shiny gear.
All in all a fairly complicated setup and more then what 99% of home users need, but I work a lot with this gear, so I also do lots of testing and such as well with this gear. Should hear people scream when I reboot the firewall to test something.
As you can see, my underlining network is more then adequate to support the throughput I may have from various sources. The system gets hardest hit when say all of the kids are streaming movies from the unRAID server (I use PLEX, what an awesome product), as well as some buddies and lots of folks on the voice system. Then myself playing some game or other... But everything works without a hiccup.
Now I just need the cable company to stop calling me because I am flooding their network.
The "network room"
http://puu.sh/8gYCh
Closer in...
http://puu.sh/8gYB0
Here you can see the firewall, switch, cable modem and VoIP unit, along with a spare switch. PDU unit...
And here is what my Aruba AP looks like...
http://puu.sh/8gYyP
Yep.. in the floor... In case wondering, that is not a ducted vent - just open to the basement to let air pass through between floors. Very handy.