Home Server Cabinet Build

[byalexandr]

I'm starting to plan out all of the tech I want sorted out once I buy a new home. This will be in a few months, so exact details are not really necessary, I just need an idea of what all I need.

 

What I want to do is centralize all of my hardware into one single server cabinet that provides all of the tech for the house. That means:

 

-Networking (I'd like to have a 10Gbit local network)

-Gaming PC

-Workstation PC

-Media PC

-Storage server

-Diagnostics setup (probably a rackmount laptop)

 

So I will have a single cabinet, made to look nice of course, with all of the computing in the house packed into it, probably placed in the living room or something. From there I will have ~4 CAT6e Ethernet jacks in each room all connected to the networking gear in the cabinet, from which I can access all of the systems the cabinet will also house. That means in each room all I need is a TV or a monitor and some peripherals, keeping the noise away and everything organized. Plus I will have plenty of Ethernet jacks in case I have some friends over.

 

Is something like this feasible? I start work as a mechanic soon, and I will be going back to school for my mechanical engineering degree, so I feel like this will take a while to setup since it will be quite expensive. But I'm wondering if it's at all possible and what type of compromises I will have to make compared to just having the computers in separate rooms.

[AT0MAC]

so how will you actually control the computers in the closet, if all you have in every room is a monitor and mouse/keyboard, I mean, what system to transfer the USB and displayport/hdmi signals across did you have in mind?

[byalexandr]

1 hour ago, AT0MAC said:

so how will you actually control the computers in the closet, if all you have in every room is a monitor and mouse/keyboard, I mean, what system to transfer the USB and displayport/hdmi signals across did you have in mind?

What did Linus use for his home PC? Can’t I use a few of those?

[AT0MAC]

13 hours ago, byalexandr said:

What did Linus use for his home PC? Can’t I use a few of those?

He used thunderbolt and that is very very expensive and puts some requirements to the motherboards in question - also not even sure a thunderbolt switch excist, as you want to have the option to use more than one system from the same mouse/keyboard as far as I understood

[AT0MAC]

i already have something similar to what you describe, i have a htpc, a storage server, a workstation/streaming rig, a LAN gaming pc, a linux web pc and a home gaming PC, plus a few laptops.

 

the way I have set mine up is that everything is basically in the same room, so all I needed to route from the cabinet were most of the machines is inside, was a 10meter active USB3.0 to a powered hub and a 2 port usb switch (should actually have been 3, but can always replace it) and a Display port cable.

 

the idea in my setup was that the only 3 machines I need to connect to the monitor directly is the LAN machine, when its home (and that why the 3rd port in the usb switch is not crucial), the web pc and the gaming pc - so I switch out on the usb switch for connecting the keyboard/mouse to the right machine, and the monitor switches to the correct input, dp for gaming pc, dvi for lan, hdmi for web pc.

 

the storage server and streaming rig can both be configured and controlled via remote desktop from one of the laptops, and the htpc is dirrectly connected to the tv in the living room and gets media from the storage server in the closet via gigabit cat6. have its own keyboard/mouse combo.

 

 

your setup will be way more advanced but the things we can do in the end is almost identical

[byalexandr]

5 hours ago, AT0MAC said:

He used thunderbolt and that is very very expensive and puts some requirements to the motherboards in question - also not even sure a thunderbolt switch excist, as you want to have the option to use more than one system from the same mouse/keyboard as far as I understood

No no, I want each PC to have its own peripherals, I just want all of the PCs to be in a single cabinet.

 

What I'm thinking is I can run all the video and audio stuff using the same method as the ethernet cables I want to run (just run it all through the walls and have some sort of hub with USB ports and display/audio outputs). That way all I need in each room is the peripherals and it all hooks up nicely to a hub.

[AT0MAC]

3 hours ago, byalexandr said:

No no, I want each PC to have its own peripherals, I just want all of the PCs to be in a single cabinet.

 

What I'm thinking is I can run all the video and audio stuff using the same method as the ethernet cables I want to run (just run it all through the walls and have some sort of hub with USB ports and display/audio outputs). That way all I need in each room is the peripherals and it all hooks up nicely to a hub.

i understood it as - you have a pc in the cabinet but you have lets say 3 places you want to use that pc from, could be the gaming pc.

then you need 3 hubs, 3 long cables, 3 keyboard, 3 mice - but to switch between the workstation, media pc and gaming pc you will need some kind of switch in the cabinet to adress that, so you have everything hooked up. Lets say you do this with thunderbolt like linus did, i have never seen a thunderbolt switch.

 

if its directly run from each system to a location around your house, then our systems are very similar. only difference is distance were I can chug along with USB/DP you would have to use the way more expensive route of using like what Linus did and use thunderbolt and hubs or Ethernet based systems (i used to install CyP systems as part of a former job)

 

..to answer your question, yes its doable but its not cheap