Home Data Center 2024

by Tommy Grot

Hey there, fellow tech enthusiasts! Welcome to my corner of the virtual world, where I am thrilled to share with you all my home data center. If you’re as passionate about technology as I am, then you’ve come to the right place. I want to take you on a journey through the ins and outs of my personal setup, exploring the wonders of virtualization, and the power of VMware Cloud. I’ll be diving into the nitty-gritty details, discussing the hardware, software, and all the exciting ways I’ve customized my data center to meet my specific needs. So, grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and let’s embark on this thrilling adventure together!

Production Environment & Infrastructure

VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.1

  • 4 – Dell PowerEdge R70XD – Production Host
  • All-Flash vSAN ESA Cluster (4 x DellEMC PowerEdge R740s)
    • 2 x Intel Xeon Processor Gold 6138 2.0GHZ 27.5M 384GB RAM 20TB vSAN ESA
    • Dual Mellanox ConnectX-4 LX 50Gb/s (Data, vSAN)
    • Quad Intel X710 NDC SFP+ 10Gb/s (NSX Overlay)

  • Dell PowerEdge R740XD2 – Storage Server
    • 1 x Intel Scalable Silver 4116 12 Core – 256GB RAM – 100TB Storage ( iSCSI, NFS, SMB)
      • Dual Mellanox ConnectX-3 Pro 40Gb/s (80Gb/s Backbone for NAS/SAN)

  • Dell PowerEdge R740XD – Archive Storage Server
    • Intel Scalable Silver 6 Core – 64GB RAM – 50TB Storage ( iSCSI, NFS, SMB)
    • Dual Mellanox ConnectX-3 Pro 40Gb/s (80Gb/s Backbone for NAS/SAN

Artificial Intelligence Node

  • Dell PowerEdge R740XD – Production AI Host
  • 2 x Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8158 CPU @ 3.00GHz
    • VMware ESXi 8.0u2
    • Dual Mellanox ConnectX-4 LX 50Gb/s (Data)
    • Quad Intel X710 NDC SFP+ 10Gb/s (NSX Overlay)

Infrastructure

  • 2 x Palo Alto PA-5520 Firewalls
  • 1 x Arista DCS-7050QX-32-F-S 32x QSFP+ (Primary Core Switch)
  • 1 x Arista DCS-7050QX-35-F 40GbE Switch (Secondary Core Switch)
  • 1 x Arista DCS-7050-Q 52x10Gb Switch
  • 1 x Arista DCS-7048T-A Switch 48x GBe
  • 1 x Cisco Catalyst C3750X PoE+
  • 1 x Cisco Catalyst C3650-24-PS PoE+
  • 2 x APC Netshelter 48U SX (Dell)

Network Backbone Specs

  • Lumen Symmetrical Gigabit Internet Service
  • Routing Protocols – eBGP, iBGP, Static Routing
  • Quad 40Gb/s QSFP+ Backbone for Management and vSAN
  • Quad 10Gb/s SFP+ Backbone for iSCSI Storage
  • 1 Gb/s Network Management, Server Management, Misc, Edge Devices
  • Isolated DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) for any kind of web hosting. (This website is actually hosted in my home datacenter! 🙂

Power Infrastructure

  • 4 x EATON 1500va UPS (uninterruptible power supply)
  • 4 x APC 7830 20VA 120V PDU ( power distribution units)
  • 2 x 20AMP Circuits A/B topology

Cooling Infrastructure

  • 1 x 14,000 BTU B&D Portable Air Conditioning
  • 1 x AC Infinity Cloudline Inline Duct Fan 8″ for Air Circulation in room (Hot Air Pumped into HVAC)
  • 1 x AC Infinity Cloudline Inline Duct Fan 6″ for Fresh Air (Outside)