[HN Gopher] The IKEA-powered homelab on a wall
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       The IKEA-powered homelab on a wall
        
       Author : PaulHoule
       Score  : 70 points
       Date   : 2023-09-11 20:12 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
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       | thomc wrote:
       | I don't recommend their pegboard for this. When I had some very
       | modest weight (soldering supplies and glues) in one of the
       | compatible trays attached to the top, it bowed out over time and
       | warped the board. This looks far heavier with more leverage.
        
       | rzzzt wrote:
       | I'm a Helmer cluster fan: http://helmer.sfe.se/
       | 
       | Someone also designed acrylic shelves for it:
       | https://youtu.be/SAU6PeCzs_o
        
       | neilyoungsdog wrote:
       | I have these pegboards and they are awful. Like all Ikea
       | furniture, the sizing is proprietary so standard s-hooks do not
       | fit. The compatible accessories are very flimsy and I would not
       | trust it to safely hold a spice rack let alone a homelab.
        
         | larrywright wrote:
         | If you have access to a 3d printer, they become infinitely more
         | useful. There are hundreds or possibly even thousands of
         | printable accessories available on sites like Printable and
         | Thingiverse. I use a few of the ikea ones like the little bins
         | for pens (with a 3d printed divider), but the majority are 3d
         | printed.
        
       | Kirby64 wrote:
       | How exactly is this powered by Ikea? Seems like this is just an
       | advertisement for a pegboard. The author doesn't even use the
       | Ikea hooks and whatnot to mount their hardware. Literally any
       | pegboard or board with many holes in it would do the same thing
       | here, besides aesthetics (although, there is a wide variety of
       | aesthetics available for pegboards).
       | 
       | Honestly I was kind of expecting some sort of Ikea smart home
       | related "power".
        
         | IshKebab wrote:
         | Those IKEA pegboards are especially cheap and ubiquitous.
         | There's a whole ecosystem around them, which admittedly he
         | didn't use.
         | 
         | But yeah I was expecting something using IKEA's smart home
         | stuff.
        
           | mayli wrote:
           | Pegboard $28.99, not cheap compared to MDF/plywood board
        
       | myelin wrote:
       | I'm always interested in seeing a new attempt to solve the
       | problem of organizing a ton of little devices and a mess of
       | cables. My personal attempt involves mounting a couple of UniFi
       | bits directly to the wall, plus a little shelf made out of scrap
       | 1x4 pine for the odd shaped things and the power strip.
       | 
       | Maintenance issues aside, the setup in the linked article looks
       | quite pretty and should have decent airflow for passive cooling,
       | which is nice!
        
         | whartung wrote:
         | Does anyone have a desktop shelf unit that happens to be
         | external drive sized? I have, like, three of these and it would
         | be nice to shove them in something that can organize them and
         | their cables. If I was a 3D printer person, I guess I could
         | make something, but then they'd probably overheat.
         | 
         | I've looked in the past, but never found anything. I think one
         | with a built in USB hub so that it was "just one cable" would
         | be a bonus.
         | 
         | I should probably just shut up, stack them, and wrap the cords
         | with those velcro tape organizer things.
        
           | myelin wrote:
           | Something I didn't mention in my comment is that I would love
           | some kind of mounting bracket that would fit a WD Easystore
           | (the big cheap disks that r/datahoarder loves) in such a way
           | that I could easily open it up and swap in another disk; this
           | would be for my backup box, which backs up everything to a
           | USB disk that I periodically swap out with another one that
           | lives offsite.
        
           | wolpoli wrote:
           | You could try using a letter tray so you could keep all the
           | power bricks in the back. It really depends on how often
           | you'll take the drives out.
        
       | CommieBobDole wrote:
       | The pegboard system looks neat, but I'm wary of IKEA 'systems'
       | ever since they discontinued the Galant desk system.
        
         | bluescrn wrote:
         | RIP Galant. I could really do with a couple of replacement
         | Galant desks, or just the tops, but they're long-gone now.
         | 
         | (And why the heck did they put big rounded corners on their new
         | desks... did they never consider that people might put more
         | than one of them end-to-end?...)
        
           | jacquesm wrote:
           | Ebay... they pop up with some regularity. And thrift stores
           | as well.
        
         | sebazzz wrote:
         | Galant was such a great desk system.
        
       | flurdy wrote:
       | Ditto. Pegboards work well as a vertical network "rack". Here is
       | mine as I assembled it last year with mostly Ubiquity gear.
       | https://twitter.com/flurdy/status/1521577058232676353/photo/...
       | Though I have since taken the NAS off the second pegboard as it
       | simple was too bulky and cumbersome.
       | 
       | The OP's setup is very neat and aesthetic.
        
       | sira04 wrote:
       | Reminds me of this post where they did the same, but on a cart
       | instead https://ikeahackers.net/2021/08/home-networking-cart.html
       | 
       | Looks pretty good if you don't want to hang it on a wall.
        
       | sho_hn wrote:
       | Here's my home lab, which features an IKEA wireless light switch,
       | I guess? https://imgur.com/a/bXq6UmJ
       | 
       | It's a great light switch.
        
         | dewey wrote:
         | Very cool work bench, what model is the table exactly? On their
         | website I couldn't find the version with two drawers.
         | 
         | https://www.sevilleclassics.com/collections/ultrahd(r)-1?page=.
         | ..
        
           | sho_hn wrote:
           | It's the Seville Classics UltraHD Lighted Workbench, but
           | unfortunately I think they have discontinued the exact model
           | since my purchase in early 2022. The new one has a single
           | large drawer, and from pictures the hardwood bench top might
           | be a little skimpier.
           | 
           | If you can still find this one somewhere: It was <$300 new
           | for me and is extremely sturdy, with very smooth-running
           | drawers as well. I'd recommend it, great value.
        
             | dewey wrote:
             | Thank you!
        
         | jacquesm wrote:
         | Very nice and nicely organized! I'd be embarrassed to post mine
         | :) What are you cooking there?
        
           | sho_hn wrote:
           | IKEA hacks, of course! https://github.com/eikehein/hyelicht/
           | 
           | Most recent: https://imgur.com/a/NoTr8XX
        
             | jacquesm wrote:
             | Oh that's beautiful, you should really post that, I'll be
             | happy to upvote it and probably others will too.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | Vaslo wrote:
       | Be warned, this is EXACTLY the kind of toe in the water to a
       | hobby that eventually turns into a power hungry 42U racked filled
       | with all kinds of new and used servers/equipment!
       | 
       | As someone who is addicted you have been warned.
        
         | askiiart wrote:
         | And when you get a rack, just make a LackRack (elsewhere in
         | thread), and you can keep your homelab Ikea-based through all
         | your upgrades!
        
           | nine_k wrote:
           | A Lack, aptly named, being smaller than a full-size rack, it
           | keeps the size of your homelab at bay (somehow).
        
         | gtvwill wrote:
         | DW there is help. As someone who started in dumpster rack gear
         | you too can come to realize you can probably get more grunt and
         | use out of a pegboard with half a dozen nucs or old laptops
         | screwed to it than a 42u decade old heating unit.
         | 
         | The real crack is networking. Just wait til you have to talk
         | yourself out of 100gbe Lan gear because your line in is only
         | 100mb and the most you transfer pc to pc realistically is a few
         | kb word files or multi mb media files.
        
       | leipert wrote:
       | This is the original IKEA homelab hack:
       | https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack
        
         | askiiart wrote:
         | Nice! I'd heard about Lack 3D printer enclosures [1], but not
         | this.
         | 
         | [1] https://all3dp.com/2/ikea-3d-printer-enclosure-tutorial/
        
       | Waterluvian wrote:
       | Pegboard plus zip ties is so genius I'm a bit frustrated I didn't
       | discover this years ago. I hate how big cables love to exert
       | their opinions on the position of my network devices on their
       | shelf.
        
         | stronglikedan wrote:
         | I'd take this a step further with a dremel, and there would be
         | no visible cables between devices (well, just the ends would be
         | visible). Plenty of room behind that board for cable
         | management.
        
         | gtvwill wrote:
         | https://www.cabac.com.au/p/cable-wire-management/cable-ties-...
         | 
         | Don't let any cable try and flex it's authority on you. Use
         | biggest thickest zip ties you can + a set of pliers to yank the
         | zip tie closed. Will squish up to about 4guage cable into line
         | :) if your doing fancy(fancy in the sense of will last a decade
         | and still be easy to work on, not looks) cabling use these to
         | zip tie a hook and loop in place. Bind cable w hook n loop.
        
       | monocasa wrote:
       | A better IKEA powered homelab is built around the Lack furniture
       | which just happens to be the right dimensions for 19" rack mount
       | systems.
       | 
       | https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack
        
         | rideontime wrote:
         | They both look nice, how is this one better specifically?
        
           | nine_k wrote:
           | If you have a bunch of 19" rack-mount boxes, the Lack is a
           | better choice. Small boxes, like those in the post, can live
           | on a pegboard.
        
         | stickfigure wrote:
         | I've usually found most 19" rack equipment to have very loud
         | fans. Designed for a data center, not a residence.
        
           | IshKebab wrote:
           | Yeah definitely. You don't want these in the same room as
           | you, or even in the next room. Basement or loft maybe, but
           | then who cares how they are mounted?
        
           | thfuran wrote:
           | You can get quiet rackmount gear, but it certainly is a mine
           | field and if you're not careful, you'll almost certainly end
           | up with something 50+ dB.
        
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       (page generated 2023-09-11 22:01 UTC)