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Setting up a Retro Rack

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Setting up a Retro Rack



Setting up my 42U “Retro Rack,” a soon-to-be pile of classic enterprise gear from the1995-2005 era of tech —all housed right in my homelab. From the iconic Cisco 7206 VXR serving as the networking backbone to powerful IBM p-series servers literally anchoring the rack, this setup is a throwback to the hardware that powered the internet and businesses worldwide.

In this first video I’ll walk you through the setup process and share my vision for the Retro Rack, along with the goals I have for how it will help me in my homelab.

Check me out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/clabretro

Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

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#netro #homelab #retrotech #retrocomputer #computers #networking

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00:00 Intro
01:32 Retro Rack Goals and Plans
03:54 Building the 42U Rack
06:56 Setting up the Cisco 7206 VXR
13:40 Configuring DHCP on the VXR
17:40 Racking up Machines in the Retro Rack
24:01 Testing the Retro Rack Network
27:56 Future Retro Rack Plans

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41 Comments

41 Comments

  1. @Conmega1

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Like to keep stuff in piles on the floor… Un-approving wife… Stop calling us all out! Haha.
    It’s great to see videos that are so true to how this hobby goes sometimes. Honesty and showing all the struggles is a breath of fresh air in this space of retro tech videos.

    Along with plenty of educational material thrown in there about the hardware instead of JUST showing it off.

  2. @Robert-fb6fe

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    17:22 The devices on the 10.x network can't access the Internet for a couple of reasons, the Vxr router needs a default route set for your uplink (ip route 0.0.0.0. 0.0.0.0 <uplink ip>) as well as setting up a route on your existing networks router for the networks connected to the Vxr, you might want to implement a routing protocol such as ospf or eigrp for this

  3. @markpriceful

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    The fans sound.. fan-tastic 😂

  4. @ricardobornman1698

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    The fun is making it, breaking it and re-making it again. Ah, the possibilities. 😁

  5. @JG-nm9zk

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    bro needs help. My friend recommended a therapist named Cisco.

  6. @michaeldale837

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    NetScreen!

  7. @CollinBaillie

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Could.. could the cables routed outside the rack, not route within the rack? Set some good habits, right from the start kind of thinking.

  8. @alisharifian535

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    A few days after seeing your video about using routers as dialup servers, I unexpectedly came across a used Cisco 1921 in a home security system shop and for my surprise it had a wic-2am-v2 modem. Despite having zero experience in network stuff (beyond configuring my modem😄) I could config it using your instructiond and with a help of spare parts that I had I have made a land line simulator that provides off hook and ringing voltage.(it doesn't look pretty but works). I now have my own dial up network and connected my retro PC to it.

  9. @byrd203

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Management rots are for you to mange the router only to mange devices you create clans management port is only to configure yhe Cisco router

  10. @spewp

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    The mere sight of rack nuts were so triggering. They're fine… till you need to install hundreds of them. The tips of my fingers were tingling just from looking at them, gnarly.

  11. @spewp

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Possibly the reason you can't connect to the terminal server from your home network windows PC is that WSL is running its own virtual network. There might be some flakiness skipping through multiple networks like that?

  12. @johncloar1692

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Nice step I have several racks they all run short on space. Like me too many toys. But what fun!

  13. @ultraswank

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Excellent, look forward to following your retro rack journey 🙂

  14. @evankalbach9985

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    I hate cage nuts, I rather have a rack with drilled. threaded holes to secure the gear. Usually feature 2 post racks but we had a bunch of 4 post racks with the same direct 10/32 screwholes for mounting gear.

  15. @LeeZhiWei8219

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Great to see how the Linksys stack behind you is growing 😂. You have too much equipment man hahahaha…

  16. @hw2508

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Don't understand. 0:59 All they need is power, network and air.

  17. @slimegamerc

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    cool to see you expand your homelab! maybe you could use a 2u server for SNMP monitoring of the retro rack?

  18. @nzspambot

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Thanks for the memories of busting my knuckles on racks thanks to shitty cage nuts

    Mind you the old HP rack kits were just as terrible

  19. @colinstu

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    May wanna check out Rackstuds instead of those typical painful frustrating rack nuts. Another even neater option is called /dev/mount from Patchbox. Anyway retrorack coming together great!
    Edit: oh good you did bring up/show rackstuds! nvm

  20. @lethal_larry

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    re: diy rack ears-> a small press brake and a drill press and some material should be enough to get you started. nice rack!

  21. @MadITGeek

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    what about the HP proliant the one with hot-swap RAM (can't recall the name) or that one isn't retro enough LOL. I thought about trying those rack studs myself for my switch as I don't have the rails for it. It's literally on the floor inside my rack-lol (the entire thing is enclosed on wheels)

  22. @AlejandroFerrariMc

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    The Linksys stack is so high, that's poking into the next video on my queue lol

  23. @zzco

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    "I have a problem" — you have too much homelab equipment? why yes, yes you do. xD

  24. @dustojnikhummer

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Wait, Compaq Proliant DL380? You are telling me they have been using this name for 2U servers for 25 years??

  25. @JF_ARVA

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    what's your power bill like?

  26. @tenminutetokyo2643

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Sun! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!!!!! Now Vinod Khosla is breaking subversion laws.

  27. @Picardriker359001

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Love these kinds of vids! I’m exploring doing this at my home. I need to learn about everything: cooling requirements, power requirements, everything. I’d love to hear more detailed videos about how you are going to handle all the power requirements. I have a feeling an expensive electrician bill is going to be in my future. I want to get an old Compaq rack! Love those.

  28. @uiopuiop3472

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Hello! I think you would be interested in the Dell PowerConnect 5524 and 5548 switches. I grabbed one from my high-school's rack a few months ago for my homelab, and they are really strange.
    They have Cisco-flavored CLI and a custom Dell web UI, and use regular HDMI cables for stacking together. I know it's not in your regular date range for networking equipment, but it's really interesting how they work.

  29. @SproutyPottedPlant

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Sorry I’m late, I’m a sick plant 😢 I love your videos and the new rack dedicated to all things retro 😀 looking forward to you getting the token ring network working, I’ve never seen it before!

  30. @theshemullet

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    netbox. For your IP documentation

  31. @nephrium

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    How's the heating and cooling with the new stuff all plugged in?

  32. @dragonballbw3

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    With the odd pings, you may have a device with an incorrect subnet mask or does not have "ip subnet-zero" enabled.

  33. @lauralhardy5450

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Just came across your channel. Retro ? Not really. You want to be retro get yourself a VAX, maybe a benchtop VAX station to start off if you arn't familiar with DEC products, then look for a DG MV6000 or 8000. That is real retro and different. Obviously you're in the US. You have access to a huge resource of second hand stuff there. Unfortunately shipping is exorbitant to Oz. Sparcs are hardly retro, unix is vanilla retro. You can emulate that quite easily. Not so VMS/VAX or Data General.

  34. @JakeCovey

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Retro Rack for President 2024

  35. @Nielstm25

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Nice to hear, that the fans sound fan-tastic in the Cisco 7206.

  36. @NickBouwhuis

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    If you ever do more ISP stuff, I can hook you up with a GRE tunnel and a dedicated IP-adress (or small subnet). That way you can use real, globally routable IP-addresses. Let me know if this is somethign you'd like to learn more about. I run a hobby network (AS202585) and I'd think I'd be cool if I could help you out with my network.

  37. @poofygoof

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    I feel like I'm a couple decades ahead of you — until a couple years ago I had two 42U custom-built short-depth optima EPS racks in Tek blue, one 19" and one 24", which housed may large collection of 90s surplus DEC (pmax, vax, alpha), Sun (sparc and ultrasparc), SGI, as well as network gear from Cisco, Allied Telesyn, DEC and Bay… I even had a large DLT robot for a while handling daily backups until I got a SDLT changer.

    I wish I had space to keep my old stuff and time to play with it, but alas. at least I can relive the memories along with you. thanks.

  38. @fawedde

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Oh we like content! Moooooore!

  39. @The_Electronic_Beard

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    This almost motivates me to put my rack together. Ha! Looking good! I hate that rails are hard to find. Maybe you could break a drill out or some self tappers and make others work? I guess the trays make more sense though, when you are going to end up with a 1000 more router, switches and servers! 😁

  40. @Pracedru

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    I always found it interesting to interface old generations of hardware with new stuff. There was one video on youtube with someone who connected an old 1930 teletype to a linux terminal.
    What about some 1980'ies token ring hardware that links to total modern stuff?

  41. @SiD3WiNDR

    October 25, 2024 at 3:53 am

    Why did you put a copper GBIC next to the RJ45 socket of a dual personality port? 🙂

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