hardware layout

introduction

Now I have purchased my hardware and know how big each piece is, I can figure out how they can best be placed.

what it is

I came up with the rack and desk diagrams below. They show the hardware layout, in a way that is halfway between the squished reality of my shed and a network topology diagram.

Most of the computers fit on the rack. Their placement is shown in the diagram below. Placement is partly decided because I ended up with more desktop-layout base units than tower ones and this is the only way I could get them to fit.

The top of the rack acts as my desk. It is not comfortable.

the rack

OK, it's more a cross between a trolley and a table than a bed.

LIC topography: hardware layout
cvm01       cup01                                                                                                                                     ics03   ics02   ics01     ifw03   ifw02   ifw01   xcl01

• each IBM PC is either a mini tower or desktop base unit. Each one has the tag "PC:" below.
• each PDU (Power Distribution Board) is a mains extension lead.
• kbd. is an abbreviation of keyboard, part of a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) set.
• Each piece of hardware is given a name. A hardware name is based on a host name. All host names in the LIC are five characters long.

The diagram shows

• 7 PCs
• 3 ethernet switches
• 1 KVM switch
• 1 video monitor
• 1 UPS
• 3 PDUs

desk

The desk contains a keyboard, mouse and monitor. There is also PDU01.

One 2 port KVM switch xks01 connects the KVM set sits on my desk (video monitor xvm01, keyboard xkb01 and mouse xms01) to the PCs external to the LIC: xcl01 pretends to be the Internet.