It was only three or four file servers as we had an old and new production server at the time, as well as AFP shares from our XSAN, And then moved links from production, supported storage to read-only archive on slower storage with no support contract. We could update links here and all staff could mount all shares from a single place; Self Service.

All the shares lived on VMDKs which mades archiving and moving entire clients much simpler.

We played with the CSS making rollover graphics for the icons; rollover got darker, disk icon changed, click glowed. Best one being when had Lays crisps, on rollover the icon crinkled like a plastic bag!

I’m doing similar things these days with Jamf; config profiles to set browser homepage to a Microsoft SharePoint site that can be managed by local admins with all the OneDrive, SharePoint and news links they want,.

No one hand-codes CSS for fun though

My first I guess was my G4 MacMini I had plugged in to my TV with VGA. I had a Elgato EyeTV 200 connected by FireWire 400 and a matching external drive. All video was there, and I kept my audio on the eMac in iTunes as I only had WiFi at home.

Adding a Synology CS407e gave me 6TB storage and I was able to run Plex and a few other services.

But I ran out of space and needed more CPU, so I upgraded the Synology to a 1010+ with Western Digital 4TB Reds. I gave away the CS407e for a friend to user for backup, but the 1010+ still never didn’t have the power to run enough services. This was before I knew enough about Linux and Docker. God I wish I

I added an Intel NUC i5 with 32GB and a internal SSD. Google Translate let me down here; I wanted the model with two internal drives, one NVMEe and one 2.5″ SSD. I read a lot of William Lam and got ESXi running on the NUC from a USB stick, freeing up the internal drive for VMs. I “tested” installed macOS on the NUC with esxiUnlocker. It worked, but the NUC didn’t have the power or the Apple ‘je-ne-say-quios’

My local storage and backups were running to the Synology 1010+, but when I looked in power usage I needed to power it down. 5 x 4TB RAID5 could be covered with 1 x 12TB. I mean I’m not running production here; it’s a homelab!

I replaced the NUC with HP desktop I could fit 32GB RAM, 2 x SSD (by removing the internal DVD drive) AND a internal 3.5″ 16TB WD Red.

Then I got to my current setup; a MacMini 2018, i9, 32GB RAM, 1TB internal running ESXi 7.0.2. 2 x 1TB SSD and 2 x 14TB WD Red connected from a StarTech 4 bay ThunderBolt 2 enclosure with a USB-C adapter. This backs up weekly to the 1010+ which also boots up, now only weekly.

The Lab

Plug to measure power usage. (I should get something better that logs the usage.)

Ziggo Internet cable modem in pass-through.

Ubiquiti Dream Machine. My house is “L” shaped, so I have this and two other Ubiquiti access points at each corner of my house.

Home made shelves! I did this! Old simple racking system and spare bits of wood cut to fit. The crappy chip-board edge are covered in ‘Gaffa-Tape’

NetGear F5D5141 16 port gigabit switch. In 2012 we bought a house, it was a renovation and we stipulated we (well, I) wanted wired networking in all rooms. 8 drops in the house.

MacMini 2018.

120x150mm aluminium heat-sync. HEMA USB Fan. Orange.

StarTech ThunderBolt 4 bay enclosure to USB-C adapter to connect to MacMini. 2 x 1TB SSD, 2 x 14TB WD Red.

Synology 1010+. Boots weekly for backup of all VMs.

https://github.com/markkenny/jamf

I also have a couple of recipes on Autopkg. Tag me for mistakes. I will fix them.

https://github.com/autopkg/markkenny-recipes