Caught part of a NAS livestream the other day and was kind of surprised how much time they spent talking about AI. At first I thought it was just buzzword drop, but some local tools like smart photo search, meeting summaries seem pretty handy.

Never really pictured AI being part of my home server setup, but the idea of it running locally without needing to connect to some cloud API every time does make it interesting. Anyone here messing with AI NAS stuff? Curious about the performance and how practical it really is.

Not new to browsing Reddit, but new to posting so hopefully I did the thing right. I happened to stumble across this subreddit and figured hmm maybe it's worth making a post here. I, too, am big into self hosting and production grade networking at home (and also professionally...I get paid to do real datacenter stuff too believe it or not). My setup is by far not the most aesthetically pleasing, but I tend to lean more towards function than form. Everything in service is second hand whether it be cheap eBay finds, cheap local ewaste finds, ewaste finds at work (which means its $free.50), or given to me through my circle of people as they know my interests and are supportive <3. So, here goes:

4 post rack equipment:

• APC Smart-UPS X 1500 (specifically SMX1500RM2UNC) with two external battery shelves (I am looking for a second main unit if anyone has leads on one for, keyword, cheap!)
• APC AP7752 ATS (this is mostly so I can move the load off the UPS when doing battery maintenance)
• Dell Optiplex 755 for hardware telephony stuff (Dialogic cards for example)
• Three Lenovo X3550 M5's in a Proxmox VE cluster
• Dell Optiplex 980 running Asterisk on bare metal for more hardware telephony stuff (DAHDI compatible T1/E1 cards for example)
• Lenovo ThinkServer RD650 primarily for Proxmox Backup Server
• Rack phones (Trimline analog phone and Nortel M2616 digital phone)
• Ditech Quad T1 echo canceller (useful when doing pseudowire trunks over VPN)
• Cisco ISR 3845 which has a bunch of T1/E1 interfaces, a handfull of POTS interfaces, and a small analog modem bank (8 modems) that drives the dial-up segment of the network.
• Cisco ASA 5515-X hardware running VyOS for firewalling/routing/VPN termination.
• A pair of Arista 7050S-52 switches. They are configured in an MLAG pair and most things in the rack are dual-homed (one link per switch for a 2 link minimum bond/LAG, Proxmox VE cluster has more of course)

Wall mounted stuff:

• Verizon ONT (upper left)
• Dees 8 analog trunk power fail bypass unit (handy when I had actual copper POTS service)
• Bunch of 66 blocks for various voice cross-connects.
• Adit 600 channel bank (the horizontal guy)
• Sensaphone 400 for room monitoring
• Two cabinet (main plus one expansion) Nortel Meridian Option 11C PBX
• APC Smart-UPS 1500 RM hacked into a string of deep cycle batteries
• Brocade ICX6450-48-HPOE switch
• Structured cabling installed throughout the place by yours truly.

TL;DR rate my setup.

It is time for me the replace the aging APC Symettra UPS I use for my homelab. It is at least 15 years old, and has gone through many battery cycles as well as replacement of all three power modules at least once. It is in a separate room from the server room and is hardwired into a dedicate panel, as well as a dedicated bypass.

My lab is typically in the 4-6kw draw, but sometimes ~8kw. I have it wired with 3x 240v/30amp circuits from the UPS to server room, a couple of 20amp 120v circuits to an AV closet and my office, and the feed into the UPS is a 125amp capable feed. Since I have some 120V loads I need a split-phase capable UPS.

It seems like the logical replacement would be the Eaton 9PX 10kVA. It is online double-conversion, and has good expandability. (https://tripplite.eaton.com/eaton-9px-double-conversion-ups-9kw-208v-6u\~9PX10KSP)

The entire feed into the UPS is further backed up by 42kwh of Enphase batteries, 20kw of Solar, a Generator, and 600amps of regular grid service.

Any other recommendations for something that has online double conversion and enough capacity?

Am i eligible to be here?

Its very basic but at least its in a full depth 42U!

Bought the rack on facebook marketplace for $75 so how could i say no?

This is what i have in my rack. The wall mounted stuff is just fiber company equipment.

• ⁠4 bay NAS for home network.

• ⁠2 bay nas for onsite backup of 4 bay nas

• ⁠gateway for firewall/router from fiber provider

• ⁠24 port switch for…well switching

• ⁠6 channel zone audio matrix for in ceiling whole home audio

• ⁠6 zone audio amplifier to power aound to audio matrix

• ⁠ups for well…pure sine wave clean power as well as battery backup

• ⁠iosafe has been depricated as i outgrew the 1tb and now run encrypted backups to the cloud for 3-2-1 backup compliance

• ⁠raspberry pi to run home automation

• ⁠unifi cloudkey so i have full control and dont need cloud based key

• ⁠fan to keep air circulating in rack thats on a kasa switch timer

• ⁠no patch panel just straight into 24 port switch to keep with the lazy theme Hahaha

I think thats everything in the rack.

Pieced this together over the years but it really cleaned up over the last 12 months.

Unifi network stack with an NVR for cameras Couple NUCs (Openhab and NUT) 16 port KVM over IP and a 1ru console 2x TrueNAS 2ru servers (primary and backup/replication) 2ru 4-node Supermicro Chassis housing 4 vSphere nodes Water-cooled GPU box for AI and game streaming 4x APC UPS I got cheap locally and rebuilt the battery packs for

Used for home projects and modelling out things for work when customers ask a question I can't answer

Last picture is 6x iPollo G1 minis in an air cooled networking cabinet and a half width cabinet

Here is a picture of my home data center, I was told I needed to post it here.

I found these 2 racks online full of stuff for roughly 700 EUR plus shipping and dismantling that would be on me. I can recognize some of the hardware from the pictures but can't make heads or tail from the inventory list. Can anyone help and let me know if these are worth paying for? Keep in mind I pay literally zero for electricity. Thank you :)

https://preview.redd.it/4u9apkrg6fte1.jpg?width=429&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2cbb7ba139c12bb636a585eb3145116b653e20c0

https://preview.redd.it/vjegvmrg6fte1.jpg?width=581&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e21d6ce9a5ed043adfb58f310eeda290170aba5

https://preview.redd.it/w81wzkrg6fte1.jpg?width=576&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bdc270fcb79787a7d197771cf1e469b7e159c42f

https://preview.redd.it/o39ugkrg6fte1.jpg?width=2481&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87bee176ce5a7bf7113fab7302f875157bf81a93

https://preview.redd.it/k28b6mrg6fte1.jpg?width=2481&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb84e5c61b46145dcb3ac0f4de43300a16508203

Images below
https://imgur.com/a/KIla4gs