<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Homelab on Backend Engineering Strategy Tools</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/tags/homelab/</link><description>Recent content in Homelab on Backend Engineering Strategy Tools</description><generator>Hugo -- gohugo.io</generator><language>en-us</language><lastBuildDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/tags/homelab/index.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>Dynamic DNS (DDNS)</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/networking/ddns/</link><pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/networking/ddns/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Most home internet connections have a dynamic IP — the ISP can reassign it at any time. Dynamic DNS (DDNS) keeps a DNS hostname pointed at whatever IP you currently have, by running a small client that detects changes and updates the DNS record automatically.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Relevant when using &lt;a class="link" href="https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/networking/tunnels/" &gt;port forwarding or WireGuard&lt;/a&gt; to reach a private network from outside — you need a stable hostname to connect to.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="how-it-works"&gt;How it works
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;You register a hostname with a DDNS provider (e.g. &lt;code&gt;myhome.duckdns.org&lt;/code&gt;)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;An update client runs on your router or a machine on your network&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The client periodically checks your public IP (or watches for changes) and calls the provider&amp;rsquo;s API to update the DNS record&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;DNS TTL is kept short (60–300s) so changes propagate quickly&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="providers"&gt;Providers
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Provider&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Cost&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Domain&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://www.duckdns.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;DuckDNS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Free&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;code&gt;*.duckdns.org&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Simple, no account required beyond OAuth login&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Cloudflare&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Free (if you own a domain)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Your own domain&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Best option if you already use Cloudflare for DNS&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;No-IP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Free (limited)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;code&gt;*.ddns.net&lt;/code&gt; etc.&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Requires manual renewal every 30 days on free tier&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dynu&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Free&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;code&gt;*.dynu.net&lt;/code&gt; etc.&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;More generous free tier than No-IP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Afraid.org&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Free&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Shared subdomains&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Long-running community service&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cloudflare&lt;/strong&gt; is the best option if you own a domain — you get a real subdomain (&lt;code&gt;home.yourdomain.com&lt;/code&gt;), the API is reliable, and the client support is universal.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DuckDNS&lt;/strong&gt; is the easiest if you don&amp;rsquo;t own a domain — no configuration beyond a token.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="opnsense"&gt;OPNsense
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;OPNsense has a built-in DDNS client under &lt;strong&gt;Services → Dynamic DNS&lt;/strong&gt;. Supports Cloudflare, DuckDNS, No-IP, Route53, and others out of the box.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Configuration for Cloudflare:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Service: &lt;code&gt;Cloudflare&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Hostname: &lt;code&gt;home&lt;/code&gt; (the subdomain to update)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Domain: &lt;code&gt;yourdomain.com&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Username: your Cloudflare account email&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Password: Cloudflare API token with &lt;code&gt;Zone:DNS:Edit&lt;/code&gt; permission for the domain&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Check IP: leave default (uses OPNsense&amp;rsquo;s WAN interface)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;OPNsense updates the record whenever the WAN IP changes, detected via interface monitoring.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="linux-update-clients"&gt;Linux update clients
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the router doesn&amp;rsquo;t have a built-in client (or you want updates from a specific host):&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ddclient&lt;/strong&gt; — the standard, supports most providers:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class="highlight"&gt;&lt;pre tabindex="0" style="color:#f8f8f2;background-color:#272822;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;"&gt;&lt;code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;apt install ddclient
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#75715e"&gt;# /etc/ddclient.conf (Cloudflare example)&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;protocol&lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt;cloudflare
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;zone&lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt;yourdomain.com
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;login&lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt;your@email.com
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;password&lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;api-token&amp;gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;ttl&lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#ae81ff"&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;home.yourdomain.com
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;inadyn&lt;/strong&gt; — lighter alternative, similar provider support:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class="highlight"&gt;&lt;pre tabindex="0" style="color:#f8f8f2;background-color:#272822;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;"&gt;&lt;code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;apt install inadyn
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#75715e"&gt;# /etc/inadyn.conf&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;provider cloudflare.com &lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;{&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt; username &lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt; your@email.com
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt; password &lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt; &amp;lt;api-token&amp;gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt; hostname &lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt; home.yourdomain.com
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt; ttl &lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color:#ae81ff"&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt; proxied &lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt; false
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;}&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="limitations"&gt;Limitations
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;DDNS does not help if your ISP uses CGNAT — if your router&amp;rsquo;s WAN IP is a private address (10.x, 100.64.x, 192.168.x), port forwarding and DDNS will not work. See &lt;a class="link" href="https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/networking/tunnels/" &gt;Tunnels&lt;/a&gt; for options that work without a public IP.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;DNS propagation delay means there&amp;rsquo;s a brief window after an IP change where connections will fail. Keep TTL at 60–300s to minimise this.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>IPMI</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/hardware/out-of-band/ipmi/</link><pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/hardware/out-of-band/ipmi/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) is a hardware-level management standard built into most server-class hardware. It runs on a dedicated processor on the motherboard — the &lt;strong&gt;BMC (Baseboard Management Controller)&lt;/strong&gt; — independently of the host OS. The BMC has its own NIC, its own firmware, and its own IP address. You can power a server on or off, read sensor data, and access a serial console even if the host is completely dead.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Current version is IPMI 2.0, which added encryption and stronger authentication over 1.5.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="bmc-implementations-by-vendor"&gt;BMC implementations by vendor
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;IPMI is the standard; each vendor ships their own BMC firmware on top of it:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Vendor&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;BMC / OOB product&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dell&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;iDRAC (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;iDRAC 6/7/8/9; newer versions add Redfish&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP / HPE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;iLO (Integrated Lights-Out)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;iLO 2/3/4/5; iLO 4+ adds Redfish&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Sun / Oracle&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ILOM (Integrated Lights-Out Manager)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Sun Fire series (X4150, X4450, etc.)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Supermicro&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IPMI / BMC&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Web UI + IPMI; newer boards also Redfish&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Lenovo / IBM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;XClarity / IMM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IMM2 on older systems&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP BladeSystem&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Onboard Administrator (OA)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Enclosure-level management (C7000, C3000) — separate from individual blade iLO&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Most also expose a web UI and some form of virtual KVM (keyboard/video/mouse over network) in addition to IPMI over LAN.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="network-setup"&gt;Network setup
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;The BMC NIC is usually shared with a host NIC (shared/failover mode) or dedicated (preferred for management). Configure via BIOS/UEFI or the vendor&amp;rsquo;s setup utility before the OS boots.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Assign a static IP — a BMC on DHCP is workable but inconvenient. Keep BMCs on a dedicated management VLAN if possible; they have historically had security issues and shouldn&amp;rsquo;t be exposed to general traffic.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="ipmitool"&gt;ipmitool
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;The standard CLI for IPMI over LAN. Available in most Linux package repos.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class="highlight"&gt;&lt;pre tabindex="0" style="color:#f8f8f2;background-color:#272822;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;"&gt;&lt;code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#75715e"&gt;# Power control&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;ipmitool -I lanplus -H &amp;lt;bmc-ip&amp;gt; -U &amp;lt;user&amp;gt; -P &amp;lt;pass&amp;gt; power status
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;ipmitool -I lanplus -H &amp;lt;bmc-ip&amp;gt; -U &amp;lt;user&amp;gt; -P &amp;lt;pass&amp;gt; power on
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;ipmitool -I lanplus -H &amp;lt;bmc-ip&amp;gt; -U &amp;lt;user&amp;gt; -P &amp;lt;pass&amp;gt; power off
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;ipmitool -I lanplus -H &amp;lt;bmc-ip&amp;gt; -U &amp;lt;user&amp;gt; -P &amp;lt;pass&amp;gt; power cycle
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;ipmitool -I lanplus -H &amp;lt;bmc-ip&amp;gt; -U &amp;lt;user&amp;gt; -P &amp;lt;pass&amp;gt; power reset
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#75715e"&gt;# Sensor readings (temperatures, voltages, fan speeds)&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;ipmitool -I lanplus -H &amp;lt;bmc-ip&amp;gt; -U &amp;lt;user&amp;gt; -P &amp;lt;pass&amp;gt; sensor list
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#75715e"&gt;# System Event Log&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;ipmitool -I lanplus -H &amp;lt;bmc-ip&amp;gt; -U &amp;lt;user&amp;gt; -P &amp;lt;pass&amp;gt; sel list
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;ipmitool -I lanplus -H &amp;lt;bmc-ip&amp;gt; -U &amp;lt;user&amp;gt; -P &amp;lt;pass&amp;gt; sel clear
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#75715e"&gt;# Serial over LAN (SoL) — console access without KVM&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;ipmitool -I lanplus -H &amp;lt;bmc-ip&amp;gt; -U &amp;lt;user&amp;gt; -P &amp;lt;pass&amp;gt; sol activate
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#75715e"&gt;# Exit SoL: ~.&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Use &lt;code&gt;-I lanplus&lt;/code&gt; (IPMI 2.0 with encryption) rather than &lt;code&gt;-I lan&lt;/code&gt; (IPMI 1.5, unencrypted) where supported.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="serial-over-lan-sol"&gt;Serial over LAN (SoL)
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;SoL forwards the server&amp;rsquo;s serial port over the IPMI connection — giving you a text console to the host without a KVM or physical access. Requires the host OS to have serial console enabled:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class="highlight"&gt;&lt;pre tabindex="0" style="color:#f8f8f2;background-color:#272822;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;"&gt;&lt;code class="language-bash" data-lang="bash"&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#75715e"&gt;# Add to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX in /etc/default/grub&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;console&lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt;tty0 console&lt;span style="color:#f92672"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt;ttyS1,115200n8
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="color:#75715e"&gt;# Enable serial getty&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display:flex;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;systemctl enable serial-getty@ttyS1.service
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Baud rate must match what&amp;rsquo;s configured in the BIOS/BMC (typically 115200).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="security"&gt;Security
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;IPMI has a poor security history:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;IPMI 1.5 sends credentials in cleartext&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;IPMI 2.0 has had multiple authentication bypass vulnerabilities (RAKP, cipher 0)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The BMC itself runs independent firmware that may have unpatched CVEs&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Default credentials (&lt;code&gt;admin&lt;/code&gt;/&lt;code&gt;admin&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;ADMIN&lt;/code&gt;/&lt;code&gt;ADMIN&lt;/code&gt;) are common and widely known&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Minimum steps:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Change default credentials immediately&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Use IPMI 2.0 (&lt;code&gt;lanplus&lt;/code&gt;) only&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Disable cipher suite 0: &lt;code&gt;ipmitool -I lanplus ... lan set 1 cipher_privs XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Isolate BMC network from internet and untrusted hosts — management VLAN with no external exposure&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Keep BMC firmware updated&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="related"&gt;Related
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="redfish/" &gt;Redfish&lt;/a&gt; — the modern REST API replacement for IPMI&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="./" &gt;Out-of-band management overview&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/hardware/hardware-provisioning/" &gt;Hardware provisioning&lt;/a&gt; — PXE boot and bare-metal provisioning&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description></item><item><title>Out-of-Band Management</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/hardware/out-of-band/</link><pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/hardware/out-of-band/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Out-of-band (OOB) management means controlling a server independently of its operating system — via a dedicated processor on the motherboard called the &lt;strong&gt;BMC (Baseboard Management Controller)&lt;/strong&gt;. The BMC has its own NIC, its own firmware, and its own IP. You can power a server on, read temperatures, and access a console whether or not the host OS is running, hung, or even installed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Used for: bare-metal provisioning, remote recovery, hardware monitoring, firmware updates, automated power management.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="standards"&gt;Standards
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;Two main protocols, one old and one new:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;IPMI&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Redfish&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Protocol&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Binary, UDP 623&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HTTPS / JSON (REST)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Era&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1998–&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2015–&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Scripting&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ipmitool&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;curl, Python, any HTTP client&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Security&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Weak (known CVEs)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TLS + token auth&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Availability&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Universal&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Modern hardware (roughly post-2015)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="ipmi/" &gt;IPMI&lt;/a&gt; — the established standard; ipmitool, SoL, sensor readings, security considerations&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="redfish/" &gt;Redfish&lt;/a&gt; — the modern replacement; REST API, curl and Python examples, firmware updates&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="vendor-implementations"&gt;Vendor implementations
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most vendors ship their own BMC firmware on top of these standards:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Vendor&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Product&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Supports&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dell&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;iDRAC&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IPMI + Redfish (iDRAC 8+)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP / HPE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;iLO&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IPMI + Redfish (iLO 4+)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Sun / Oracle&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ILOM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IPMI 2.0, web UI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Supermicro&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BMC&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IPMI + Redfish (X11+)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Lenovo&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;XClarity / IMM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IPMI + Redfish&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP BladeSystem&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Onboard Administrator&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Enclosure-level; individual blades use iLO&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="related"&gt;Related
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/hardware/hardware-provisioning/" &gt;Hardware provisioning&lt;/a&gt; — PXE boot, bare-metal provisioning tools&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description></item><item><title>Blade Inventory</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/blades/</link><pubDate>Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/blades/</guid><description>&lt;h1 id="blade-configurations-asgard--hp-c7000"&gt;Blade Configurations (ASGARD — HP C7000)
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;p&gt;All blades are HP BL460c Gen8. Manufacturer and model omitted from table — see &lt;a class="link" href="../systems" &gt;systems inventory&lt;/a&gt; for roster.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Asset ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Slot&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;CPU&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;RAM&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Disk&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;LOM&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;SAS Ctrl&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Mezz 1 (bays 3/4)&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Mezz 2 (bays 5/6)&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4GB — 1× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× HDD-011 (146GB, 15K)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;14GB — 7× RAM-009/010 mixed&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;32GB — 8× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 2× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 2× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1× HDD-011 + 1× HDD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 2× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;7&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 2× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1× HDD-013 + 1× HDD-014 (900GB each)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;16GB — 2× RAM-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;9&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 2× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-010&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 2× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-011&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;11&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 4× RAM-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;12&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 4× RAM-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-013&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;13&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;32GB — 4× RAM-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-014&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;14&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 2× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-015&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;15&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 2× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-016&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;16&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× (?)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB — 2× RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;separate card, no P/N&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="blade-enclosure-modules-asgard--hp-c7000"&gt;Blade Enclosure Modules (ASGARD — HP C7000)
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Bay Type&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Module&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Part No&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Qty&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Status&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Interconnect&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP 1:10Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;438476-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Installed&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Bays 1-2; Int: ports 1-16 blade downlinks; Ext: 1× CX4 10GbE, 2× XFP 10GbE, 4× RJ45 1GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Interconnect&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Empty&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Bays 3-4: mezzanine slot 1 fabric — Ethernet, FC, SAS, or IB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Interconnect&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Empty&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Bays 5-6: mezzanine slot 2 fabric — Ethernet, FC, SAS, or IB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Interconnect&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Empty&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Bays 7-8: mezzanine slot 2 fabric (double-wide IB uses bays 5+7)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;OA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP Onboard Administrator&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4K09B5 / P/N 407296-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Installed&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Redundant pair; with VGA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;OA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP Onboard Administrator&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4K08A6 / P/N 459526-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Spare&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;No VGA; different revision&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Power Supply&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP BladeSystem c7000 PSU&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Installed&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Full (6/6)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Fan&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP BladeSystem c7000 Fan&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Installed&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Full (10/10)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="system-overviews"&gt;System Overviews
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;h3 id="hp-bladesystem-c7000--quickspecs"&gt;HP BladeSystem C7000 — &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/c04128339" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;QuickSpecs&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;10U · up to 16 half-height blades · shared power/cooling/networking via backplane · Onboard Administrator&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The C7000 is a substantial 10U blade enclosure designed to host up to 16 server blades, along with storage blades and integrated networking/management modules. It provides a consolidated infrastructure for power, cooling, and network connectivity, significantly simplifying cable management and enabling high-density computing environments. These systems were foundational for many enterprise virtualization platforms.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="hp-bl460c-gen8--quickspecs"&gt;HP BL460c Gen8 — &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/c04123239" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;QuickSpecs&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Half-height blade · 2× LGA2011 (E5-2600 v1/v2) · up to 192GB DDR3 ECC Reg · 2× SFF SAS bays · FlexibleLOM + 2 mezzanine slots&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The BL460c Gen8 is a half-height server blade for the c-Class BladeSystem enclosure. Each blade supports two Intel Xeon E5-2600 v1 or v2 series processors and up to 24 DDR3 ECC Registered DIMMs across 24 slots. Local storage is limited to two 2.5&amp;quot; SFF SAS/SATA bays managed by an embedded Smart Array P220i controller. Networking is handled through the FlexibleLOM slot (populated with the HP FlexFabric 554FLB in ASGARD), which connects to the enclosure&amp;rsquo;s interconnect bays via the backplane. Two additional mezzanine slots allow expansion with Fibre Channel, SAS, or InfiniBand HBAs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h3 id="asgard-interconnect-bay-architecture--c7000-interconnect-components--wikipedia"&gt;ASGARD Interconnect Bay Architecture — &lt;a class="link" href="https://andovercg.com/datasheets/hpe-bladesystem-c-class-interconnect-components.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;c7000 Interconnect Components&lt;/a&gt; · &lt;a class="link" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPE_BladeSystem" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;8 interconnect bays (4 pairs) · each pair ties to a specific fabric/mezzanine slot on all blades&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The c7000 rear has 8 single-wide interconnect bays arranged as 4 matched pairs. Both bays in a pair must carry the same module type — they connect to the same blade mezzanine slot and form a redundant fabric. Up to 4 simultaneous fabrics are supported.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Bay pair&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Blade connection&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Currently&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Could hold&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1 / 2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LOM (onboard NIC)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP 1:10Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch ×2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Ethernet switch or pass-thru&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;3 / 4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Mezzanine slot 1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Empty&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Ethernet, Fibre Channel (4/8Gb FC switch), SAS switch, InfiniBand&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;5 / 6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Mezzanine slot 2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Empty&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Same options as 3/4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;7 / 8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Mezzanine slot 2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Empty&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Same; or second half of a double-wide InfiniBand module (bays 5+7)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; to use FC, SAS, or InfiniBand bays the blades themselves also need matching mezzanine cards installed. BL460c Gen8 blades have 2 mezzanine slots available.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Common modules seen in homelab use (none currently owned):&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fibre Channel&lt;/strong&gt;: HP 4Gb/8Gb BLc FC switch (e.g. AJ821A for 8Gb)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SAS&lt;/strong&gt;: HP SAS BLc Switch — gives blades shared SAS fabric access to DAS like MIMIR&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;InfiniBand&lt;/strong&gt;: HP DDR/QDR IB switch — requires matching IB mezzanine card in each blade&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h3 id="hp-bladesystem-onboard-administrator-oa--user-guide"&gt;HP BladeSystem Onboard Administrator (OA) — &lt;a class="link" href="https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=a00112728en_us&amp;amp;docLocale=en_US" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;User Guide&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;P/N 407296-001 (installed ×2, with VGA) · P/N 459526-001 (spare ×1, no VGA) · Fits OA bays (separate from interconnect bays)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The OA is the management brain of the c7000 enclosure. It provides a web GUI, SSH/CLI, and SNMP interface for managing all blades, power supplies, fans, and interconnect modules. Two OA modules run as a redundant active/standby pair — if the primary fails, the standby takes over without interruption.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;External connectors (407296-001 / with VGA):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;1× RJ-45 management Ethernet (dedicated OOB network)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;1× USB (for local keyboard)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;1× DB-9 serial console&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;1× VGA (local video output for console access)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;459526-001 (spare, no VGA):&lt;/strong&gt; earlier/different revision — same management functions, management Ethernet + USB + serial, but no VGA port for local console.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h3 id="hp-110gb-ethernet-bl-c-switch--user-guide--quickspecs"&gt;HP 1:10Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch — &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.manualslib.com/manual/419870/Hp-438031-B21-1-10gb-Ethernet-Bl-C-Switch.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;User Guide&lt;/a&gt; · &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/c04282599" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;QuickSpecs&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;P/N 438476-001 (spare/FRU) / 438031-B21 (orderable) · c-Class BladeSystem interconnect module · 16 blade downlinks + 7 uplinks&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Managed Gigabit/10GbE blade switch in a single interconnect bay. Each module connects to all 16 blade bays via the enclosure backplane. ASGARD has two installed (in adjacent bays 1 and 2), linked via the port 17 X-Connect.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Port map:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Port(s)&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Connector&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Speed&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Role&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1–16&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Backplane&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Blade downlinks (1 per blade bay)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;17&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Internal&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;X-Connect crosslink to adjacent bay switch&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;19&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFF-8470&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CX4 copper uplink (Ethernet — not SAS despite same connector)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;20–21&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;XFP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Fiber/DAC uplinks (XFP cages; older/larger than SFP+)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;22–25&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RJ-45&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Copper uplinks&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</description></item><item><title>Cables &amp; Transceivers Inventory</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/cables/</link><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/cables/</guid><description>&lt;h1 id="sas-cables"&gt;SAS Cables
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Type&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Connectors&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Length&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Qty&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CBL-SAS-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Internal Mini-SAS&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFF-8087 → SFF-8087&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CBL-SAS-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Int → Ext Mini-SAS&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFF-8087 → SFF-8088&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Needed for internal cards (CTRL-002/003) to reach DAS&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CBL-SAS-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Ext SAS&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFF-8470 → SFF-8088&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-006 → MIMIR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="ethernet-cables"&gt;Ethernet Cables
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Type&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Speed&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Length&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Qty&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CBL-ETH-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Cat5e/Cat6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="sfp--sfp-transceivers"&gt;SFP / SFP+ Transceivers
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Type&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Speed&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Wavelength&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Reach&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Qty&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Where used&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFP-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BIFROST-01/02 (28 cages each); MODI (4 cages)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFP-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;XFP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ASGARD switch ports 20-21 (2× XFP per module × 2)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="adapters"&gt;Adapters
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Description&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;From&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;To&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Qty&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ADP-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFF-8470 → SFF-8088&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFF-8470&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFF-8088&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Passive; alternative to CBL-SAS-003 if cabling via adapter&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</description></item><item><title>Controller Inventory</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/controller/</link><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/controller/</guid><description>&lt;h1 id="controller-catalog"&gt;Controller Catalog
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Manufacturer&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Model&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Type&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;PCIe Slot&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Connectors&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Qty&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;IT Mode&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM / LSI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ServeRAID MR10i&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAID&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe x8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× SFF-8087 (int.)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;not possible&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Cache module FRU 25R8079 attached; SAS1078 chip&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LSI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;9211-8i&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAID&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe 2.0 x8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× SFF-8087 (int.)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;eligible&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LSI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;9211-8i&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HBA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe 2.0 x8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× SFF-8087 (int.)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;✓ flashed&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IT mode (passthrough)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dell&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PERC H710&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAID&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe 2.0 x8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× SFF-8087 (int.)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;? verify&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Hardware RAID, may already be flashed for HBA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Smart Array P410&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAID&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe 2.0 x8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× SFF-8087 (int.)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;not possible&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM / LSI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ServeRAID-8e (FRU 39R8852)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HBA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe 1.0 x8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× SFF-8470 (ext.)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;n/a&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;External SAS; needs SFF-8470→SFF-8088 cable for MD1200&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM / LSI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SAS3082E-R (FRU 44E8690)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HBA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe x8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× SFF-8087 (int.)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;n/a&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Internal SAS; 3Gb/s&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LSI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MegaRAID SAS 8708EM2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAID&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe x8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× SFF-8087 (int.)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;not possible&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;iBBU06 attached&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM / LSI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ServeRAID M1015 (FRU 46C8937)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAID&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe 2.0 x8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× SFF-8087 (int.)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;? verify&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LSI 9220-8i OEM; IT-flashable (same path as 9211-8i), may already be flashed for HBA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="controller-placement"&gt;Controller Placement
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Asset ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Hostname&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Slot / Location&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Role&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;FREJA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Enclosure&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAID controller&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TYR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Enclosure&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAID controller&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TOR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Enclosure&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HBA passthrough&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MD1200&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;(no controller)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Enclosure&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Disk shelf controller&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Enclosure&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAID controller&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LOKE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CTRL-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Enclosure&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAID controller&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="controller-overviews"&gt;Controller Overviews
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here are some brief overviews of selected storage controllers, highlighting their typical uses and characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="lsi-9211-8i-eg-ctrl-002-ctrl-003--it-mode-flashing-guide"&gt;LSI 9211-8i (e.g., CTRL-002, CTRL-003) — &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.stewright.me/tutorial-flash-lsi-9211-8i-with-it-firmware-for-truenas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;IT mode flashing guide&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;8-port SAS/SATA · 6Gb/s per port · PCIe 2.0 x8 · CTRL-003 flashed to IT (passthrough) mode&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The LSI SAS 9211-8i is a highly popular host bus adapter (HBA) in homelab and enthusiast communities. While capable of functioning as a basic RAID controller, it is most frequently flashed to &amp;ldquo;IT (Initiator Target) mode&amp;rdquo; to operate purely as an HBA. This passthrough mode is essential for software-defined storage solutions like ZFS (TrueNAS/OpenZFS) or unRAID, enabling the operating system to have direct control over individual drives.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="dell-perc-h710-eg-ctrl-004--spec-sheet"&gt;Dell PERC H710 (e.g., CTRL-004) — &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/shared-content~data-sheets/documents~dell-perc-h710-spec-sheet.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;spec sheet&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;8-port SAS/SATA · 6Gb/s · PCIe 2.0 · 512MB battery-backed cache · RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Dell PERC H710 is an enterprise-grade RAID controller commonly found in Dell PowerEdge servers. It supports a comprehensive range of RAID levels (0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60), providing robust data protection and optimized performance for server storage. These controllers typically incorporate battery-backed cache (BBWC) or flash-backed cache (FBWC) to enhance write performance and ensure data integrity during unexpected power events.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="hp-smart-array-p410-eg-ctrl-005"&gt;HP Smart Array P410 (e.g., CTRL-005)
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;8-port SAS · 3Gb/s · PCIe · RAID 0/1/5/10&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The HP Smart Array P410 is a legacy RAID controller designed for older generations of HPE ProLiant servers. It offered hardware RAID capabilities, supporting RAID levels 0, 1, 5, and 10. Although still functional, its performance and feature set are considered dated compared to contemporary controllers, making it suitable for less intensive storage tasks or environments requiring compatibility with older hardware.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="ibm-serveraid-8e--lsi-sas3444e-ctrl-006-2"&gt;IBM ServeRAID-8e / LSI SAS3444E (CTRL-006 ×2)
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;4-port external SAS · 3Gb/s · PCIe 1.0 x8 · 2× SFF-8470 (SAS-A, SAS-B)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The ServeRAID-8e is an IBM OEM of the LSI SAS3444E, purpose-built for connecting external SAS enclosures and DAS units. Unlike the internal-only cards in this inventory, its SFF-8470 ports face the rear bracket, making it the right card to pull when you need to link a host to the MD1200. &lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt; the MD1200 uses SFF-8088 ports, so a SFF-8470 → SFF-8088 cable is required. Pull one of these when adding a host that needs direct DAS connectivity and lacks a native external SAS port.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="ibmlsi-sas3082e-r-ctrl-007"&gt;IBM/LSI SAS3082E-R (CTRL-007)
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;8-port SAS/SATA · 3Gb/s · PCIe x8 · 2× SFF-8087 (int.)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The SAS3082E-R is an IBM OEM internal SAS HBA providing eight SAS/SATA ports via two SFF-8087 connectors. Like the 9211-8i it operates as a passthrough HBA, making it suitable for ZFS/TrueNAS builds where the OS needs direct drive access. Pull this card when you need to expand internal port count in a host and the 9211-8i units are already allocated — the 3Gb/s bandwidth is the limiting factor versus the 9211-8i&amp;rsquo;s 6Gb/s, so prefer the 9211-8i for performance-sensitive pools.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="lsi-megaraid-sas-8708em2-ctrl-008--ibbu06"&gt;LSI MegaRAID SAS 8708EM2 (CTRL-008) + iBBU06
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;8-port SAS/SATA · 3Gb/s · PCIe x8 · 2× SFF-8087 (int.) · RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60 · battery-backed cache&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The MegaRAID SAS 8708EM2 is a hardware RAID controller with an iBBU06 battery backup unit attached, which protects the write cache during power loss. Pull this card when you need hardware RAID with a battery-backed cache — typically for workloads like virtual machine storage or databases where write performance and data integrity under power failure both matter. For ZFS or software-defined storage, prefer the 9211-8i or SAS3082E-R in HBA/passthrough mode instead, as hardware RAID sits between ZFS and the drives and undermines its integrity guarantees.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>CPU Inventory</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/cpu/</link><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/cpu/</guid><description>&lt;h1 id="cpu-catalog"&gt;CPU Catalog
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Manufacturer&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Model&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Cores&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Threads&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Base Clock&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Socket&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;TDP&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Qty&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CPU-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Intel&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Xeon E5430&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.66GHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LGA771&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;80W&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Harpertown 45nm; no HT&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CPU-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Intel&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Xeon E5520&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.26GHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LGA1366&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;80W&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Nehalem-EP; HT enabled; fits M3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CPU-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Intel&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Xeon E5504&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.00GHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LGA1366&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;80W&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Nehalem-EP; no HT; fits M3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CPU-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Intel&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Core 2 Quad Q6600&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.40GHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LGA775&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;95W&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Kentsfield; desktop; no server fit&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CPU-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Intel&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Xeon E5410&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.33GHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LGA771&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;80W&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Harpertown 45nm; no HT; fits M1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="cpu-placement"&gt;CPU Placement
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Asset ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Hostname&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Quantity&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;FREJA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;???&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Single socket; LGA771 (M1)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TYR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;???&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dual socket; LGA771 (M1)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TOR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;???&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dual socket; LGA771 (M1)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;???&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dual socket; LGA1366 (M3)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LOKE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;???&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dual socket; LGA1366 (M3)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HEIMDAL&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;CPU-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dual socket; LGA771&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disk Inventory</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/disk/</link><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/disk/</guid><description>&lt;h1 id="storage-media"&gt;Storage Media
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Manufacturer&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Model&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Capacity&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;RPM&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Interface&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Quantity&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM / Fujitsu&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MBB2073RC&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;73.4GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10K RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SAS 3Gbps&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.5&amp;quot; SFF; enterprise&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM / Seagate&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ST9146802SS (FRU 43X0825)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;146.8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10K RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SAS 6Gbps&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;22&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.5&amp;quot; SFF hot-swap; IBM P/N 42D0248&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Seagate&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Constellation ES.3 ST1000NM0043&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1TB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;7200 RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SAS 6Gbps&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;20&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Kingston&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SSDNow V300 SV300S37A/120G&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;120GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SATA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;7&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Consumer SSD; used as boot drives&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Samsung&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;970 EVO&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;500GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;In PCIe x16 riser (FRU 43V7066) in ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Western Digital&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;WD Blue WD10EZEX&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1TB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;7200 RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SATA 64MB cache&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Consumer-grade; mfg. 2015-11&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Seagate&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ST500LM000&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;500GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;5400 RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SATA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SSHD; 8GB NAND cache; laptop-grade&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Hitachi&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HTS542525K9SA00&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;250GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;5400 RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SATA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Laptop-grade&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Samsung&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HD300LD&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;300GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;7200 RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PATA (IDE)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Desktop; 8MB cache; legacy interface&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-010&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Seagate&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Barracuda 7200.7 ST380013AS&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;80GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;7200 RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SATA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Desktop; legacy&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-011&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP / Seagate&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;EH0146FARWD (518216-002 / GPN 652599-002)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;146GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;15K RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SAS 6Gbps&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.5&amp;quot; SFF; enterprise; BL460c Gen8 pulls&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;EG0300FBVFL (641552-001 / GPN 652566-001)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;300GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10K RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SAS 6Gbps&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;15&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.5&amp;quot; SFF; enterprise; BL460c Gen8 pulls&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-013&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HGST&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Ultrastar C10K900 HUC109090CSS600 (EMC 118033034-02)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;900GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10K RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SAS 6Gbps&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.5&amp;quot; SFF; enterprise&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-014&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Toshiba&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;AL13SEB900 (HDEBC00NAA51)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;900GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10K RPM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SAS 6Gbps&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2.5&amp;quot; SFF; enterprise&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="storage-assignments"&gt;Storage Assignments
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;System ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Hostname&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Quantity&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Total Installed Storage&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;FREJA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;single drive&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TYR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;raid 10&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TOR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HBA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MD1200&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;15&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;15 TB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SAS HBA not installed; shelf unconnected&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;480GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;500GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;M.2 via riser&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HEIMDAL&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;219GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-01&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-011&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;292GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-03&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;600GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-05&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-011&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;146GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;mixed config&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-05&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;300GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;mixed config&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-06&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;600GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-07&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-013&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;900GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;mixed config&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-07&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-014&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;900GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;mixed config&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-08&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;600GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-010&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-10&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;600GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-011&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-11&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;600GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-12&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;600GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-015&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-15&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HDD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;600GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="storage-media-overviews"&gt;Storage Media Overviews
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here are some brief overviews of the storage media types in the inventory, highlighting their characteristics and typical applications.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="enterprise-sas-hdds-eg-hdd-001-hdd-002"&gt;Enterprise SAS HDDs (e.g., HDD-001, HDD-002)
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;73GB / 146GB · 7200 RPM · SAS 3Gbps · make/model unidentified&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These hard disk drives are engineered for high reliability and continuous operation within server environments. SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) interfaces provide superior performance, enhanced reliability, and enterprise-specific features compared to consumer-grade SATA drives. SAS HDDs of this generation (e.g., 73GB or 146GB at 7200 RPM with SAS 3Gbps) were common in servers from the late 2000s. Despite their modest capacities by today&amp;rsquo;s standards, their robust construction and enterprise-grade design make them suitable for homelab applications where durability is prioritized, such as for boot drives or less critical data storage.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="seagate-constellation-es3-st1000nm0043-eg-hdd-003--datasheet"&gt;Seagate Constellation ES.3 ST1000NM0043 (e.g., HDD-003) — &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.seagate.com/www-content/product-content/constellation-fam/constellation-es/constellation-es-3/en-us/docs/constellation-es-3-data-sheet-ds1769-1-1210us.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;datasheet&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1TB · 7200 RPM · SAS 6Gbps · 128MB cache · 1.4M hr MTBF · AES-256 SED&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Seagate Constellation ES.3 series represents enterprise-class hard drives designed for high-capacity, 24/7 operation in data centers. The ST1000NM0043 is a 1TB model, featuring a 7200 RPM spindle speed and a SAS 6Gbps interface. These drives offer an excellent balance of capacity, performance, and enterprise-level reliability, making them ideal for bulk storage in homelab NAS or storage arrays where data integrity and longevity are critical.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="enterprise-ssd-eg-hdd-004"&gt;Enterprise SSD (e.g., HDD-004)
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;120GB · SATA/SAS · make/model unidentified&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Enterprise Solid State Drives (SSDs) are built to withstand demanding server workloads, providing significantly higher endurance, consistent performance, and often integrated power loss protection features that surpass those of consumer SSDs. A 120GB enterprise SSD, whether with a SATA or SAS interface, would typically be deployed as an operating system boot drive, for caching solutions, or for hosting small, performance-sensitive applications within a server environment. Their speed and inherent reliability, even with smaller capacities, can considerably enhance overall system responsiveness.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>GPU Inventory</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/gpu/</link><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/gpu/</guid><description>&lt;h1 id="gpu-catalog"&gt;GPU Catalog
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Manufacturer&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Model&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Quantity&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;VRAM&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Interface&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Compute Cap&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;GPU-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NVIDIA/Dell&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Quadro 600&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1 GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;sm_21&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;GPU-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;EVGA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;GTX 770&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2 GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PCIe&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;sm_30&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Requires 6+8 pin power&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="gpu-placement"&gt;GPU Placement
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Asset ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Hostname&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Slot / Location&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Role&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;h1 id="gpu-overviews"&gt;GPU Overviews
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here are some brief overviews of the GPUs in the inventory, highlighting their typical uses and characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="nvidia-quadro-600-eg-gpu-001"&gt;NVIDIA Quadro 600 (e.g., GPU-001)
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;96 CUDA cores · 1GB GDDR3 · low-profile · 40W TDP&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The NVIDIA Quadro 600 is an entry-level professional graphics card from the Fermi generation (circa 2010-2011). Designed primarily for CAD, DCC (Digital Content Creation), and basic scientific visualization, it is not optimized for gaming workloads. Equipped with 1GB of VRAM and typically presented in a low-profile form factor, these cards are well-suited for providing display output in servers that lack integrated graphics, or for light compute tasks that can utilize NVIDIA&amp;rsquo;s CUDA architecture, though performance will be limited by their vintage.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="evga-gtx-770-eg-gpu-002--nvidia-specs"&gt;EVGA GTX 770 (e.g., GPU-002) — &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/geforce-gtx-770/specifications/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;NVIDIA specs&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1536 CUDA cores · 2GB GDDR5 256-bit · 3.2 TFLOPS · 230W TDP · Compute Capability sm_30&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770, frequently available in variants such as the EVGA GTX 770, was a high-end gaming graphics card released in 2013, based on the Kepler architecture. Featuring 2GB (or 4GB) of GDDR5 VRAM, it delivered strong performance for its release era. In a homelab setting, a GTX 770 can be repurposed for tasks like video transcoding, entry-level machine learning experiments, or providing robust graphical output for a dedicated workstation attached to a server. Its requirement for external power connectors (typically 6+8 pin) signifies its higher power consumption profile.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CUDA compatibility&lt;/strong&gt;: sm_30 (Kepler) is below the minimum for most current ML tooling — PyTorch 2.x requires sm_37, vLLM requires sm_70, and pre-built Ollama packages target sm_50+. GPU-accelerated inference with off-the-shelf tools is unlikely without custom builds. CPU fallback is the practical path.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Network Inventory</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/network/</link><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/network/</guid><description>&lt;h1 id="nic-catalog"&gt;NIC Catalog
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Manufacturer&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Model / FRU&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Ports&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Speed&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Interface&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Onboard (x3550 M3 mobo)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RJ45&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Integrated; present on all x3550 M3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dual-port GbE Daughter Card (FRU 43V6927)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RJ45&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Add-in daughter card slot&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Sun / Intel&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Onboard quad GbE (Sun Fire X4150)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RJ45&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Integrated; all 4 ports on rear&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP / Emulex&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;FlexFabric 554FLB (647584-001)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFP+ FLB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;FlexibleLOM slot; FCoE + Flex-10 capable; BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="nic-placement"&gt;NIC Placement
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Asset ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Hostname&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Total Data Ports&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Mgmt Port&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1× IMM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LOKE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-001 + NIC-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4× GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1× IMM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Daughter card FRU 43V6927&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HEIMDAL&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;NIC-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4× GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1× mgmt&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;OPNsense firewall&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="network-addresses"&gt;Network Addresses
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Asset ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Hostname&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Interface&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Role&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;IP Address&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;MAC Address&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;eth0&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;data&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;eth1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;data&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;mgmt&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IMM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LOKE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;eth0&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;data&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LOKE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;eth1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;data&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LOKE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;eth2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;data&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LOKE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;eth3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;data&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LOKE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;mgmt&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IMM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="switch-ports"&gt;Switch Ports
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Asset ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Hostname&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Port Type&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Count&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;SFP Cages&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Uplink&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BIFROST-01&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFP Fiber&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;28&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;28&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;All-SFP switch&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-013&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BIFROST-02&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SFP Fiber&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;28&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;28&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;All-SFP switch&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-014&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MODI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RJ45 + SFP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;24+4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;24× GbE PoE + 4× SFP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-015&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MAGNI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RJ45&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;24&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;24× GbE managed&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-016&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;VALI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RJ45&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;24&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Fanless; 24× GbE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</description></item><item><title>RAM Inventory</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/ram/</link><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/ram/</guid><description>&lt;h1 id="memory-types"&gt;Memory Types
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Manufacturer&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;FRU / Model&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Capacity&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Type&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Speed&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Qty&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;25R8079&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;DDR2 ECC FBDIMM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;667MHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;16&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Unknown&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;DDR2 ECC FBDIMM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;667MHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Unknown&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Unknown&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Micron&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MT36KSF1G72PZ-1G4M1FI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;DDR3 ECC Reg&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1333MHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2Rx4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Hynix&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HMT31GR7CFR4C-PB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;DDR3 ECC Reg&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1600MHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2Rx4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Micron&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MT18KSF1G72PDZ-1G6E1HG&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;DDR3 ECC Reg&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1600MHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;16&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2Rx8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Hynix&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HMT151R7BFR4C-H9 / HP 500203-061&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;DDR3 ECC Reg&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1333MHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;27&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1Rx4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;500202-061 / 501533-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;DDR3 ECC Reg&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1333MHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;15&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2Rx8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-010&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;43X5046&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;DDR3 ECC Reg&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1333MHz&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;7&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1Rx4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="memory-allocation"&gt;Memory Allocation
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Asset ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Hostname&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Component ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Quantity&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Total Installed RAM&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;FREJA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;24GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TYR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;64GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TOR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;64GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;48GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;48GB (runs at 1333MHz; mixed speed)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-01&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-03&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;32GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-04&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-05&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-06&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-07&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-08&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;16GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-09&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-010&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-10&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-011&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-11&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-12&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-013&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-13&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;32GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-014&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-14&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-015&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-15&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-016&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-16&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8GB&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-02&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RAM-009 + RAM-010&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;7&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;14GB (mixed; odd count)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</description></item><item><title>System Inventory</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/systems/</link><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/inventory/systems/</guid><description>&lt;h1 id="systems"&gt;Systems
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Asset ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Hostname&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Manufacturer&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Model&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Form Factor&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Notes&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;FREJA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;System x3550 M1 Type 7978&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Rack server (S/N: KDHPPNN); 1/2 CPU slots populated&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TYR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;System x3650 M1 Type 7979&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Rack server&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;TOR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;System x3650 M1 Type 7979&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Rack server&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MIMIR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dell&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;PowerVault MD1200&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Disk shelf&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ODEN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;System x3550 M3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Mixed DDR3 1333+1600 ECC Reg; PCIe x16 riser (FRU 43V7066)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;LOKE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;IBM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;System x3550 M3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;M3 board in M2 chassis; no RAM; CPU unknown&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ASGARD&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BladeSystem C7000&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Blade enclosure (Hosts 1-16)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BALDER&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ProLiant DL320 G5p&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Dual 250GB SATA&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HEIMDAL&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Sun&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Sun Fire X4150&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2× Xeon E5430 (8c/8t); 4× onboard GbE; OPNsense&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-010&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;VIDAR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ProCurve 1800-24G&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Fanless/Silent Switch (J9028A)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-011&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;GUNGNIR&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ZyXEL&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ZyWALL 110&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Security Gateway / Firewall&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BIFROST-01&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Edge-Core&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ECS4510-28F&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;28-Port SFP Fiber Switch&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-013&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BIFROST-02&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Edge-Core&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ECS4510-28F&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;28-Port SFP Fiber Switch&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-014&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MODI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;V1910-24G-PoE&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;365W PoE Switch (JE007A)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-015&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MAGNI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Cisco&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Catalyst 2960G&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;24-Port Managed Gig Switch&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-016&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;VALI&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;ProCurve 1800-24G&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Fanless/Silent Switch (J9028A)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-017&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;RATATOSK&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Avocent&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;KVM Switch&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Rackmount KVM&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-018&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SURTR-01&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;APC&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Back-UPS CS 650&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Desktop&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;UPS Unit 1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-019&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SURTR-02&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;APC&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Back-UPS CS 650&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Desktop&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;UPS Unit 2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-020&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;MUNINN&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Cisco&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Catalyst 2960 WS-C2960-24TC-L&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;24× 10/100 + 4× uplink&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-021&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BIFROST&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Raspberry Pi&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Raspberry Pi 1 Model B&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SBC&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Jump node; Raspbian; port-forward 22222→22; rack-mounted&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-022&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Raspberry Pi&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Raspberry Pi 1 Model B&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SBC&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Spare&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SYS-023&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;—&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Raspberry Pi&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Raspberry Pi 1 Model B&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;SBC&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Spare&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="blade-nodes-inside-asgard"&gt;Blade Nodes (Inside ASGARD)
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Asset ID&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Hostname&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Manufacturer&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Model&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Slot&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-001&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-01&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-002&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-02&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-003&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-03&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-004&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-04&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-005&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-05&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-006&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-06&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-007&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-07&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;7&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-008&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-08&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-009&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-09&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;9&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-010&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-10&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-011&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-11&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;11&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-012&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-12&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;12&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-013&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-13&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;13&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-014&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-14&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;14&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-015&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-15&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;15&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLD-016&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BLADE-16&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;HP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;BL460c Gen8&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;16&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h1 id="system-overviews"&gt;System Overviews
&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here are some brief overviews of selected systems to provide context and highlight their typical roles or notable features.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="ibm-system-x3550-type-7978--x3650-type-7979-series--x3550-overview--x3650-overview"&gt;IBM System x3550 Type 7978 / x3650 Type 7979 Series — &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/overview-ibm-system-x3550-type-7978" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;x3550 overview&lt;/a&gt; · &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/overview-ibm-system-x3650-type-1914-7979" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;x3650 overview&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1U (x3550) / 2U (x3650) · dual Xeon (Harpertown/Nehalem) · DDR2 ECC FBDIMM up to 32GB · SAS/SATA&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These were enterprise-grade rack servers, popular in the late 2000s, powered by Intel Xeon processors (e.g., Nehalem, Westmere generations). The x3550 is a compact 1U server, ideal for general-purpose computing, while the x3650 is a 2U model offering greater expansion capabilities for storage or PCIe cards. They served as reliable workhorses for various data center applications, including virtualization and database hosting.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="hp-bladesystem-c7000--quickspecs--bl460c-gen8-quickspecs"&gt;HP BladeSystem C7000 — &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/c04128339" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;QuickSpecs&lt;/a&gt; · &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/c04123239" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;BL460c Gen8 QuickSpecs&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;10U · up to 16 half-height blades · shared power/cooling/networking via backplane · Onboard Administrator&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The C7000 is a substantial 10U blade enclosure designed to host up to 16 server blades, along with storage blades and integrated networking/management modules. It provides a consolidated infrastructure for power, cooling, and network connectivity, significantly simplifying cable management and enabling high-density computing environments. These systems were foundational for many enterprise virtualization platforms.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The BL460c Gen8 blades have onboard LOM providing 1GbE connectivity. No mezzanine cards are currently installed — 10GbE requires FlexibleLOM adapters.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="sun-fire-x4150"&gt;Sun Fire X4150
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;1U · dual Xeon (Harpertown) · 16 DIMM slots · 4 network interface&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A 1U rackmount server from Sun Microsystems, the Sun Fire X4150 typically featured Intel Xeon processors. Sun&amp;rsquo;s x86 server line was recognized for its build quality and integration, often running Solaris or Linux. I use it as a dedicated firewall / network appliance (OpenSense), utilizing its robust hardware for network security and routing tasks.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="dell-powervault-md1200--specs"&gt;Dell PowerVault MD1200 — &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000124452/dell-powervault-md1200-md1220-direct-attached-storage" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;specs&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2U DAS · 12× LFF (3.5&amp;quot;) hot-swap SAS/SATA bays · 6Gb/s SAS · up to 24TB raw&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The PowerVault MD1200 is a direct-attached storage (DAS) enclosure, designed to expand the storage capacity of compatible servers (such as Dell PowerEdge servers or others equipped with suitable SAS HBAs). This 2U unit can accommodate up to 12 LFF (3.5-inch) SAS/SATA drives, providing an expandable and cost-effective solution for adding raw storage to a homelab environment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="zyxel-zywall-110"&gt;ZyXEL ZyWALL 110
&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;2× GbE WAN · 4× GbE LAN · VPN gateway · IPS/IDS&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The ZyWALL 110 is a professional-grade security gateway and VPN firewall. It delivers comprehensive network security features, including intrusion prevention, content filtering, and strong VPN capabilities. This appliance is well-suited for establishing a secure perimeter for a homelab network or segmenting different network environments for enhanced control and protection. However since I don&amp;rsquo;t have any license for it is currently not used.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>3D Printed Rack Parts</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/rack-3d-prints/</link><pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/rack-3d-prints/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Filling gaps in the rack build with printed parts — ears, blanks, and a modular tray system. Mix of sourced models from Printables and geometry scripted in Blender Python.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="sourced-models"&gt;Sourced Models
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Model&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;What it is&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Status&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://www.printables.com/model/1335735-1u-universal-rack-ears" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;1U Universal Rack Ears&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Rack ears for gear that ships without them&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Printed&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://www.printables.com/model/1374690-standard-rack-1u-2u-3u-4u-spacer-dxf-template" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;1U–4U Spacer / Blank Panel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Blank panels to fill empty rack units&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Printed&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://makerworld.com/en/models/1040867-rackmod-1u-slide-a-modular-server-rack-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;RackMod 1U Slide-A&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Modular 1U tray system with slide-in modules&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Testing&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://www.printables.com/model/1184008-19-1u-server-rack-cover-plates-update-2u-3u" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;19&amp;quot; 1U/2U/3U Cover Plates&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Solid cover/blanking plates for 19&amp;quot; rack&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Queued&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://www.printables.com/model/1350350-1u-rack-cable-ears" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;1U Rack Cable Ears&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Rack ears with integrated cable management&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Queued&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Raspberry Pi 1U rack mount&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;1U mount for RPi in 19&amp;quot; rack (BIFROST)&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Printed&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://www.printables.com/model/1300803-zip-tie-clip-45-mm-t-slot-extrusion" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;Zip Tie Clip 45mm T-Slot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Cable management clips for 45mm extrusion&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Queued&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;h2 id="scripted-parts"&gt;Scripted Parts
&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;Geometry generated by a Python script running inside Blender rather than modeled by hand. The immediate need was a support brace for the rack — a 220×150×8mm plate with 40 through-holes in a specific alternating-spacing pattern, the B.E.S.T label engraved into the top face, exported directly to STL.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Writing it in Python means the layout lives in a config block at the top of the file. Changing hole count, plate dimensions, or row spacing is a constant, not a modeling operation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/rack-support-brace/" &gt;Rack Support Brace&lt;/a&gt; — 220×150mm plate, 10×4 hole grid, engraved text, automated renders | &lt;a class="link" href="https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/code/procedural-mesh/rack_support_brace/rack_support_brace.py" &gt;script&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;More on the approach: &lt;a class="link" href="https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/public-notes/frameworks-tools/blender-python/" &gt;Blender Python for 3D printing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Print setup&lt;/strong&gt;: &lt;a class="link" href="https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/garage/3d-printing/" &gt;3D Printing — Garage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Kubernetes Across the Stack</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/projects/kubernetes-stack/</link><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/projects/kubernetes-stack/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;A documented comparison of running Kubernetes across every major hosting model — cloud managed, self-managed on cloud, private cloud, and bare metal at home. The goal is a honest, practical reference for each environment: what it costs you in time and money, where the rough edges are, and how the networking story differs between them.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The thread running through all of it is &lt;a class="link" href="https://www.talos.dev/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;Talos Linux&lt;/a&gt; — an immutable, API-driven OS built specifically for Kubernetes. No SSH, no shell, no config drift. The same OS everywhere means the operational model stays consistent regardless of what is running underneath.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table&gt;
 &lt;thead&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Environment&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;Approach&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;th&gt;&lt;/th&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/thead&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;OpenStack — &lt;a class="link" href="https://cleura.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;Cleura&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Talos &amp;amp; Terraform&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;draft exists&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;OpenStack — &lt;a class="link" href="https://cleura.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;Cleura&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Talos, with Omni&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;maybe ?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;OpenStack — &lt;a class="link" href="https://elastx.se/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;ElastX&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Talos &amp;amp; Terraform&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;draft exists&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;OpenStack — &lt;a class="link" href="https://elastx.se/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;ElastX&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Talos, with Omni&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;maybe ?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Homelab — bare metal&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Talos + Pixieboot + Omni&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;draft exists&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Homelab — bare metal&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Talos + Pixieboot without Omni&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;maybe ?&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Homelab — OpenStack&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;OpenStack on bare metal, Talos running on top&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;em&gt;(stretch)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Homelab — OpenStack&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Talos on bare metal, OpenStack inside cluster&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;em&gt;(stretch)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;AWS&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Talos on EC2&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;em&gt;(stretch)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Azure&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Talos on VMs&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;em&gt;(stretch)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;GCP&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;Talos on Compute Engine&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;td&gt;&lt;em&gt;(stretch)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stretch goals&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;AWS, Azure, GCP — same Talos approach, different underlying infrastructure. Interesting eventually, but not the priority.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Omni&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="link" href="https://omni.siderolabs.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
 &gt;Omni&lt;/a&gt; is Sidero&amp;rsquo;s managed control plane for Talos clusters — worth documenting both with and without it. Without Omni gives you the full picture of what Talos management looks like manually; with Omni shows what the managed layer buys you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Homelab provisioning&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nodes provisioned via Pixieboot — no USB sticks, no manual installations. A node powers on, boots from the network, and registers. The goal is a fully reproducible cluster from scratch with minimal human steps.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Scope&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Cluster provisioning and bootstrap for each environment&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Networking — CNI choices, ingress, cross-cluster connectivity&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Storage — what you get managed vs what you have to bring yourself&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Operational differences — upgrades, node management, observability&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Cost and trade-off summary across environments&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Making it usable&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Getting a cluster running is the easy part. Making it usable is where environments diverge. Each environment needs an answer for ingress, DNS, and storage — and the answer varies significantly depending on what the underlying platform provides.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On managed cloud you can lean on load balancers and block storage from the provider. On OpenStack you have those options if the provider exposes them. On bare metal at home you are on your own — MetalLB or similar for load balancer IPs, a local DNS solution, and either local storage or something like Rook/Ceph. Same Kubernetes, very different operational story underneath.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Notes exist in various states — pulling them together, testing, and documenting properly is the work.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Minecraft Server</title><link>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/projects/minecraft/</link><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/projects/minecraft/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Building and running a Minecraft server with the kids — hosted in the &lt;a class="link" href="https://backend-engineering-strategy-tools.github.io/site/homelab/" &gt;homelab&lt;/a&gt; on bare metal rather than paying for a managed service. Part infrastructure project, part excuse to learn together.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The longer-term goal is a proper setup: automated backups, world persistence across restarts, maybe some automation around starting and stopping the server on demand.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Notes and repo to follow.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;More to come.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item></channel></rss>