All TP-Link Network setup and new servers

WOW!!! What a ride it has been this last year with all this home labbing. Damn I love lego(Wendle) machines. Build them and tear them apart to build something better, and all the knowledge that goes with it.
So a couple of months ago I finally got fiber installed(1gig up and down). In retrospect I decided to go with an all TP-Link setup for my net working. i just could not get my pfsence router to work properly(I am sure it was builder issues) and went with a 10gig router and have not looked back. I can honestly say it was easy as pie to setup.

My network is based on a 10gig backbone. The house was wired in 2006 with multiple cat 5e cableing to all the rooms and they all run back to a media center in the laundry room. I mounted server rack to the wall over the media center. The longest cat 5e cable is 85ft long and all cable runs support 10gig connection and speeds with no issue.


The bottom server is my main file server with Truenas scale. It has a identical twin (but in a tower case) at a friends house who also has a 1gig fiber hookup as a backup server.
Truenas Scale dragonfish Opsys
Rysen 4750g Pro cpu, 8 core
b550 motherboard
64 GB’s 2666 ecc memory
2 x 1TB NVME mirrored meta data drives
256GB NVME Cache Drive
5 x 10GB helium enterprise drives (raidz 1 , 40TB’s available space)

The next server up is my Task server. It runs all the VM’s, Omada controler for my network, and other various Apps and tasks.
Truenas Scale Dragonfish
Rysen 3950x cpu, 16 cores
Asrock Rack x470d4u2-2t motherboard
64 GB’s 2666 ecc memory
256GB NVME boot drive
2 x 2TB NVME mirrored data drives (apps and vm’s)
12 x 2TB enterprise SSD’s mirrored data drives (storage)
Quadro P4000 video card

The third server with silver handles is my toy. I use it to test all my software and setups before implimentation. This servers parts change all the time depending on what I am testing.



All servers are connected to a kvm. The access point is a TP-Link AX5400 poe powered 2.5gig link. The whole rack is powered through the triplite upsthis whole idols around the 170 watt mark (230ish if my toy server is turned on, it does not run all the time. These are all rysen based servers, all have ecc memory, all run cool and quiet. I tried the xeon server road but they use to much power. I had two intel servers and rarely idled below 350 watts. So with the change over to rysen I have cut my power usage nearly in half and a major improvement to performance. All the servers have a dual 10gig link to the network as well as 4 gaming client computers, 2 xbox’s, several tv’s and cell phones and tablets. All have place to store there files on the network.

So now the big question???

No part of my network is open to the internet. I think I am ready to open some access to home network. I would sure love some suggestions on how I should do this. Like everything else I have had to learn, I don’t get it till I use it…lol

Thanks for the look

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@Krackster, you should never let your plan network have any access to the Internet. Any services you want to run should always be behind your Wan interface. You want to figure out how to forward your services through your Wan interface. I would start by watching videos on how to use and correctly set up Wireguard and Tailscale. Taiscale will become handy when you don’t have access to some firewall or don’t understand how to correctly set up firewall rules to allow certain network packets through. I would set up a separate virtual network where you can send and receive internet packets and keep that separate from your physical network. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

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