Lightning fried some of my electronics tonight

[MO Fugga]

12 minutes ago, crockett said:

 

The Nighthawk X6 can only handle 50 devices. I have over 100 sitting on wifi in my house.

 

Up to 500 users / devices. That's what they use in hotels, malls, etc:

https://store.ui.com/products/unifi-hd

The remote extender is supposed to carry an additional 100 devices. Highest count was 33. No smart bulbs, nothing ever connects to the extender, but at least it has growth potential. Fairly hassle free for a family of 5 and a handful of serfs.

[Eric]

I hosted Glock Talk out of a walk-in closet in a house, for a couple of years. I installed an aluminum rack frame, a 9 inch A/C register, 4 dedicated 20-amp 110v circuits and one 220v circuit. I had two T-1 lines supporting it. This was in the earlyish 2000s and that was a lot of throughput then. It had the added benefit of having a lot of extra bandwidth left over for the rest of the house. You could have hung meat in that closet and the bedroom it connected to. I was running 7 servers, plus switches, router and firewall. It sounded like a jet engine idling in there.

[MO Fugga]

2 hours ago, Eric said:

I hosted Glock Talk out of a walk-in closet in a house, for a couple of years. I installed an aluminum rack frame, a 9 inch A/C register, 4 dedicated 20-amp 110v circuits and one 220v circuit. I had two T-1 lines supporting it. This was in the earlyish 2000s and that was a lot of throughput then. It had the added benefit of having a lot of extra bandwidth left over for the rest of the house. You could have hung meat in that closet and the bedroom it connected to. I was running 7 servers, plus switches, router and firewall. It sounded like a jet engine idling in there.

When the fridge shits the bed, there's a place for the beer.

[MO Fugga]

I actually worked for a company that went around and vacuumed up data centers, cleaning it. Using a 5# suction cup to lift the tiles up to get in. It sucked, literally. But in 1999 dollars, $14/h wasn't bad for that gig.

[crockett]

2 hours ago, Eric said:

I hosted Glock Talk out of a walk-in closet in a house, for a couple of years. I installed an aluminum rack frame, a 9 inch A/C register, 4 dedicated 20-amp 110v circuits and one 220v circuit. I had two T-1 lines supporting it. This was in the earlyish 2000s and that was a lot of throughput then. It had the added benefit of having a lot of extra bandwidth left over for the rest of the house. You could have hung meat in that closet and the bedroom it connected to. I was running 7 servers, plus switches, router and firewall. It sounded like a jet engine idling in there.

Its crazy for how little you can get used enterprise grade equipment on eBay. Firewalls that used to be several thousand, go for a couple hundred. Same with servers and switches.

One day I'll make another rack out of used gear, just for the heck of it. I will need a bigger AC, that's for sure.

 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=Cisco+Catalyst&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=cisco+switch&_osacat=0

 

[Eric]

15 minutes ago, crockett said:

Its crazy for how little you can get used enterprise grade equipment on eBay. Firewalls that used to be several thousand, go for a couple hundred. Same with servers and switches.

One day I'll make another rack out of used gear, just for the heck of it. I will need a bigger AC, that's for sure.

 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=Cisco+Catalyst&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=cisco+switch&_osacat=0

 

I've got two Cisco 1121s that I bought at an auction a couple of weeks ago. I paid $18 for them, along with six other misc devices. CDW has 1121s listed new for $12k and change right now. Others can be found as-new and used from $1.2k to $5k. The drives and drive caddies were pulled out of the ones I bought and without the ability to put drives back into these devices, they have almost no value AND I can't find drive caddies anywhere. I have an ACS recovery disk that I can use to reload their OS, but no way to put drives back in them. Very frustrating. People think Apple is bad about the control they exert on their products and parts. They ought to try dealing with Cisco.

[crockett]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

I've got two Cisco 1121s that I bought at an auction a couple of weeks ago. I paid $18 for them, along with six other misc devices. CDW has 1121s listed new for $12k and change right now. Others can be found as-new and used from $1.2k to $5k. The drives and drive caddies were pulled out of the ones I bought and without the ability to put drives back into these devices, they have almost no value AND I can't find drive caddies anywhere. I have an ACS recovery disk that I can use to reload their OS, but no way to put drives back in them. Very frustrating. People think Apple is bad about the control they exert on their products and parts. They ought to try dealing with Cisco.

Could you fabricate your own caddies?

I was dealing with CISCO all day. Called them and just wanted to know if they have a repair partner close by, expecting to pay for it and all. Then this guy in the Philippines ask me for the serial number. I bought this switch on eBay form a grey dealer and was expecting to get an earful, but then he uttered something about a 6 year warranty that my retailer added to the device. I told him the full story about the lightning strike and all.

An hour later a small business tech emailed me regarding a few questions and soon after I got an RMA for an overnight replacement. Wasn't expecting that at all.

[Eric]

1 minute ago, crockett said:

Could you fabricate your own caddies?

I was dealing with CISCO all day. Called them and just wanted to know if they have a repair partner close by, expecting to pay for it and all. Then this guy in the Philippines ask me for the serial number. I bought this switch on eBay form a grey dealer and was expecting to get an earful, but then he uttered something about a 6 year warranty that my retailer added to the device. I told him the full story about the lightning strike and all.

An hour later a small business tech emailed me regarding a few questions and soon after I got an RMA for an overnight replacement. Was expecting that at all.

Don’t get me wrong, Cisco is a great company and the service is great if you are operating within their system. There just isn’t much of a parts or information network for their gear that is outside of their control and when they stop supporting something commercially, that is that. They even block the manual entries for EOL devices on their site.

I haven’t given up on finding those drive caddies. The 1121 is an Access Control Server, built on a 1U server chassis. There are almost certainly off-the-shelf caddies out there that fit this chassis, if I can find them. I have been unable yet to even find a Cisco part number for these things, but the info is out there somewhere. It just isn’t a part that normally wears out and gets replaced. I am stubborn as hell though. I’ll find them and until I do, the 1121s aren’t taking up much space in my storage room.

I'm glad to hear that they will warranty your switch. That is good of them to do so.

[crockett]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

Don’t get me wrong, Cisco is a great company and the service is great if you are operating within their system. There just isn’t much of a parts or information network for their gear that is outside of their control and when they stop supporting something commercially, that is that. They even block the manual entries for EOL devices on their site.

I haven’t given up on finding those drive caddies. The 1121 is an Access Control Server, built on a 1U server chassis. There are almost certainly off-the-shelf caddies out there that fit this chassis, if I can find them. I have been unable yet to even find a Cisco part number for these things, but the info is out there somewhere. It just isn’t a part that normally wears out and gets replaced. I am stubborn as hell though. I’ll find them and until I do, the 1121s aren’t taking up much space in my storage room.

I'm glad to hear that they will warranty your switch. That is good of them to do so.

No, you are right, Cisco as a company has become a pile of crap. Arrogant, well behind the competition with proper admin software, and a horrible website. I had issues signing up for an account, I had issues getting into their community forum, I had issues updating my address for the RMA, the tech had issues creating the RMA while I was on the phone with him, the search function for authorized dealers isn't working with code showing on the front-end, and leaning to setup my switch took me 2 weeks.

At least they are not owned by China and send data back to the mothership like UI.

I just looked at all Cisco caddies on eBay. None look like these...

 

[crockett]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

Don’t get me wrong, Cisco is a great company and the service is great if you are operating within their system. There just isn’t much of a parts or information network for their gear that is outside of their control and when they stop supporting something commercially, that is that. They even block the manual entries for EOL devices on their site.

I haven’t given up on finding those drive caddies. The 1121 is an Access Control Server, built on a 1U server chassis. There are almost certainly off-the-shelf caddies out there that fit this chassis, if I can find them. I have been unable yet to even find a Cisco part number for these things, but the info is out there somewhere. It just isn’t a part that normally wears out and gets replaced. I am stubborn as hell though. I’ll find them and until I do, the 1121s aren’t taking up much space in my storage room.

I'm glad to hear that they will warranty your switch. That is good of them to do so.

Maybe this will work?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3866371

 

[Eric]

19 minutes ago, crockett said:

Maybe this will work?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3866371

 

That is an interesting solution. I have access to a 3D printer. I don’t think it would be practical for this situation, but it is a good headspace to start getting into. 3D printing technology is quietly changing  the world. Thanks for the suggestion.

I really dislike Cisco’s CLI. I always have. So many other companies, like Juniper and Avaya, use Linux/UNIX-based interfaces. It is a better system and it gives someone who administers such devices some familiarity across a broad range of equipment. Of course, Cisco wants people to play with their toys and no one else’s. I really don’t like that mindset in a tech company. 

[crockett]

New switch arrived. I hate setting up Cisco gear.

Where are my earmuffs?

 

 

 

[crockett]

Typical administrator fun: when you transfer all the config files from the old switch, hook up the new switch, all network devices show up, but no internet connection can be established. So you search like an idiot for 1 hour in the configs, just to find out that you accidently hit the power switch on the damn router while installing the switch.

 

[Swampfox762]

God Bless you "Tech" geeks...Including Eric.  I'd just be dead in the water. PERIOD. 

If I ever leave this board...It will be a computer crash...or, I'm fuckin dead. 

[janice6]

On 8/13/2021 at 12:25 AM, crockett said:

 

My server rack has 2 surge proctors, one rack mounted, one inside the UPS. The lightning didn't hit the power lines, ours are in the ground, it hit my roof and the electrostatic discharge reached my ethernet cables in the attic. Surge protectors on LAN cables don't work well, and there are none for 10 G POE systems.

There is literally nothing I can do to prevent this. While my 4 slave switches are connected to the core switch with fiber optics, hence safe from discharges, all my devices still use copper connections only. That may change over time...

I used a scheme to protect a number of $27 Million dollar superconducting magnetic sensors that had Josephson Junction sensing elements with a breakdown of 4 Volts PIV.

It was called a "Waveguide Beyond Cutoff".  That is a waveguide too small to support the wavelength impinging on it.  In other words, a diameter that is very small with relation to the wavelengths  carried by the lightning.  (ball park is 100,000 Hertz to a few MegaHertz for lightning.)

In reality it consists of a piece of Copper tubing (In my case 1/2 inch standard Copper tubing 8 feet long). 

The wiring to be protected is strung through the Copper tubing without any electrical connection to it, except for the common ground point for the system and the tubing.   Signal wiring shield ground is the same as your system ground.  The "Far" end of the tubing is floating.  The "near" end of the tubing is grounded, very well,Braid, etc. to your system ground point

All signal wires shielded or not must pass through the Copper Tubing.  However you can do this at the source or sink end of the cables.

The principle is that the lighting induced transient passes down the shielded cables all in common mode.  When the transient enters the Copper tubing on the signal cables, it induces a secondary transient in the tubing, but the tubing transient is of the opposite polarity than the transient on the signal wires.  The principle is the same as a transformer primary and secondary windings.

As the transients propagate through and down the signal wires and Copper tubing, they cancel each other out since they are in opposition.

ANY signal wiring not passing through the copper tubing negates this protection! 

You can use as many Copper tubing runs as needed, just connect them all as I noted here.

I offer this as a technique I used to protect quantum level magnetic field sensors from immediate vicinity lighting strikes.  I make no claim that this will be a solution for  anyone or anything else.

However,  what have you got to offer?

 

 

[crockett]

14 minutes ago, janice6 said:

I used a scheme to protect a number of $27 Million dollar superconducting magnetic sensors that had Josephson Junction sensing elements with a breakdown of 4 Volts PIV.

It was called a "Waveguide Beyond Cutoff".  That is a waveguide too small to support the wavelength impinging on it.  In other words, a diameter that is very small with relation to the wavelengths  carried by the lightning.  (ball park is 100,000 Hertz to a few MegaHertz for lightning.)

In reality it consists of a piece of Copper tubing (In my case 1/2 inch standard Copper tubing 8 feet long). 

The wiring to be protected is strung through the Copper tubing without any electrical connection to it, except for the common ground point for the system and the tubing.   Signal wiring shield ground is the same as your system ground.  The "Far" end of the tubing is floating.  The "near" end of the tubing is grounded, very well,Braid, etc. to your system ground point

All signal wires shielded or not must pass through the Copper Tubing.  However you can do this at the source or sink end of the cables.

The principle is that the lighting induced transient passes down the shielded cables all in common mode.  When the transient enters the Copper tubing on the signal cables, it induces a secondary transient in the tubing, but the tubing transient is of the opposite polarity than the transient on the signal wires.  The principle is the same as a transformer primary and secondary windings.

As the transients propagate through and down the signal wires and Copper tubing, they cancel each other out since they are in opposition.

ANY signal wiring not passing through the copper tubing negates this protection! 

You can use as many Copper tubing runs as needed, just connect them all as I noted here.

I offer this as a technique I used to protect quantum level magnetic field sensors from immediate vicinity lighting strikes.  I make no claim that this will be a solution for  anyone or anything else.

However,  what have you got to offer?

 

 

 

I'd have to up the load bearing and framing in my attic lol There's over 1,000 feet of lan cable in the attic and walls.