Tuesday, June 18, 2019

How to train somebody up on colo/rack-mount servers, and 10Gb network basics etc?

I recently built out a small lab cluster for work in a colo site.

It's for hosting VMs, and uses Proxmox/KVM in HA under the hood, with Ceph for shared storage. Networking is mostly done via 10Gbase-LR (with upstream connectivity via 1GBase-LH - although we're looking to upgrade that).

Networking wise, nothing too complex - we're using Arista for switching, over 10Gbase-LR, with ample use of LACP etc.

I would like to train up a remote member of my team on the hardware side of things for maintaining the cluster and also software (although I assume this sub would be more focused on hardware side), and potentially helping build out the same setup in a few other locations.

You should assume the person I'm training knows software support, and that's it - they don't know hardware, and may have never been in a colo, or even seen a rack-mount server.

Are there any pre-existing syllabuses or materials I can use?

I know on the fiber side of things, there's the Light Brigade Fiber Optics 1-2-3 course, but I'm not sure what else there is?

I assume I'll need to take them through connecting to the switches by console, and networking CLI basics.

Topics might be:

  • Rackmount servers, cage nuts etc.
  • Power plugs/standards (C13/C14, C19, ATSes, UPSes etc.)
  • 10Gb fiber networking (including how to use an OLTS, OTDR etc.)
  • 10Gb copper networking - how to use a CAT6 certifier, crimping CAT6
  • Networking basics - IP subneting, 802.1Q (VLANs), 802.1x (for auth), QoS/DSCP etc.
  • Switch CLIs (Cisco and Arista)
  • IPMI, console access etc.

Any suggestions?



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