I did some experiments with ECMP and definitely broke my home network (twice) with switching loops. I plan on writing the whole thing up for my website.
Speaking of which: I updated my website. Really just the homepage for now, but with the idea that I'll make ad-hoc pages on there and probably advertise them in my RSS feed. I don't particularly think that I want a "blog" -- something that makes the gaps between updates so obvious -- I just want a website and maybe a "recent updates" feed. Then I can keep things evergreen?
I also embarked on two small projects: laser cutting some pieces to adapt the 1U server case / albatross I bought around 5 years ago so that it at least looks tidy from the outside and is a piece of equipment suitable for an actual datacenter environment. I don't expect to colocate it -- it's just that I went down a bit of a rabbit hole of those 10" mini-racks, and then of the various ways of rack-mounting Pi's.
As of now, I'm basically using the front 30cm of 1U for a single Raspberry Pi which is hilariously low density. But also I don't have 5 Pi's that I need to put into 1U (and in this case it's a Pi 400 anyway, which is an odd shape etc.).
Anyway, I'm pleased with how it all turned out, using D-type panel mounts to pass through power (USB-C), network over RJ45 and RF over a BNC. I wanted to pass USB-A so I could plug a lead in to access the serial console on the Pi if it crashed etc. but the Amazon-special that I bought just ... is not the right size and shape for a D-type panel, despite being advertised that way. Classic Amazon.
The other project was to rehome the Mini-ITX I wrote about a few weeks ago. I'd looked at putting a 10GbE NIC in with adapters and by using a smaller cooler to create room in the case etc. and decided it wasn't worth it -- I just put a USB3 NIC on (good for around 300Mbit/s). Anyway: I found a 2U case on Amazon for C$75 which really is crazy cheap, so I bought it. Now I can use a regular sized ATX PSU (the Flex-PSU can stay with the nice case for the next Mini-ITX board that comes along) -- and I can fit low profile cards 90 degrees to the board (no riser necessary).
One problem: the 12V input isn't long enough. Sigh. So I have ordered an extension, but until then the machine is using the old PSU hanging out of the side of the case on a crash cart, and it's stopping me from pursuing other experiments with the HP server. But at least it's got a 10GbE NIC, right?!