My original intention was to bootstrap the SuperMicros ahead of getting the network setup, but there have been some bumps in the road. It appears my originally chosen NVMe drives are somehow partially incompatible with my grand design. I say partially, because they show up and pass S.M.A.R.T. checks, but they seem to be immune, impervious, or allergic to partition table writes. My online research turned up a few cases of the WD Black NVMe drives being finicky with respect to Linux, and apparently not 100% compatible with the SuperMicro hardware/BIOS/something. Therefore, while waiting for alternative brand NVMe storage, I decided to tackle the network. (It also helped that all my cables arrived yesterday).
Being that I am in no way a Network Engineer, there was a bit of a learning curve getting the first round of things rolling. My previous “router” and “switch” configuration has typically been relegated to the realm of things like DD-WRT for my wi-fi setup. That said, I have so far managed to get the Cisco SG300-10 configured as a Layer 3 router with 2 VLANs: the default admin network and an additional network for attaching the Cisco SG200-26 and MikroTik CRS305-1G-4S+IN. Additionally, I configured the routing rules on my DD-WRT wireless router so that I can get to all the lab subnets from my laptop. The final feat for the day was getting the MikroTik hooked up, configured as a Layer 2 switch, and routed properly.
As things stand now, I am able to pull up the administration consoles for both the SG300 and the MikroTik, all from my laptop and the comfort of my living room couch. Mission accomplished!
Tomorrow I should be able to get the SG200 wired up and configured with relatively little pain… I hope. If I have enough time, I might plug in the Synology and work on setting up my storage.
One last thing… For the record, I did consider flipping things around and having the SG300 be the primary router, with the wireless router being on a VLAN. However, that would have required a disruptive change to my existing home network, and it would also then require adding a new firewall of some sort. In the current configuration, I get to keep my home network functioning like it always has, and the lab is completely isolated so as to avoid my tinkering messing with home life.