Finally managed to source all the parts i wanted, AND found the time to assemble the beast .
Related treads :
selection of parts : ZFS RAIDz2 Homeserver - sanity check
discussion about OS use : ZFS & Encryption - Information overload
For reminders, the gear :
Without further ado, here's the 4U Xcase 424. Quite positively surprised by it; maybe not as sturdy and clunky as a highend chenbro i had before, but least it will be way more quiet
http://imgur.com/VJy7N8Y
The Supermicro mainboard with only the processor and RAM installed... i love how there's so many free ram slots with already 32 gigs installed :
http://imgur.com/f1ZJ3Ei
Unpacking the HDs was a joyful moment, and i had to mount them as obligatory hard disk wall
http://imgur.com/MwilbSw
Here's a 4 Port Intel GBe controller card... should come in handy for the server's routing purpose (more details on that later)
http://imgur.com/RqyBY30
And the impressive LSI 9201-16i SAS2 controller card. This puppy allows for 16 HDs to be connected, and with the 8 port LSI controller on the Supermicro mobo, this ups it to a grand total of 24 drives... conveniently
http://imgur.com/4Ya68x
I underestimated the sturdyness of those SAS cables a lot... and i thought they would be really flexible... they weren't. but patience worked it out
http://imgur.com/yimAxkw
http://imgur.com/VKgCgxG
and now for the final build with all cards & cables installed :
http://imgur.com/h4ZoZAp
The two black pieces you can see on the right are Startech S-Ata hotswap bays :
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-2-5in-Removable-Drive-Expansion/dp/B002MWDRD6
These hotswaps contain the VMstore Samsung SSD drive, and the 1TB spinning drive it will use for backing up the VMS.
ESXi is installed onto a USB stick which conveniently sits on the motherboard itsef.
Btw, installing ESXi was a piece of cake, and i'm in love with Supermicro's IPMI implementation : only had to put the Vmware ISO on a network share, tell the motherboard via IPMI to mount it to a virtual CD drive, and reboot :
Voilà, ESXi installation starts. That's one feature i will already dearly miss in my next desktop builds.
So, i'm really happy with the build for now.
Next steps :
After that i will try to implement the following ESXi setup :
The main idea is that i want to segregate networks and give them different access rules via Pf-sense:
Thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to your opinions, suggestions and ideas for furthering the build
Related treads :
selection of parts : ZFS RAIDz2 Homeserver - sanity check
discussion about OS use : ZFS & Encryption - Information overload
For reminders, the gear :
- Xcase 424 Rack
- Supermicro X9SRH-7TF Mobo
- Intel E5-1620
- 32 gigs of ECC Registered Kingston Value RAM
- Seasonic Platinum 860W PSU
- LSI 9201 16i
- Quad Port Intel 1000 Pro
- Samsung Pro 256gig SSD
Without further ado, here's the 4U Xcase 424. Quite positively surprised by it; maybe not as sturdy and clunky as a highend chenbro i had before, but least it will be way more quiet
http://imgur.com/VJy7N8Y
The Supermicro mainboard with only the processor and RAM installed... i love how there's so many free ram slots with already 32 gigs installed :
http://imgur.com/f1ZJ3Ei
Unpacking the HDs was a joyful moment, and i had to mount them as obligatory hard disk wall
http://imgur.com/MwilbSw
Here's a 4 Port Intel GBe controller card... should come in handy for the server's routing purpose (more details on that later)
http://imgur.com/RqyBY30
And the impressive LSI 9201-16i SAS2 controller card. This puppy allows for 16 HDs to be connected, and with the 8 port LSI controller on the Supermicro mobo, this ups it to a grand total of 24 drives... conveniently
http://imgur.com/4Ya68x
I underestimated the sturdyness of those SAS cables a lot... and i thought they would be really flexible... they weren't. but patience worked it out
http://imgur.com/yimAxkw
http://imgur.com/VKgCgxG
and now for the final build with all cards & cables installed :
http://imgur.com/h4ZoZAp
The two black pieces you can see on the right are Startech S-Ata hotswap bays :
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-2-5in-Removable-Drive-Expansion/dp/B002MWDRD6
These hotswaps contain the VMstore Samsung SSD drive, and the 1TB spinning drive it will use for backing up the VMS.
ESXi is installed onto a USB stick which conveniently sits on the motherboard itsef.
Btw, installing ESXi was a piece of cake, and i'm in love with Supermicro's IPMI implementation : only had to put the Vmware ISO on a network share, tell the motherboard via IPMI to mount it to a virtual CD drive, and reboot :
Voilà, ESXi installation starts. That's one feature i will already dearly miss in my next desktop builds.
So, i'm really happy with the build for now.
Next steps :
- Install ESXi vsphere on windows
- Update Motherboard, LSI card BIOS
- Flash the SAS controller on the Supermicro board to HBA
- Install the SSD and backup drive and dedicate them to VM Store
After that i will try to implement the following ESXi setup :
The main idea is that i want to segregate networks and give them different access rules via Pf-sense:
- The LAN network will be for normal home network traffic, nothing special here
- The green one will be internet for the VM servers. Access will be severely limited, probably only to update servers (apt-get, ports, ...)
- Management network (yellow) won't have access to the internet : here and only here are IPMI, ESXi management, and VM SSH available.
- Access from the Internet to management will be possible only through VPN-authorised rerouting in Pf-Sense.
Thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to your opinions, suggestions and ideas for furthering the build
Last edited:
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