~$1000 EXSI Build?

Netwerkz101 said:
Are your requirements from the original post still the same? Windows and Linux VMs?
Still a $1000 budget?

Are those VMs for learining the OS or are you going to be loading some heavy duty apps on them that demand high CPU, RAM, and storage IO requirements?

If all you want is simple virtualization of the OSs for learning them, then you'd be fine with a desktop system that will be easier on your wallet and ear drums.

PS ... is the "Pro/100" a typo? or is it really 100Mbit NICs?
Click to expand...

see the link to ebay ? i posted ?
 
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Netwerkz101 said:
Are your requirements from the original post still the same? Windows and Linux VMs?
Still a $1000 budget?

Are those VMs for learining the OS or are you going to be loading some heavy duty apps on them that demand high CPU, RAM, and storage IO requirements?

If all you want is simple virtualization of the OSs for learning them, then you'd be fine with a desktop system that will be easier on your wallet and ear drums.

PS ... is the "Pro/100" a typo? or is it really 100Mbit NICs?
Click to expand...

I don't think I want to spend that much anymore and I'm starting to think whitebox again so I can go atx. I think what I need is a board, RAM and a CPU(s?).

I'd still like to start out at a minimum of 12-16GB of RAM so I don't end up wasting sticks when I want to upgrade. Looking at the $500 range now maybe?
 
AnotherUser said:
I don't think I want to spend that much anymore and I'm starting to think whitebox again so I can go atx. I think what I need is a board, RAM and a CPU(s?).

I'd still like to start out at a minimum of 12-16GB of RAM so I don't end up wasting sticks when I want to upgrade. Looking at the $500 range now maybe?
Click to expand...

I tried out a Dell 2950, it was nice and would have worked perfectly but A) I was able to re-sell it for a profit and B) I don't have a dedicated room for something of this size, heat and noise yet.

I'd still like to make an ATX whitebox and I still need the following items: CPU, Mobo, Memory (32) & PSU. I may need a RAID card depending on what the mobo has or what my confg is.

I currently have plenty of storage on my main PC but it's all slow disk (WD Green). I could use this for backup if I went with a WD Blue or Black single disk for primary VM storage and run the host off USB.

I'll take any input or opinions if available.
 
Netwerkz101 said:
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038451690&postcount=37
Click to expand...

Can you use the onboard SATA RAID with that board or should you still use an external SAN type storage?

I'm looking at building an ESXi setup as well being I'm taking VCP class now and planning to take the exam this fall. I figure for vMotion I've eventually gotta build / buy a SAN. Really only thing holding me back now is storage and how I'm going to do that.

I've got an extra AMD 965 black edition (won at HardOCP event in Dallas) so was originally planning to just pick up a 970X board and use the two 1TB HDs i have laying around for VM storage. Still not sure what would be best to run everything.
 
I never tried onboard SATA RAID.
My hosts, based on that Intel Q67 board, have no local storage.

Throw freeNAS on some old system with Gbit NIC.

Works fine for my home lab.

My limited knowledge = soft raid is not for esxi.
Non RAID SATA works.
 
Netwerkz101 said:
I never tried onboard SATA RAID.
My hosts, based on that Intel Q67 board, have no local storage.

Throw freeNAS on some old system with Gbit NIC.

Works fine for my home lab.

My limited knowledge = soft raid is not for esxi.
Non RAID SATA works.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. The broke / cheap part of me just trying to save where ever i can. Looks like its time to refresh the mobo / proc on the wife's PC or mine to build a NAS. You guys think a Core2Duo w/ 4GB of DDR2 be okay for a FreeNAS box serving 2 ESXi white boxes?
 
Chimay said:
[snipped]
You guys think a Core2Duo w/ 4GB of DDR2 be okay for a FreeNAS box serving 2 ESXi white boxes?
Click to expand...

1 of my storage boxes is a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 System with 4GB of DDR (DDR1)
and its fine with FreeNAS 8.0.2. I am not running ZFS on that box.

You won't impress anyone with benchmark scores ..but you should have a useable storage system on the cheap.

I should add that the number of disk in your storage box to distribute IO load will help too.
 
Alright, I've read over some other setups and I've come up with this:

DRiuk.png


SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCA-F-O

Kingston KVR1333D3D4R9S/8G

Intel Xeon E3-1230

I have a disk I will use for now and will backup to other disk. I also have an ATX case I will be using, don't need that either.

What am I missing? How is this setup?
 
That PSU isn't that great. How many HDDs do you plan on attaching to this server?
 
why do you need a usb card reader ?

why not just buy a 16gig thumb drive and drop it into the internal motherboard's usb port ?
 
1 hard disk in this machine, at this time anyway, the rest of the storage is in another machine.

Dash, the card reader was free with the PSU which is why I can't modify the qty.
 
AnotherUser said:
1 hard disk in this machine, at this time anyway, the rest of the storage is in another machine.

Dash, the card reader was free with the PSU which is why I can't modify the qty.
Click to expand...

In that case, ditch the PSU and go with these higher quality PSUs instead:
$49 - Antec Earthwatts Green EA380D 380W PSU
$53 - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W PSU
 
AnotherUser said:
I believe you are correct, I will have to look into this.

Edit: Those prices may change this whole setup. What other boards will take unbuffered and non ECC RAM and are supported for EXSi 5?
Click to expand...

I think you have to go to a AMD, Intel Socket 2011 or earlier Xeon to do that. The cost of 32GB of unbuffered ECC ram is less than the cost difference of doing a Socket 2011 system. The Socket 2011 can take MUCH more than 32GB ram though, the limit then is what ESXi 5 (free version) will support.
 
AnotherUser said:
I believe you are correct, I will have to look into this.

Edit: Those prices may change this whole setup. What other boards will take unbuffered and non ECC RAM and are supported for EXSi 5?
Click to expand...

From the "8GB DDR3 Unbuffered ECC UDIMMs" thread ~ $82/8GB module
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=D38GE133S2

You already shattered your new $500 budget .... an additional $60 is a drop in the bucket, right?? :D
 
AnotherUser said:
I'm thinking about upping the budget but I still don't want to over-spend on something that will perform equally, especially for a testing/home environment.
Click to expand...

maybe see if you can get a mini case :) something small :)

What you have picked out should be perfect, 32 gigs ram board case ( decent psu )

should be set :)

are you doing nfs or iscsi for your storage ?
 
dashpuppy said:
maybe see if you can get a mini case :) something small :)

What you have picked out should be perfect, 32 gigs ram board case ( decent psu )

should be set :)

are you doing nfs or iscsi for your storage ?
Click to expand...

I've actually begun looking into the shuttle setup's with an i5 or i7 instead.

Storage will be either SSD or standard disks and then I'll backup to my main "slow" storage.

If I'm running a WD Blue, am I going to see a large decrease in performance? Again these are just test VMs.
 
Are you sure you need 32GB? I just pulled the trigger on a similar setup to what you had listed before but with 16GB of ram.

IMO the server grade parts are better, and better supported in ESXi.

I like the fact on the SM X9SCM you can put ESXi on a USB on the slot on the computer instead of having it installed on one of the HDD's or the USB stick sticking out of the computer.

I also prefer, the Intel NIC's over the Realtek ones.
 
TType85 said:
Are you sure you need 32GB? I just pulled the trigger on a similar setup to what you had listed before but with 16GB of ram.

IMO the server grade parts are better, and better supported in ESXi.

I like the fact on the SM X9SCM you can put ESXi on a USB on the slot on the computer instead of having it installed on one of the HDD's or the USB stick sticking out of the computer.

I also prefer, the Intel NIC's over the Realtek ones.
Click to expand...

I can start at 16 but from that start I'm sure I'll be using at least 10GB.

As for the NIC, I have a dual port GB intel along with 2 single port GB intels to use.
 
AnotherUser said:
I can start at 16 but from that start I'm sure I'll be using at least 10GB.

As for the NIC, I have a dual port GB intel along with 2 single port GB intels to use.
Click to expand...

Id look at a super micro board, and a small case :) you will LOVE i guarantee it when you have ipmi on the supermicro board you will thank me and everyone else :) TRUST US!!

32gigs is a great start :)
 
AnotherUser said:
How about this:

Shuttle

CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB)

Intel Core i7-2600
Click to expand...


I don't know if you realize it, but you have gone full circle.

Budget went form $1000 down to $500 .... now you are pushing $1000 again.
You went from not needing a case to a barebone system.
You were going to use storage from another Windows box..now you have added a drive (local storage?).


This is a home lab strictly for testing Windows/Linux VMs + 16-32GB RAM?


Cheapest just to get it done = AMD whitebox
Bang for buck (extra feature you may or may not use) = Intel Q67 desktop board
Server quality build = Supermicro

A Dell Poweredge T-110-II w/ E3-1230v2 / 500GB Drive / 2GB RAM subtotal=$659 US
Add 4x8GB ECC UDIMM for ~$320 from 3rd party.


Now it's easy..... eeny, meeny, miny, moe ..... :D


Just remembered ...82579's need a 3rd party driver in ESXi ...killer(?)
 
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Netwerkz101 said:
I don't know if you realize it, but you have gone full circle.

Budget went form $1000 down to $500 .... now you are pushing $1000 again.
You went from not needing a case to a barebone system.
You were going to use storage from another Windows box..now you have added a drive (local storage?).


This is a home lab strictly for testing Windows/Linux VMs + 16-32GB RAM?


Cheapest just to get it done = AMD whitebox
Bang for buck (extra feature you may or may not use) = Intel Q67 desktop board
Server quality build = Supermicro

A Dell Poweredge T-110-II w/ E3-1230v2 / 500GB Drive / 2GB RAM subtotal=$659 US
Add 4x8GB ECC UDIMM for ~$320 from 3rd party.


Now it's easy..... eeny, meeny, miny, moe ..... :D


Just remembered ...82579's need a 3rd party driver in ESXi ...killer(?)
Click to expand...

Yea, I don't want to go cheap but I also don't want to budget a grand and start pushing that.

I started looking at the shuttles because they are smaller, the case I have saves me what, $50,$60?

I don't think I'm going to want to use my other storage as it's just WD greens and I worry that will really slow things down. I'd rather use something a bit faster and backup to the slow storage.

I think I'm shooting for a mid-range system, I will continue to review boards and options.

Thanks for the input.
 
Netwerkz101 said:
Well... then we'd have to start all over with a new thread that said
"~$1000 XenServer Build?"

No sir! We are in four months now ... the OP cannot change his/her mind.
It will not be tolerated.

:D
Click to expand...

hahahaha alrighttttttttt then, geshhh.....
 
AnotherUser said:
Yea, I don't want to go cheap but I also don't want to budget a grand and start pushing that.

I started looking at the shuttles because they are smaller, the case I have saves me what, $50,$60?

I don't think I'm going to want to use my other storage as it's just WD greens and I worry that will really slow things down. I'd rather use something a bit faster and backup to the slow storage.

I think I'm shooting for a mid-range system, I will continue to review boards and options.

Thanks for the input.
Click to expand...

Understood ... Midrange to me means the Intel Desktop Board.

I don't use all the features it offers ...but for the price, the features match that of the server quality boards like the Supermicro X9SCM series.

Differences: SuperMicro X9SCM vs. Intel Q67 Desktop Board
- ECC vs. non ECC memory
- IPMI vs Intel vPro (ipKVM using RealVNC)
- E3 1230 v1/v2 vs. Sandy Bridge i7-2600
- Matrox Graphics vs Intel HD2000

Did I mention the versatility of the Intel Q67 Desktop Board?

A newer X9SCM is out and it has 82574 NIC controller and should already have a BIOS that supports the v2 E3 Xeons:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C202_C204/X9SCM-IIF.cfm
 
Netwerkz101 said:
Understood ... Midrange to me means the Intel Desktop Board.

I don't use all the features it offers ...but for the price, the features match that of the server quality boards like the Supermicro X9SCM series.

Differences: SuperMicro X9SCM vs. Intel Q67 Desktop Board
- ECC vs. non ECC memory
- IPMI vs Intel vPro (ipKVM using RealVNC)
- E3 1230 v1/v2 vs. Sandy Bridge i7-2600

A newer X9SCM is out and it has 82574 NIC controller and should already have a BIOS that supports the v2 E3 Xeons:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C202_C204/X9SCM-IIF.cfm
Click to expand...

How much work are we talking to get the NIC to work on the Intel 82579LM's?
Am I going to see much difference between the E3 and it i7?
I'm not super worried about the remote management, although it will be nice.
 
AnotherUser said:
How much work are we talking to get the NIC to work on the Intel 82579LM's?
Am I going to see much difference between the E3 and it i7?
I'm not super worried about the remote management, although it will be nice.
Click to expand...

For ESXi? I didn't bother .... i threw in a dual port Intel card and didn't bother with built-in.
Member "Chilly" (or maybe "petez") built a driver for the 82579's .. vm-help.com will have it listed or posted if it doesn't exist here...I know I saw a thread here too.

Performance wise ... they seem like they'd be in the same class 4C/8T and nearly identical clock speeds ... but I can only guess the newer E3v2 would edge out the i7-2600.

I don't use the remote control when I'm sittting arm's distance from my TV either, but I do appreciate the convenience it may give some day ...in my world.


oooohhh .... .you know what I forgot when I was comparing desktop board to server board ... Fault Tolerance support in ESXi ... don't think it exist for the i7.
Of course if you aren't ever going to use that feature ... no biggie. Just more FYI
 
Netwerkz101 said:
For ESXi? I didn't bother .... i threw in a dual port Intel card and didn't bother with built-in.
Member "Chilly" (or maybe "petez") built a driver for the 82579's .. vm-help.com will have it listed or posted if it doesn't exist here...I know I saw a thread here too.

Performance wise ... they seem like they'd be in the same class 4C/8T and nearly identical clock speeds ... but I can only guess the newer E3v2 would edge out the i7-2600.

I don't use the remote control when I'm sittting arm's distance from my TV either, but I do appreciate the convenience it may give some day ...in my world.


oooohhh .... .you know what I forgot when I was comparing desktop board to server board ... Fault Tolerance support in ESXi ... don't think it exist for the i7.
Of course if you aren't ever going to use that feature ... no biggie. Just more FYI
Click to expand...

I think I may jump for the i7 2600 & the Intel BOXDQ67SWB3. The only unanswered question I have was what performance hit I will see on say a WD Black vs a SSD?
 
AnotherUser said:
How much work are we talking to get the NIC to work on the Intel 82579LM's?
Am I going to see much difference between the E3 and it i7?
I'm not super worried about the remote management, although it will be nice.
Click to expand...

I did it last night. It took a few minutes to find the VIM version of the driver and run esx customizer to inject it to the ISO.

You will not see a ton of difference between the E3 and i7 in a home lab.
 
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