All-In-One Build

[shanester]

I have wanted to build a NAS and a ESXi server and have been debating as to whether I should build them separately or go for the All-In-One solution. I have decided to pursue the All-In-One solution with ESXi 4.1U1 and OI w/Napp-It

1 x NORCO RPC-4220
2 x 2.5” WD1600BEKT 160GB 7200 (RAID1 for ESXi installation and Datastore for OI)
1 x ??? RAID Card (RAID1 for ESXi installation and Datastore for OI)
1 x ??? SAS/SATA Controller Card
6 x SAMSUNG F4 HD204UI 2TB – RAIDZ

I need some help with the hardware configuration/validation

I am undecided on the motherboard/CPU. I am leaning toward the SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O with the Xeon E3-1230 CPU. This combination is cost effective for me, however the big issue that I have is that although the MB supports 32GB of RAM but today can only utilize 16GB because 8GB UDIMMs are not available yet (I don’t understand this).
Does anyone have a suggestion to a better ‘cost-effective’ MB/CPU/RAM solution?

I am also confused on which SAS/SATA controller would work best for this configuration. It appears to me that I can use the IBM M1015 (low-cost) which would support two connections to the Norco backplane for a total of 8 drives which would support my current configuration. Is this correct?
Does anyone have a suggestion to a better ‘cost-effective’ controller card?

 

[danswartz]

First off, 8GB is not enough. You really want 16GB (12 at the minimum). I would give 6-7GB to the OI appliance. Secondly, I wouldn't bother RAIDing the esxi local datastore OI will be on. After doing the install, export a virtual appliance (OVA/OVF) of OI and back it up somewhere. For drive support, I would pass through the cougar point sata controller on the mobo to OI. Get some relatively cheap controller to support the local datastore drive. Performance for the separate controller will not be important.

 

[jbraband]

danswartz's points on memory is what i'd recommend as well, however, OP should that he is talking about the system RAM where OP's 8GB was a USB stick for the ESXi partitions.

regarding the USB stick, the install is right around 1GB, but some USB drives dont have exactly 1GB of space or maybe its a partitioning problem, but the recommendation is at least a 2GB drive. 8GB is not overkill if you already have it to spare, but you won't be able to leverage the remaining 7GB of that drive.

 

[danswartz]

LOL, I read it as 8GB RAM, true...

 

[_Gea]

some thoughts about:

why do you use a slow and unreliable usb stick?
Install ESXi to your 160GB sata disk and use the rest as local datastore.

ESXi does not support onboard raid.
How do you want to mirror your 160 Gb disks?
A solution may be a 2x2,5" driverless raid-enclosure.

I would avoid the 4k Samsungs and use 512k disks
like the 512b Hitachi's - use a pool of mirrored drives with a hotfix drive

use at least 12 RAM (6 GB for OI)
Mainboard and IBM SAS controller is top.


Gea

 

[shanester]

I will install ESXi and the datastore for the OI OS on the 2.5 WD but this needs to be a RAID1 so I will need a RAID card for the 2 x 2.5 WD HDDs and another controller card for the rest of the disks.

In regards to the RAM, the MB that I suggested only currently supports 16GB (until 8GB udimms are available), so that doesn't leave much memory left for VM guests. I'm looking for low cost alternatives.

 

[danswartz]

Unless you are going to run a ton of high-mem VMs, 16GB is okay. Also, why do you think the datastore disk needs to be raid1?

 

[shanester]

Unless you are going to run a ton of high-mem VMs, 16GB is okay. Also, why do you think the datastore disk needs to be raid1?

Need RAID1 to avoid a single point of failure. If I lose the disk, the ESXi host is gone as well as the datastore for OI.

 

[danswartz]

ESXi has virtually no config info that can't be restored from scratch in minutes. As for the OI VM, you can make export a VM (OVA/OVF) onto external storage for disaster recovery. I understand your concern, but it really doesn't warrant a 2nd disk (unless you have a free one lying around...)