best laptop for ESX server

H

holden j caufield

Gawd
Joined
Mar 27, 2012
Messages
640
Hi I've got this huge esx server I built, it runs great but since it's in the same room that I sleep in I think I'm going to go with a laptop. Wondering if anyone is running one. I'd like one with 4 ram slots and vt-d. One with a lot of bios options would be great. I've got a toshiba laptop that I'm currently running but it doesn't have 4 ram slots. Also is there an express card NIC that works with vmware. I'd like to have 2 nics.
 
VT-D in a laptop? Why? What in the world would you pass through to a guest? :confused:

I've got 10 laptops in various forms in a cluster right now - mostly old dell D630s and a couple of Latitude 4300s. They work.
 
I'm currently running esxi 5.1 on a dell e6430, i7, 16gb of ram, 128gb SSD. Running 3 guests (2 x 2008r2 1xwin7) storage is done through iscsi

It runs very well, but I do wish I can add a 2nd nic to it, so I would also like to know if theres any NIC cards that would work?
 
I would like to passthrough my esata port, my usb audio dongle, usb bluetooth, and my mini display port if possible, actually anything that esx does not have drivers for. Has anyone passthrough one of the switchable graphics? One of my vm's will be an htpc. This passthrough of usb devices works on my desktop.
 
porkchop said:
I'm currently running esxi 5.1 on a dell e6430, i7, 16gb of ram, 128gb SSD. Running 3 guests (2 x 2008r2 1xwin7) storage is done through iscsi

It runs very well, but I do wish I can add a 2nd nic to it, so I would also like to know if theres any NIC cards that would work?
Click to expand...

Maybe try a usb to nic dongle that uses one of the known chips esx has drivers for?
 
holden j caufield said:
Hi I've got this huge esx server I built, it runs great but since it's in the same room that I sleep in I think I'm going to go with a laptop. Wondering if anyone is running one. I'd like one with 4 ram slots and vt-d. One with a lot of bios options would be great. I've got a toshiba laptop that I'm currently running but it doesn't have 4 ram slots. Also is there an express card NIC that works with vmware. I'd like to have 2 nics.
Click to expand...

You might try going to one of the laptop sites like dell and customize!
They have them with 3 raid 0 SSD's 768gb, 32gb ram, Core i7-3940XM(quad core with HT)etc for like 4000.
 
this isn't production stuff and right now my current esx laptop sits next to my tv and bed and I can't even hear it. We run hyperv at work so I just like experimenting with stuff to learn. I've had a full hp c class enclosure with 4 blades running while testing stuff, the noise even in another room was too much, the electricity bill was also $200 more. According to my kill-a-watt my laptop esx server run at 14 watts vs about 170 watts for my white box. Storage is the only limiting factor until I get the esata up and running.
 
holden j caufield said:
this isn't production stuff and right now my current esx laptop sits next to my tv and bed and I can't even hear it. We run hyperv at work so I just like experimenting with stuff to learn. I've had a full hp c class enclosure with 4 blades running while testing stuff, the noise even in another room was too much, the electricity bill was also $200 more. My laptop esx server run at 14 watts. Storage is the only limiting factor until I get the esata up and running.
Click to expand...

I dont know if you have a rack, but a 4U would be quiet or a big case with quiet fans would work out better. It would also be easier to get 32gb+ of memory and vt-d/IOMMU. You could undervost the cpu for better energy savings.
 
Unless you need it to be portable (which doesn't appear in your requirements), what advantage is there to running a full time esxi host on a laptop by design? I mean, people use laptops here and there bc they happen to have them around, not because its the best option. You can find quiet, low power and more expandable hardware in a white box typically for much less, and with much less hassle than some of the quirk-ier hardware/drivers that comes integrated to laptops.
 
Tiporaro said:
Unless you need it to be portable (which doesn't appear in your requirements), what advantage is there to running a full time esxi host on a laptop by design? I mean, people use laptops here and there bc they happen to have them around, not because its the best option. You can find quiet, low power and more expandable hardware in a white box typically for much less, and with much less hassle than some of the quirk-ier hardware/drivers that comes integrated to laptops.
Click to expand...

Its probably not bad if only running a few VM's or just for a home lab, but I would use several cheap ones for that purpose. You can find laptops that the screen is bad on for super cheap.
 
holden j caufield said:
Hi I've got this huge esx server I built, it runs great but since it's in the same room that I sleep in I think I'm going to go with a laptop. Wondering if anyone is running one. I'd like one with 4 ram slots and vt-d. One with a lot of bios options would be great. I've got a toshiba laptop that I'm currently running but it doesn't have 4 ram slots. Also is there an express card NIC that works with vmware. I'd like to have 2 nics.
Click to expand...

You are a good candidate for running VMware Workstation with ESXi as a guest.
If you are dead set on using a laptop with a Type 1 hypervisor and passing through devices,
you should look at higher end laptops with appropriate CPU/Motherboard Chipset:

Lenovo W530 or Dell Precision fitted with i7-3700QM or 3800QM series QM.
The above are just examples ..not the end all/be all list.

I wonder how long a high power laptop would last running 24/7.
That's an expensive experiment ..starting at $1500

Now, don't you just want to move the current ESXi server to a more suitable location and call it a day?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top