Critique this haswell esxi 5.5 build please

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carolina_guy

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Feb 16, 2014
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I'm looking to build a new esxi 5.5 AIO server and would like some feedback. First time poster here, work as a systems engineer and account manager in the network visibility space, but have some vmware partner certs in my background. Currently running an esxi 5.5 AIO with freenas and an M1015 but on consumer hardware with non-ecc ram.

VMs in use:

Freenas with sata passthrough
Win 8.1 for security camera
Ubuntu (torrents, etc)
Win 8.1 test/veeam/etc

Proposed build:

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1245V3
MOBO: SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLL+-F-O
MEMORY: Kingston 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC (32gb)
HDD: Seagate 3TB x4 (already have in a zfs pool)
SSD: intel 240gb for VMs
PSU: Either: Rosewill SilentNight-500 500W or maybe something smaller/cheaper - not sure
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini Black Micro ATX Silent PC Computer Case w/ USB 3.0 support and 2 x 120mm Fractal Design Silent Fans

My main concern is how well the MOBO passthrough of the LSI SATA controller works vs using the M1015 in IT mode that I have now. I'm also not sure if moving my zfs array from the M1015 to the MOBO LSI will work - I know zpool export will allow me to move the ZFS pool, but will that work to a new controller?

Any other feedback or comments?
 
You don't need a CPU with an integrated GPU (The E3s ending in '5') with that motherboard. Get an E3-1230v3 instead. You can combo it as well.

The PSU is overkill. Get a Seasonic SSR-360GP instead

The motherboard you list is not what you linked, BTW. Either should be fine, though no idea on the pass-through. In theory it should be fine as it's simply a PCIe device that is soldered to the motherboard instead of in a slot.
 
Excellent, thanks for the feedback.

Newegg's MOBO/CPU combos are a bit hard to follow so I totally missed that one. I love my E3-1230V2 so the V3 is perfect, thanks.

I was thinking that 500w might be too much, good call. I did hook up my Kill-a-watt to my current esxi rig (asrock z77/E3-1230/6 spinning disks/GPU/M1015) and it peaked at 250w on startup and idles at 150. Hoping the new setup is a bit less, but the ECC ram is the only reason for the changes.
 
One question - that PSU doesn't explicitly list EPS12V on the specs, but it does show an 8-pin CPU connection. OK for the supermicro board or should I be limiting my choices to PSUs with an EPS certification?

thanks!
 
I use a CX430/CX430M PS (has 1x 8 pin connector) and the board runs fine.
 
carolina_guy said:
One question - that PSU doesn't explicitly list EPS12V on the specs, but it does show an 8-pin CPU connection. OK for the supermicro board or should I be limiting my choices to PSUs with an EPS certification?

thanks!
Click to expand...

I've looked at NewEgg's pictures of the 8-pin connector and it looks to me like a proper EPS12v connector. Also, I've seen other build logs pairing this PSU with Supermicro motherboards and no reported issues.

I'm planning to do a similar pairing of this PSU and a Supermicro X10-series motherboard, FWIW.
 
I was looking for the exact same platform : the same Supermicro board and Xeon E3.

You list here you'll be running about 4 VMs on it. What if we extrapolate to about 9-10 Windows VMs ? Would it still be enough ? (this build is for Microsoft certifications).

Thanks for your feedback.
 
Yes, but it ultimately depends on what the VMs are doing/memory committed to them.
 
Well, one will be a file aerver under BTRFS RHEL. Others will be windows 2012 for DC, AD, exchange, terminal services.... Everything needed for microsoft certifications.

Usually not cpu intensive. it's more RAM intensive than cpu. The 2011 socket pleases me for possible future ram upgrade while Haswell max out at 32 GB.
 
You might be ok with 32gb of ram, but if you figure 4GB per VM it might be a little tight. CPU shouldn't be an issue. Disk I/O might be though, so an SSD would be helpful.
 
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