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ESXi box

riahc3

n00b
Joined
May 7, 2013
Messages
7
On the 19th of Jan, I made a decision to buy/make a ESXi box. On the 28th of Jan, I took the plunge and bought a HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 G1610T.

I ran it for a bit after I got it and it had a fan problem. Took them until last week, to pick it up and instead of the already established exchange, Im getting a refund for it.

Now I could simply just "rebuy" it but I feel it just isnt for me.

I have a KTL-TS313E/8G from the Gen8. The problem is that this is ECC RAM so a lot of motherboards and/or processors just went out the window.I dont have time and/or patience/desire, to sell/ship and/or put it up on eBay...

So Im gonna build it myself even if its a bit more expensive...

This ESXi box will run:

Windows Server 2012 R2 (my domain controller)
pfSense (my router)

A good budget idea is the Gen7 but I just am not a AMD guy, sorry.

The WS2012R2 will have StableBit DrivePool to setup some storage pools and divide 4 disks of 3TB into my personal space and two other family members so when they log on they will have their own personal space and will also load profiles, settings, etc from it. So in a sense, it will also act as a NAS to stream to them and to media device thru my home.

What Im thinking of right now is:

SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCL-F-O 178,20 € (not on the HCL)
Intel Xeon E3-1220 V2 179,78 €
another KTL-TS313E/8G (I already have one from the Gen8) 85,31 €

443.29 euros (for now)

Other than that, I pretty much got nothing. I need one small HDD as my system drive and a case that can hold at least 4 3.5" HDD besides that system drive. Also other standard components (PSU, etc)

Id like to hear some opinions :)

Thank you
 
What about the HP did you feel like wasn't for you?
Great question and I apologize that I didn't state it before.

Well, the HP had a fan problem where it made a electrical whizzing noise after leaving it about 3 days 24 hours nonstop doing nothing except idling at the "no boot media found" screen. HP came and told me that the whizzing noise was normal (which I don't know how it suddenly started after 3 days but oh well). They were going to replace it but mentioned it would problably do the same thing.

I wanted to replace the fan but it has a HP connector so impossible. That would be 1.

Second, it is impossible to just throw a 5th HDD in there. Granted that is my fault for not searching inside so...

Third, the HP warranty fiasco that was about a month ago. That was the straw.

Ive been looking these last 24 horus and I see the Dell T20 or this' big brother HP ProLiant ML310e Gen8 might be more my thing. Powerful and more or less the same price (paid I think 378€ for the microserver)
 
You state you want a 5th HDD connection. What other "must haves" do you have? What is your "nice to have" list?
 
You state you want a 5th HDD connection. What other "must haves" do you have? What is your "nice to have" list?
Yes; The 5th drive is a "must have" to use as a system drive although I guess I can get by with a addon card.

"Nice to have" is low noise since this will be in my room; I put this in the nice to have list because I imagine a minitower like this has standard connectors and fans, right?

This ESXi box will run:

Windows Server 2012 R2 (my domain controller)
pfSense (my router)

The WS2012R2 will have StableBit DrivePool to setup some storage pools and divide 4 disks of 3TB into my personal space and two other family members so when they log on they will have their own personal space and will also load profiles, settings, etc from it. So in a sense, it will also act as a NAS to stream to them and to media device thru my home.

Other than that, I cant think of anything else except a few testing VMs here and there.
 
I've found running with an SD is perfect for a home box. Why waste a drive that's unnecessary?
If you were at the bootloader odds are the cstate/processor performance wasn't at a lower level causing increased power usage/fan rpm. I've found it can take a whilw. But you will get the hairdryer sound effect eventually :)

Ecc memory doesn't limit you a ton. Have you considered a used system board?
 
I've found running with an SD is perfect for a home box. Why waste a drive that's unnecessary?
If you were at the bootloader odds are the cstate/processor performance wasn't at a lower level causing increased power usage/fan rpm. I've found it can take a whilw. But you will get the hairdryer sound effect eventually :)

Ecc memory doesn't limit you a ton. Have you considered a used system board?
Ill be installed ESXi on a USB stick then installing VMs on that 5th drive. The other 4 will be used in a storage pool for data.

As for used, I prefer a old board rather than one that has already been used.
 
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