Hi All,
I am looking to build a ESXi Server All in one box.
Requirements
I will list all different builds and designs and you guys can give some suggestions and ideas.
At the moment I'm new to all this High I/O storage configuration. So please provide me on which is my best option or suggestions with other software
Hardware Raid Option
VMware ESXi 5.5 Build 1
Total $3126
VMware ESXi 5.5 Build 2
Total $3940
This is a list of servers that I will end up running.
I am looking to build a ESXi Server All in one box.
Requirements
- Require virtual machines to run the many different servers Win DC, Exchange, Linux and so on. At least 13 Virtual Machines
- I require very high I/O Performance storage pool with good redundancy without spending $1500 on a powerful raid card. My aim is to run the virtual machines off this storage pool
- I require passthrough on PCI-E Devices eg. Raid Controller, Quad Gigabit Nic etc
- I will be getting 4 x 4TB WD Red drives for now and have the ability to expand later on with the extra 20 HDD Bays.
- I don't have any limits on RAM or CPU for ESXi either. I have a license.
- Easily setup membership permissions and user permissions on SAMBA/SMB on Windows Active Directory Accounts
I will list all different builds and designs and you guys can give some suggestions and ideas.
At the moment I'm new to all this High I/O storage configuration. So please provide me on which is my best option or suggestions with other software
Hardware Raid Option
I was thinking of buying a LSI Logic LSI00328 MegaRAID SAS 9271-4i $515 and setting it up with Raid 10. The downside is that I don't want to buy another one of these raid cards just to be able to access the data again incase the original raid card fails in the future.
- Windows Server Storage Pool
I was also thinking of setting up Windows Storage Pool on WS 2012 R2 and setting up some sort of SDD/Ram Cache for better performance.
- ZFS Pool with Nexenta or simular software
I was also thinking of setting up Nexenta ZFS with about 8GB Ram .
- StarWind iSCSI on Windows Server 2012 R2
Last of all I was thinking of setting up StarWind iSCSI on Windows Server 2012 R2.
VMware ESXi 5.5 Build 1
- CPU: AMD FX 8350 [FD8350FRHKBOX], 8-CORE BLACK EDITION CPU, 4.0 GHz, Turbo Core up to 4.20 GHz $225 AUD
- Motherboard: ASRock 970-Extreme4 $116 AUD
- Memory: Corsair 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600MHz Vengeance PRO [CMY32GX3M4A1600C9R] DIMM 9-9-9-24 4x240-pin $425 AUD
- Case: Norco RPC-4224 Rackmount Server Chassis $500 AUD
- PSU: Corsair HX-750 $200 AUD
- Hard Drives: 4x 4TB Western Digital [WD40EFRX] 4x $250 = $1000
- SSD: Intel 120GB SSD 530 $120
- Raid Controller: IBM M1015 / New LSI MegaRAID 9240-8i (IN JBOD mode) $135
- SAS Expander: CHENBRO CK23601 $415
- Intel PRO/1000 PT Quad (Already have)
Total $3126
VMware ESXi 5.5 Build 2
- CPU:Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2620 v2 6-CORE (15M Cache, 2.10 GHz) $500 AUD
- Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X9SRL-F $355 AUD
- Memory: 64GB 4x16GB Memory ECC REG PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 $715 AUD
- Case: Norco RPC-4224 Rackmount Server Chassis $500 AUD
- PSU: Corsair HX-750 $200 AUD
- Hard Drives: 4x 4TB Western Digital [WD40EFRX] 4x $250 = $1000
- SSD: Intel 120GB SSD 530 $120
- Raid Controller: IBM M1015 / New LSI MegaRAID 9240-8i (IN JBOD mode) $135
- SAS Expander: CHENBRO CK23601 $415
- Intel PRO/1000 PT Quad (Already have)
Total $3940
This is a list of servers that I will end up running.
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Domain Controller
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2013
- Microsoft Lync Server 2013
- Microsoft Sharepoint 2013
- Ubuntu LAMP Server with Webmin
- Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2013
- Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013
- Microsoft Project Server 2013
- Microsoft Biztalk Server 2013
- ManageEngine Desktop Central
- ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
- ManageEngine OpManager
- VMware vCenter Server v5.5
- XBMC with PVR and Plex Media Server in Linux
- pfSense Router/Firewall
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