so i scored a few decent hp servers out of the recycle pile in the datacenter at work, theyre hp dl380 g5's, dual 3.0ghz dual-core procs in each, total of 24gb of memory between the two(can probably find more over the next few weeks, maybe get them up to 16gb each), each have 2x 36gb and 3x 72gb 10k sas drives in them...if you had this to start with, what would be the best thing to start looking for next? shared storage? whats everyone doing for esx licensing? id like to get to play with all the features and the nexus 1000v (im a network guy in real life) im sure theres going to be some licensing that im going to have to come up with, but any good educational/nfr programs? this is for home lab only so im not worried about vmware support...
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got some hardware, looking to build a vmware lab
- Thread starter nitsuj
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You can do a lot with 12GB of memory each. My home lab is running 8GB each on two servers right now and one system is currently in standby mode thanks to DPM, so the other server isn't even required yet.
DL380G5s will work fine..they'll just be loud. They should be 64-bit systems but make sure. Shared storage is up to you. You can go download the EMC VSA and host it on one of the system's local storage and use that as shared...or do a separate NAS.
Licensing is an issue. There is no legit way to get a lab license. You can get a 60-day eval from VMware but it'll expire. Same with the 1000v. I have heard rumors that some good news is coming for those building home VMware labs but no clue what that means. I'd love to see eval 4-socket Enterprise Plus licenses or something but I doubt you'll be that lucky. I know there is a working keygen out there for vSphere. I don't use it since I have legit licenses...but I've seen it work.
Let me know if you need help with the 1Kv. You'll also need a managed switch that does VLAN tagging for that.
DL380G5s will work fine..they'll just be loud. They should be 64-bit systems but make sure. Shared storage is up to you. You can go download the EMC VSA and host it on one of the system's local storage and use that as shared...or do a separate NAS.
Licensing is an issue. There is no legit way to get a lab license. You can get a 60-day eval from VMware but it'll expire. Same with the 1000v. I have heard rumors that some good news is coming for those building home VMware labs but no clue what that means. I'd love to see eval 4-socket Enterprise Plus licenses or something but I doubt you'll be that lucky. I know there is a working keygen out there for vSphere. I don't use it since I have legit licenses...but I've seen it work.
Let me know if you need help with the 1Kv. You'll also need a managed switch that does VLAN tagging for that.
If i had these, i would ask the local hydro company if i was allowed to run them. The next question would be who all lives in the house that has to hear these things roaring
wife and kid will e hearing them, but they wont be on all the time only when im playing with them
most running Cisco UC appsThey wont be much louder than my 6500
They are 64-bit, i checked before i lugged them home, i was thinking maybe pickup an MDS off ebay and a cheap SAN if i really get into it, but for now maybe get a 3rd server (maybe like a dl380 g3 or something next time i see one on the recycle pallet) and a DAS (theyre always in there) and do the VSA?The 1000v is no issue for the license, i wont get into details but i can get a legit one for free, im working on an eval of it and enterprise wide deployment at work, which would be 500-1000 ESX hosts + licenses for the lab...but i cant get my hands on the vsphere enterprise license
i have been looking for a keygen but am yet to find one that actually downloads and opens...i should be good with the 1000v, im very familiar with nx-os...i work on 7k's and 5k's everyday, and the managed switch is no big deal, in my home lab i have a loaded 6506 (s2 msfc2 today soon to be a s720-3b or 3bxl, flexwan, gbic and rj45 cards, fwsm), loaded 4503(sup2+ today soon to be a sup6-e, gbic and rj45 cards), 2x 3560g, 2x 3550 for switches today, ill probably get my hands on another 3560g for my vm lab to keep them on separate power and so that my cisco lab configs dont effect my vm lab
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The 1Kv isn't bad..it just confuses some people and troubleshooting it can get really interesting. If you're a network/vSphere person you're in a good spot. Usually it's the network guys trying to learn some about virtualization to help debug something.
Interested in moving to the Carolinas? I need someone like you.
Interested in moving to the Carolinas? I need someone like you.
i havent really had a chance to start playing with it yet, i can get my way through an esx install and virtual center and understand it but i dont know a ton about the vmware stuff, just enough to get by, we have a server group that does the vm stuff so i dont get to touch it that much and id love to learn more...once the 1k is deployed were going to start doing a proof of concept and eval of fcoe on the nexus, right now everytime a new esx cluster is implemented theres 32 connections to the mds9500's and were looking to start cutting that down considering we have 6 9509's and theres maybe 2 line cards worth left open in my datacenter, theres 4 of them full in our dr datacenter another pair is going to be quite pricey to add let alone all the fiber runs and rack space for them.
We have a number of customers running FCoE in production using 5Ks. Easy to set up...if you can do a MDS you can do FCoE. Just a few additional commands for the vfcs. Here, I walk you through it.
http://jasonnash.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/video-demonstration-of-the-cisco-nexus-5020-and-fcoe/
http://jasonnash.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/video-demonstration-of-the-cisco-nexus-5020-and-fcoe/
ill have to take some pictures and post em up...the servers are sitting in my kitchen against the wall right now, i need to figure out where they're going since my rack is full and i haven't found the rails for them yet...im not in a huge rush to get em in since i still haven't found a way to get my hands on vsphere licensing...
Pictures of the current rack pictures of the servers pictures pictures pictures
heres the current rack, maybe a few months old now, most of the stuff is in there
defuseme2k
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HOLY SH*T, that is in your house. GOOD GRIEF. I would be SHOT.
I have 3 dl 385 g2s myself. They're fairly loud too, and they are in my babies nursery. White noise anybody? I have to leave them powered off a lot.
I'm using open filer for iscsi, but I've been eyeing Jason's luck with the storage device he bought for his lab. Money Money. I have access to enterprise plus licensing so I'm in good shape in that department, but I don't have access to a 1000v.
I have 3 dl 385 g2s myself. They're fairly loud too, and they are in my babies nursery. White noise anybody
? I have to leave them powered off a lot.I'm using open filer for iscsi, but I've been eyeing Jason's luck with the storage device he bought for his lab. Money Money. I have access to enterprise plus licensing so I'm in good shape in that department, but I don't have access to a 1000v.
HOLY SH*T, that is in your house. GOOD GRIEF. I would be SHOT.
I have 3 dl 385 g2s myself. They're fairly loud too, and they are in my babies nursery. White noise anybody
I'm using open filer for iscsi, but I've been eyeing Jason's luck with the storage device he bought for his lab. Money Money. I have access to enterprise plus licensing so I'm in good shape in that department, but I don't have access to a 1000v.
yup...thats actually in our bedroom behind the door
its all lab so its only on when im using it so its not that bad, my kid is 3 and lights and buttons are amusing to him so i could never put it in there, he has figured out how the power switch on the 6500 power supply works and that when he turns it, a loud fan and a bunch of lights come on, its now unplugged...what storage device is that? i really need to find myself and ent plus license resource haha
sure
ygm
ok, so i havent gotten around to taking any pictures yet, but i do have some more insight and thoughts on what im going to do, besides keep looking for memory, hoping to find a few more 2gb sticks of memory so that i can get the servers up to 16gb each, if not ill stick with the 12 or 14 gig i have already for now.
for my shared storage, i was looking around and seeing alot of dl380 g3's in the recycle pile, im thinking of grabbing one, putting 2 CPU's in it and as much memory as i can find (i'm guessing 6gig since it has 6 slots) and loading it with drives (most likely 6x 146g, or 300g if i can find them) and installing vsphere ent plus on it (when i find a license) and do a VM for my storage appliance, or just run it natively...thoughts?
for my shared storage, i was looking around and seeing alot of dl380 g3's in the recycle pile, im thinking of grabbing one, putting 2 CPU's in it and as much memory as i can find (i'm guessing 6gig since it has 6 slots) and loading it with drives (most likely 6x 146g, or 300g if i can find them) and installing vsphere ent plus on it (when i find a license) and do a VM for my storage appliance, or just run it natively...thoughts?
yeah i was looking to use iSCSI, im guessing its my best bet, i could do NFS, im guessing iscsi would be better to do though
Use the new EMC VSA (Uber edition...very good) and you can do compression and NFS offload using all the Celerra vCenter plugins. Why use iSCSI?
I don't get the fascination with iSCSI on this forum.