Help For Home Infrascucture Plans

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heman22union

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Nov 6, 2013
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Hello everyone! I have been looking for a server/storage solution for my house for a few years now.
I have used the original Windows Home Server, but since then have moved to just Windows 7 providing CIFS shares to other computers around the house.
I'm wanting to set up an ESXI box to house several vms. My main concern is my storage setup.
After reading various threads here I was really excited to see that I found a place to have all my questions answered.


Computer 1 "file server" in use running Windows 7
ASUS E35M1-M PRO Fusion AMD E-350
4GB of DDR3
160GB Seagate SATA drive - OS
2TB Hitachi SATA drive - File Share
PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 500W PSU

---Software on pc---
torrent client
PLEX
Teamspeak 3 server


Network hardware
Dell optiplex 755 running Pfsense - open vpn, ipsec vpn, snort
D-Link DIR-655 running stock firmware - in switch/ap mode
D-Link DGS-2205 5 port 1000m switch
Trendnet 8 port 1000m switch
Linksys 5 port 100m switch


I'm Planning on making a new server.
HP desktop mobo with i5 650 - already own
HighPoint Rocketraid 2720 - owned for years, never used.
Some DDR3
160GB hdd for ESXI/guest oses
4X 2TB SATA drive in Raid 5 with above raid card. --- need to buy hdds looking at different seagate models.

VMs I want to run
1. server 2008 R2 or 2012 R2 for AD, torrenting, PLEX, Teamspeak and File serving. running 24X7
2. Win7 - to be hacked occasional use
3. Server 2008 - to be hacked occasional use
4. Win XP - to be hacked occasional use
5. Kali Linux - for hacking occasional use
6. Linux - occasional use


If I set up ESXi with a 160GB hdd for the all the guest os could I use the raid card directly in the Server 2012 vm? I just don't want to have TBs of Data in ESXI. I want to be able to get to my data easily... (move raid card and hdds with data on them to another computer and install drivers.... now I have my data)

I eventually will consider going the Server motherboard route with ecc ram and xeon
so I want my storage to be able to be migrated easily.

I am open to any ideas.
 
Last edited:
A few things. That 160GB drive is going to be a terrible datastore for VMs. As in, expect 30MB/s sequential transfer from it, if that. Use SSD.

Your RAID idea, while in theory is OK, may not turn out as well as you want. That card has no cache or BBU (battery backup unit), which means RAID5 or RAID6 is going to be slow. You may not care as long as it can push gigabit speeds, but I don't know if you'll be able to get that in a four disk raid five on a highpoint fakeraid card.

Honestly, you'll probably be happiest just running server 2008 natively on that system. I realize you want to use ESXi, and by all means go for it, but it sounds like your storage just isn't quite up to snuff yet. Also, don't forget VMDK's are limited to 2TB unless you move to 5.5, and 5.5 removes the ability to manage with the vsphere client. Lots of speed bumps.
 
I have no problems using an ssd for my datastore.

The way I wanted to do the RAID setup is completely separate from ESXI. I will have already built the array and just have ESXI pass the raid card to my server os. So the 2TB limit should not apply right?
Originally I planned on running server 2008 natively, but figured running ESXI would be easier to migrate to newer hardware/backup the server os and I get additional features (running other os on same box).

Since I only have bought that RAID card I'm willing to figure out other options. Which way do I need to go hw wise? Does it make sense for me to jump to server hw?
 
Correct, if you passthrough the RAID card, it will no longer be affected by vmdk limitations.

I think you're at a precipice that requires you to stop and really decide what is important to you before you start down the server route. Server gear is great, it gives you lots of great experience with lots of different tech, the problem is it gets pretty expensive quickly.

I recommend you stick with your original plan, use an SSD for the datastore that will house the OS's in ESXi, passthrough the raid card.

See if you like how it performs. You can always jump back to native OS installation instead of ESXi and see if that works better for you. If neither of those work out, then possibly start looking at rack gear. In my opinion your biggest downfall right now is that raid card, but as you already have it, you should give it a shot and see how things go. If your requirements fit into the kind of performance it gives, then there is no reason not to use it.
 
Just my input:
I picked up an Adaptec raid card with Max Cache. It uses SSD as a middle tier for my spinners.
My ESXi builds are SSD fast with 20+ TB of spinning storage. My file server has a 18TB vmdk because of hardware version 10 and ESXi 5.5. Super easy to expand the raid array in the future and then expand the VMFS then vmdk of my file server. No need for pass through and its "bugs."

Love it, worth it, amazing...
Nick
 
Another thing to do is make sure your hardware will support passthrough (vt-d/iommu). Your processor supports vt-d but your mobo may not.
 
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