Home Lab advice

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randyc

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Jun 17, 2003
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Hi,

I will be taking the VCP soon and have also needed to build a home lab for a few years. I have been out of the hardware scene for a few years and only have left over knowledge. I've looked around here quiet a bit and ended up with the following system:


PSU: Corsair TX650 $79.99
Mobo: Gigabyte AM3+ AMD 99F0FX GA-990FXA-UD3 $137.99
CPU: AMD FX-8350 FD8350FRHKBOX $179.99
Memory: Corsiar 16gb RAM ... CMV16GX3M2A1600C11 $111.99

I haven't picked out storage yet, and I already have another case waiting for these parts. I'm going to use it storage, as a router (pfsense... I'm a m0n0wall convert) and some simple network services. I also plan on using it for light weight lab work (PBX software and assorted temporary installs).

Does anyone have any guidance? Can I shrink down on hardware, or is this just right?
 
I built a similar system a little over a week ago. I went with the UD5 because of the extra SATA ports and more expansion slots. I went with a 750W PSU but that's because I stuck in a HD6950 2GB for folding and testing GPU passthrough. Bought 2 RAM kits same as yours because I was concerned that if I had to upgrade later I wouldn't be able to find a matching set. What is your case? If it doesn't hold more than 6 hard drives the extra SATA ports are meaningless.

Just for the record the performance of ESXi on this combo is amazing!
 
I have a Zalman Z9 sitting in a box here ready to be used. It appears to have plenty of storage bays. I'll probably stick with that mobo, or at least if I change it it won't be to add more SATA.
Thanks for the input.

Anyone else?
 
I pulled the trigger and ordered it all. I also picked up two 1tb HDD for data storage and two SSDs to hold my OS files and ESXi.

SSD:
SanDisk Extreme 120GB SDSSDX-120G-G25 x2
WD 1TB WD10EZEX

I'm going to put each of the drive pairs in a RAID 1 to get going. Down the road I'll figure out more storage, but this should get me going.
 
randyc said:
I pulled the trigger and ordered it all. I also picked up two 1tb HDD for data storage and two SSDs to hold my OS files and ESXi.

SSD:
SanDisk Extreme 120GB SDSSDX-120G-G25 x2
WD 1TB WD10EZEX

I'm going to put each of the drive pairs in a RAID 1 to get going. Down the road I'll figure out more storage, but this should get me going.
Click to expand...

what are you using for a raid card?
 
the onboard raid card will not work with esxi. you will need a hardware raid card.
 
trick0502 said:
the onboard raid card will not work with esxi. you will need a hardware raid card.
Click to expand...
Understood -- do you have a suggestion for a decent RAID card?

Edit: I ended up purchasing a PEXSAT34RH... Hopefully this all works!
 
Last edited:
That controller doesn't appear to be supported by esxi -at least not out of the box. You might be able to hack together a custom driver. I'd return it and get something supported by default.
 
dave99 said:
That controller doesn't appear to be supported by esxi -at least not out of the box. You might be able to hack together a custom driver. I'd return it and get something supported by default.
Click to expand...

I'm making lots of bad choices today.
 
HighPoint Rocket 640L Lite <<ordered that instead now.

I also realized today that there isn't any on board video with this mobo, so I'm getting a $30 video card from Amazon delivered tomorrow.
 
Wish I saw this earlier. I am getting ready to decomm. one of my hosts. Interested in hearing how to Highpoint card will work out for you.
 
I recently refreshed my home lab (please see specs in sig). I went with a Synology DS413 for storage, with no local drives on the ESXi nodes. The systems are boot from iSCSI, and I also leverage the Synology NAS for all of my other file serving needs. The current setup allows me to quickly and easily bring the environment up or down depending on usage, yet my files/LUNs are available at all times (this is not feasible with a "ESX-passthrough" NAS). I have the storage carved out into two different Storage Profiles, SHR (3x4TB Hitachi) and a standalone Intel 520-series SSD. The high-priority systems sit on the SSD, and the others on the SHR pool.

Also, why such a big PSU? I would also recommend buying as much RAM as possible.
 
REDYOUCH said:
I recently refreshed my home lab (please see specs in sig). I went with a Synology DS413 for storage, with no local drives on the ESXi nodes. The systems are boot from iSCSI, and I also leverage the Synology NAS for all of my other file serving needs. The current setup allows me to quickly and easily bring the environment up or down depending on usage, yet my files/LUNs are available at all times (this is not feasible with a "ESX-passthrough" NAS). I have the storage carved out into two different Storage Profiles, SHR (3x4TB Hitachi) and a standalone Intel 520-series SSD. The high-priority systems sit on the SSD, and the others on the SHR pool.

Also, why such a big PSU? I would also recommend buying as much RAM as possible.
Click to expand...
I will definitely be maxing the RAM out within a month or so. I'm 'building on a budget', or at least a slow rate.

That PSU was chosen for no particular reason. The last computers that I built were probably circa 2004/2005 so I figured I'd just find a heavy PSU and be done with it.

peanuthead said:
Wish I saw this earlier. I am getting ready to decomm. one of my hosts. Interested in hearing how to Highpoint card will work out for you.
Click to expand...
I'll keep this thread updated as I go along.
 
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