Home vmware/Filer Server

[SoulJaChicken]

Hello everyone. I been browsing around and lurking. Reading threads about raid, file server and also what you all saying about hardware for running vmware ect... I'm looking for advice on my build for File and vmware server. Here is what I am thinking of having, 5 vmware running at most. To test and mess with different operating systems. See how they interact. Then i wanting the server to hold my music collection and video collection. Maybe a backup of my computer files once a week. Also down the road maybe record tv shows.

Build So far
OS: opensuse 10.3
Case: Cool Master stacker 810
Motherboard: Looking for advice on this. Should i go fit my needs and cheap? What do i look for when buying a motherboard? Anything Else besides supported CPU and RAM?
Ram: No motherboard so not sure DDR2? I thinking around 3gb or 4gb? I'm thinking around 512 for each vmware plus 512 recommended for OS come up shy of 3gb when i did the math.
CPU: Another area I'm not sure. Should i get dual core or a quad core CPU since i running vmware?
RAID Controller: HighPoint RocketRAID 1820A 64bit, 66/100/133Mhz PCI-X SATA Controller Card - Retail

Hard Drives: SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
I plan on putting the OS in Raid 1 mirror and data(music/videos) stored in raid 5 array.
Power Supply: Have yet to calculate amount of power i going to need.

For the operating system since i will be running Vmware machines should i get SCSI or raptor drives? Since the read and write are faster. Is there a noticeable difference between running vmware machines off SATA and SCSI?


Any Advice is much appreciated!

 

[drizzt81]

<disclaimer>
I am no VMWare expert and I do not know your performance goals with VMWare, but I have heard many people suggest that more RAM is better with VMWare.</disclaimer>

RAM: Given that you can get 8GiB of DDR2-800 for ~140 Euros, I have a hard time seeing why you wouldn't max out that system.
CPU: With 5 VMs running concurrently, I would also strongly suggest a dual or quad core processor.
MOBO and RAID card: Depending on what mobo you choose and how many HDDs you have, you can save money on the RAID card and just use linux software raid. Especially when compared to the card you are considering, you will not see a performance difference.

 

[MassiveOverkill]

Now granted, I'm running on Vista64, so it's not nearly as efficient as Linux, but I'm running 5 VMWare sessions and it sucks up the 8 gigs pretty quickly. You can never have enough RAM with VMWare. I purposely upgraded to a Quad Core because my overclocked X2 5000 Black Edition wasn't cutting it (3.0 Ghz OC).

I'm using Matrix RAID with my OS striped and my VMWare running on another striped array. My OS array is running 7200.11's and my VMWare array is on 7200.10's but if I can get work to pony up for the cost, I'll convert them to 7200.11's as well.

 

[SoulJaChicken]

Now granted, I'm running on Vista64, so it's not nearly as efficient as Linux, but I'm running 5 VMWare sessions and it sucks up the 8 gigs pretty quickly. You can never have enough RAM with VMWare. I purposely upgraded to a Quad Core because my overclocked X2 5000 Black Edition wasn't cutting it (3.0 Ghz OC).

I'm using Matrix RAID with my OS striped and my VMWare running on another striped array. My OS array is running 7200.11's and my VMWare array is on 7200.10's but if I can get work to pony up for the cost, I'll convert them to 7200.11's as well.

Vista has a feature where it reserves half your ram. So really if you didnt take that into account your only using 4gb i believe?

After thinking about it for awhile i wont be buying all hard drives right away. So i think i go with software raid to cut the cost down.

What about a motherboard? Any suggestion

 

[drizzt81]

Vista has a feature where it reserves half your ram. So really if you didnt take that into account your only using 4gb i believe?

Do you have any documentation of this `feature'? I have not noticed this with my 8GiB RAM vista business x64 machine. How does this problem precipitate?

What about a motherboard? Any suggestion

I have had problems with my Gigabyte 965P-DS4 and Debian Etch. If I used the on-board ethernet connection (Sky2 kernel module) I could not stably run VMWare. Adding a separate network card fixed that problem. With my second server, I made sure that I got an on-board solution that would not use the sky2 driver, I got a Gigabyte G33-DS2 and that is working rather nicely. I have 6GiB of RAM in it and a couple of HDDs. Nothing but smooth sailing thus far.

 

[SoulJaChicken]

Do you have any documentation of this `feature'? I have not noticed this with my 8GiB RAM vista business x64 machine. How does this problem precipitate?

I read an article on this site about it:
http://www.totse.com/community/showthread.php?t=2018063

article basically says vista cache your ram to make programs load faster.

I have had problems with my Gigabyte 965P-DS4 and Debian Etch. If I used the on-board ethernet connection (Sky2 kernel module) I could not stably run VMWare. Adding a separate network card fixed that problem. With my second server, I made sure that I got an on-board solution that would not use the sky2 driver, I got a Gigabyte G33-DS2 and that is working rather nicely. I have 6GiB of RAM in it and a couple of HDDs. Nothing but smooth sailing thus far.

I certainly be looking that up. thanks!