Lab Suggestions

What should I buy?

  • Dell PowerEdge T420

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Dell PowerEdge T320

    Votes: 2 15.4%

  • Upgrade the Whitebox

    Votes: 11 84.6%
  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .
L

l3thal6

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 26, 2011
Messages
322
Greetings,

I am looking for your collective thoughts on a fork in the road that I am facing in my home lab.

Currently I am whiteboxin' ESXi 5 on the following hardware:

ASUS Maximus Gene-Z
i5 2500K
16 GB DDR3
2x WD RE4 500 GB (No RAID)
1x WD Green 320 GB
1x 4GB USB Flash (ESXi boot disk)

I run 4 VM's with moderate loads, mostly just a Windows domain that all of my other computers are joined to that provides a few internal web sites, Exchange and file/media shares.

Over the next few months I plan on scaling up so that I can start drilling into my VCP after I complete CCNP. I have 4 years of production experience with VMware (1.5 in a pretty decent sized DC) that I would like to represent with a VCP.

Additionally I will test out ideas that I have at work on this system before I even test them on my work lab ( 4x Cisco 3750G (from 2005), 3x Dell R510 w/dual X5650 and 1x NetApp FAS270C :) )

Environment variables:

I have a $2000-2500 budget (being single is awesome)
I have an extensive Cisco lab with 1000BASE-T deployed in some segments

Desired End Result:

Stable, efficient system hosting a Windows domain and a nested vSphere 5 Lab. The vSphere 5 Lab will contain 3 ESXi VM's and a FreeNAS VM to provide shared storage along with 3-5 nested VMs. The Windows domain will contain 4 guests running the same services as previously described. If I get a Dell I will be buying a Dell IDSDM to install vSphere on and moving all of the HDD's from the whitebox.

Options:

1) Upgrade my whitebox with a RAID controller, 32GB DDR3 and an i7-2600K

2) Sell the whitebox and buy a Dell T320
1x Xeon E5 2420, 32GB


Refrences:
http://www.chriscolotti.us/vmware/vsphere/vmware-vcloud-in-a-box-for-your-home-lab/
 
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I just got a t320 for a client, it's a very nice machine (sitting right next to me at the moment). Extremely quiet for a server, pretty darn close to my T110-II that I use for my home/lab vm host, that's with 2 15k & 5 7.2k drives in it. You could easily run the thing under a desk next to you and it would barely be noticeable. With ceiling fans and the A/C running in my house, I can't hear it at all.

I have the perc 710p in it, not sure of the performance yet as I'm using 2 ssd's for the initial setup & migration (sbs 03->11), then transferring the finished vm to the spinning drives.

If you go that route, be aware the onboard sata is not individual connectors, but a single 8087.
 
I like Dell's or similar for full support. However, you can get more more bang for the buck by building your own. The biggest advantage of a second box is the ability to rebuild at will.
 
Thanks for the replies!

As far as processors go, I have settled on the Xeon E5-2420, gobs of L2 cache and 6 cores at an attractive price point has me sold.


I also just configured a T320 and T420 identically.
Cabled chassis for 4x 3.5In HDD (I really don't need hot swap drives on a non-production box)
1x E5 2420
1x 2GB ECC RAM (Dell forces you to buy RAM :( )
1x 500GB HDD (Dell forces you to buy an HDD :( )
1x Perc H310 RAID Card
1x Dual Internal SD Card

T320 came out to $1655
T420 came out to $1825

For a $170 premium, I'll take the leap to the T420. I can easily scale out the box if the need arises in the future by dropping in another E5 2420. Also, I'll obviously be getting more RAM for the box, I have my eye on a nice 32GB $300 kit on Newegg.
 
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Not much on barebones models, but maybe a little. When I got my T110-II, my rep couldn't beat the price I got, as I was getting the minimum config and adding drives, ram etc on my own.
 
If I could get the T420 without drives and RAM I would save close to $300. That would be awesome.

I am chatting with a rep now about it.
 
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Well, unfortunately I do have to buy HDD and RAM with the server. In that case I'll be snagging the T320, I also decided that I don't need the dual internal SD card so that will save another $100. The T320 should be around $1550.
 
Yeah, I didn't go with the sd cards either. I bought a couple of 8gb usb sticks and will keep the spare with the config already on it.
 
Contact Dell directly. They'll do a No-HDD server. They're just not configurable via the website.
 
So, after a little more thought, I'll be keeping the whitebox!

Just gotta snag 32GB of RAM. According to vSphere client I've been swapping/ballooning all day today with 16GB.
 
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My 32GB Kit just came in this morning thanks to Amazon prime. Slapped it in the whitebox, it feels great to have so much overhead now, time to BUILD!
 
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