Need advice for ESXi 5.5 build

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Ghost26

Weaksauce
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Jan 18, 2009
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Hi !

This is the first time I will build my home ESXi server.

The main goal of this build is essentially for home lab. I want to pass the Microsoft and eventually VMware certifications as I will get more experience when using ESXi.

But I've never built a home lab server.

For VMs storage, I have a Synology DS1513+ with 3x Western Digital SE 4 TB + 2x Crucial M4 128 GB SSD Cache. I love this little box and its performance. I will connect it to the server via iSCSI. So for the server I would only get a SSD.

For networking, I have a Cisco Catalyst 2960-S-24TS-L Gigabit switch and a Cisco 2821 Router (I'm CCNA certified).

So, I would need advice for this build :)

So far, I have looked at these components.

SSD : SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

CPU : Intel Intel Xeon E3-1225V3 Haswell 3.2GHz LGA 1150 95W Quad-Core Server Processor BX80646E31225V3

Case : Fractal Design Define Mini Black Micro ATX

RAM : Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 ECC Unbuffered Server Memory w/TS Model KVR16E11K4/32

Motherboard : SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O uATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C222 DDR3 1600


Eventually, I will put Western Digital SE HDDs in this to get a replicated backup of my data on this server. That's why I've chose a Fractal Design case in which I can put many drives.

I read that having a LSI controller on-board is a great thing to have if I want to virtualize storage (ZFS in mind here!). Is this motherboard fine or is there another model which would be better ?

Is the LGA2011 socket to be considered for home virtualization lab?

Thank you very much !
 
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The hyper-visor doesn't need all that much HDD performance, save some money and buy cheaper SSDs...you don't need 840 Pros for their OS...not at all. You can if you want of course but that's a waste I think...in my servers I put two cheap Sandisk 64GB SSDs on there in RAID1.

I don't feel like researching your choices right now haha but for a home lab I'm sure they're fine. If you're studying to be certified then really your concern for VMWare is just playing with the different settings and config options and more of the Microsoft tests are around PowerShell and the OS, the Hyper-V stuff is pretty basic when it comes to the exams.

The only reason to say one CPU/Mobo is better than another is what virtualization features they support. Go look at the INTEL ARK page for that CPU and make sure it supports whatever virtualization feature you want to play with such as PCI-E pass-through.

That's my two cents.
 
Thanks for your input.

I'd rather take a single SSD. It's not that expensive. I can get it of 135$ which is not that bad for a SSD.

The motherboard supports VT-d and of course the Xeon also supports it. So at this level I'm good.
 
You could get the E3-1230 v3 . It comes with Hyperthreading, uses less watts, slightly faster but costs a little bit more.

I opted for the X10SLL+-F I wanted to put in the IBM ServeRAID M1015 flashed to IT mode.

If you need more network ports, This works pretty well. SILICON PEG6I-RoHS SIX PORT 1G

I also ended up getting this ram: Kingston 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 1600 ECC Unbuffered w/TS Intel Model KVR16E11/8I

Edit:
Also if you want two more drives with the same look, you could get the Fractal Design Define R4.
 
Thanks for the CPU. I'll get this one :)

Define R4 is too big for my needs. Even the Fractal Mini is quite big, but I like it. Sure, the bet would be a rack mount case but in this category I know absolutely nothing.
 
If you want a rackmount case I highly recommend NORCO. I have a NORCO RPC-2212 and it is nice. It's a 2U with 12 hot swap bays. They make a bunch of others too. 2U is nice because it's easy to find parts for unless you need compatibility for full size add-on cards but most cards can change brackets to half size. I had an issue with one of their rails and they sent me the replacement with no questions asked.
 
Thanks. I've taken a look to Norco cases too. I had that question in mind too : brackets. That's why I went first with a normal standard case for better future compatibility with add-in cards (mainly Ethernet NICs or HBAs). I want it to be silent too.

And a rack mount is really not the same price too ! lol !

After all, I don't think I need the main advantage of a rack mount case : hot-swappable HDDs bays. I can afford having internal HDDs.

The only other thing that bugs me is RAM. I've seen that's it's important to have locked BOMs RAM on server grade hardware. Is it true ? Kingston, Crucial or another one ?

Thanks ! :)
 
Define important? For a home lab, heck no. Are you going to loose thousands, or millions of dollars if your server(s) crashes? No.

I've never had any issues so long as the memory is identical and meets all the mobo spec requirements.
 
Ok !! :)

So for a home lab, would you buy this ? Is it a good investment ?
 
If your goal is truly to become certified and really study the material then yeah, of course it's a good investment. That isn't to say it's the cheapest way of going about it. Simply e-baying some old machines might be cheaper but I for one totally understand the desire to build something yourself and have new equipment if you have the money for it. I'm sure you'll do more than just study with it...media server or something...

Much of this, especially the case, is your personal preference. You will however find it difficult to study things like clustering and high-availability with only one server, that's where the e-baying cheap machines would come in handy, but that wont stop you from becoming certified.
 
Check my sig.
Gear doesn't pound the jargon and conditional BS you need to pass the tests, memorization does.

I ran stack of 7200.12's from a Dell EQL shelf from work in a gaming box I turned into my storage experiment.
I also had a Supermicro OF shelf and old Netapp filer from the DC's ewaste pile.
It's just like work, without the time crunch.

I stopped short of building a few hosts a few weeks ago b/c we have lab gear for HA/DRS/FT testing.

It's nice to have your own gear, but honestly a cert class has lab gear for you to crank out lab assignments.
 
Socket 2011 :
X9SRH-7F
SNK-P0050AP4 cooler
Xeon E5-2620v2
KVR16LR11S4K4/32I
Intel 530 180
Fractal Design Case
Seasonic Platinum

What about this? I read more cpu cores is better for virtualization. I can get this for a really good price too.

Sure, it doesn't get me two machines for clustering and HA, but I think it's a good start for running about 10 VMs.
 
Ghost26 said:
Sure, it doesn't get me two machines for clustering and HA, but I think it's a good start for running about 10 VMs.
Click to expand...
I hear tell you could theoretically put ESXi into a VM, so you could practice with clustering and HA using only a single host. It's just a rumor to those of us with wives who dislike the hardware expenditures.
 
Yeah I've also read that somewhere. Nested virtualization.
Or when the time will come I'll buy a used server just to experiment HA and clustering. I don't think it needs to be the same hardware (confirmation?)
 
Boot your HV off a thumb drive or sdcard if you are doing on steel HV. Save the good stuff for the actual work.
 
TeeJayHoward said:
I hear tell you could theoretically put ESXi into a VM, so you could practice with clustering and HA using only a single host. It's just a rumor to those of us with wives who dislike the hardware expenditures.
Click to expand...

Just wait until she buys her next $2,000 purse or pair of shoes lol
 
MysticRyuujin said:
Just wait until she buys her next $2,000 purse or pair of shoes lol
Click to expand...

lolllll :p

I don't have a joint bank account yet :p ;) Should be able to avoid this loll ;)

Boot your HV off a thumb drive or sdcard if you are doing on steel HV. Save the good stuff for the actual work.
Click to expand...

Can you explain more please ? I know I can boot ESXi off a USB thumb drive, but is there any advantages in doing this than installing it on a SSD ?

If you'd buy a home lab, would you consider these components ?
 
If it's a dedicated lab and you're not pinching pennies then I think booting off the USB is kind of silly.

His suggesting is related to the fact that the hypervisor doesn't really require that much HDD performance or space. He's suggesting that you put the hypervisor on the USB drive and save every byte of the SSD for your VMs. At least that's what I assume he's suggesting.
 
VMs hard-drive will be stored on a SAN. I have a DS1513+ with 3x Western Digital SE 4 TB + 2x128 GB SSD for read cache connected in iSCSI.

SSD would be for caching and datastore or to discover other functionalities I can do with this and ESXi (I'm open to suggestions. I've read that SSD caching can boost performance).

But if booting from a USB drive doesn't impact performance, I can save a bit on SSD ;)
 
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