• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

SAN build used with ESXi

C

CiscoInside

Gawd
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
546
Hey all, I am working on a new build for storage and since this will be a second machine in my rack running I decided to run ESXi on it and add it as another host in my lab. So this is what I have been thinking so far:

Case:
NORCO RPC-4220 4U Rackmount Server Chassis w/ 20 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS 6G Drive Bays (Mini SAS Connector) - OEM

*I am looking for expandability and this 4u case has that.

RAID Card:
I was looking at either:
LSI MegaRAID SATA/SAS 9260-8i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 w/ 512MB onboard memory RAID Controller Card, Kit

or:
LSI MegaRAID SATA/SAS 9260-4i 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 w/ 512MB onboard memory RAID Controller Card, Single

with possibly using a:
Intel RES2SV240 PCI Express x4 Half-length Low-profile Plug-in Card SAS RAID Controller

for more drives when I expand. Thoughts and opinions especially are open on this, but keep in mind I am trying to stay with LSI - I need the card to be compatible with Vmware so I passthrough to my openfiler VM.

Mobo:
ASUS Z8PE-D12(ASMB4-IKVM) Dual LGA 1366 Intel 5520 Tylersburg SSI EEB 3.61 Dual Intel Xeon 5500 and 5600 Series w/ Remote ...

CPU:
Intel Xeon E5506 Nehalem-EP 2.13GHz LGA 1366 80W Quad-Core Server Processor BX80602E5506

Memory:
Kingston 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Registered Server Memory Model KVR1333D3D4R9S/8G

Power supply:
Something like this: Athena Power Zippy MRM-6600P 2 x 600W Mini Redundant Server Power Supply - OEM


*** The motherboard/cpu/memory I am choosing is to allow me to expand. I plan on adding a second CPU later, and memory as well. Right now I plan on just populating three bays of memory on the first CPU for about 21 gigs of memory. As prices drop I will keep adding and add another processor.

Hard Drives:
I would like some input on this. I want to start off with 4 2TB drives - maybe even 8 all depending on which RAID card I purchase, etc.

Also, what RAID level do you recommend I should run for this. This is be my main datastore for my VMs, and I am currently testing with VMware View which is multiple virtualized desktops, etc.

I also will have my main storage running of this array. Chances are they will be held in a datastore, but non the less my storage will be on there.

I plan on using ESXi as the host OS on this build, and run a vm with openfiler to produce the LUNs for my other ESXi host.

Thanks!
 
Your build looks amazing similar to my build before the members here got their hands on it :) Here's my build thread from a week ago: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1627168

But to comment on your post...

CASE: Nice choice.

RAID CARD: Sorry no advice here.. I'm not up-to-speed on all of the controllers you listed.

MOBO: Also a nice choice. I actually looked at something similar (Here) If your system is going to run ESXi with an openfiler head vm, then you won't need more processor and RAM. If you intend to repurpose the box a year from now then you will probably be able to upgrade for half the price you see today. This is the logic everyone used to talk me off the dual socket ledge. Plus you can get a single socket sandy bridge for a decent price.

CPU: I will defer to my sandybridge comment above. quad core core 3.2Ghz for the same price as the quad core 2.13Ghz nehalem you listed. http://ark.intel.com/compare/52271,37096

RAM: Looks good.. although expensive. $370 just to get off the ground. But I guess expensive is subjective.

POWER: Do you need redundant power for your lab? Don't get me wrong that thing is cool as shit. But you could save some money with a standard ATX supply.

HARD DRIVE: Are you looking for a manufacturer/model suggestion for those 2TB drives? I'm not sure what everyone else here will say but I've always had good luck with Hitachi deskstars. Something like THIS

RAID: There isn't a correct answer here. It all comes down to how much protection you want for your data and how much capacity you are willing to give up for that protection. How much performance you want for your data and how much risk you are willing to take. I could tell you to roll RAID10 for high IO and protection but if you are only running 2 VDI workstations in a lab you will be wasting lots of disks and protecting something you don't care about. I could also point you to RAID0 and you will get some great IO with the potential to lose your VDI lab.

I will be interested to see where you land on this build. I'm ordering mine this weekend.

-Brian
 
Brian,

Thank you for the information! I looked through your thread and see what you mean. The real reason why I picked that mobo/cpu/ram is because I will be using the server as another host in vcenter as well, so I can offload the more critical vms to this server and also use the extra resources (as well as expandable) for more vms in my lab.

I agree on the PSU, it is def a tad on the expensive side. I am used to buying 100 dollar PSUs and never figure it would cost that much, but considering I will have a mix of lab and production vms on both this server and the server itself hosting datastores for my other host, uptime is a huge factor in this as well.I am just wondering if 600watts will be powerful enough for the drives and expandibility for more.
 
@OP

One thing that stands out in your list is:

with possibly using a:
Intel RES2SV240 PCI Express x4 Half-length Low-profile Plug-in Card SAS RAID Controller

for more drives when I expand. Thoughts and opinions especially are open on this, but keep in mind I am trying to stay with LSI - I need the card to be compatible with Vmware so I passthrough to my openfiler VM.
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure what your intentions are with regard to your VM setup and storage pooling, but bear in mind that you won't be able to share storage between the two controllers unless you're using a volume manager of some kind.

You may wish to simply stick with the one LSI controller and then add in an HP SAS Expander when you want to add more drives.
 
parityboy said:
@OP

One thing that stands out in your list is:



I'm not entirely sure what your intentions are with regard to your VM setup and storage pooling, but bear in mind that you won't be able to share storage between the two controllers unless you're using a volume manager of some kind.

You may wish to simply stick with the one LSI controller and then add in an HP SAS Expander when you want to add more drives.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice on that card, it looks like that would be a go for the HP.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top