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shared shorage build advice

A

akode

n00b
Joined
Apr 4, 2012
Messages
41
what im looking for to do

have shared storage serving up nfs and/or iscsi to esxi host, 2-3 windows vms, 5-6 linux vms
network shares for steaming media to 2 or 3 devices

now im aware of the n40l microserver but am a little cautious concerning the cpu on that box. so would i be better suited going for something like this http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1769151&CatId=2683

anyone use one of these before or know what the mobo is on that box. wondering if it supports ecc and if the included memory is 2x2gb or 1x4gb.
 
akode said:
what im looking for to do

have shared storage serving up nfs and/or iscsi to esxi host, 2-3 windows vms, 5-6 linux vms
network shares for steaming media to 2 or 3 devices

now im aware of the n40l microserver but am a little cautious concerning the cpu on that box. so would i be better suited going for something like this http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1769151&CatId=2683

anyone use one of these before or know what the mobo is on that box. wondering if it supports ecc and if the included memory is 2x2gb or 1x4gb.
Click to expand...

Definitely wont be ECC (they would have listed it if it did as there would be a price bump)
The included memory is listed as 2+2gb, 4 slots total 2 slots available.

Also 250W PSU is on the FAR low end...especially when you start adding drives and a HBA/raid controller.

Give it another read over...
 
akode said:
what im looking for to do

have shared storage serving up nfs and/or iscsi to esxi host, 2-3 windows vms, 5-6 linux vms
network shares for steaming media to 2 or 3 devices
Click to expand...
What kind of workload is there? Is this for home or work use? How much storage do you need? What kind of applications will you run in the VMs? What's your experience level like with other OSes? Will the VMs be hosted on another box, or the file server itself? Do you want to hotswap your disks?

You might want to look at the list of information that the sticky in General Hardware asks for. I think a lot of the same questions apply here.
akode said:
now im aware of the n40l microserver but am a little cautious concerning the cpu on that box. so would i be better suited going for something like this http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1769151&CatId=2683

anyone use one of these before or know what the mobo is on that box. wondering if it supports ecc and if the included memory is 2x2gb or 1x4gb.
Click to expand...
The specs page says 2+2. The motherboard might very well be custom-built.
 
home use
2tb usable space to start, so not asking for too much
windows server running as a DC, dns server. few windows xp/w7 vms for testing apps
linux servers running various lamp configs, nothing to entensive.
want the vms datastores to reside on this server but will have a separate esxi host to run those.
im perfectly comfortable using any linux/bsd distro.
dont need hotswap, would be nice ofcourse but price is more important
 
I always recommend ECC memory if you can afford a system that includes it; this prevents losing data. This tower system includes a name-brand motherboard, a case with 4 hotswap bays, and a 300W power supply (which, honestly, you may want to replace). Add a processor for $130, 8GB of memory for $63, and I get $655 shipped. Add a couple disks, install the OS of choice, there you go.

As for OS: take your pick, really. OpenIndiana if you're feeling adventurous and love command line interfaces, FreeNAS is a good middle option, WHS is user-friendly but may not handle iSCSI as well (I've never tried it).
 
akode said:
what im looking for to do

have shared storage serving up nfs and/or iscsi to esxi host, 2-3 windows vms, 5-6 linux vms
network shares for steaming media to 2 or 3 devices

now im aware of the n40l microserver but am a little cautious concerning the cpu on that box. so would i be better suited going for something like this http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1769151&CatId=2683

anyone use one of these before or know what the mobo is on that box. wondering if it supports ecc and if the included memory is 2x2gb or 1x4gb.
Click to expand...

Yes, it supports ECC. Mine came with a single 4GB DDR3 ECC stick.
here (pdf) is a link to the datasheet on the server from Fujitsu

Motherboard appears to be micro-atx layout however the power connector on the motherboard is proprietary and therefore the power supply is also.
 
Last edited:
Microserver can do this no problems, and actually be quite snappy in the process

Mine is configured as such

N36L
2 x 4GB ECC Kingston
1 x Intel CT PCIE x 1 low profile network card

Pop the standard 250gig drive into the CDROM Bay (you will need 1 x SATA cable + Molex to SATA Power adapter)

Insert 2 x 2TB drives into bays 1 and 2

Insert your choice of smallish SSD's into bays 3 and 4

Install Solaris Express 11 to the 250gig drive
Setup a mirrored pool for the 2 x 2TB drives
Setup 1 x SSD as the ZIL drive
Setup 1 x SSD as the ARC Cache

Share out the pool via the Intel card... over NFS and or SMB

Small / Quiet / Snappy / Low powered

Replace 2 x 2TB drives with 2 x 3TB drives if you like for a bit of extra space.
Replace the standard 250gig 2.5inch drive with a smallish laptop drive to save some power.

.
 
When buying a new storage system for ESXi, I would consider a system that is capable of
running a virtualized storage system. You have then the option to build an all-in-one, where
ESXI and a shared storage SAN is on one machine with high-speed/ low latency connects
between them up to several Gb/s in software.

For this vt-d (Intel) or IOMMU (AMD) is needed. Microserver does not support IOMMU
 
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