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SharePoint Farm (ESXI) Recommendations Please

O

OasisMike

n00b
Joined
Jun 15, 2012
Messages
25
Will it be possible to run all these at the same time on a six core intel processor, and how fast should it be to make SharePoint feel somewhat normal?

1 DC (2008r2)
1 SharePoint 2010 (web) (2008r2)
2 SharePoint 2010 App servers (Search, Excel etc.) (2008r2)
2 SQL 2008r2 (2008r2) <--(planning on giving each two threads...?)
1 Exchange 2010 (2008r2)
1 virtualized NAS <--(someone said give this 8GB...?)
1 Virtual Center client (linux)

I'd like to rotate one or two of these in at a time:
1 Citrix
1 TMG 2010 (2008r2)
1 System Center 2012 (2008r2)
1 Backup server (2008r2)
1 Desktop

Do I need to get LGA 2011?
Do I need to get ECC memory?

Does anyone if different VMware trial licenses can run on the same box (feature sets, not two hosts)?
Will I be able to get a new 30 day license, and just rebuild it every thirty days, and will the VM's still work from shared storage?
Is the right way to get internal use software for this home lab/demo machine(s) to get certified and become a service partner?

What else will I need, hardware-wise? Can I virtualize the interconnects to avoid needing a switch and ethernet adapters? (I could run a Pentium-D for the NAS, but the electricity would cost me an extra $40 a month).

Electricity is a factor, but I won't be happy if they're too slow or unresponsive. I remember trying to use a desktop with WinXP on a 2.4 Ghz CPU and it was painfully slow - are my VM's going to be like that on a 2Ghz or 2.4GHz processor? Or, are they able to run pretty well as long as I avoid logging onto them interactively?

I have five hundred, and hope to borrow several hundred more, but a thousand dollar CPU just isn't in the cards, I can go perhaps...I don't know, I haven't priced controller cards or anything except memory/cpu and motherboards, new and on ebay, (new and used Xeon's)

It seems like I could get an Ebay Xeon six core for $400, and a 1366 board for $160, but am thinking I should just get them new and avoid potential drama, but then that's 6-8 hundred for CPU and $160-$330 for mobo

Thanks - sorry if these have been asked and answered, most of the posts I've read haven't needed to re-create an entire enterprise domain like I do.

:)

EDIT: this is to update my skill-set and I'd like to show it to potential employers using DDNS to Cox residential, if anyone has insight into that possibility (how quickly I'll get my account terminated, or if they'll care if it's only a few times a month people look at it). i think it could really help define me to potential employers, and may even be something i could market to the SMB segment around here. I'd really like to get experience with VMware's vSphere, but it's the SharePoint experience I need to build up quickly. ESXi just looks to be the simplest way to get it all onto one box using the least amount of electricity, even though there's the 30 day limitation.
 
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Since this is a demo/lab there won't be much load. Most likely you CAN do it on a 6-core if it's light load/idle systems. Put any load here and you're going to have problems. If it's light load you don't need to give anything more than a single vCPU. No, you can't mix trial licenses on the same system. It's a license for THAT system..you don't apply a license per VM. If you buy Enterprise license that whole host is licensed for that.

No such think as a vCenter client for Linux...unless you mean the vCenter Server appliance that runs on Linux but it uses more RAM than a simple install of Windows Server and vCenter installed on top set for small installation (I give mine 4GB of RAM, appliance is 8GB I think).

Yes, you can rebuild hosts and re-apply new licenses every 60 days (it's a 60-day eval, not 30). Yes, you can re-import VMs and boot them back up.

Buy whatever CPU is good right now. 6-core is going to cost you. It's just not the sweet spot in most cases for lab builds. That's why my hosts are all quad-core. I'd love 6-core CPUs...but I'm not paying what Intel wants.

If you want to impress me in an interview you setup at least two VMware hosts in a cluster. One host is easy. You'll need an okay network switch and a couple NICs in each box.
 
Your going to need a boat load of ram.
1 DC (2008r2) -> 2gig ram minimum
1 SharePoint 2010 (web) (2008r2) 8 gig of ram to work correctly
2 SharePoint 2010 App servers (Search, Excel etc.) (2008r2) 8 gigs of ram
2 SQL 2008r2 (2008r2) <--(planning on giving each two threads...?) 8 gigs of ram
1 Exchange 2010 (2008r2) 8 gigs of ram - 10 preferable.
1 virtualized NAS <--(someone said give this 8GB...?) 8 gb
1 Virtual Center client (linux) 8 gigs of ram

6X8 48 gb of ram you will need at least 50 gb of ram

Free licence and essentials licence is for only 32 gig per cpu

I would put sharepoint all on one server mainly because its easier to integrate the features if you put them on seperate servers your going to have fun configuring them as well as the fact your going to have a lot of 3 way traffic between your sharepoing, apps and sql.

CPU is not the problem in your design its your amount of RAM allocation. Remember also VMware doesn't like to overprovision ram anymore. You will run into problems with your current setup.

Why bother virtualizing a NAS? If its a demo stick with DAS save your self the ram resources.
Also why do you need Vcenter if you have one host?

If you get rid of nas and Vcenter you save 16gb of ram.
Get rid of 1 sharepoint server
you have a savings of 24 gb of ram.
 
What do you mean VMware doesn't like to overprovision RAM anymore? It does it better than ever.

You don't need 50GB of RAM for all that.
 
Wrench00 said:
Your going to need a boat load of ram.
1 DC (2008r2) -> 2gig ram minimum
1 SharePoint 2010 (web) (2008r2) 8 gig of ram to work correctly
2 SharePoint 2010 App servers (Search, Excel etc.) (2008r2) 8 gigs of ram
2 SQL 2008r2 (2008r2) <--(planning on giving each two threads...?) 8 gigs of ram
1 Exchange 2010 (2008r2) 8 gigs of ram - 10 preferable.
1 virtualized NAS <--(someone said give this 8GB...?) 8 gb
1 Virtual Center client (linux) 8 gigs of ram

6X8 48 gb of ram you will need at least 50 gb of ram

Free licence and essentials licence is for only 32 gig per cpu

I would put sharepoint all on one server mainly because its easier to integrate the features if you put them on seperate servers your going to have fun configuring them as well as the fact your going to have a lot of 3 way traffic between your sharepoing, apps and sql.

CPU is not the problem in your design its your amount of RAM allocation. Remember also VMware doesn't like to overprovision ram anymore. You will run into problems with your current setup.

Why bother virtualizing a NAS? If its a demo stick with DAS save your self the ram resources.
Also why do you need Vcenter if you have one host?

If you get rid of nas and Vcenter you save 16gb of ram.
Get rid of 1 sharepoint server
you have a savings of 24 gb of ram.
Click to expand...

NetJunkie said:
What do you mean VMware doesn't like to overprovision RAM anymore? It does it better than ever.

You don't need 50GB of RAM for all that.
Click to expand...


Oh oh, CAT FIGHT!!!
 
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what did the monkey say as he peed into the cash register?
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/Rm/toolsbowden-lg.jpg[/
"this is running into money."
~ Curtis Bowden, of an old quotation

so how about three quad-core hosts and run NAS from the old Pentium-D?

still need a boat-load of RAM, but separating things out could make sense from a training and performance point of view.

Our homes had their electricity "base-line" set 15 years ago, and only included basic home lighting (gas heat), so we pay 31 cents per kilowatt hour pretty quickly after going above base-line (and I think it's 75 cents an hour if we turn on the air conditioning, which we thankfully never need).

I was gifted a Dell PE-1850 and can't run it because it takes too much electricity - and because no VT, so it would only run as one of the servers I need.

Still, 3-4 boxes is much better than the bench-full of old PC's I used to teach myself server skills - and back from 2000-2005 the hardware requirements weren't as stiff.

or should I start with a six core and get my sharepoint environment built since that's what I need to show the most?
 
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NetJunkie, I hear you tho about needing to show redundancy, clustering apps across hosts, and actually leveraging the VMware solutions before it becomes a real-boy - I hope to get there, and soon.
 
sed the wrong terms :) besides was a little un called for :)

it's more of a cat fight with two certified techs :)
Click to expand...

Troublemaker!!;)

I usually tend to lean more towards the opinion of the person holding the VCDX...:D
 
Vader said:
Troublemaker!!;)

I usually tend to lean more towards the opinion of the person holding the VCDX...:D
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the certification at wrench has :) I know he has it and is certified, I also know what he does for a living.
 
OasisMike said:
what did the monkey say as he peed into the cash register?
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/Rm/toolsbowden-lg.jpg[/
"this is running into money."
~ Curtis Bowden, of an old quotation

so how about three quad-core hosts and run NAS from the old Pentium-D?

still need a boat-load of RAM, but separating things out could make sense from a training and performance point of view.

Our homes had their electricity "base-line" set 15 years ago, and only included basic home lighting (gas heat), so we pay 31 cents per kilowatt hour pretty quickly after going above base-line (and I think it's 75 cents an hour if we turn on the air conditioning, which we thankfully never need).

I was gifted a Dell PE-1850 and can't run it because it takes too much electricity - and because no VT, so it would only run as one of the servers I need.

Still, 3-4 boxes is much better than the bench-full of old PC's I used to teach myself server skills - and back from 2000-2005 the hardware requirements weren't as stiff.

or should I start with a six core and get my sharepoint environment built since that's what I need to show the most?[/QUOTE]

I think you answered your own question.

KISS. No point in over complicating things. Just build your sharepoint and demo. I learned a long time ago that demo's are that a demo people tend to understand that demo's don't fully leverage the entire technology.

I have two hosts I only run one and its running 3 servers as well.
Click to expand...
 
NetJunkie said:
Plenty of non-VCDXs out there way smarter than me.
Click to expand...

Aint that the truth. There is always some one smarter then yourself.

Dash

I am only a lowly VCP. I wish I had the time and money for VCDX. Also vmware is not the only thing I do either. I am a stronger MS Goon then a VMWare one.
 
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Plenty of non-VCDXs out there way smarter than me.
Click to expand...

True, but that also doesn't mean you don't know what you're talking about either.
 
Wrench00 said:
Aint that the truth. There is always some one smarter then yourself.

Dash

I am only a lowly VCP. I wish I had the time and money for VCDX. Also vmware is not the only thing I do either. I am a stronger MS Goon then a VMWare one.
Click to expand...

To bad you don't know much about wiring and clean up, BUT HEY thats why you ask me to help, because you hate it too right :p

U owe me a beer still, or to go plinkin..
 
dashpuppy said:
To bad you don't know much about wiring and clean up, BUT HEY thats why you ask me to help, because you hate it too right :p

U owe me a beer still, or to go plinkin..
Click to expand...

I hate wiring. I am not terrible at it I just don't enjoy it.

You don't drink.

How bout next weekend I'll grab some ammo and go to the range.. Got any hard drives?
 
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