I'm going to be buying some new hardware to build two 64-bit capable VMWare ESX 3.5 servers for a home lab and I'm interested in what you guys are using for your labs. Before I go out and do some research on my own, I'm looking for your experiences with the hardware you've already purchased. Right now I'm thinking about two machines with: one or two quad-core 64-bit CPUs (Intel v AMD?) Motherboard type? 8-16gb RAM SCSI v SATA II? What's in your boxes? I'm also trying to figure out what to use for storage for the VMWare cluster (for DRS and VMotion stuff). I have a Fiber channel SAN that I'm currently using in my production environment, but I could pull it out and redesign things there to make my lab easier, but I'd rather go with something else. Perhaps I could build a Linux box and use NFS as the shared storage, but I've never done it (which makes it more appealing a project ) and am not really sure how it works. Can I use a 32-bit linux machine (with 1.5TB of direct attached SCSI drives) as the storage host serving NFS to 64-bit VMWare servers? Which flavor of Linux works the best in this capacity?
I only have my ESX lab here at home and it's a Dell PowerEdge 1950. It's got 2 quad-core 2.66Ghz chips and 16GB of memory. 2 SAS drives mirrored for booting only and it's tied to a 12TB iSCSI SAN for guest storage. You can put FreeNAS on your 1.5tb box and use it for guest storage (via iSCSI or NFS). It doesn't matter if that box is 32-bit or 64-bit linux if you don't go with FreeNAS.
Wait, so you are saying that if I go with FreeNAS it does matter if the box is 32-bit or 64-bit but anything else it doesn't matter? Or was that double negative a typo? But looking at FreeNAS it looks really promising. iSCSI and NFS support? Booyah.
I have used the following for ESX, and ESXi. Many configs, so I will attempt to container-ize each one:
I don't believe it can do both concurrently, but has the capability to do an either-or type of setup. that being said, you could use VMWare server to run a FreeNAS VM as iSCSI and one as NFS...just a thought.
HP ProLiant DL380 G5 6 NICs 1.06 TB SAS Raid0 (Raid0 because I don't care about fail) 2 Intel Xeon Quad Core Processors @ 3mhz
right now I have a really old Dell 1600SC with 2 x 2.4GHz Xeons 1 GB RAM and 3 x 36GB SCSI in RAID 5. I curently have an exchange server, DNS server and a basic XP and 2003 test image for messing around with. I am soon moving to a monster of a system though as ESXi is really addictive!
I'm not planning on using both concurrently. I'll be doing one or the other, but I like having the option to do either/or.
It's not at home (new infant at home, so no ESXi fun at home ), but it's my ESXi test system at work: Dell PowerEdge 2850 Dual 3.0ghz Xeon processors 2gb RAM 2x 36gb drives in RAID 1, 3x 146gb drives in RAID 5, and 1x 146gb drive as hot spare (All U320 SCSI) Dual gig nics PERC 4 D/i RAID controller Currently has 1 Windows Server 2003 DC, a Vista 32-bit host and one more Win2K3 box I haven't done anything with yet. Managed by a desktop system running Win2K3 that is also a DC replicating with the VM one.
Yes, typo. It would be easier to go with FreeNAS but if you don't, it doesn't matter if you go with a 32-bit or 64-bit install of Linux. ESX is only accessing it across the network, so it doesn't care what it's running as long as it conforms to NFS or iSCSI standards.
I think I might try starting with FreeNAS because it seems the easiest route to shared storage, but I've also seen a Linux iSCSI target by Ardis Technologies that I'm curious about. It would be a harder implementation, since I'm a windows guy who knows only the basics about navigating around a Linux box, but that would make it all the more interesting for me. It also seems like people run VMWare on just about anything, so that's cool. Right now I'm thinking about: ASUS P5Q SE Plus motherboard Intel Xeon X3220 Kentsfield 2.4GHz Quad-core CPU 8GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Cheapo PCIe 16x Vid card Whatever hard drive I have handy
My esx server specs: ESX 3.5 U3 2x Intel Xeon e5405 2.0Ghz Quad cpus Asus DSBF-DE mobo 4 x Kingston 2x2 4GB memory kit Adaptec 5805 SAS Raid Controller with battery backup 9 x Hitachi Ultrastar 36GB 15K RPM SAS drives, 8 in Raid 10 and 1 as a cold spare 1 x Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB Sata drive to hold vm templates, iso images and serve as storage for torrent client. Pioneer slim slot loading dvd drive + supermicro slim ide to sata adapter 2x Intel Dual Port Server network cards Supermicro 825TQ 2U Rack mountable case with 8x hot swap bays build log here
a bit dated(almost 2 years), but still does the job quite nicely. ESX 3.5(soon to be 4.0 FINAL) 2x Intel Xeon R5310 1.6Ghz Supermicro X7DVL 6x 2GB super talent ECC 4x 250GB SATA1 Raid 5 1x LSI Logic 150-4 also a bit dated ESXi - Dell 2650 2x Intel Xeon 3.0Ghz 2x 36GB U320 2x 1GB ECC I wont even post of specs of my 2.5 rigs, lol. Eventually going to do some kind of NAS solution.... Work keeps kicking my ass though.
I guess I have somewhat of an "old" setup at home: SuperMicro X5DA8 2x 3.2Ghz XEON 12GB DDR LSI MegaRAID Sata with 2x80GB drives in RAID1 Gonna throw on some 1 tb drives soon. Wish I had gone with 64-bit opterons though...
I just grabbed a Dell GX620 off Ebay for ~$150. The specs are: P4 2.8ghz 2.5gb of RAM (came with 512, I put the extra 2gb in) 250gb HDD (came with 40gb, I stuck the 250gb in) GigE I only got it to play with ESX. I'd like to get some exposure to it.
Self built server: 1) Q6600 2) 8GB DDR2 PC26400 RAM 3) 5xSamsung 500GB Spinpoint T series in RAID 5 using Perc 5i 4) Supermicro ATX Server Board (Forgot model #)
Specs from my lab: ESX hosts - Q6600 Intel BOXDQ35JOE motherboard 8GB DDR2 RAM 1x250GB SATA hard drive 2 x Intel NICs Shared Storage - Openfiler 2.3 OS Q6600 (overkill I know) 8 GB DDR2 RAM 2x250GB SATA drives in software RAID1 (OS) 4x500GB SATA drives in RAID 10 using a Dell Perc5i presented as iSCSI storage The Intel motherboard works great for the ESX hosts. The only thing that isn't compatible with ESX is the onboard NIC.
Homebrew running ESXi: Supermicro X7DVA-E-O Dell Perc5i 8GB ECC DDR2(A-Data) Dual Intel E5430(Quad 2.66GHz) Supermicro CSE-743T-645B Case 5x 500GB 7200.10 2xOnboard Intel 1000 5x 1gb links between 2 dual port and 1 single port intel nics(1 dual PCIE, 1 dual PCI-X, Single is PCI).
H8DAE w/2x Opty 275 12 GB of ECC RAM External - HP Netstore SCSI enclosure(8x20GB drives) ARK-600 4U Rackmount server chassis 2x Onboard Broadcom NIC everything runs spectacularly.
2x Athlon MP 2400+ Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW-P 3.25GB DDR266 2x Intel e100 NICs Adaptec 2410sa SATA RAID controller 2x Maxtor 160GB in RAID 0 An oldie, but it's a great way for me to learn ESXi with stuff I already have.
Dell Precision 690 Dual Xeon Quad 2.33 20gigs FBDimms kingston 2x 640gig AAKS in raid 0 (Everything is backed up on the fileserver) 2 Intel Pro 1000 nics 2 Intel Pro 1000 Fiber nics
Hey, I have enough money from my bday and christmas to upgrade my server for running vm's I found 4GB ddr2, a E5200 (will overclock) and a Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L, does anyone know if the GA-EP43-DS3L is pretty much fully suppored by esxi 3.5? If it isn't I will haveto run server 03 with vmware server.
3800+ X2 Some MSI mobo (It's an nForce chipset with an onboard Quadro) 4GB DDR2 800 1x80 GB 1x200 GB 1x320 GB It's no super server but I work with what I have. The onboard SATA controller is not on the HCL but it is one of those that still works. I plan to change it around a bit by taking out the hard drives and booting ESXi off USB and throwing the hard drives into an OpenFiler system (Sempron LE-1100, 512mb).
I have an ESX 3.5 server that's been running solid for the past year+. Nothing to special with the hardware... Just stuff I had laying around... I need a better SATA controller for starters..... Code: P4 3.0Ghz Mobo: D875BZ 3.5GB Mem GeForce3 Ti 200 HDD: Storage 3 SATA 120's,OS is on an IDE 120GB. Intel Corporation 82547EI Gigabit Ethernet Controller Intel Corporation 8254NXX Gigabit Ethernet Controller Intel Corporation 8254NXX Gigabit Ethernet Controller Intel Corporation 8254NXX Gigabit Ethernet Controller I have just acquired a free Dell Poweredge 2650 from a good friend of mine. I've already added the dual 3.2Ghz xeons, and 2GB of memory. I'm still waiting on storage. This may be my new ESX server, or just another ESX 3.5 server. I have 2 Intel D3368 dual PCI-X NIC's that I got from my buddy as well... These have TCP off loading so very cool indeed! Thats all for now!
Mine is in the sig. And, I don't run ESX or ESXi anymore. I've switched fully to Hyper-V Server 2008. It hasn't caught up to ESX just yet (e.g. live-migration, etc.), but it will with the release of Win2K8 R2 (which includes MS's own version of live-migration, and a new dedicated VM disk systems... similar to VMFS).
ooops, my sig doesn't include drive and chassis info. Here it is: Chassis: http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?serno=41 (4U, 16-drive SATA backplane hot-plug) Drive Setup: Hyper-V Server 2008 OS RAID1 Array: 2 x WD Velociraptor 150 GB VMs Array 1, RAID10: 4 x WD Velociraptor 150 GB VMs Array 2, RAID10: 4 x Maxtor 300 GB VMs Array 3, RAID1: 2 x Maxtor 300 GB I use my environment to support my consulting business, perform test deployments, practice with new technologies (SQL 2008, Exchange 2007, etc.) I have roughly 12 machines running at all times.
Q6600 P5Q Pro 12 GB Ram 4x Intel Gbits cards 1x 250gb disk - OS 1x 1tb disk - Backup 1x 320gb disk - SCVMM Library 2x Raid-0 WD 640gb disks - VM Storage 2x Raid-0 120Gb - ISCSI Storage Pretty fast so far ! Planning on building a 2nd identical box for Host clustering soon.
I built this server up just before Christmas to run SBS 2003 R2 (which was on my old server) and WHS: AMD 4850e Asus M2N-E 8GB Geil DDR2 @ 800Mhz LSI 8344ELP, LSI SAS3041-e sata controllers in the x16 and x4 slots, respectively 2x Intel Pro 1000 pci-e x1 Gb NICs 4x500GB in RAID-5 on the 8344ELP (VM's stored here) 4x1.5TB on the MCP55 2x1TB on the SAS3041 4GB USB key for ESXi installation. Total space in WHS is like 7TB, with another 500 or so for SBS. Works outrageously great and total cost was probably less than $1500. I debated quad-core, but this thing sits in a closet, so I went the lower wattage route. If I added some more VMs, I'd probably need to revisit the issue.
My question about processors is, is it worth it to go quad-core Xeon for a VM host, or will a simple Core 2 Quad suffice? Can anyone point me to some benchmarks or something for VM performance? Also, How do you get 12 GB RAM on a Motherboard with four slots? a pair of 4GB sticks and 2GB sticks? What memory did you use for your 4GB sticks? The ASUS web site says the Max Memory on this board is 8GB: how stable has it been with more than 8 in it?
Home use: CPU = Q6600 3.0Ghz RAM = 8GB OCZ Reaper HPC PC2-6400 HDD = 750GB SATA2 Motherboard = Gigabyte P965-DS3 rev3.3 running 4 VMs. 2 Linuxes, 2 Windows.
Incorrect. The max RAM on the Asus P5Q Pro is 16GB: http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=2269&l1=3&l2=11&l3=709&l4=0
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