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6,721 Views 6 Replies Last post: Aug 23, 2009 5:40 PM by pixelstix RSS
SipperVixx Novice
SipperVixx
6 posts since
Jan 6, 2009
Currently Being Moderated

Jan 6, 2009 5:35 PM

Two low cost quad core white box ESXi servers

The first one worked fine and is currently running 5 virtual machines

(two Server 2008, 1 Server 2003, Ubuntu 8.04, and TrixBox). The second

build is one I'm doing to support one more VM, but should all work fine

as both mobos are the exact same chipset.

 

I will post here as to how well the second box at the bottom performs

 

      1. Working System #################################

2.5GHz Quad-Core AMD 9850 Phenom X4, 4GB DDR2-800, single 500GB SATA drive, single gig NIC

 

$55 - FoxConn A7VMX-K AMD 780V AM2+ Micro ATX Mobo

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186143&Tpk=A7VMX-K)

$160 - AMD X4 Phenom 4x2.5GHz Quad Core

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103249)

$ 40 - 4GB DDR2-800 RAM (most the mobo will support)

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122)

$ 60 - Promise SATA300 TX4 Storage Card

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816102062)

$ 90 - Western Digital RE3 500GB SATA drive

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136294)

$ 28 - Intel PRO/1000 NIC

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106121)

$ 18 - Lite-On DVD drive

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276)

$  8 - Floppy Drive

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16821103203)

$ 40 - Apex MiniATX Case with power supply

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154052)

 

*BIOS needs to be flashed to latest version on the Foxconn mobo to recognize the CPU so ESX will install

 

      1. Bigger System  #################################

2.5GHz Quad-Core AMD 9850 Phenom X4, 8GB DDR2-1066, single 500GB SATA drive, single gig NIC

 

$ 73 - ASUS M3A78-CM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780V Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131330)

$160 - AMD X4 Phenom 4x2.5GHz Quad Core

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103249)

$110 - 2 Kits of G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 Memory

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166)

$ 60 - Promise SATA300 TX4 Storage Card

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816102062)

$ 90 - Western Digital RE3 500GB SATA drive

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136294)

$ 28 - Intel PRO/1000 NIC

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106121)

$ 18 - Lite-On DVD drive

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276)

$  8 - Floppy Drive

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16821103203)

$ 40 - Apex MiniATX Case with power supply

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154052)

$587 - Total

 

Texiwill Guru User Moderators vExpert
Texiwill
11,345 posts since
Jan 13, 2004
Currently Being Moderated
1. Jan 7, 2009 7:27 AM in response to: SipperVixx
Re: Two low cost quad core white box ESXi servers

Hello,

 

Moved to ESXi forum.

 


Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links

SipperVixx Novice
SipperVixx
6 posts since
Jan 6, 2009
Currently Being Moderated
2. Jan 9, 2009 8:23 PM in response to: Texiwill
Re: Two low cost quad core white box ESXi servers

EDIT: The ASUS M3A78-CM will work, however you need to load the BIOS ROM from the CD-ROM that comes with the motherboard (BIOS 0307 dated 6/18/08) and run all the defaults. I was going up, never thought going down. So both systems are fine...

 

 

 

 

DO NOT use the ASUS M3A78-CM...it has issues getting started, see post here at

 

 

 

Weird keyboard thing, ESXi won't finish booting until I hit a key at "Vmkernel loaded successfully"

 

 

 

However, the Foxconn board at the top of the list is perfectly fine with the SATA300 TX4

jasonlitka Hot Shot
jasonlitka
122 posts since
Mar 16, 2007
Currently Being Moderated
3. Jan 9, 2009 8:15 PM in response to: SipperVixx
Re: Two low cost quad core white box ESXi servers

You're going to regret only having a single hard drive...

 

Jason Litka

http://www.jasonlitka.com

Jason Litka http://www.jasonlitka.com
SipperVixx Novice
SipperVixx
6 posts since
Jan 6, 2009
Currently Being Moderated
4. Jan 9, 2009 8:24 PM in response to: jasonlitka
Re: Two low cost quad core white box ESXi servers

I know, but for right now, for my purposes, this will work fine. The next step is a RAID-6 or 10 array but this will work for my purposes now and keeps the cost point low.

KellyOlivier Enthusiast
KellyOlivier
96 posts since
Dec 16, 2008
Currently Being Moderated
5. Jan 9, 2009 10:19 PM in response to: SipperVixx
Re: Two low cost quad core white box ESXi servers

Good prices.  It has been a struggle to find what I want as cheap as I want.  I am trying to have about the same thing, but with RAID.  I won't make a whitebox with less than 8GB RAM.  I wanted 16 but decided to just make a 2 box cluster with 8 a piece.

pixelstix Lurker
pixelstix
3 posts since
Aug 23, 2009
Currently Being Moderated
6. Aug 23, 2009 5:40 PM in response to: SipperVixx
Re: Two low cost quad core white box ESXi servers

We were able to use the ASUS M3A78-CM by disabling the CPU setting for C1E in the BIOS.  I've noticed there is a setting under Configuration -> Software ->Advanced Settings -> VMkernel -> Boot, an option called VMkernel.Boot.disableC1E, although I have not tried it.  Also, please note this page with similar information: http://ultimatewhitebox.com/motherboard/148

 

Note that the on-board Realtek network driver does not work, you have to find a supported network adapter (we got one of the Intel 1000 line).  Also, we did not use the onboard RAID, as the docs for ESXi says that onboard SATA RAID does not work or is unstable.

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