VMware Communities: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System

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34,322 Views 116 Replies Last post: Jun 16, 2009 11:59 PM by esloof

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gopherhockey

15 posts since
Feb 12, 2005

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Jan 5, 2008 12:00 PM

Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

For training purposes, I would like to put together a Vmware ESX 3.5 compatible computer to use in a lab environment. Something that can still run 3-4 systems, but also something that is not expensive.

To test with Windows 2008 Hyper-V it took about $550 on newegg.com and I have a solid lab box that can run 4-5 systems easily. Plenty to train on and practice.

With Vmware ESX its more confusing. First, the dual-CPU requirement seems to force me into server class motherboards. I think there are some motherboards meant for home systems that could pull it off. My guess is it will have to be Intel EM64T compatible (in order to run 64-bit hosts) as I'm having a hard time finding dual-CPU mothersboard that run AMD Athlon X2 type processors (something in the $140 range per processor)

I figure someone here has had probably done the same. I have an old Dell server that can run ESX, but its huge, slow, only has 3GB ram and while it has dual CPU its not 64-bit compatible.

Has anyone been able to put together a dual-CPU system for at or around $600?

So far it looks like the majority of my training will remain on Hyper-V. A nice product actually. Good thing they support Single CPU.

Dave.Mishchen…

11,905 posts since
Nov 15, 2005

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1. Jan 5, 2008 12:10 PM

in response to: gopherhockey

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

ESX will install and run on a single processor server, it's just recommended for production to have at least 2 CPU cores.

What sort of motherboard / processor do you have for your Hyper-V server? ESX 3.5 will work with an number of SATA controllers (Intel ICH 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 series controllers) so the server you have now may work fine. For x64 VMs you'll need a CPU that supports both EM64T and Intel VT (and you usually need to enable VT in the BIOS).

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gopherhockey

15 posts since
Feb 12, 2005

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2. Jan 5, 2008 12:21 PM

in response to: Dave.Mishchen…

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

Hmm.. spent a lot of time yesterday trying to get ESX 3.5 to run on the same system (different sata drive) as the Hyper-v system and I could never get it to run although I did get things installed. At the end I double checked the requirements and it said "dual-CPU" so I figured for some stupid reason they allow you to install it, but it just wouldn't run unless 2 were present.

Its an ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 motherboard with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.8GHz processor and 8 gigs of ram, sata drive. Fast machine for such a low price.

I did write down the error I would get... as ESX booted up it would say: io apic cpu(0) esx 569: 864290122 then something about mounting root failed.

I guess I got side-tracked into thinking it was the dual-CPU issue. Would be nice if I could get that same system to install AND run ESX 3.5. WOuld make for a nice virtual lab.

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Gabrie

1,080 posts since
Jun 6, 2005

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3. Jan 5, 2008 1:09 PM

in response to: gopherhockey

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

Might be due to your SATA drives. ESX itself should be able to run on (unsupported) IDE. Try to put your SATA controller in IDE modus through the BIOS. But you can't run any VMs without supported SCSI or SATA controller on which your VMFS has to reside. If you have 2 systems, you could try and make an iSCSI server on the second system and have the first one mount that iSCSI LUN as VMFS.

By the way: I run ESX on a single cpu, quad core

http://www.GabesVirtualWorld.com

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tom howarth

8,058 posts since
Jul 25, 2005

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4. Jan 6, 2008 9:34 AM

in response to: gopherhockey

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

ebay is your friend, pick your self up a adaptec 2940 and a couple of cheap scsi disks. I managed to get one and a 36GB SCSI for £10, you will save your self a lot of pain, ESX has a limited hardware set, for a valid reason, it keeps the vmkernel small. this allows for a very fast environment.

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

Please consider the use of the Helpful or correct buttons to award points to those Answers you found useful or correct. Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert VMware Communities User Moderator Blog: http://www.planetvm.net Contributing author on VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment Contributing author on VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere 4 Study Guide: Exam VCP-410

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gopherhockey

15 posts since
Feb 12, 2005

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5. Jan 6, 2008 9:34 AM

in response to: tom howarth

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

Good advice. I'll do that. In fact I think I Have a 2940 or two lying around here somewhere, just need to get the drive and I'm set.

Thanks for the advice.

Also, if anyone has specs on a system they put together themselves I'd be interested...

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esloof

336 posts since
Nov 11, 2006

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6. Jan 6, 2008 12:20 PM

in response to: gopherhockey

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

The ultimate ESX 3.5 white box

[The ultimate ESX 3.5 white box|http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/uploads/d530sff.jpg]Since running ESX 3.5 on Workstation 6 seems to be impossible, I had to find another way to explore the new features of ESX 3.5. Searching for a cheap supported configuration isn't an easy job. You have to find a supported motherboard, network card and SATA controller. I have found a desktop with all these items combined. You can use The HP Compaq d530 - Small form factor (SFF) DG755A desktop. My model has a CPU from Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.8 GHz, a NIC from Broadcom Corporatoin NetXtreme BCM5782 Gigabit Ethernet and a SATA 82801EB (ICH5) SATA Controller. I added a 512 Mb memory bank so I have 1 Gigabyte in total. Enough to host a few virtual machines !http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/templates/default/img/blank.gif!.

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tom howarth

8,058 posts since
Jul 25, 2005

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7. Jan 7, 2008 4:33 AM

in response to: esloof

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

Good call, Ebay is your friend, just picked up 2 units for £200 with 1.5Gb of RAM.

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

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rpartmann

227 posts since
Feb 8, 2007

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8. Jan 7, 2008 5:58 AM

in response to: gopherhockey

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

Hi there,

i tried some things to get my hp ML115 up and running.

please read:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/116768?tstart=0

hope that helps,

Reinhard.

Attachments:

enable_ml115_sata_esx3.5_v0.2a.sh (2.4 K)

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.

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rpartmann

227 posts since
Feb 8, 2007

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9. Mar 30, 2008 11:35 AM

in response to: gopherhockey

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

Hi,

i installed ESX3.5 on several HP dc xxxx systems.

Here is a list how the internal SATA drive was recogniced.

Systemname	/dev/sda	/dev/hda	NOTES	Date
hp dc 7100	X			2008/01/07
hp dc 7600	X			2008/01/07
hp dc 7700		X		2008/01/07
hp dc 7800		X	internal NIC is NOT working	2008/03/30

kind regards,

Reinhard.

Message was edited by: rpartmann 2008/03/30

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.

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jonasb

27 posts since
Mar 29, 2006

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10. Feb 5, 2008 12:48 AM

in response to: rpartmann

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

So does this mean the dc7700 can be used as an ESX Server 3.5 (lab of course) out of the box? Also possible to format volumes with vmfs? In that case it sounds like the perfect deal since it supports 8 GB of memory.

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rpartmann

227 posts since
Feb 8, 2007

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11. Feb 5, 2008 6:13 AM

in response to: jonasb

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

Hi,

you can install ESX 3.5 but the SATA disk will be recognized as /dev/hdX and therefore you cant format it with VMFS!

Had no luck until now to get the SATA discs being seen as SCSI /dev/sdX device.

But if you are going to buy a new one you also could buy an jp ML115 this system aslo can handle 8gig ram

bye reinhard.

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.

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jonasb

27 posts since
Mar 29, 2006

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12. Feb 5, 2008 6:31 AM

in response to: rpartmann

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

But wasn't ESX 3.5 supposed to be able to use SATA disks? Or maybe that's only for the ESX OS and not VMFS volumes?

So a ML115 will work out of the box as a good lab ESX 3.5 machine?

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rpartmann

227 posts since
Feb 8, 2007

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13. Feb 5, 2008 7:08 AM

in response to: jonasb

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

Hi,

yes but only when the driver detects correctly the sata chip and enables it as /dev/sda.

please read:

SATA Support Clear as Mud!?

http://communities.vmware.com/click.jspa?searchID=1286189&objectType=2&objectID=816030

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm

Directly out of the box the ml115 will not work. but i posted a script which will do.

additionally: why choose hp ML115 over hp dc7700

+ HP ML115 Lights-Out 100c Kit

+ qlogic qle2460 (works) NOTE: qle2460 does not work in the 16x PCIe slot of the dc7700 system hangs after qlogic bios)

+ additional 8x PCIe slot

ps: Award points if you find answers helpful. Thanks.

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jonasb

27 posts since
Mar 29, 2006

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14. Feb 5, 2008 7:23 AM

in response to: rpartmann

Re: Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

That's an excellent list and an excellent reply. And another thing is that ML115 is considered a server - not a PC. And the price for an ML115 is not much higher than a standard PC. There seems to be two different Storage Controllers in the ML115:

- HP Embedded 4 Port SATA Controller with embedded RAID (0,1,5)

- HP 8 Internal Port SAS HBA with RAID (0,1)

Will both work for both ESX OS and VMFS?

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This Question is Possibly Answered

Jan 5, 2008 12:00 PM

Low Cost ESX 3.5 System - Suggestions?

The ultimate ESX 3.5 white box

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