White BOX for vsphere 4.0 with FT(Fault Tolerent)

[chimanbhai]

Hello All:

I have shoppng for white box that support for vsphere 4.0  with Fault Tolerent capability. I have done some reserch on this community but the hardware is hard to find. Some posting are old.

Does any one have current hardware list with FT capability?  My buget is under $500.00. Any guidence will be greatly apprecited.

I have read that  dell optiplex 745s does FT,  I am not 100% sure. This is Pentium D 2.8 Ghz.  Any any one confirm this?

Currently I have dell 2650  with 3.5 esxi  and Dell 1420 with esxi 4.0. But they are not FT capable.

[sflanders]

Check out: http://www.vmware.com/go/hcl. Based on your requirements, check out the Dell PowerEdge T110. I have a pair today and they do support FT.

[AndreTheGiant]

Also you may find some PE 2950 III on ebay.

But check first the processor... not all are FT compatibile.

Consider also that you need at least a new NIC to use in the right way VMware FT, so check also this aspect.

Andre

[chimanbhai]

Can tell the precise configuration that of your "DELL PowerEdge T110 Chassis".   What is the processor and speed etc.

I just searched on vmware HCL and T110 is not in FT list.   But have you tested for FT your self and does it realy work?  Also the processor that I have seen with T110 is "Intel® Xeon® Quad-Core X3430, 2.4 GHz, 8M Cache, Turbo ".

Most FT supported procresssor are Intel xeon 5400, 5500,5600 and 5200. Also Some opteron 2300, 2400 and 83xx and 84xx.

Unless some one had tested other processor then listed above in whitebox(Not HCL list but works).

[chimanbhai]

Yes, I have seen some 2950 III but they are  xeon 51xx processor , xeaon 51xx is not on FT list unless some has tested and seen it work.  The one that works are 52xx and  54xx processor and those 2950 III cost lot more and beyonf my bujet.

I also I found that it is combination or both processor arcitecture and mobo chip set  determine the FT and HA support.

Thanks for the advise. Alo I found a noce compatibility matrix while doing some reserch on web while back, it is pated below.     0 indicates compatable and  x means not compatable.

	Intel 3100	Intel 3300	Intel 5200	Intel 5400	Intel 5500	Intel 7400	AMD 1300	AMD 2300	AMD 8300
Intel 3100	O	O	O	O	X	O	X	X	X
Intel 3300	O	O	O	O	X	O	X	X	X
Intel 5200	O	O	O	O	X	O	X	X	X
Intel 5400	O	O	O	O	X	O	X	X	X
Intel 5500	X	X	X	X	O	X	X	X	X
Intel 7400	O	O	O	O	X	O	X	X	X
AMD 1300	X	X	X	X	X	X	O	O	O
AMD 2300	X	X	X	X	X	X	O	O	O
AMD 8300	X	X	X	X	X	X	O	O	O