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Anonimac
Contributor
Contributor

First virtual build (home environment) | Assistance requested

Hi folks, i'm building my first virtual environment and it will be a home build. For breadth and depth in my field i want to emulate a small enterprise so i will be running AD, DC, file shares, SharePoint, mobile device management and enrollement (future), as well as a combination of home centric things like media storage/conversion/cataloging, iTunes, home automation, etc... My personal machines (desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones) may also be joined to the domain to test mobile device management, certificate enrollement, etc. Other uses also include vulnerability assessment/penetration testing vm's like BackTrack, Samurai, and other custom Linux builds. I also need to be able to do port monitoring and traffic interception on any mobile devices for mobile pen testing.

So having said that...this is what i'm considering buiding:

Processor (x2) Intel CM8062107185405 Xeon E5-2630L 2.0GHz LGA2011
Memory (x2) Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR3 1600 Server Memory DR x4 Model KVR16R11D4K4/32
Hard drive (primary)...may possibly do SSD instead Western Digital VelociRaptor WD4500HLHX 450GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Hard drive (NAS) x 2 Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Motherboard Asus Z9PE-D16 Dual LGA2011 Xeon/Intel C602-A PCH/4GbE/SSI EEB Server Motherboard (ASMB6-IKVM)
Power Supply SeaSonic X Series X-850 (SS-850KM Active PFC F3) 850W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower Computer Case with Aluminum and Steel Body (RC-1200-KKN1)
NAS QNAP TS-869L-US 8Bay Intel D2700 2.13GHz Dual-Core CPU 1GB SATA NAS

I plan to boot/store all my VMs from the NAS so that's why i'm not too concerned about local storage on the server/workstation.
Thoughts? Any major/obvious concerns? Anything obvious i'm missing?
I really appreciate anyone's input and/or suggestions.
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8 Replies
Anonimac
Contributor
Contributor

Did i put this question in the wrong place btw? First time posting so if i've misplaced it please let me know or a mod can move it too.

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vmaxx
Contributor
Contributor

The HCL would be the best place for the specifics on your equipment, but in the past I have built a system that worked. I loaded 4.1 on a "beefy" desktop type of system and didn't have any issues because I wasn't using an array controller for the OS drive.

I also use qnap (TS659) for my storage and used western digital drives. Originally the drives were on qnap's compatibility list, but eventually qnap put a note (9) about WD drives "The hard disk drives have passed QNAP lab's initial verification of compatibility. However, the manufacturer has suggested not to  use the desktop hard disk drives in business-critical RAID environments  because the drives may not work correctly". I just had to purchase 6 new drives last month (seagate) because after time the WD's did started wigging out. Fortunately the prices had come back down after the flood so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, it still sucked buying all new drives and the old ones are now sitting on the shelf. I see the drives you noted had this note on qnap's HCL page.

dkraut
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I wouldn't recommend building your own system.  It may or may not work or it way "kinda" work.   You should buy an approved system on the HCL.  You can get a cheap Dell or HP server for very little money.  If you must build, Google ESXi whitebox and roll the dice.  Also, You don't need boot drives.  That would be a waste of money.  Get a sever that boots from a flash drive and then store everything on NAS.  

Anonimac
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for all the advice, that's exactly what i was looking for. I'm pretty determined to build it myself so i'm curious if anyone notices any major issues with the build list.

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karthickvm
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hello Anon,

The reason why we recommend to go with VMware HCL  is for Hardware drivers. After you buy the hardware and if there is no driver for the hardware , ESX won't run. Unlike normal OS device drivers are not so common. Each device driver / device will undergo various testing once it is passed it will be listed in VMware HCL(www.vmware.com/go/hcl). However good luck with your custom build hardware.

Karthic.
vRNI TPM
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Anonimac
Contributor
Contributor

Do you think it's possible to get a server (from a typical manufacturer like HP or Dell) that meets or exceeds the same specs i have above? Everything i've looked at suggests that it would cost me around 7k to buy from HP or Dell, and i could build it myself for about 3k.

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dkraut
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I just priced out a PowerEdge T110 II with Quad Core CPU, 32GB RAM and mirrored 500GB HD's.  Price was $2,387.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=ussoho1&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=sesw5t2&s=soho

You can usually get these even cheaper by calling Dell and talking to a Sales Rep.

*You don't need dual CPU's for a home machine.  CPU's rarely work up a sweat in a vmware world, but if you insist, the T410 with dual CPU's came out to $3,800.   

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Anonimac
Contributor
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Right, but my build is a dual socket, 6 core, 12 threat (total: 2 processors, 12 cores, 24 threads) and 64 GB RAM (expandable to 512GB) with quad Intel i350 LAN and plan to run all VMs off of NAS (ZFS).

I agree i can either build or buy a workstation or entry level server for around the same money (3k), but i'm building something far beefier, which, if bought from Dell or HP, is well north of 5k.

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