Hardware Specification OK?

[nishantj]

Hi,

After trying to run ESXi on my laptop within a VM and having not much success, I have opted to just take the plunge and puts some cash down to get a half decent machine that will help me on my way to a virtual lab.

I've seen a HP machine with the below specs.

- Intel Core i7-2600 3.4GHz 2nd generation processor
- 8GB DDR3 (PC3-10600) memory
- 500GB 7200rpm hard drive

I want to run at the very least

- Cisco Unified Callmanager 7.1

- Cisco Unity Connection 7

Would like to then eventually add

- Cisco Unified Contatct Centre

- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 - Active Directory

Just want to know if the above machine would be a good starting point, could then look to upgrade say RAM or harddrive.

Nish

[mcowger]

Given how latency sensitive Cisco CM is, I dont think you have enough hardware.  I'd argue you need 16GB RAM, and I'd prefer a 6 core CPU.

[nishantj]

I agree mcowger and thanks for the reply, definiately for a full site deployment this wouldn't be a production server. However for now, I'm looking to have this as a lab/play platform.

There are a lot of things I'd like to try and experiement with, especially pre-deployment tasks, so I thought this maybe a good start for a < 10 phone scenario with a few bit and bobs here and there. Possibly aid as a technical troubleshooting platform as well.

Unfortunatly my budget lies around the 700 mark for hardware so was hoping to stick what will get me up and running and at least to a point where I can start to build from if my requirements should change.

If I'm pushing aside the budget - just to entertain the kind of hardware I'm looking for to get started, what would be a good rig to get start (maybe off-the-shelf towers etc)? I did see HP Pavilion HPE h8-1070...would that be an acceptable point to start?

I am very new to Virtualisation so any information would be very helpful.

Nish

[mcowger · Accepted solution]

nishantj wrote:

I agree mcowger and thanks for the reply, definiately for a full site deployment this wouldn't be a production server. However for now, I'm looking to have this as a lab/play platform.

Oh.  For a lab - absolutely.  This is fine.

If I'm pushing aside the budget - just to entertain the kind of hardware I'm looking for to get started, what would be a good rig to get start (maybe off-the-shelf towers etc)? I did see HP Pavilion HPE h8-1070...would that be an acceptable point to start?

The primary thing to check is compatability - I'd recommend looking forst at used server class hardware on craigslist or ebay - far fewer comatability issues. 

Something like this would be a great choice:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-1950-2X-Intel-CPU-32GB-Ram-2X-146GB-SAS-HD-8YVDQB1-/180798341...

[chriswahl]

8GB of RAM seems too low these days, and RAM is pretty cheap. I snagged 16 GB (4x 4GB) ECC UDIMMs for my home server for about $120.

[dhabbetichandra]

I agree with chris, Prcessor /Storage is enough but you require more RAM as you are going to implement AD on ESXi.

[nishantj]

Thanks for the input! Really appreciated it. Was a little sceptial taking the plunge just incase I ended up with inferior hardware.

I've bought the unit. I'll grab some extra RAM to pump it up to 16GB and probably get another Terabtye harddrive to hench it up a bit.

Thanks again!

Nish

[nishantj]

Stumbled across the hurdle that is the NIC and that internal ones don't play ball, so I'm now looking for a NIC

Looking at the compatability matrix, didn't realise how expensive they are.

With my intention of running ESXi 4.1, is there a NIC I would be able to get for under £30 - I still have to grab 2 more 4 gig RAM sticks so want to keep the costs down as much as possible.

Saw somewhere that the below card worked (obviously not production)

- Intel PRO/1000 GT PCI Desktop Adapter

[thealco]

I use to use those cards in my old vmware environment with PE2800 Inte Xeon  processors. The advantage of the newer generation of CPUs is the way they offload the NIC utilisation away from the CPU. Either way, I haven'd had any real problems with those NICs - they definately served their purpose.

[nishantj]

Excellent! I'll grab one. Finally my lab is looking more and more realistic