Building a test server / white box - post your builds here

[ramasan]

Have you built a cheap white box with all hardware supported by ESX 3.5? Please post here!

I have to implement and support a single ESX server for 3 or 4 MS virtual machines - so I need to build a test machine at home.

My immediate concern is getting a low-cost controller that I can plug into my Intel DP35DP motherboard with a SATA drive.

Please post your readily available and cheap hardware. Thanks in advance!

[Dave_Mishchenko]

I've tested the DP35DP with 3i booting off a USB flash drive and it works fine. I'm hoping to try it with local SATA drives this weekened. Have you tried the DP35DP yet with a SATA drive using the built-in controller?

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

[ramasan]

i tried to install ESX 3.5 on my DP35DP using the built in controller but failed. i set my bios controller card to "IDE" mode (vs ahci or raid) and it still choked finding storage. and that was with either an ide drive or sata drive. so i dont think ESX 3.5 supports the ICH8 or ICH9 controller out of the box (which ever one it is). hence my desire to find a low cost controller card i can plug in.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

I'm just working on the install now and I got the not able to find storage error, but this is actually related to the CD-Rom drivers. I clicked on back, switched to an HTTP install and it is progressing along. I'm still expecting a 'can't mount root " error after the install as I don't expect the specific ICH9 controller to be recognized by the vmkernel. But there is a work around for that that should do the job. The default PCI id files that ESX installs do recognize 4 models of ICH8 and ICH9 controllers. So if the DP35DP doesn't have one of those models, then i'll update the specific XML file and see if that works.

[Chris_S_UK]

Following advice on this forum, I purchased one of these off Ebay and it works fine:

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11632_ca/11632_ca.HTML

You should be able to get one of these with 2gb RAM, a reasonable SATA disk and a couple of extra NICs for under £200.

Rgds

Chris

[Dave_Mishchenko]

I was able to get 3.5 to install and run OK once I used the HTTP install. I was using a single SATA drive and it was recognized without any issues and the VMFS partition created during the install is working fine. In the BIOS I set the drive confige to IDE / Natvie. Just testing a 64 bit VM now and so far things are fine. I did add an Intel NIC as the onboard isn't recognized.

[ramasan]

which intel nic? ready to jump in the car and head down to best buy to pick one up (no frys or central computers in my neck of the woods).

i would assume that whichever the current chipset is for the entry level intel nic? heck i might as well head down - good enough excuse to make the trip

[Dave_Mishchenko]

In this case it was the model 82572EI that I had around. I have

purchased some low end PRO /1000 to try

(http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=111105448&vpn=PWLA8391GTBLK&

manufacture=Intel). I haven't verified that they work, but they are

listed in the PCI ID xml file for Intel cards.

</device

[neil_murphy]

Try building it as a VM in VMware Workstation 6. Have a look at .

You'll need at least 2GB of RAM and I can't vouch for any guests you might want to deploy (virtualistaion within virtualisation) but it's a good way to get used to how to build out systems. If you need shared storage you can deploy OpenFiler 2.2 as a VM also.

[ramasan]

i pulled an ancient pro/100s intel nic out of another desktop. plugged it in, and everything works fine.

so to summarize:

• MB Intel DP35DP (onboard nic not recognized (at least out of the box))

• XFX / Nvidia 8600GT 256MB video card

• Old Intel Pro100s NIC

• 4G RAM Corsair RAM

ESX 3.5 loaded right up, tested the BrowserAppliance - everything works great. very cool.

next up - poor mans SAN. i would love to see vmotion in motion

anyone have suggestions for fibre channel on the CHEAP ?

since i have smart eyeballs reading again - anyone have a good experience with one of the local VM user groups? i threw my name into the hat for the raleigh nc group.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

You can do this with NFS or iSCSI. Lots of options depending on what you prefer to run (i.e. it can be on Windows / Linux). Or you can download appliances like this - http://www.lefthandnetworks.com/products/virtual_storage.php

[bards1888]

openfiler or freenas both do iSCSI and NFS