Recommended hardware

[netlib]

We are considering getting a new machine and running ESX 3.5, but I am looking for lists of recommended or required hardware. For example, is there a minimum/maximum number of processors? Do we use SAS, Sata, other or any? Is RAID supported/required, and if so, what RAID controllers are supported? Etc etc.

Thanks.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

We are considering getting a new machine and running ESX 3.5, but I am looking for lists of recommended or required hardware.

Start with the Hardware Compatibility Lists, get a server on the HCL. http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

Always use the HCL for fully supported hardware.

For example, is there a minimum/maximum number of processors?

2 quad cores are the most common.

Do we use SAS, Sata, other or any?

I Like SAS over SATA but eitherway get 15K drives.

Is RAID supported/required, and if so, what RAID controllers are supported?

Depends on the Hardware you get, ESX does not do software raid. Make sure any RAID controller you use is in the HCL. Sames goes for NICs.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky
VMware Communities User Moderator
====
Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.
Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs -- Top Virtualization Security Links -- Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

[netlib]

Thanks - I see lots of Dell PowerEdge Servers. Shoud the Dell Precision Workstions work just as well?

[Lofty]

netlib,

It all depends on what you want to do.

If you want a platform for testing, a bit of fooling around etc, then you could 'try' ESX on the Precision (I run ESX on a HP D530 and a generic clone).

I say 'try' because its not covered by the HCL (to my knowledge), but ESX may very well install and work nicely, but good luck getting support if something goes wrong.

However, if you want highly available, fast performing and reliable virtualised production workloads - pick a box off the HCL.

The specifications of the box will depend on how many VMs you want to run on it (and how well you want them to run), but we don't spec anything under -

• Single Quad Core CPU

• 16GB RAM,

• Onboard/hardware RAID controller (most servers have them as standard)

• Mirrored OS disks for ESX (two 72GB's)

• 4 NIC's

• Storage -

• well, if there is no shard storage, then max out the slots with 15K drives (ie, 300GB 15K in RAID5)

• if there is shared, you'll need 2 x HBA's (for FC) or 2 x NIC's with TOE support (for iSCSI)

As I said, thats the minimum we usually spec for a low end system (but it depends on the customer).

Thanks

Lofty

PS. If you found my response helpful, think about awarding some points.

[Cooldude09]

If you need the best perfomance, go for H.P servers, but they are costly if you need Optimum performance as less price, D@ll servers can be used for sure. It all depends on what you want to do on virtualization. We just had the dell servers for our environment too.

Regards

Anil

Save the planet, Go Green

if you found my answer to be useful, feel free to mark it as Helpful or Correct.

[StevoIBM]

Hi Netlib,

My Name is Steven I work with IBM and I was just reading your post and I would like to just let you know most of our windows/linux servers will work with VMware. I would suggest looking at the IBM

X3650 you can have up to 4 quad core processors and 64GB ram, this will allow plenty of VM's. If you need some more information you can email me directly at sversa@ca.ibm.com. I am also going to leave some URL's for you to look at hopefully that will assist you with this project.

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/x/hardware/rack/x3650/index.html

http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/xseries/x3650.html

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/virtualization/solutions/

I hope this provides some information that will assist you.

Cheers,

Steven