Vmware Home test server

[Rockapot]

Just thought i would add a posting for all of you who are keen to build your own home ESX test server..

After reviewing a few other postings & articles online I am going to be buying the following components to make up a test server in the next few weeks.

If anyone has any comments on these specific components surrounding the vmware environment i would appreciate your views..

(I must note, before anyone makes the comment , this is purely for test/learning purposes and will be using a trial ESX licence)

Motherboard - Asus Blitz Extreme Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard - £187.99

SATA controller - Adaptec 2610SA - £164.99

Storage - 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 400GB ST3400620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM - £124.52

Network Controller - Intel PRO/1000 MT Dual Port Network Connection- £106.37

Processor - Intel Xeon 3200 Series X3210 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail - £164.49

Memory - Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX £193.86

Case - Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case - N PSU (Black) - £82.24

Power Supply - OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply - £58.74

Cheers

Carl

[RDPetruska]

... or if you are using Workstation 6, and have the appropriate host hardware, you can do it all in virtual machines! See http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=67254&tstart=0

[rsa911]

What about using the ASUS P5M2/SAS, which has built in dual NICs and SAS controller (accepting SATA drives)

cheaper than the Asus Blitz + Adaptec 2610SA + Intel Pro 1000MT/dual

also, you don't need a Xeon, the standard core 2duo / quad are working fine

[Rockapot]

wow, quick responses, thanks..

Ok..., well i am going to stay with the ESX on the bare metal.. I dont want to install ESX within workstation 6 which is how i have it on my laptop (slow as hell).. it would most likely run fine in workstation on this kind of hardware though.. thanks though..

RE the motherboard posting.. thanks.. i`ll look in to that.. could do with saving some costs

[r_engel]

how did you go with setting this up? did it work?

i'm considering going white-box also, however I can't seem to find any other system requirements apart from http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/458 ??

R.

[aoton]

Hello,

I think that you need SCSI hard drives to install vm's at it.

Regards.

[TomHowarth]

No SAS drives are OK. just not SATA or IDE, unless an externally mounted NFS share

[r_engel]

SCSI Attached Storage.

So for example, a compatiable i/o Adaptec SCSI Card, connected to two SCSI disks (if I were to go down the white-box path) would suffice?

[Rockapot]

I have not had a chance to buy the equipment yet.. probably a week or two still.. however i am going for the following in the end;

Not sure how the formating will come out.. this is all in a spreadsheet usually.. I added the extra cables as i am not sure what comes with the motherboard & drive's etc... and the last thing i want when it arrives it the disapointment of having one too few cables..

I am not basing my build just on price, i am sure you can get cheaper products however i want to stick with semi decent items.. as for the motherboard.. , chose this after reviewing "rsa911's" thread + another posting online i came accross.. really ncie board specs.. thanks

Motherboard - ASUS P5M2/SAS - £201.71

Storage (RAID1) - 2 x Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - £192.68

Storage (RAID0) - 1 x Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM - £75.19

Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - £176.24

Memory - OcUK 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-5300C5 667MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Vista Approved Kit - £117.49

Case - Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case - N PSU (Black) - £82.24

Power Supply - Antec Quattro 850W PSU - £117.49

DVD drive - Asus DVD-E616A3T Serial ATA 16x DVD-ROM (Black & Beige Bezel Included) - £15.26

Cables - 2 x Akasa Serial ATA 45cm DAYGLO Blue Data Cable - £7.02

Cooling - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) - £7.04

Power Cable Add-on - Akasa ATX 24-Pin to ATX 20-Pin Adapter Cable - £4.69

Total Price - £997.05

Product Links

Motherboard - http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/pl/35-745956/Motherboards/Asus-P5M2-SAS-Compare-Prices

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=9&l2=39&l3=352&l4=0&model=1422&modelmenu=1

Storage (RAID1) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-087-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=167

Storage (RAID0) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-120-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=940

Processor - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-143-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793

Memory - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-012-OK&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=144

Case - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-049-AN

Power Supply - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-084-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

DVD drive http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-027-AS&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=114

SATA Cables - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-001-AK&groupid=701&catid=48&subcat=196

Cooling - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=AC-000-AC

Power Cable Add-on - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-020-AK&groupid=701&catid=48&subcat=

[r_engel]

That's over $2,500 AUD \!!! 😮 😮 😮

I think I might go for a PowerEdge 2650 on Ebay for around $1,200 AUD.

Includes:

2 x Xeon 3.06ghz CPU's

4GB ECC RAM

250GB SCSI Disk

Perc 3i or similar Raid Controller card

2650 is on the compatible list, so should be right

[RParker]

\

• also, you don't need a Xeon, the standard core 2duo / quad are working fine **

That's debateable, the cache makes all the difference.. Xeon is better for ESX...

[RParker]

SAS is SCSI, its serial attached scsi, that's what it stands for.

[RParker]

Good point!

For that matter, we will sell ours!

8G RAM! haha..

5 Drives/ RAID 5 (73G) 271.94 usable.

2850 / Dual Xeon (3.2Ghz).

[Rockapot]

problem with a poweredge or any other server is the noise.. this thing is going to be in my house so trying to keep the noise levels down.. as for poweredge.. Dell, mmmm, well, not a Dell fan at all... i`m sure they`re ok for something..

[r_engel]

I'll give ya $400 for it LOL LOL

[r_engel]

True about the noise, not half as bad as the HS20 Blade Chassis though (eeeeek those things are worse than helicopters).

I wanted a server for my house too.. something along the lines of a Tower, not necessarily a rack mounted box, or brand machine, but for the price (and knowing it works with ESX, etc..) I'll stick with Dell..

Proliant and IBM are too expensive (atleast in Australia anyway).

A good second-hand Dell PowerEdge, wack it in the server room at work.. go nuts on it.

Storage/iSCSI/SAN... hmmm and now for my next trick!

[Rockapot]

Just as a note, if anyone is planning on buying the Asus P5M2/SAS motherboard... you better have patience.. I ordered this and have been waiting a while now, still another week or so until i get it... , they are hard to come by...Argh....

All the other components I can get in Tottenham court road (London)..

[JulianH]

Hi,

What do you want to do with the box? If you want to run real virtual machines, then you have a good machine there. However if you just want to leant about VMware, and as such don't mind if it's not fast, but it runs ok, you can build a ESX box using an old IDE machine. I know this, as I run grey onsite VMware courses, and some customers don't have the kit because they want to see what can be done before they buy it. Send me a private message, and I'll send you the details of what you need.

Yours

Julian

[Rockapot]

Hi, thanks for your post...

I want to run real virtual machines but on ESX.. i know you can run then just using Vmware server etc..., I would like to stick with my specification as the server might be rebuilt as something else down the line.. but thanks for your views.

Cheers

Carl

[testqa]

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