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farkasharry
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Possible HomeLab configuration, please comment

Hi all,

My next possible HomeLab initial config would be this:

1 x Supermicro SuperServer E200-8D Xeon 6-Core Intel® Xeon® D-1528 6x 1.9GHz / 12 Threads / Turbo-Boost 2.5GHz

4 x 32GB DDR4-2666 CL19 ECC reg. Samsung

1 x Sandisk Ultrafit 16GB USB 3.1 for ESXi partition

1 x Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD M.2 1 TB (For nested VSAN cache tier disks)

1 x Samsung 860 EVO TLC SSD 2,4 2TB (For nested VSAN capacity tier, DC/DNS, etc)

My use case is to run nested ESX environments with NSX-T, PKS, for testing and learning purposes

My options were to either take the config above, or a 3 node Intel NUC setup with M.2 SSDs and USB sticks for ESXi. What do you think? Any comments are welcome!

Thanks in advance for your comments!

*** If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful! *** vExpert 2019, VCAP-DCA,VCP,MCSE,MCITS and some more...
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ThompsG
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Hi there farkasharry,

I was looking at using the NUC option with a Synology NAS. While virtual ESXi hosts are good there is nothing like bare metal was my thoughts.

Only thing that has prevented me so far is the lack of network ports for the NUC. Only having a single port meant doing things like redundant management, etc is not possible or rather more difficult. Of course to test this you could run a virtual ESXi cluster within. With the latest versions of the NUC this is no longer an issue as some models come with dual adapters Smiley Wink

This also gives you hardware redundancy for the LAB and you could still run virtual VSAN with hosts running on the NUC if required. The other option is to go hard out and you could run a 2.5" drive as well as an M2: https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2018/11/update-on-running-esxi-on-intel-nuc-hades-canyon-nuc8i7hnk-n...

As you can see this would give you the ability to run vSAN like a native but price might drive you away from this as an option Smiley Happy

Sorry for rambling but the choices your head spin.

farkasharry
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Thanks for your comment! My basic question is, whether to go with one large node running a single ESXi, and have everything else in it as a nested lab or go with a multi-NUC node config.

With one large node, there is no need for multiple NICs, as the nested environment will have full freedom, even if it comes to changing MTU sizes or similar.

In terms of complexity, a large node is obviously better, as it wouldnt need VSAN and vCenter to start with nested Labs, but in terms of i.e. HA, a large node is a single point of error.

I did not plan with any NAS solution, want to rely on local storage (either "real" or nested VSAN) in both cases.

Currently, looking for pros and contras for both solutions.

*** If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful! *** vExpert 2019, VCAP-DCA,VCP,MCSE,MCITS and some more...
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RomanKn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Which variant did you choose now? Performant Single host?

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ChrisFD2
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

I run three of those Supermicro servers in my lab. Just be aware that they're quite noisy!

Regards,
Chris
VCIX-DCV 2023 | VCIX-NV 2023 | vExpert *** | CCNA R&S
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RomanKn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks for the note regarding the loudness.
3 Supermicro Nodes sounds good 😉

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