|
Mac Minis make awesome lab machines. Tiny, quiet, and cheap. Downside is they max out at 16GB of RAM.
|
#
¿
Aug 29, 2013 17:48
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 11:39 |
|
|
Buy the loud Dell servers then build a shed with an AC unit, raised floors, etc in it and have your own datacenter. 
|
|
#
¿
Sep 17, 2013 15:55
|
|
|
Dilbert As gently caress posted:Here is what I would look into I really like the shuttle enclosures. That CPU doesn't support the onboard graphics of the shuttle, though.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2013 04:09
|
|
|
This thread needs more cool parts lists like Corvettefisher posted. I don't want to spec out parts on my own. 
|
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2013 16:28
|
|
|
Moey posted:I think that was a jab saying most people in here can spec a whitebox ESXi setup. Dilbert As gently caress posted:I was responding to Indecision1991's post on some whitebox considerations, if you are tired of seeing my posts you can just add me to your ignore list. You guys are so negative.  I was really looking for more builds. I think they're interesting. There should be a battle for cheapest whitebox with 32GB of RAM. Edit: I <3 you, Corvettefisher. You're not crazy like you used to be. three fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Sep 18, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2013 18:22
|
|
|
Been using my Mac Mini upgraded to 16GB of RAM for awhile now with VMware Fusion hosting ESXi, and it's been pretty great. I'm getting to the point where I need more RAM for VMs (vCenter, 3x Citrix VMs, Active Directory, Linux VM, VMware View, etc) so I finally bit the bullet and bought a dedicated machine that I'll pair up with my Mini. SHUTTLE SH67H3 PC Barebone System Intel Core i5-3470 Quad-Core Processor 3.2 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80637I53470 Crucial 16GB RAM (2x8GB) Got it all on Amazon. Signed up for Amazon Prime trial and I wanted to get the Amazon Rewards card for awhile, so I got that and got $50 off. Grand total: $500.82 + free shipping. In the future, I'll probably add the Intel PRO/1000 Pt Dual Port Server Adapter mentioned in this blog, as well as an SSD for vFlash Read Caching goodness. I also considered the Shuttle XH61V, and an i3 since it'd be a lot cheaper but I wanted vPro/VT-d and capability to increase to 32GB if needed. This lab build is pretty sweet, but I can't justify buying three units even if it would allow bare metal testing of VSAN. three fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Sep 21, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2013 21:27
|
|
|
IT Guy posted:Thanks for that post, three. I'm considering those Shuttles now. Multiple hosts would be closer to real world testing, I suppose. I plan to virtualize ESXi on top of 1 beefy host for economic purposes. All of the stuff I want to put to test in a lab will work fine in a virtualized host environment (VSAN, VFRC, VMDirectPath, etc.).
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2013 23:33
|
|
|
Agrikk posted:Two hosts allow you to do things like failover clustering and other nifty things. If you can afford the extra power, go with multiple hosts instead of a single beefy guy. You can do failover clustering with one host while virtualizing the hypervisors.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 24, 2013 00:04
|
|
|
Thinking about switching my home lab from iSCSI to NFS. Apparently NFS performance is significantly better on the Synology NASes. I have to actually partition my network with VLANs to force traffic through a specific NIC/VMkernel then, which I don't have to do with iSCSI. 
|
|
#
¿
Sep 25, 2013 21:06
|
|
|
IT Guy posted:So, I'm thinking about doing the following: Isn't that RAM relatively expensive? Although I guess if you're spending $2500 who cares, ha. The Shuttles are so nicely designed. I <3 mine.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 27, 2013 23:26
|
|
|
incoherent posted:I'd personally get this Only thing I'd note is that machine may run a bit louder if it was designed as a server than a Shuttle which is quiet as a mouse. No idea if true.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 28, 2013 13:59
|
|
|
IT Guy posted:I pulled the trigger on it. Went with the Shuttles due to the smaller form factor. But thanks for the suggestion. Baller setup. Let us know how it goes. Edit: Heads up, the on-board NIC doesn't work with ESXi 5.5. VMware removed it. However, there is a fix: http://www.bussink.ch/?p=1228 three fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Sep 29, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Sep 29, 2013 01:43
|
|
|
kiwid posted:Is there a better way to evaluate VMware vSphere and vCenter rather than reinstalling every 2 months? Using AutoLab to make redeploying easier: http://professionalvmware.com/2012/05/vsphere-5-autolab/ Or just use the Hands-on-Labs to evaluate and learn: https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/resources/how
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2013 18:44
|
|
|
Orcs and Ostriches posted:So I'm going to try to set up a home lab, mostly focused on VMware, and then the usual Microsoft suite of software - Server 2012R2, AD, DNS, etc., with some SCCM thrown in. I'm going for the usual shuttle build The shuttle is on sale for Black Friday for 40 off right now, I believe, on Amazon. Also, doesn't the K proc not support VMDirectPath?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 28, 2013 18:52
|
|
|
Dilbert As gently caress posted:I'd enable small TPS first, if you aren't proc constrained, doing large JVM environments or such TPS can really help This is actually a really cool tip for home labs that deserves more press. I wasn't aware of this functionality. From reading on it more, it looks like you lose "10-20% performance" which I assume they mean is CPU performance (sources: 1, 2)? Given a lot of environments are memory constrained instead of CPU even in production-level environments, why isn't this setting recommended more? three fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Dec 1, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Nov 30, 2013 23:59
|
|
|
Be a man, buy a Synology NAS.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 11, 2014 15:22
|
|
|
I upgraded my home lab with home-lab-benefit-dollars from new gig, so I built another shuttle with 32GB RAM, as well as added SSDs to each. Also added Cisco SG300 and a UPS. Really like the Cisco switch; it can do layer 3 and is pretty quiet.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2014 19:00
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 11:39 |
|
|
Daylen Drazzi posted:Be aware that setting up FreeNAS as a VM is possible but not recommended - the folks over at the FreeNAS forums gleefully tell people this whenever anyone asks about it. I found it to be pretty easy to setup and join to my network and access when I stood up a spare PC I had on-hand, but eventually the noise drove me nuts. I'm thinking about getting a new case and investing in some watercooling equipment to cut down on the noise, but after considering the cost for all that I think I might as well go ahead and buy one of the NAS appliances out there since the cost will pretty much even out unless I go for a really big array size with lots of disks. Still trying to decide where my pain point would be, but for now it's a pipe dream. Why do they recommend against it as a VM?
|
|
#
¿
May 26, 2014 20:23
|
|