[TriLUG] Home Lab Recommendations, Part Deux

Tue Jan 10 12:09:45 EST 2017

Understood.  For some reason, when I queried your CPU, I saw it as a 2016 model and not a 2008!

A suggestion: go to newegg.com <http://newegg.com/> and look for refurbished Dell systems.  You can find a ton of servers for around $500.  In fact, I just found one w/24G RAM, a 2.8GHz 6-core CPU, and a 500G drive for $509  (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=2NS-0008-0Z115 <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=2NS-0008-0Z115>)

Perhaps the best deal, however, is the refurb Dell T7600 workstation w/2x 2.6GHz Intel Xeon 8-core systems w/128G RAM, 1GB HDD, and no OS.  I think someone else mentioned this last week:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAC0F4WC9675 <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAC0F4WC9675>  That would make a killer (overkill?) VM server.  Just add a couple of SSDs and you should be good.

Also, as Vikram mentioned, you can download ESXi 6.0 for free here:  http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor.html <http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor.html>  Install it on a USB thumb drive and you are all set.

-Ron

On Jan 10, 2017, at 11:24 AM, Alan Sterger <asterger at earthlink.net> wrote:

Ron - Thanks for your suggestions.

Unfortunately, this system started life in 2008 as a 64-bit Dell Studio 540.  According to Dell's system documentation, memory is constrained to max 8 GB, disk I/O to SATA 2 (Intel G45 + ICH10R chipset) and on-board Gigabit provided by Realtek PCIe GBE controller.  Obviously another NIC can be added but am wondering if due to the constrained memory and I/O, if my money would be better spent purchasing a new server oriented system? I have an Oracle consulting business, so I have the ability to write-off the project.

Where does one get ESXi 6?  I looked at VMWare's web site and didn't see it advertised as such.  I wouldn't want much of a license restriction, probably no more than half-dozen active VMs, hopefully, unlimited number of inactive VMs.

Thanks,

-- Alan Sterger

On 1/10/2017 7:40 AM, Ron Kelley wrote:
> Alan,
> 
> Your CPU seems to be up to the task.  Personally, I would add more RAM (total 16G), add a second SSD (host one VMs on SSD-1 and other VMs on SSD-2), and install ESXi 6.0 on a USB thumb drive.  Use the web client to install/manage your VMS; you will be all set.  If you are still stuck with I/O issues, add a 3rd SSD and host VMs on that one.  If you need data storage protection (ie: no loss of data), grab an inexpensive RAID card off fleabay (LSI 9260-8i for $130) and create a RAID-5 array.  ESXi works just fine with LSI.
> 
> If you want to run Docker, LXD, etc; simply spin up a “heavy” VM (4-8G RAM, 2 vCPUs, etc) and start hosting containers.  I do this all the time.
> 
> -Ron
> 
> 
> On Jan 9, 2017, at 11:51 PM, Alan Sterger via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello TriLugers,
> 
> Another lost soul looking for home lab recommendations.  I have an Intel Core2 Quad core Q9550 computer with 8 GB of ram, Gigabit ethernet running on a 256 GB SSD.  I can also add more SSDs and/or spinning rust as needed.
> 
> My requirements are to run Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) v6.x (RHEL w/mods) with Oracle Database 11i.  I also need to run Windows 7 (32-bit) Pro, Windows 7 (64-bit) Pro and possibly Windows 10 Pro.  Any VM not needed would be shutdown.
> 
> I've used two Type-2 hosted hypervisors, VMware Workstation and VirtualBox each hosted on Windows 7.  Both hypervisors running OEL VM environments seemed a little slow and I/O bound. Probably due to the underlying Windows host.
> 
> My thought was to implement a Type-1 hypervisor, headless and use VNC when an interactive session is required.  But I'm hearing other things like Docker, libvirt, containers...
> 
> With my mix of Linux and Windows requirements, let me know if I'm on the right track OR point me in a faster, better direction.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> -- Alan Sterger
> 
> 