[TriLUG] Home Lab Recommendations, Part Deux

Wed Jan 11 11:52:12 EST 2017

On Wed, Jan 11, 2017 at 10:42 AM, Rogers, Matthew via TriLUG
<trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
>
> You should get new hardware.  The 3.5" floppy is finally dead. :-)
>
      I second that. Incidentally my esxi box started as a Inspiron
620s, which is limited in many ways. I ended up replacing it with a
Intel DQ67SW MB and a i7 quad CPU that is fully supported by exsi. Not
the top of the line but good enough for my current needs and allowed
me to still use the small box from the original machine. I also added
a intel quad port gigabit card to it.

No matter what you choose, make sure it is supported either officially
or unnoficially by vmware or you will find a few features to be
missing.

> Matthew Rogers
> Senior Security Manager
> O: +1.919.329.1130    M: +1.919.691.4636
> allscripts.com | matthew.rogers2 at allscripts
>
> Allscripts: Building open, connected communities of health
> _______________________________________________
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TriLUG [mailto:trilug-bounces+matthew.rogers2=allscripts.com at trilug.org] On Behalf Of Alan Sterger via TriLUG
> Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2017 10:30 AM
> To: vikram sai balaji ulaganathan <tayirvadai.vikram at gmail.com>
> Cc: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion <trilug at trilug.org>
> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Home Lab Recommendations, Part Deux
>
> Vikram,
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
>
> I have access to Oracle software which has an Xen variant, Oracle VM Server.  I installed it with no issues and it appears small enough.
> However, to get to where I want, dual Windows and Linux VMs, I would still need to install at least 2 more pieces of software, Oracle VM Manager and Oracle VM Windows Paravirtual (PV) Drivers for Microsoft Windows.  After the first install, work pulled me away from the project but assumed there was a "one stop" install for a Type 1 to be had somewhere.
>
> Unfortunately, my circa 2008 Dell BIOS has no boot from USB option.
> I'll have to burn the ESXI 6.5 iso to a CD/DVD to test/install.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Alan Sterger
>
>
> On 1/10/2017 7:59 AM, vikram sai balaji ulaganathan wrote:
> > Hi Alan,
> > After Ron's suggestions, I tried type 1 VMware and failed to install
> > it due to network card support issue. Though it recommends a lengthy
> > and mostly Windows based solution of exsi image builder, it did not
> > suite me. Xen was good, but wake on lan had issues. So for the time
> > being, I switched to type 2 hypervisor with Ubuntu server. Still
> > having issues with GPU passthrough.
> >
> > Bottom line try xen if VMware fails
> > Thanks
> > Vikram
> >
> > On Jan 10, 2017 7:41 AM, "Ron Kelley via TriLUG" <trilug at trilug.org
> > <mailto:trilug at trilug.org>> 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 <mailto: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
> >
> >
> >     --
> >     This message was sent to: Ron Kelley <rkelleyrtp at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:rkelleyrtp at gmail.com>>
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> >
> >     --
> >     This message was sent to: Vikram <tayirvadai.vikram at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:tayirvadai.vikram at gmail.com>>
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> >
>
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