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ESX home lab hardware shopping list

I’m not sure where this originated, but I got this email today from a coworker. It’s a shopping list to build an ESX home lab with compatible hardware for as cheap as possible. There are 2 host designs.

  1. a dual core AMD host for $337
  2. a quad core Intel host for $695.

The coolest part about this email is it gives you not only the parts but also the links on sites like newegg.com and allstarshop.com. I haven’t verified all the links nor built either of the systems. The few links I checked have been good, but the price has fluctuated slightly – which is expected.

Here’s the email in it’s entirety as I received it. Let me know if anyone knows who created it.

Here is some information I got through the grapevine on building a VI3 home lab.

General things to make sure you do

  • Get a CPU that supports 64-bit guests – this is generally an Intel CPU that starts with the letter “Q” not the letter “E” (or just check the specs). Any Athlon 64 or opteron works.
  • Get a motherboard that supports a minimum of 4 GB of RAM – 8GB is nice (all ESX servers are generally constrained by RAM)
  • Get a decent (but still super-cheap) GigE switch – something that supports VLANs so you can create configs that work with less physical NICs.
  • Make sure you have a motherboard that has onboard VGA – you don’t need a good graphics card, but you need something for initial config.

AMD ESX configuration (as cheap as it gets, but you have everything you need) = $337

This config leverages the fact that ESX 3.5 supports Nvidia NICs – and there will only be one NIC for VMotion, network, and IP storage. Name of the game = how cheap can you go

Intel ESX configuration (a super cheap quad core, 8GB, lotsa GbE powerhouse) = $695

This config leverages the fact there are ridiculously cheap multi-core CPUs and RAM these days. the NICs on Intel motherboards are usually based on older Intel or Realtek chipsets, (no driver support in VMware) – so you need to find some fancier (but still cheap) NICs. Name of the game here = how cheap can you build a powerhouse that you can run 10 VMs at once?

OK – what now?

  • You will need to buy two of whatever model you get – for VMotion, VM HA, DRS, Storage VMotion, etc… (so AMD total cost = $674, Intel cost = $1390)

Most importantly – HAVE FUN! Post your experiences, what you did, neat tricks you find, questions if you run into trouble….

Related Posts

  • Duane
    what about the cost of ESX?? are you saying your willing to spend 5K for the enterprise version of esx to do things like vmotion?
  • Duane,

    True, this post is about the hardware only.

    You do have the option of running VI3 for 60 days in eval mode. https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/?a=l&eval=vi3
  • If this is a test you can use 60 days trial version of ESX 3.5 but I dont' think you would pay for that $5K license fee.
  • jtkv
    I believe you still need external storage to be able to use VMotion, HA, DRS, etc.. another PC to act as an iSCSI target will do nicely (open-e DSS lite, openfiler)
  • John
    For approx. the same money, I bought 2 HP DL380 G3 off of Ebay with dual Xenon 3 GHz and 4GB and 4 72GB drives each. I install ESX on one disk, and use an iSCSI target running in a VM on each host to offer up the other disks in a RAID-5 as shared storage. I've also installed VC in a VM and it bounces nicely across the cluster. DRS and Vmotion work fine, but HA and DPM wouldn't be possible as failing the host would also fail the storage.

    Other downside is that the DL380s will consume more power, and noise and cooling will be an issue if you don't have basement to put them.
  • Paul
    Newegg has deactivated the cheapy mobo listed (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item..., however I was able to find an "open-box" that should do the trick (even has the Nvidia NIC:) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item...

    Using the rest of the spec from the $337 list, my shopping cart adds up to 263.41 including shipping!!
  • Jack
    Also, Newegg has deactivated the cheap intel motherboard. Has someone come up with a substitute that meets the requriements for ESX 3.5 in the same price range?
  • SteveB
    You can get the intel board at directron.com. I loaded the esx 3.5 on a cheap AMD mobo combo that i purchased at Fry's last year and it worked fine. The install saw the drives, NIC (nvidea) and onboard video just fine. I am going to build a 3 machine ESX host farm this weekend using whatever frys has on sale.
  • Chris
    John,

    Did you have to configure boot MBR on the Dl380 g3?

    Can you let me know how you installed it

    Thanks
    Chris
  • LOL - this is my original post (if you want a picture of the lab as it stands, go to http://virtualgeek.typepad.com.

    I'm EMCs point guy on all things VMware, and I posted this so all our Technical Consultants could doink around with VMware (most EMC products are available as VMs - so it's also good for the purpose of hands-on time)

    For those of you trying - there are evolutions of this design. lots of internal EMC'ers have taken this idea and run with it.

    - People have had good luck with the Nvidia 780i chipset (more expensive, but on the upside, has two onboard NICs that work).

    - If you make a bootable ESXi USB key, the support configs broaden out considerably, and it means you can "repurpose" on an as-needed basis your primary machine.

    - For shared storage (as one poster said, you need this for all the fun stuff like VMotion, VM HA, DRS, Site Recovery Manager, etc....) - you have a couple options. 1) buy an array (HA HA!); 2) download the Virtual Celerra - this is a VM version of one of EMC's arrays - works like the real deal (you can even replicate them to each other - **note that while these are similar to the real thing, performance is slower of course, and it's not supported in a production environment***; 3) use openfiler; 4) EMC makes a little home NAS device that Intel OEM's called LifeLine - it's about $500, and it's been shown to work.

    Have fun!!!
  • Chad,

    Glad to here from the originator of this great info! Thanks for that and for reading VM /ETC!
  • joe
    can anyone give me a reasonably priced motherboard that is 100% ESX 3.5 compatible for SATA RAID and NIC?

    No preference for Intel or AMD..price is somewhat a consideration... Looking for something on Newegg..

    Thanks!!
  • kev
    Thanks for the tips. Can these setup work with ESXI?
  • I have succesfully installed ESXi on the following, Runs great. I will be building a second to work with vmotion and other VM apps.

    I purchased all the above items from a local computer store(www.extrememicro.net). I found all of them online for about the same prices (USD) or a few $$ less.

    ASUS M2A-VM 690G motherboard -72.00
    AMD AM2 4800+ 2.5ghz - 70.00
    Kingston 2g 667 DDR memory x2 - 92.00
    CDR+DVD - 28.00
    WD 160G SATA II - 53.00
    Case w 420w PS - 28.00
    Intel PCIE GT NIC - 45.00
    Promise SATA 300 TX2 (frys electronics) 69.00


    The oboard NIC and SATA Controller do not work. Install worked with the CD plugged in to the onboard IDE

    It seems that ESXi would not install with the CD plugged in the same controller as the SATA Drive. This board does not support boot from USB.
  • Mike,

    Thanks for the working hardware list and the set up process for the IDE CD!
  • Ken
    I have installed ESXi ver 3.5 R3 on the following:

    Asus - P5E-VM HDMI motherboard
    Intel PCI-Pro / 1000 GT Desktop Adapter
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 CPU
    8 Gig RAM
    SATA Hard Drive
    IDE CDROM

    NOTE: ESX ver 3.5 R3 did NOT work.
    Motherboard has only 1 PCI slot, used for Enet Card
  • I have the following for a home lab

    3 Rackable Systems 1u - half height servers. Specs are as follows

    Dual - Dual core AMD 64 bit 2.6 ghz procs
    8g RAM each. Will support up to 32g per server

    Storage:
    ISCSI (about to reinstall) via gigE LAN to the following server:

    HP DL380 G3 with 6g of RAM
    4 - 36.4g 15kRPM local scsi drives for typical usage (dedicated as vm storage)
    Direct attached Dell 220s scsi array with 14 - 72g 15kRPM disks

    1u HP combination rack LCD/keyboard
    1u cisco 100 meg managed switch
    1u managmed gigE switch

    All nicely contained in a mobile ECS composite rack. Aquired from military liquidation :).

    Granted, normally one 1 esx host is running at a time running test/dev VMs from local Sata. If more vms/space are needed, I boot the DL380 and run from the local drives VMFS.. If speed is a concearn for what I am doing, I fire up the external array that has the fast drives and more dedicate spindles. Definitely an overkill, but got a great deal on the Rackable Systems and they are a lot quieter than the previous dl360s doing the job and are 64 bit.

    Kevin Goodman
    kevin@colovirt.com
    http://blog.colovirt.com
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