ESX home lab hardware shopping list
March 14th, 2008 | 
Author: 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.
- a dual core AMD host for $337
- 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
- Athlon x2 4000 retail – dual core (comes with the heatsink/fan) = $55 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103774)
- Generic ATX Motherboard – based on the 430, 6100 or 6150 chipsets – just MAKE SURE it has the Nvidia NIC, not a Realtek NIC = $54 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157108) NOTE – THIS ONE HAS A REALTEK NIC, so you need to by an additional intel NIC (good catch Dan Baskette)…. I use an old ASUS A8N-VM CSM socket 939 motherboard, and it has a Nvidia MAC and works great – but you need to find an older Athlon that fits that socket 939 form factor…..
- cheap as dirt HDD = $49 for a 160GB drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075)
- cheap as dirt ATX case/PS = $23 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811164073)
- big 2GB DDR2 memory sticks (you can start with 2, and add another 2 later) = $72(2 x $36) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141300
- cheap as dirt DVD/CD (to install the ISO) = $29 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106228)
- If you’re not sure what MAC the NIC uses on the motherboard, or just want to be safe – add 1 Intel GbE NICs (these are a trick – you need specific ones for the Intel e1000 driver that comes with ESX 3.5 to work – hard to find, and DON’T buy the server MT versions – find the cheapo desktop GT PCI or PT PCIe versions – hundreds cheaper and work fine) = $42 http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?pid=16016&ad=pwatch
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?
- Lots of CPU Intel Q6600 retail – quad core (comes with the heatsink/fan) = $270 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017)
- Intel G33/P35 based motherboard (you want ram slots and PCIe slots) = $54 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121099)
- cheap as dirt HDD = $49 for a 160GB drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075)
- cheap as dirt ATX case/PS = $23 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811164073)
- Lots of RAM – big 2GB DDR2 memory sticks = $144(4 x $36) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141300
- cheap as dirt DVD/CD (to install the ISO) = $29 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106228)
- 3 Intel GbE NICs (these are a trick – you need specific ones for the Intel e1000 driver that comes with ESX 3.5 to work – hard to find, and DON’T buy the server MT versions – find the cheapo desktop GT PCI or PT PCIe versions – hundreds cheaper and work fine) = $126 http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?pid=16016&ad=pwatch
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….
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