need to build a server

Cancer12

Senior member
Nov 30, 2001
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Hello thanks for clicking on this thread!
I've built many desktops, whether for personal gaming or business use. The time has come for me to build a server, but I'm unsure how to proceed.

The server will be used for virtualization with esxi on it or something similar, but will not need to be an always on type of server. I need it mainly for testing purposes.

the reasoning..
I just took over administering a SBS box for a small office, and the thing is a mess. Rather than go through everything to fix it, I'd rather just make a nice SBS image in my spare time and then drop it onto a virtual box, which I would temporarily use to make sure the image is working and act as a replacement while I load esxi on their server and load the same image on it. So essentially I need a nice little server that I can use as a temporary server for them while I reconfigure their server to hold the image I made. So it's kind of like I'm using this box to make sure the image is working.

Then I'd keep my new little server around for testing purposes, and should some server I administer die or something I can bring it over and load their vm on it while I take care of their server.

But I've never built a server before. I know to get ecc memory and a server processor, but what I'm confused about is the hard drives. Should I get scsi? I don't know server hard drives well. I'd also like to keep the whole build ideally less than $1000. I'd also prefer to build it myself to save on costs, but if the difference isn't big then I suppose it doesn't matter.

And if its not a mission critical, always on server, can I get away with some desktop hardware and still have it run esxi?
 
Last edited:

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
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www.mfenn.com
For testing purposes, you are fine with desktop-class hardware for ESXi. I run an i3 2100, mini-ITX H61 board, and 8GB of RAM at home for ESXi. Right now it has 5 Linux and Windows VMs on it with no performance problems.