new VMware ESX box

[Owls]

Hello everyone,

I finally decided that I should build a proper server for my home/hobby needs (I'm a programmer/IT guy at work) instead of cobbling together outdated junk from my previously retired gaming rigs. Well, technically the Q6600 is the only escapee from my gaming rig but the rest is brand new.

Intel Q6600 2.4GHz
EVGA nForce 650i board (cheapest I could find at $80 AR with PATA/SATA support)
4x2GB DDR2 800MHz SuperTalent for a total of 8GB
5x160GB Seagate 7200.10 drives in Raid 5
Adaptec 2610SA SATA Raid w/ 64MB of ECC
nVidia 7900GT PCI-E
Antec 550W power supply

I researched that ESX does not currently support native SATA raid on any motherboard (except the ASUS P5M2 which uses the LSI chipset) and that the Adaptec is the better alternative. The Asus P5M2 would theoretically be better because of on board Sata/SAS however there are no overclocking options. I plan on taking the Q6600 to 3GHz on stock voltage (max is 3.4 but I will not be pushing it that far since it will be a 24/7 machine). Going with the EVGA was a tough decision to make, no PCI-X, no on board SATA/SAS, but being able to overclock would extend the usable "life" of the server.

I plan to setup 2 VMs, one for my CS:S, DOD:S, TF2 server, and another to handle my Web/Exchange 2007 server. I'll be using Win2k3 64bit for both VMs.

Any thoughts on my setup?

 

[child of wonder]

I don't see why it needs a 7900GT. Also, you're going to need a network card as well since ESX won't support the onboard NIC of the eVGA board.

I'd also look into getting a cheap pair of small SATA drives in RAID 1 to just install ESX on and then use 4x160GB drives in RAID 5 for your images. That will speed up I/O a little bit for your images.

Otherwise looks great. You'll run out of RAM long before processor power but that's just the nature of the beast.

 

[Owls]

Ah good catch on the NIC. Totally forgot about that. The 7900GT is there because that's all I have available and it would save me some cash.

One question I have is, should I allocate 6GB of ram for the game server vm and 2GB for web/mail vm or what is the best ideal setup?

Finally, I have to ask, to maintain ease of use, does anyone recommend vmware workstation/server in place of ESX? Or will I squeeze out more from my hardware running ESX?

I have a 160GB IDE Seagate, can I use that to install ESX on? I read that for images you need a SCSI/SAS/SAN.

 

[Owls]

Originally posted by: child of wonder
I don't see why it needs a 7900GT. Also, you're going to need a network card as well since ESX won't support the onboard NIC of the eVGA board.

I'd also look into getting a cheap pair of small SATA drives in RAID 1 to just install ESX on and then use 4x160GB drives in RAID 5 for your images. That will speed up I/O a little bit for your images.

Otherwise looks great. You'll run out of RAM long before processor power but that's just the nature of the beast.

http://communities.vmware.com/message/871004#871004

Apparently, the 650i IS recognized by ESX, Sata controller and NIC. Good news

I did wish that I had the Asus P5M2 board but lack of OC options kind of kill it for me. Advantages are certainly nice, PCI-X, On board LSI Sata/SAS controller w/ expandable SO-DIMM slot, dual gigabit nics, Should I go for the P5M2 board anyway? Newegg open box lists one for $220. Otherwise $300 new.

 

[child of wonder]

You need an approved SATA controller or SCSI/SAN/iSCSI to format as VMFS to put images on. ESX can be installed on an IDE drive if you want.

That's cool that ESX will pick up the SATA controller on the 650i, but it will only recognize the individual disks, not any RAID you may set them up as with the onboard controller (at least, according to your link). You may want to stick with the dedicated RAID card. The link also doesn't mention if the onboard NIC is recognized so I would check in on that. If it isn't recognized, I have a dual NIC PCI-E card I could sell you for $50. Otherwise, a PCI Intel GT would work fine.

If you don't need lots of storage space, just stick with your current set up plus my suggestion of two small drives in RAID 1 only for ESX and the rest in RAID 5 for images.

As for ESX vs. Server, you'll get more out of your hardware with ESX but the license costs a ton (however, I'm assuming this isn't an issue for you). With ESX you can get ~4-8 VMs per CPU core and Server will get you ~2-4. Also, ESX doesn't support sound or USB so if you want to be able to play a game from a VM on your VM Server (sound doesn't work remotely) then you can't and if you want a USB drive plugged into the ESX server that won't work. Another downside is the VMFS file system doesn't work well for a file server so loading a VM as a file server in ESX won't be very fast if you're using Gb network.

I downgraded from ESX to Server because I wanted to have an all in one box that could act as a file server and VMWare server. ESX ended up being overkill for me because I only had 2 or 3 VMs running at any given time. In fact, I'm selling my 3x73GB SCSI drives and controller since I switched. VMWare server also supports any hardware while ESX doesn't.

Either way, you'll REALLY enjoy having a VMWare box.