Test box for VM's

[cookie_monster]

I'm looking to buy a budget PC for testing VM's on so it needs to be able to run Xenserver. Reliability isn't a massive factor as it's only going to be for testing price is as per usual a factor.

 

Spec:

 

Quad Core processor (with virtualization extensions)

4Gb+ RAM

A couple of SATA drives the bigger the better

1Gb NIC

 

Have I missed anything?

[john]

Looks good to me, maybe worth looking for the baby HP Proliant ML servers they have that kind of spec and if you get it right it will be a couple of hundred quid once you have 4GB'd the ram (they take 8 off the top of my head)

[cookie_monster]

I was just looking at one of them earlier, more shopping tomorrow I think

[john]

I was just looking at one of them earlier, more shopping tomorrow I think

I love mine, its on my desk at work acting as a 3rd DC for work at present due to one of ours being a bit flaky over summer. I paid £122 for it then upped the ram from 1GB to 4 for about £36 I think it was and its great

[Fivetwelve]

Ahh this is what I've done...kinda. I found an old PowerEdge 2600 on eBay last week... £59, got my dad to pick it up on a pallet from London for me (he's in that industry so got "family rates" )...

 

It's a tidy little machine for the money, 2x2GHz Xeons, 2GB RAM, 3x36GB SCSIs and a Win 2000 Adv Server COA stuck to the side

 

I love it, it looks so cute in my cupboard running ESX 3.5i, and I'm in the process of buying more HDD and RAM for it

 

If it's old servers you're looking at to tinker with, have a look for the user "stuffusell" on eBay. That's where I got mine, and to be fair their service is fantastic

[t_h]

Looks good to me, maybe worth looking for the baby HP Proliant ML servers they have that kind of spec and if you get it right it will be a couple of hundred quid once you have 4GB'd the ram (they take 8 off the top of my head)

 

I second this. I got mine for 200 and still consider it a bargain.

[Theblacksheep]

I missed the boat when the HPs were at £120.

 

Little bit pricey now, altho not as pricey as 6 core opterons which is what i'd really like for a home host.

[cookie_monster]

@ john

I love mine, its on my desk at work acting as a 3rd DC for work at present due to one of ours being a bit flaky over summer. I paid £122 for it then upped the ram from 1GB to 4 for about £36 I think it was and its great

 

What processor has it got in john? I need one that will allow Xenserver to run Windows VMs? (Intel VT or AMD-V)

 

@Fivetwelve

Ahh this is what I've done...kinda. I found an old PowerEdge 2600 on eBay last week... £59, got my dad to pick it up on a pallet from London for me (he's in that industry so got "family rates" )...

 

It's a tidy little machine for the money, 2x2GHz Xeons, 2GB RAM, 3x36GB SCSIs and a Win 2000 Adv Server COA stuck to the side

 

 

I have two of them in my server room but I'm not sure they will run Xenserver with Windows VMs as I don't think they have Intel VT or AMD-V. Maybe i'll take a look.

Edited October 23, 2009 by cookie_monster

[Fivetwelve]

Xenserver considered superior to VM ESX then?

[cookie_monster]

Xenserver considered superior to VM ESX then?

 

Xenserver has some good features and is free, we also currently use Xenserver on our production network so that's why I need a test box that will run Xenserver.

[john]

@cookie its got an Intel Xeon 3065 which runs at 2.33GHz, so its a dual core Xeon, I've had it now maybe 6 months or so I think. It does all my needs very well.

[DMcCoy]

Look at the ML115 G5, Cheap, Quad CPU - Opteron 1352 2.1, AMD-V. Supported NIC already inside. HDD works without RAID. I did install Xen 5 on it when testing, seemed to work ok. Memory isn't too expensive either.

 

Will also work with Hyper-V, ESXi 3.5/4.

 

It's not quite good enough for a full production server (apart from home use, as I use it) as there is no RAID, hotswap etc.

[somabc]

I have a DELL Poweredge T105, works well with ESX4i

[cookie_monster]

@ DMcCoy and john

 

Look at the ML115 G5, Cheap, Quad CPU - Opteron 1352 2.1, AMD-V. Supported NIC already inside. HDD works without RAID. I did install Xen 5 on it when testing, seemed to work ok. Memory isn't too expensive either.

 

Just been looking at that a ML115

 

This link seems to confirm what you say

Installing VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 on an HP Proliant ML115 G5 Quad Core. | TechHead.co.uk

 

and there's one here

 

HP ML115 'Ideal Virtualisation Testbed' Bundle | ServersPlus

[DMcCoy]

The 110T NIC on that page also works if you want a second card. It's really an intel with custom firmware (works with ESXi and Xen)

[john]

Looks like its a good choice for your needs then

[Duke]

Hi all,

 

I've been put in a similar position and need a cheap-ish VM box. At the moment I'm running a few Dell Optiplex 760's with 3GB RAM and Intel Pro 1000 NICs, but I'm about to lose them so need a replacement. I know the HPs were recommended on here but we're mainly a Dell shop so I'd like to go Dell if possible.

 

I've got about £500 to play with and need ESXi 4.0 compatibility, ESX 4.0 would be a plus too so I can re-use the server next summer when we go fully ESX.

 

I'm thinking ideally:

 

Single Xeon CPU

4GB/6GB RAM

RAID 1 HDDs (small SAS probably)

4x GB NIC

 

What I really wanted was rack-mount and Xeon 55xx's but I can't see any way to manage that on budget. Even with a basic R200, 4GB RAM and a Xeon E3113 it still comes to over £1k.

 

Sooo... Anyone got any recommendations for a Dell tower, preferably with a Xeon and support for at least 4GB RAM and a dual NIC that definitely meets the VMware ESXi4 HCL?

 

Many thanks in advance,

Chris

[cookie_monster]

Have you see this? It comes with ESX on a pen drive and has an internal USB slot for it.

 

Includes 4GB (2 x 2GB) memory upgrade, and 2GB USB drive containing bootable VMware ESXi 4.0 Hypervisor.

 

HP ML115 'Ideal Virtualisation Testbed' Bundle | ServersPlus

 

Installing VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 on an HP Proliant ML115 G5 Quad Core.

http://www.techhead.co.uk/installing-vmware-esx-and-esxi-35-on-an-hp-proliant-ml115-g5-quad-core

[Duke]

Have you see this? It comes with ESX on a pen drive and has an internat USB slot for it.

 

Yeah, I had a look at that, I just would have preferred something a bit more beefy as I've got more to spend and my HP support experiences have always been poor.

 

I can do a Dell T100 or T105 for about the right price, but adding RAID 1, 2x HDDs and a Dual NIC really bumps up the cost. I know the RAID is kind of overkill but this is a semi-production box so I'd like some redundancy on the ESXi install. VMs will be on a SAN so the actual data storage isn't an issue.

 

Fun and games...

Chris

[RabbieBurns]

My dualcore opteron HP Proliant I got for 100 quid back when they were cheap is now running 4 VMs for me pretty perfectly.

 

Id already installed gentoo linux on it so didnt bother with a dedicated hypervisor, just 4 instances of virtualbox running 2008 Standard, 2003 Professional *2 and a x64 2003 pro. Upgraded it to 8gb of ram recently and its fine..

[cookie_monster]

Yeah, I had a look at that, I just would have preferred something a bit more beefy as I've got more to spend and my HP support experiences have always been poor.

 

Buy 2

 

 

I've only ever had good experiences with HP support and a few bad ones with Dell. Just goes to show what a difference of impression dealing with a good or bad member of staff can make.

[Duke]

My dualcore opteron HP Proliant I got for 100 quid back when they were cheap is now running 4 VMs for me pretty perfectly.

 

Hmm, looks like the HPs might be the cheapest option then, lots of them listed on the VMware HCL too...

 

I've only ever had good experiences with HP support and a few bad ones with Dell. Just goes to show what a difference of impression dealing with a good member of staff can make.

 

Very true!

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys, much appreciated!

Chris

[Duke]

Gah, so I buy the ML115 bundle and an extra 4GB RAM, arrives this morning and boots fine with the 1GB RAM installed. Open it up, fit all 8GB and it won't boot (BIOS beeps). Try different RAM install combinations and it looks like channel 2 is dead on the mobo, won't boot with any RAM installed in Channel 2.

 

Phone Servers Plus, nice enough guys but now I've have to phone HP support (already had lots of bad experiences with them), waiting for an engineer to call me back, they need to run diagnostics so they can give me a DOA form, which I can send back to Servers Plus, so they can arrange a replacement. All this after I've disposed of the packing materials (that'll teach me).

 

What a PITA...

Chris

[cookie_monster]

Gah, so I buy the ML115 bundle and an extra 4GB RAM, arrives this morning and boots fine with the 1GB RAM installed. Open it up, fit all 8GB and it won't boot (BIOS beeps). Try different RAM install combinations and it looks like channel 2 is dead on the mobo, won't boot with any RAM installed in Channel 2.

 

Phone Servers Plus, nice enough guys but now I've have to phone HP support (already had lots of bad experiences with them), waiting for an engineer to call me back, they need to run diagnostics so they can give me a DOA form, which I can send back to Servers Plus, so they can arrange a replacement. All this after I've disposed of the packing materials (that'll teach me).

 

What a PITA...

Chris

 

 

That is a PITA. Mine is now running Xenserver and a couple of VM's

[Duke]

Credit where due, quick callback from HP, DOA form on it's way (although I'm pretty sure the blank email I just got from them should have had the DOA attached). Hopefully we'll get this sorted ASAP as I just had another request for something that I need to host on this box lol.

 

Anyone else running 8GB with no issues? Reports on forums looked a bit hit-and-miss, some people saying you need ECC and others saying you don't. The server itself supports 8GB, but the spec mentions ECC and the RAM Servers Plus supply is non-ECC.

 

EDIT: Props to HP and Servers Plus, should have a replacement server tomorrow. Good guys and I take back some of the bad things I said about HP support, maybe it's just their printer guys who were annoying.

 

Chris

Edited December 7, 2009 by Duke