Hardware Advice

Hey guys need some advice, looking to build a certification lab Pc to run,VCP ESXI, MCSA, LINUX, ect. needs to be a versatile machine any thoughts

? &;don't have lot of funds so keep that in mind.

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Comments

stryder144

I think if you looked into buying a used server you might be able to pick one up that fits your needs and is cheap. A decent Dell PowerEdge R900 might set you back $400 USD. The one I have has 32GB of RAM, two HDDs, four Quad-core Xeon processors, etc. Down the line, I could easily upgrade to 128GB of RAM for about $200-250 USD. The model I have is in the HCL for VMware.

greg9891

I agree with what your saying but servers tend to be a bit loud any suggestions on keeping it quiet. also any links on the servers. I like that price range Thanks. will likely get one of those you mentioned.

Essendon

I have a HP DL 380 G6 with 48GB RAM in it. Just make sure you get one with a processor that does EPT (which is needed if you go the nested route).

Once this machine gets past POST, it is about just as loud as a PC. If you want to go quieter and lighter, assemble a PC or get laptop with SSDs in it.

In a home lab, you'll have disk slowness or insufficient RAM before anything else. So whatever you buy, just keep this in mind.

srabiee

Do you have a desktop PC that you could add more RAM to? Most newer PC's should work for a nested environment. i3, for example should do the job. As Essendon mentioned, RAM is going to be the biggest issue, followed by disk IO. If your motherboard has four RAM slots, you should be able to upgrade to 32GB. Also, SSD's aren't too expensive right now.

If you are set on building a new PC, take a look at this thread. I recently built one myself for nested Hyper-V and ESXi and these are the components I chose. It wasn't a super cheap build my any means, but it works wonderfully and should last me for many years to come. AMD FX processors are an excellent value, especially for a home virtualization lab.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/mcsa-mcse-windows-2012-general/111278-hardware-hyper-v.html

Essendon

Yeah RAM or disk depending on what you are doing. Active lab = disk IO issues first, not-so-active lab = RAM runs out first.

EdTheLad

I just bought a Dell Precision 7500, supports dual quad cpu's and up to 196G ram. Very quiet.

GreaterNinja

I have 2 x TS140 Thinkserver Xeon E3-1225 V3 3.2ghz systems.
Power usage running Vsphere 5.5 and 4 drives is 30-40 watts/hour when idle.

SUPER quiet (about 2 times quieter than my watercooled workstation). I have to put my ear on the case to hear that it is on.
Its a 4 core Xeon which is meant to be a server or workstation. It supports EPT and every other CPU-HW Virtualization technology out there.
The Computer features quick deploy hard drive trays and RAID support + display & VGA.

Today they were selling the I3 version for $200-$230. The Xeon version goes on massive discount maybe 2-3 times a year.
Lenovo ThinkServer TS140: i3-4130, 4GB DDR3, 280W PSU, DVD-ROM - Slickdeals.net

greg9891

Great Idea guys, thinking about getting a server but is there a way to reduce the fan speed in the bios or somthing. that would be a big help. lol don't think my wife would take too kindly to all that extra noise.

kj0

I just bought a new computer last week that is now solely lab with nested ESXi. AD FX6300 6 Core, 32Gb. (I've got another machine here that I use as a san.

Deathmage

I have two Dell R610's with Dual Xeon's in a ESXi 5.5 cluster with 96 GB's of ram total in the cluster. does all I need for VMware labbing, when it's turned on. Been hard-core into Cisco the past few months so it's been off, but she's there when I need her again.

kj0

Picked up a gigabit managed switch from work Yesterday also. My next upgrade will be a Synology Slim with 4 SSDs. That should work quite nicely, but I need to sell some things first.

scott28tt

Get yourself a high-spec laptop/desktop with SSD and 32GB RAM, and build your lab environments in VMs.

Or, go down the physical path if you have the space, money to pay the electricity bill, and some ear defenders