VMWare ESX Server 3.5 hardware for under $1000 dollars?

pwjohnstonpwjohnston Member Posts: 441
Ok you want to build a server to run ESX Server 3.5 and you have a $1000 dollar budget for hardware.

What would you get?

Comments

  • dynamikdynamik Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Is this for studying or production?
  • RTmarcRTmarc Member Posts: 1,082 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Hopefully it isn't production.
  • pwjohnstonpwjohnston Member Posts: 441
    Studying and home use.

    I need a new computer and I'd like to get one that can handle ESX so I can learn it in the process. I'm thinking just about any normal PC I would build could run it(terabyte mirror, 4gb ram, quad core pentium), I'd just need to get a SCSI raid card and a couple drives.

    I'll probably be running XP off it, Fedora, and maybe Server 2008 if I decide to start working on the MCITP in the future.
  • royalroyal Member Posts: 3,352 ■■■■□□□□□□
    There's a TON of articles out there for how to build an affordable ESX(i) whitebox. Things to keep in mind is to make sure you get a compatible NIC (Intel), compatible motherboard , and compatible Hard Drive Controller.

    Here's a list that will show you compatible hardware:
    http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm
    “For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.” - Harry F. Banks
  • pwjohnstonpwjohnston Member Posts: 441
    royal wrote: »
    There's a TON of articles out there for how to build an affordable ESX(i) whitebox. Things to keep in mind is to make sure you get a compatible NIC (Intel), compatible motherboard , and compatible Hard Drive Controller.

    Here's a list that will show you compatible hardware:
    http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm


    Oh sweeeeeeet. Thanks!
  • astorrsastorrs Member Posts: 3,139 ■■■■■■□□□□
    http://ultimatewhitebox.com/ is another resource you can use in combination with the one royal mentioned. Remember there are two different bare metal hypervisors available from VMware, ESX and ESXi, both have slightly different driver sets so make sure you know which one you want to use (or double-check that the HW you want to buy supports both).

    As royal said the two biggest challenges are NICs and HBAs, the rest is usually no problem.
  • dynamikdynamik Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Are you studying for the VCP or do you just want a virtualization box? If you're doing the VCP, something else you might want to consider is picking up some old servers on eBay. I got a couple of HP DL360 G3s for around $300 shipped. It's nice having two for VMotion, DRS, etc.
  • royalroyal Member Posts: 3,352 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Plus, if you want RAID, get a real server. I initially was going to go with ESX till I realized that I couldn't get RAID going on a Whitebox. I then just opted to do Hyper-V instead since I absolutely want RAID and didn't want to buy a real server.
    “For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.” - Harry F. Banks
  • astorrsastorrs Member Posts: 3,139 ■■■■■■□□□□
    royal wrote: »
    Plus, if you want RAID, get a real server. I initially was going to go with ESX till I realized that I couldn't get RAID going on a Whitebox. I then just opted to do Hyper-V instead since I absolutely want RAID and didn't want to buy a real server.
    Why do you think you can't use RAID on an ESX whitebox? Both of mine have RAID...
  • ColbyGColbyG Member Posts: 1,264
    I grabbed a Dell GX620 for ~$150 (plus some RAM) off Ebay to learn ESX. It has worked out nicely for me.
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