MCITP:SA Hardware

Hi All,

After taking a long break from certs I have decided to get back on track, I will be starting with 70-640 but I have a few questions;

1. I'm looking for a good inexpensive server that will be able to handle whatever I throw at it, ideally I would like to install ESXi and then install enough servers to properly lab on. I'm currently looking at HP ProLiant ML110 G6 G6950 or HP ProLiant ML110 G6 X3430 if I decide to go with the G6950 which is faster but has less cores will the performance be noticeable? as it’s almost £100 price difference do you think it's justified or should this money be spent else where?

2. Do you reckon that knowledge from 70-640 is directly transferrable to 70-294, because I was thinking of doing 70-294 afterwards whilst everything is still fresh in my head.

Thanks in advance

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atorven

No one?

Psoasman

I am running Oracle Virtual Box with Server 2008 R2 and a couple of Win7 clients for labbing now, finances aren't allowing for anything more than that.

The 294 covers AD in a Server 2003 environment. Some of the knowledge you would gain from the 640 would help with the 294, but Server 2008 adds a lot more features.

Are you planning on working on the MCSE?

Essendon

Ok I can help you a little with a short answer.

1. With VM's you needs more RAM than anything else. Max out the RAM on whatever you go with. If you are buying afresh, I'd say ensure your system can take 8GB RAM, more the better. But 8GB RAM is good enough for most things. Fewer cores will not be too noticeable. There may be a slight lag if multiple VM's are doing multiple things at the same time, but since the VM's sit idle most of the time, you wouldnt really notice.

2. You can say that the knowledge from the 640 is transferable to the 294, but IMO the 294 is way harder than the 640, atleast from what I've heard. The 640 was not difficult for me, but I do have enterprise server experience so it was easier for me.

PS. Arent G6 expensive still? Have you considered just a desktop for a fraction of the cost?

LAN_Guru

If it were my money, I would bite the bullet, spend the extra 100, and get the box with the quad-core server CPU instead of the dual-core desktop CPU. Google "passmark cpu benchmarks" and compare the performance between the two. The Xeon has almost double the performance.

I prefer to spend a little extra and get something that will suit multiple needs. With the 4-core Xeon, you could run more VMs in a small production environment due to the 4 cores. You may want to use the box for multiple virtual desktops in your home of office later, or start a small VPS hosting company....who knows?

I agree that you need at least 8GB RAM. I allocate 2GB to each VM whether it be Win7 or 2008 R2 in my lab. Don't really need more in a single-user, non-production environment. With 8GB, you can run 3 concurrent VMs with 2GB RAM which is enough for most, if not all, labs IIRC.

My lab server is a Supermicro SC813MTQ-520CB 1U chassis, Supermicro X9SCI-LN4F motherboard (4 gigabit ethernet ports plus IPMI), Intel Xeon E3-1230 cpu (4-core/8 threads, E3-1220 is not HyperThreading), 16GB Kingston DDR3-1333Mhz ECC server RAM, and 4 x Western Digital RE4 WD5003ABYX 500GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s hard drives configured in a RAID 10. I have plans to move the server to a colo after I finish my certs so it can make me some money...

Hypntick

I picked up a poweredge 1950 on ebay a little while ago. For around $650 I ended up with dual quad core Xeons, 8 GB of RAM and a pair of 500 GB HDDs. It's loud as all get out but it does exactly what I need it to do with ESXi. I hope it will take me through my SA completely and even a little into the VA track when I start that.

LAN_Guru

Hypntick wrote: »

I picked up a poweredge 1950 on ebay a little while ago. For around $650 I ended up with dual quad core Xeons, 8 GB of RAM and a pair of 500 GB HDDs. It's loud as all get out but it does exactly what I need it to do with ESXi. I hope it will take me through my SA completely and even a little into the VA track when I start that.

PE1950 is an excellent machine (I prefer the HP SmartStart software over Dell's though so I have come to prefer ProLiants over PowerEdge. Dell support isn't what it used to be. And I am partial to HP since I did NetServer support to major government and corporate accounts back in the mid-late 90's at an HP Response Center) I have a couple of hundred PE1950's in production at various client sites including over 100 sitting in a cage at InterNAP in a Citrix farm for a large nationwide dental provider. You have to be careful buying used servers such as PE1950, HP DL380, etc. because there are different generations of the boxes and the liquidators mix and match parts and they often come with older processors that aren't x64...a client found out the hard way..fortunately, they swapped out the CPUs for us...

atorven

Thanks the the input guys.

nhan.ng

go with the X3430.

Better performance, has support for Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

higherho

I have an HP Elitebook Mobile workstation (work laptop). 8 gig of ram, I7 quad core 740QM 6 meg l3 cache and VM's run very nice on it (windows 7, 64 bit). I could not imagine using less than 4 gig (min) but recommend 8 gig for sure.

Stuppored

This server cost me about $1400. Keep in mind I have a total of 5x 500GB drives that are not all active yet.

Seriously - Why not just piece together a machine yourself and build it from scratch. You're losing money and performance buying some name brand machine imo. If you're going to remote manage, make sure to invest in gigabit network connection... don't bother with wireless for esxi. Make sure to use an Intel Gigabit NIC though!

nhan.ng

you overpaid

QHalo

nhan.ng wrote: »

you overpaid

Yeah I got two hosts for that price. I use a QNAP for storage though.

Stuppored

which model of QNAP did you get? The one I was most interested in was about $1200 - so i steered away from it naturally.

Yes I went the whole nine yards, including a case like this one. 884102004766 Coolmaster HAF 922M ATX/Micro ATX, include two 200mm fan, One 120mm and 1 optional 200mm for side window. Detail Page The server was purchased over a year ago and I'm just starting to use it

lol

nhan.ng

here's mine. I built 3 identical systems using a cheap 2u case, 380 watt PSU, sandybridge cpu, intel board, 16gig mem + 2 intel nics. All attached to an openfiler storage server

I used the cheapest components possible so i spent more $ on the CPU

Oh yeah, directpassthrough work on these puppies

QHalo

http://www.techexams.net/forums/virtualization/65901-vmware-home-lab-mcitp-testing.html#post527182

The Synology DS1511 is also a very good NAS as well. I know other guys using it and love it. I love the QNAP, its slow to boot but very quiet and consumes next to no power. In fact I have all my stuff on right now and the only thing I can hear is the fan on my Q6600 desktop that runs my domain/dns for my lab.

I'm going to buy a couple of dual NICs from ebay and add another 8GB of RAM eventually. Right now this does 100% of the VCP objectives and would suffice for any other certification as well including MCITP:SA although you don't need to spend this kind of dough for doing that. I'm planning to use this for VCP, VCAP, VM View and Citrix. So it will last me a very long time.

nhan.ng

How does that HP switch working out for you? Can you do nic bonding it? I still need a good switch for my lab. Debating between that HP and the DELL 2824

LAN_Guru

nhan.ng wrote: »

here's mine. I built 3 identical systems using a cheap 2u case, 380 watt PSU, sandybridge cpu, intel board, 16gig mem + 2 intel nics. All attached to an openfiler storage server

Sandy Bridge ROCKS! My Xeon E3-1230 is amazing.

nhan.ng

I thought about going with the E series xeon route too but i didnt want to spent 350 for 3.4ghz cpu

I live near MC so they're 250 a pop

Plus my board does support remote management and i already have the intel nics sitting around doing nothing.

what ya spec?

QHalo

nhan.ng wrote: »

How does that HP switch working out for you? Can you do nic bonding it? I still need a good switch for my lab. Debating between that HP and the DELL 2824

The HP supports LACP 802.3ad.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF05a/12883-12883-4172267-4172281-4172281-3963985.html

The key is that it consumes very little power and has no fan so you can't hear it at all. My lab is super power efficient and barely audible.

nhan.ng

Nice. Thx man

LAN_Guru

nhan.ng wrote: »

I thought about going with the E series xeon route too but i didnt want to spent 350 for 3.4ghz cpu I live near MC so they're 250 a pop Plus my board does support remote management and i already have the intel nics sitting around doing nothing.

what ya spec?

Supermicro SC813MTQ-520CB 1U chassis
Supermicro X9SCI-LN4F motherboard (4x1Gb ethernet plus IPMI)
Intel Xeon E3-1230 cpu (4c/8t)
16GB DDR3-1333Mhz ECC server RAM
4 x WD RE4 500GB drives (RAID 10)

I paid $234 for the E3-1230 @ Newegg. E3-1220 isn't Hyperthreaded.

My system board has four 1Gb ports plus one IPMI management port. Total cost for the server was just over $1300 but I have production plans for it after I am done using it for labs, hence the 1U chassis and RAID 10. Plus, RAID 10 is pretty much optimum for virtualization.