My server build for Labs and personal use

JayBlisk

HP ML 110 G7 ES 1220 Quad Core Intel® Xeon® E3-1220 3.10GHz/4-core Processor

16 gb 1333mhz ram

Intel 60gb SSD for OS

3TB for storage and lab OS's

I am using vSphere ESXi 5.1 bundle

I have a Sony VAIO laptop that has an i7 processor with a SSD for its OS and an external 3TB hard drive/w an eSATA connection for a client setup.

I wanted a real world feel to my lab setup is why I went with this setup. I know I could have been fine just using the laptop and I did but I planned on building a home server anyway.

I also purchased a TechNet subscription with has been invaluable so far.

kriscamaro68

All I can say is SSD's. I would never run my vm's off a standard hd again. Even when I had 3 western digital blacks in raid 0 I could run about 3-4 vm's before I noticed slow downs but when you have a 256gb ssd I can run 7 or so vm's without slow downs and I only run 7 cause I usually allocate the space up front and it just takes all the space on my ssd's to do that. I have pretty much gotten rid of standard hd's except for in my storage server at home. All my lab computers all run ssd's. Samsung ssd's are currently the best ssd's I have used and I have used quite a few. The sandforce controller on the so called faster ssd's is not good at all. It is the sf-2281 and it sucks compared to the samsung controller at handling data.

taternuts666

Jay,

Can I ask you where you got vShpere ESXi 5.1 bundle? Did you purchase this yourself?

I'm looking to get it for some labbing myself.

ITMonkey

Entirely agree with @kriscamero68 ... if it is a choice between having one or two SSDs for the host OS or the guest VMs, the VM setup wins hands down.

JayBlisk

@ taternuts666 I downloaded it off of VMwares website and its free. You just have to setup an account before you can download it. @ kriscamaro68 & @ ITMonkey so I should run the vm's off of the SSD? I was considering putting the server os on the ssd and client software on my laptop which has a 120 gb SSD. Thoughts about this?

paul78

@taternuts666 - another option if you are working on MS Certs and you just want a virtual platform is to use VMWare's free VMware Player - you can find downloads here which doesn't require registration.

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/free#desktop_end_user_computing/vmware_player/5_0

@JayBlisk - good luck with your studies.

JayBlisk

@ Paul78 thanks. I wanted to do real world migration is why I went with the bundle. I ordered 3 more ssd and an Adaptec raid controller today. I also have a TechNet subscription which has been a life savior in more ways than one so far. Thanks for the good luck

JayBlisk

I ended up installing an Adaptec Raid Controller and Six Intel Solid State Drives in Raid 0. I freaking love computers. Good luck to everyone. I have learned so much studying these past two months for the 680 exam. I am now proficient in vmware and AD

Cerebro

I tried installing vmware player on my laptop but no success. Its Windows 7:32 bit, Intel Core Duo 1.86GHz with 4GB ram.

JayBlisk

You need a more powerful computer Good luck. Labbing is important.

brayshaw

For info I am currently studying for the 70-642 so several vm's required My lab server is my old,old desktop - Core2duo 3.4, 8gb DDR800, 2x500gb Raid0. There is also dual NIC, one to my network (which it thinks is the tinterweb) and one to a 8port switch. I use Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 (free download from M$) and manage vm's using RSAT on my desktop pc. I have run to capacity with 7 vm's all Server 2008 R2. I have another old Win7 desktop which I connect to the lab network. I have been able to use all these machines and everything runs without any issues and speed is as expected but completely usable. so no need to spend too much money $$. (And if you think I don't know about speed, my desktop is i7, 16gb, gtx670, 2xSSD Raid0, 2xHDD Raid1 )