Best home setup for VM

Just wanted to ask what they use for their VMing. My laptop really struggles to have more than 3 going at one time so I'm looking to buy a proper desktop to solve my issue. What do you guys use?

Find more posts tagged with

SAVE $250 on Your Boot Camp — Use Code "EXAM26"

Exclusively for TechExams members for Infosec Boot Camps starting before April 30, 2026

View Boot Camps

Comments

paul78

I'm guessing most people just build their own box.

My desktop has a Gigabyte mobo with a AMD FX-8150 (8 cores) with 16Gb RAM. I have 2 SSDs, 2 NVIDIA cards, Kingwin PSU, Noctua cooler. I have it cramped into an old mid-size case from my 10 year collection of cases. I run Linux as the host and VMPlayer for virtualization.

I also have a couple of 3U rack-mount cases and I use one of them for VMs. On that box, I have an ASUS mobo, 16Gb RAM, 2 SSDs, AMD Phenom II (6 cores). I run XCP for the virtualization software.

It kinda depends on what you want to do and your available resources.

sratakhin

I have Core i5-2500k, 8GB of RAM (although I used a few VMs on 4GB), 256GB SSD for OS and some VMs and a RAID 0 array. I used to store VMs on the RAID, but after upgrading my SSD moved them. My setup allows me to run several Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 VMs.

If you want to build a desktop to just run VMs, buy a used server from Ebay instead. Something like Dell 2950 can be bought for less than $300.

lsud00d

My desktop build is geared towards gaming and music production. The specs are:

i7 2600k
16gb RAM
560ti vid card
64gb SSD for host OS, 1tb HDD for VM's

I run VMware Workstation for my hypervisor and of course the simultaneous VM's I run depend on RAM assigned to each guest OS, which can be between 4 and 8 with the templates I constructed.

cyberguypr

My main labbing machine consists of:

- Shuttle SH67H3
- i7 2600 3.4 Ghz
- 16GB RAM
- Intel PRO 1000 dual NIC
- 128 GB SSD for OS
- 2TB HD for VMs

This system moves between Hyper-V and vSphere as needed. It has helped me for MCITP:EA, MCSE Private Cloud, and is currently serving as a test bed for Win 2012 stuff.

I also have 2 big clunker IBM servers running FreeNAS and Openfiler which are used only when needed.

Essendon

I have a DL380 G5 with dual Xeon processors, 32GB RAM and a ton of SAS storage. I nest my ESXi's inside of a physical ESXi installation and the setup runs like a treat. This has helped me in my EA and VCP certs and I'm labbing my VCAP stuff on it too with no issues. Individual SAS disks for the 3 nested ESXi servers and the VM's live on storage presented by a software iSCSI SAN (the other SAS disks). The ESXi's boot up in under 50 seconds. Neat setup, I reckon. Plus, I was able to pick up the whole thing for $150.

knownhero

So looks like around 16gb is normal for a machine to run multiple VMs. My current setup for VM include:

- Domain Controller with WSUS/DNS/Application Server - Windows Server 2008 R2 Ent
- SQL-A - Windows Server 2008 R2 Ent
- SQL-B - Windows Server 2008 R2 Ent
- SQL-C - Windows Server 2008 R2 Ent
- SQL-D - Windows Server 2008 R2 Ent
- SQL-Core - - Windows Server 2008 R2 CORE

Currently can only have the DC online and 1 SQL server, kind of need 3 on at any one time.

log32

I use my own private PC for labbing, it has 24GB of RAM, not running anything that needs to be up 24/7 so most of it is down while I don't lab even though I could easily leave it up and do the casual regular things I do with my pc

I have a 320GB HDD which serves all the machines (I use link cloning so it takes much less storage than usual)
served me in my Red Hat certs and for test environments for work.

knownhero

I've found a pretty cool mini server the HP N40L. Does anyone use this?

Hypntick

Yep 16 is pretty standard. I run a laptop with an i7 and 16GB of RAM and since I don't really run any type of production, i've had between 7-8 VMs going at once on it. Although most of them are lower end machines for pentesting practice.

lordy

@knownhero: I use the HP MicroServer for VMware. It's pretty good, using only ~30 Watts. Not a powerful box but very convenient.

nosoup4u

knownhero wrote: »

I've found a pretty cool mini server the HP N40L. Does anyone use this?

I've used it, not good for more then a few but I like its size. I've upgraded to a larger proliant server recently

knownhero

nosoup4u wrote: »

I've used it, not good for more then a few but I like its size. I've upgraded to a larger proliant server recently

Would that be the ML110G7 by any chance?

nosoup4u

Yeah a I picked up a ML110 G7 E3-1240, fully maxed ecc ram, redundant ps, ect. A small bushiness up in Redmond went belly up and was selling stuff on Craigslist, got it really cheap

I use my HP n54L as my Windows Home Server box now

knownhero

I'm looking at the ML110G7 or N54L I need to run like 4 VMs at once. 2 being SQL. I think the N54L with server 2008 Ent on them should run okay.

Akaricloud

I still think the refurbished dell box I picked up was the perfect solution for this. Optiplex 780, i7 2600, 16gb DDR3 and a SSD that can support 10+ VMs no problem. I'd much rather run a quiet, cool, small desktop than a loud, large, power-intensive used server.

Total for everything was <$600 well over a year ago.

networkjutsu

I use this at home. When I first built it, I was thinking of taking VCP and now I don't think I'll take it anymore. I am now considering to upgrade it to 32GB of RAM since I am about 10-11GB RAM utilization. I am running ESXi 5.0 (yea, still haven't upgraded it). Two of my MacBook Pros (one personal and one for work) are also running VM on the go.

Lian Li PC-V351B
Supermico MBD-X9SCL+-F
Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 Ivy Bridge
Antec EA-380D Green
2 x Kingston 8GB DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered
SanDisk Cruzer Blade 4GB USB Flash Drive

knownhero

In the end I've just stolen a server from work a R200