Home lab on the cheap?

xploda · 15 Nov 2016 at 17:23

I'm trying to figure out the proper config for a home lab, I'm planing to build. I don't want to spend thousands, as the lab will be purely for tests and just to familiarize myself with some technologies I'm curious about.
So basically I'm thinking about two identical physical boxes, clustered in VMware/Hyper-V, so I can also test some HA. Then another, 3rd box, in which I'm thinking to throw 2 WD RE disks, 1 WD BE disk and probably 1-2 new 1/2TB normal SATA disks, install SolarWinds on it and use it as iSCSI storage for the other 2 machines. Without RAID controller.
I'm thinking to use this 3rd box as multipurpose management server with multiple OSs - 1 WinServer for a vCenter, 1 WinServer for SolarWinds, 1 for Windows client OS and use it on separate disk for daily use.
So far I can't decide between these:

config 1:
Athlon X4 845
ASRock FM2A88M PRO3+
4x8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
basic case
basic PSU like 430W EVGA or XFX
295 quid each

config 2:
Intel i3-6100
ASRock H110M-DGS
2x16GB DDR4 2133 MHz
335 quid each

config 3, single machine, instead of 2 identical:
Intel i5-6500
MSI B150M PRO-VDH
4x16GB DDR4 2133 MHz
basic case
basic PSU like 430W EVGA or XFX
550 quid

I'm open to any comments, suggestions, etc. Basically I'm looking for something with at least 4 cores and 64GB RAM. I'm looking to run about 10 VMs max.
Generally I'm OK with used machines/components as well, but to be honest I don't want to risk with used workstations/servers, as the boards and other components in them are without warranty and if they fail, replacement would be painful financial wise

Budget for the 3 machines, let's say 1000...ish, can go a bit higher if it's worth it.

Thanks in advance

#Chri5# · 15 Nov 2016 at 17:40

What the Dell PowerEdge T20 Xeon E3? £215 after £80 cashback for the base unit which has 4GB and a 1TB HD.

Downside is it needs ECC RAM, which is £55 to £60 for 8GB.

xploda · 15 Nov 2016 at 19:12

#Chri5# said:
What the Dell PowerEdge T20 Xeon E3? £315 after £80 cashback for the base unit which has 4GB and a 1TB HD.

Downside is it needs ECC RAM, which is £55 to £60 for 8GB.

Is this new or used one? Where do you see those prices?

PurplePhoenix · 15 Nov 2016 at 19:50

xploda said:
Is this new or used one? Where do you see those prices?

you dont need ECC for the T20. Im running 4GBx4 none ecc fine.

Have a look around, we cant post the link.

#Chri5# · 15 Nov 2016 at 21:43

PurplePhoenix said:
you dont need ECC for the T20. Im running 4GBx4 none ecc fine.

Have a look around, we cant post the link.

Even better then.

I whacked "Dell PowerEdge T20" into Google and the first shopping result was £293.99 (then down to £213 after cashback)

Price type in my original post - will update that.

edscdk · 15 Nov 2016 at 22:12

I got a dual hex zeon Dell T5500 off the bay for £190 stuck in 72 gb ram £120 and stuck in a 480gb ssd.. Seemed very fast added a perc sata raid card got a nice bump in speed card was about £40

Pigeon_Killer · 15 Nov 2016 at 23:07

What's the spec of your current PC?

I've got an i5-4670K, 16GB, a 250GB SSD and another 500GB SSD and run nested Hyper-V within Windows 10.

It runs the following very well although more RAM would be nice but I'm restricted by my board

1 x VM for routing using VYOS - 128MB
1 x 2012 R2 DC - 1GB
1 x 2016 DC - 1GB
2 x Hyper-V 2012 R2 in a cluster - 4GB each
2 x Hyper-V 2016 Nano in a cluster - 4GB each
1 x Windows 7 - 1GB
1 x Windows 10 - 1GB

I only use 1 set of hyper-v servers at a time but it allows me to run MS labs and test stuff for work without having to run a load of separate boxes.

xploda · 15 Nov 2016 at 23:28

Pigeon_Killer said:
What's the spec of your current PC?

I've got an i5-4670K, 16GB, a 250GB SSD and another 500GB SSD and run nested Hyper-V within Windows 10.

It runs the following very well although more RAM would be nice but I'm restricted by my board

1 x VM for routing using VYOS - 128MB
1 x 2012 R2 DC - 1GB
1 x 2016 DC - 1GB
2 x Hyper-V 2012 R2 in a cluster - 4GB each
2 x Hyper-V 2016 Nano in a cluster - 4GB each
1 x Windows 7 - 1GB
1 x Windows 10 - 1GB

I only use 1 set of hyper-v servers at a time but it allows me to run MS labs and test stuff for work without having to run a load of separate boxes.

That's interesting. I saw some other examples for using local SSDs for storage, but I'm not sure what the performance would be under ESXi. Never used DAS in ESXi. Anyhow, I'll check it. Thanks

Sorry for asking about links, I'm new around here, not familiar with the rules at 100%.

ChrisD. · 16 Nov 2016 at 11:15

Why do you want to run ESXi? Is it for learning VMware specifically?

xploda · 16 Nov 2016 at 11:39

Dooksy said:
Why do you want to run ESXi? Is it for learning VMware specifically?

More like to test new VMware versions, features, test "enemy" solutions and products in VMware environment, etc.

ChrisD. · 16 Nov 2016 at 11:43

Well you definitely need a dedicated box in that case. Three cheap HP microservers or if you want a small footprint you can run ESXi on Intel NUCs but that won't be cheap.

If you want one as storage then use whatever OS you want on it to provision NFS storage for the remaining two ESXi boxes, using Windows, Ubuntu etc.

Pretty sure ESXi will only go into HA with the same boxes.

tris179 · 22 Nov 2016 at 07:23

Have you considered just building a decent spec'd workstation and running it all on a type 2 hypervisior? ie VMWorkstation, thats what I do and meets all your requirements above.

Currently running an an old 1366 board with a x5650, 48Gig RAM and a couple of 1TB SSD's and there isn't a great amount that I can't stand up. As its test lab, it will be torn down and stood up multiple times so having the SDD's will give you the IO performance this sort of lab would need.

What do you think?