ESXi ... low spec hardware

memyselfandi · 2 Jul 2009 at 08:16

We're thinking of getting some low end boxes at work to slap ESXi 4 on to allow some of the senior techies to have cheap play pens in which to try out various things with Linux and Opensolaris.

Initially we thought, of course, ML110 (Intel G5 variants) but the problem there is that they are seen as "servers" to facilities and hence will be consigned away to a machine room with all the change control that implies which loses quite a bit of the point of having them.

Does anyone know if the Inspiron 545MT desktop boxes would be suitable (Q8200/4GB/640GB) and supported on the disk, dvd and NIC front. A third party memory suppliers checker indicates that they should be able to be taken to 8GB relatively cheaply too.

madman045 · 2 Jul 2009 at 10:19

the problem you will have is that the Q8200 does not support VT, so you would need a different CPU

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLB5M
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLG9S

And its a shame you cant buy the cheap servers as a ML115 G5 with 8GB is still less than a brand new desktop system.

memyselfandi · 2 Jul 2009 at 13:13

In that case I assume that a Vostro 420 could be an option f a Q9xxx processor with Intel VT support was used?

s0ck · 2 Jul 2009 at 14:31

...and look at Xen as well as ESXi because OpenSolaris (along with a bunch of linux distros) supports para-virtualisation, apparently.

http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/feature.asp?contentID=1686939

madman045 · 2 Jul 2009 at 16:38

memyselfandi said:
In that case I assume that a Vostro 420 could be an option f a Q9xxx processor with Intel VT support was used?

Yes the Q9400 will be fine, if its just a test environment, 4GB should be more than enough

Yes you can give Xen a try, but I would check online (google/vmware/xen forums) for any issues with the model you are looking to use.

You might need to get a dedicated NIC if the onboard one is not recognised

rixarena · 5 Jul 2009 at 10:03

also if its just a sandbox server it might be worth getting a second disk and RAID 0 so you get better IO but dont forget to backup every so oftern, as its not production striping should be ok.

Regards Sam

.walls · 5 Jul 2009 at 17:28

I have esx4 (not i) running on an hp dc7700 sff out of the box. I've not tried 4i yet though, so can't comment on that - but I see no reason why it shouldn't install.

3.5 and 3.5i run on it as well, but needs a bit of hacking to get everything working right.

If you're looking for a small desktop style esx whitebox, this is ideal as everything just works and the box can take 8GB of ram (I assume that you can put a beefier proc in there, but haven't tried as I see no need).

frazhamid · 5 Jul 2009 at 17:56

ESX is really designed to run on server hardware, not desktop.

If its not on the compability guide, you face issues with certain drivers e.g. SATA controller or NICs.

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

.walls · 6 Jul 2009 at 10:36

frazhamid said:
ESX is really designed to run on server hardware, not desktop.

I'm well aware of that. Most of my ESX servers are R900s, but damn - it's handy having a test box in the office which is not under change control

frazhamid said:
If its not on the compability guide, you face issues with certain drivers e.g. SATA controller or NICs.

As I mentioned - ESX4 works out of the box on this machine - SATA/NIC/etc. You'll also find that when you install ESX4, VMware have a disclaimer stating that ESX will install on most hardware, but if it's not on the HCL - it is not supported (older versions of ESX did not do this, they mostly just failed if it didn't find a suitable driver for any important device).

Sp00n · 6 Jul 2009 at 14:07

I've been looking to get hold of an optiplex 745 / 755 or something along those lines to run a small esxi whitebox. There does seem to be quite a lot on the HCL in terms of desktop hardware.

MasterPlan1 · 7 Jul 2009 at 07:28

Jacking this thread slightly... I've got a server here which is doing nothing right now, and I was hoping to run ESXi for testing\in house POC stuff, it's currently running with 4Gb of ram and a xeon 3040, how many VMs do you reckon I could run on that? I can throw more RAM at it no probs.

We usually use win2k3 R2 for our builds here. So that would prodominately be the OS running on it.