Sep
7
Refreshing My vSphere Home Lab
Filed Under Uncategorized, VMware, VMworld
About a month ago, I began to look at options for a refresh of my home lab. The equipment I have is almost 3 years old. While it has done a great job as a lab, one of the hosts is now dead and another is starting to fail.
My current lab consist of the following configuration:
- 3 X ASUS P3-P5G33 Intel Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo / P4 / Celeron 400 Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel G33 Intel GMA 3100 Barebone
- 3 X ASUS 22X DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-22B1LT LightScribe Support
- 3 X Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80580Q9400
- 3 X Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
- 6 X CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model VS4GBKIT667D2 G
-3 X Intel PWLA8391GTL 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI Desktop Adapter PRO/1000 GT Low Profile – OEM
For storage I have an IOMEGA StorCenter ix4-200d
As you can see, the above is not a bad config…but with hosts failing and 8GB RAM per host becoming insufficient for my needs, I thought I’d look at what else is out there. Like any good techy guy, I decided to take a look and get pointers from what others in the VMware community are doing. I ran into a couple of useful blogs from Kendrick Coleman and Didier Pironet who were using the Shuttle PC as part of their labs.
After some further investigation and consideration, I settled on the following configuration for the Shuttle SH67H3.
For those that might want to consider this patform, below is my BOM configuration from NewEgg.com for a single host. I plan to have 2-3 hosts.
I also added an Intel EXPI9402PT Dual Server Adapter from eBay for $99. Shop around you might be able to get a different NIC or similar model for cheaper.
I finally ordered and received all of the components for 1 host. I configured the host to boot ESX from a USB drive. Initially, I had trouble getting ESX to boot as it would PSOD during the boot process. However, I updated the Shuttle firmware and that took care of that issue.
This little Shuttle really gets the job done. I’ve added it to my existing cluster with the older hosts I have. Can’t wait to retire those and add a few more Shuttles!
I did this before the release of vSphere 5. So, my next step is to find some spare time and get my vSphere environment upgraded from 4.1 to 5!
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Don’t allow your ego get too near to your role, to ensure should your position gets shot down, your ego doesn’t go with it.
The quickest way to succeed is to look as if you’re playing by somebody else’s rules, while quietly playing from your own.