VM / Hyper V lab - Help please

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Discussion

X5211

Original Poster:

42 posts

127 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
Looking to buy a high spec desktop pc or server to use solely as a VM/hyper V home lab... First it would be used for Hyper-V as more familiar with that and will be running 4 or 5 VM's for SCCM, clients etc, and then at a later date intend to use it for Vmware..

Budget is around £500 but can find more if needed.. So I was thinking a minimum of 64gb RAM and then open to suggestions on what it should/shouldn't have, what components should i spend the money on.. What are possible bottlenecks to avoid?

Any thoughts on the machine below?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Desktop-Gaming-Towe...

Blowing the budget - but would it be a much better option?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Precision-T5500-2x-...

X5211

Original Poster:

42 posts

127 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
I have a spare room it can sit in and will be paying for the power bills..

Storage - No idea really.. What do i need to know? 1 disk/2 disk type size? Does it matter if initially only for Hyper-V and can spend some more money if I want to move into Vmware?

X5211

Original Poster:

42 posts

127 months

Sunday 29th March 2015
quotequote all
Anyone got a rough idea how much more it will cost to one of the older machines in the links above vs running a new more power efficient server.

Or does anyone have any links to alternative servers ready to buy? I know what will happen is If i spend too much time getting up to speed on hardware I wont ever get around to buying anything..

Can anyone help prioritise..

Amount CPU cores
Fast disk
Memory
Anything else?

X5211

Original Poster:

42 posts

127 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all

X5211

Original Poster:

42 posts

127 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Kapenta said:
http://www.serversplus.com/servers/server_bundles/...

How about a couple of these? Three of them with three SSD's and a few spindles and you can build a VSAN...
Nice idea but would completely blow the budget..

X5211

Original Poster:

42 posts

127 months

Tuesday 31st March 2015
quotequote all
TonyRPH said:
OP, do you have any experience with these 1U rack mount servers?

You know how much heat they generate?

How noisy they can be?

We ran 3 HP DL380s in our home 'comms room' (a dedicated room in the garage) for a couple of months, and keeping them cool over summer was a major issue without air conditioning.

Never mind the power consumption...
I do and also have a dl380 sitting here doing nothing for that very reason. :-)

X5211

Original Poster:

42 posts

127 months

Tuesday 31st March 2015
quotequote all
TonyRPH said:
OP, do you have any experience with these 1U rack mount servers?

You know how much heat they generate?

How noisy they can be?

We ran 3 HP DL380s in our home 'comms room' (a dedicated room in the garage) for a couple of months, and keeping them cool over summer was a major issue without air conditioning.

Never mind the power consumption...
I do and also have a dl380 sitting here doing nothing for that very reason. :-)