dalem 15 Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Hello Everyone, I am looking into updating my setup. Here is what I am using right now. Gigabit Network Netgear ReadyNas Pro 4 with 4 1 TB WD Red's in a X-Raid2 It contains about 1 TB of movies and a couple hundred GB of other files. Debian box providing DHCP and local DNS. It also downloads video podcasts. Then a script moves them via NFS to the NAS. I've been using Windows Media Center on the PC's and a network browser on my android devices. I want better tablet support. So I decided on trying Plex. I also have been wanting to try ESXi. I have been using VM software since VMWare released the public beta back in 2001 (I think, or maybe 2002). Since then I have used different VM programs like Virtual Box. I have been impressed with the capabilities. What I intend on doing is running Plex and my Debian box on the ESXi server. Possibly more in the future. Which Xeon would be a good choice? Dual cpu? I have used Intel and Tyan server boards in the past. I never had experience with supermicro. They seem to be quite popular with the FreeNas crowd. My other consideration is the storage. I was going to have internal storage on the ESXi server. I was going to use a USB stick for the boot volume. Each VM would be on separate SSD's. I haven't decided on the internal storage. I don't know if I want to mirror a 2 TB drive or setup a raid 10 or 5. I also don't know if I want to use my Red's from my NAS or buy new ones. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you, Dale Link to post Share on other sites
nguyendot 8 Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Go on eBay and look for a used r710 with dual quad or hex cores and 48+ gb of ram. They're super cheap! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
jmwills 284 Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 The VMs will be faster if you combine the SSDs. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
dalem 15 Posted June 18, 2016 Author Share Posted June 18, 2016 (edited) Go on eBay and look for a used r710 with dual quad or hex cores and 48+ gb of ram. They're super cheap! I haven't had a rack mount server in quite a while. How loud are they these days? Thanks for the suggestion. They look pretty nice. The price range is very good. Edited June 18, 2016 by dalem Link to post Share on other sites
dalem 15 Posted June 18, 2016 Author Share Posted June 18, 2016 The VMs will be faster if you combine the SSDs. Would you suggest (raid 0) stripping them? I think once they are virtualized. Recovering from a drive failure would be easier. Replace the drive then copy the VM image over and boot it back up. It would be cheaper than buying 3 and setting up a raid 5. The performance should be similar because it would be mostly reads. I wouldn't think Plex writes a lot of data. My Debian VM would downloading the video podcast. Link to post Share on other sites
nguyendot 8 Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 I haven't had a rack mount server in quite a while. How loud are they these days? Thanks for the suggestion. They look pretty nice. The price range is very good. Not terrible. I have one running in my office and it's certainly the loudest thing there. It's not annoyingly loud however. The window unit where I'm staying On this vacation is louder for sure. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now