HTTP / Test machine thingy ma bob

[Disturbedguy]

Howdy all,

This is in the idea/ planning stage at the moment so it may not go ahead but if it does I want a solid idea of what to buy.

I am looking to build a system, in the following case - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...finish-w-o-psu.

To start with it will be used to run various VM's to test and get my head around a few applications work use or may use (Solwarwinds is an example) and then maybe, eventually as a HTPC.

It will be under a bed and will be connected via wire, will only access it via RDP and it won't be used 24/7.

So come on the HeXuS massive, spec me a rig! (Please )

[Moby-Dick]

Which bits of Solarwinds ? I've got run a few evals of it myself for a blog at some point. Mainly for its ESx monitoring stuff.

Which Virtualisation platform did you want to run on it ?

one of the nicest microATX based systems I've seen for running ESX on is known as the babydragon.

http://rootwyrm.us.to/2010/08/meet-m...he-babydragon/

you can do better than RDP - you can actually use proper ilo type stuff if you want

[Disturbedguy]

Hey Moby,

Firs tthanks for the quick reply.

In regards to the virtualisation platform, that was going to be another discussion or thread but im happy for that to be in here. Any recommendations?

In regards to Solwarwinds, at present we use Orion NPMv10, have used it a fair bit at work, adding devices, nodes, accounts etc, including setting up alerts and advanced alerts. Main reason is I should, eventually be moving into my new role which involes using Solarwinds to keep an eye on t he companies and clients networks and such.

Will also be trying to use some of the free tools they have on the website too.

The babydragon rig does look good but the price is a tad much for me at the moment so will have to see if I can do nearly as good or just as good for less.

Oh and ilo?

yeah im a geek but not an uber geek yet

[Moby-Dick]

ilo - a way of actually connecting to the console without a mouse/keyboard/screen etc. also allows you to remotely mount media to the server.

You can make quite a few economies on that system I think - dropping to 8Gb of RAM would be a key one.

in terms of hypervisors , the world is very much your oyster. If you have the right licencing , you could go down the windows 2k8 + hyper V route, which is ok for standalone setups. My personal preference would be ESX , but thats because I'm more used to it. Xen is also worth a look too.

[Disturbedguy]

I will have to investigate as to the cheapest method as it will be testing just for me really.

Gives me something to research tonight then I guess.

[Moby-Dick]

Personally I just run windows 7 with vmware workstation on it.

[Disturbedguy]

Personally I just run windows 7 with vmware workstation on it.

Then I might just do that and I screwed the subject up, was supposed to be HTPC xD

Pretty sure I have a copy of windows 7 lay around somewhere :s

[Disturbedguy]

Eventually got around to pricing some stuff up: -

Silverstone SG02B-F Evolution, Black, Micro-ATX SFF Mini-Cube Case, Acrylic/Glossy Finish w/o PSU £39.97 £46.96

750 GB Seagate ST3750528AS Barracuda 7200.12, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ £35.75 £42.01

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition, Callisto, S AM3, 3.1GHz, 7MB Total Cache HT 4000MHz, 85W, Retail £55.55 £65.27

8GB(2x4GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333), NonECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, New Connector, 1.60V £85.10 £99.99

Gigabyte GA-MA74GMT-S2, AMD 740G, AM3, PCI-E (x16), DDR3 1333MHz, SATA 3Gbps, SATA RAID, Micro ATX

I cant decide on a PSU to use.

As stated in title will be used for mainly VM stuff and as a HTPC maybe at some point.

[Jay]

To be honest I gave up trying to make a VMWare white box and jumped across to CitrixXen, its not as picky on the hardware side. I still love ESXi though shame its a pain to get hardware for.

I word of warning.....

The thing about VMWare / CitrixXen etc is that its addicitve, to the point where this time next week I will have an firebox x1000 and a Dell R200 in a Datacentre just for my XenServer because the missus hates "having that stuff on" in the house and I don't want to (or maybe can't ) give it up!

[abaxas]

The hpaq ml115 g5 is the whitebox esx(i) machine.

Bit hard to find cheap, but is still sub 200. Why build when you can buy for cheaper.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Budget??

[Disturbedguy]

CitrixXen - I think they use this is in work and tbh its quite a pile of crap, or the implementation they have is pretty dire.

[Disturbedguy]

Budget??

Cheap but not too cheap.

[Jay]

CitrixXen - I think they use this is in work and tbh its quite a pile of crap, or the implementation they have is pretty dire.

what issues are you having?

[Disturbedguy]

I have no control over the servers but they are used to host/ provide applications to the council employees and they are just constantly freezing, kicking people off and refusing connections, even when the connection limit set isnt reached

[Jay]

that will either be Metaframe or XenApp and XenApp is much much better than just Terminal Services (or Remote Desktop Services, whatever MS has decided to call it now)

Sounds more like a connectivity issue to me but we are now getting way off topic, sorry about that.