File Server/Plex Server/Random VMware stuff Server

[Pancake]

Okay, after spending ages deciding what I actually want. I have come up with this:

Anything you think needs changing or is a waste of cash? Will run Windows Server 2012 and have 2 x GB LAN's teamed because I can..

Also, top fan. Blowing in or out?

ESXi, any way to expose the 5 x Hard Drives to a VM easily if i wanted to use FreeNAS in a VM?

• LIAN LI PC-Q08B ($110 ~ £70)
• Intel Core i5-3350P ($180 ~ £115)
• 16GB Kingston DDR3 ($90 ~ £57)
• WD Red 3TB x 5 in FlexRAID ($140 ~ £90 Each)
• 250GB Samsung 840 SSD ($170 ~ £109)
• ASUS P8H77-I ($110 ~ £70)
• SATA Cables ($3 ~ £1.9 Pack of 6)
• Noctua NF-F12 PWM 120mm ($15 ~ £10)
• Noctua 140mm NF-P14 FLX ($20 ~ £13)
• Seagate Backup Plus 2TB USB 3.0 ($80 ~ £51)
• Intel Pro EXPI9402PT ($50 ~ £28 OEM Package ebay)
• SeaSonic SSR-360GP Gold ($55 ~ £35)
• NT07-1156 Cooler ($20 ~ £13)

So thats $1043 ~ £670 Total with 1 x 3TB (Ill buy them as I need)

[shaithis]

250GB SSD?

Seems a tad OTT. ESX will only use SSDs to store vswap.

As for the drives being presented to FreeNAS.....as you aren't using a VMWare-aware RAID controller, you will probably need to create a vmdk on each disk and present them as drives to the FreeNAS VM.

[b0redom]

No point in having ESX on an SSD. I boot mine from a USB memory stick and it works fine. Presenting VMDKs as raw storage to FreeNAS is not a good idea. You'll get very little help on the forums if you're trying to do that.

Swap the SSD for a Microserver, run FreeNAS on that and have a dedicated GigE to between ESX and FreeNAS? I've got this setup, well actually 2 Microservers, but the CPU in them is probably not powerful enough to do Plex transcoding. Works fine for light ESX duty though, and all the components work out of the box.

[Pancake]

250GB SSD?

Seems a tad OTT. ESX will only use SSDs to store vswap.

As for the drives being presented to FreeNAS.....as you aren't using a VMWare-aware RAID controller, you will probably need to create a vmdk on each disk and present them as drives to the FreeNAS VM.

No point in having ESX on an SSD. I boot mine from a USB memory stick and it works fine. Presenting VMDKs as raw storage to FreeNAS is not a good idea. You'll get very little help on the forums if you're trying to do that.

Swap the SSD for a Microserver, run FreeNAS on that and have a dedicated GigE to between ESX and FreeNAS? I've got this setup, well actually 2 Microservers, but the CPU in them is probably not powerful enough to do Plex transcoding. Works fine for light ESX duty though, and all the components work out of the box.

The original idea was for the SSD to store Windows Server 2012 and then some VM's, as they would run wayyy faster on the SSD. If i were to use ESXi it would be for the VM's. although it doesn't look like i'm doing that now anyway.

As for the microserver, how do the drives work in ESXi? Can you still use it as a fileserver?

[Splash]

As for the microserver, how do the drives work in ESXi? Can you still use it as a fileserver?

You could do a similar thing to what I do - Microserver with 4 large disks and the disk that came with it in the optical slot. Install ESXi on a USB key, then setup RDMs for the 4 larger disks. Install a fileserver OS (FreeNAS or the like) in a VM on the smaller disk, then present the RDMs to it.

You won't get stellar performance, but you weren't likely to on that kind of budget (or with those disks).

[Pancake]

You could do a similar thing to what I do - Microserver with 4 large disks and the disk that came with it in the optical slot. Install ESXi on a USB key, then setup RDMs for the 4 larger disks. Install a fileserver OS (FreeNAS or the like) in a VM on the smaller disk, then present the RDMs to it.

You won't get stellar performance, but you weren't likely to on that kind of budget (or with those disks).

It would be able to saturate a Gb connection though (Read), that's all I want really. I think I really do want to stick with one PC instead of getting 2, what raid card would allow the RDM? Then I would have the best of both worlds

[Splash]

You can present the disks for emulated RDM using the builtin controller, so long as you were presenting them as individual disks rather than an array in their own right (and as such doing any RAID in software on FreeNAS)

I wouldn't do it with production data in a business environment, but for a home lab it's perfectly workable so long as you don't mind getting your hands dirty with Putty - that guide I linked is pretty much foolproof.

[Pancake]

So that's pretty much perfect then thanks!

How easy is NIC teaming in ESXi? I don't anything with 2 x NICs to mess around with. I know in Server 2012 you just tick 2 boxes and that's pretty much it. Doesn't need a smart/manages switch either

Every link i see about ESXi seems to suggest you need to have a smart switch

[Splash]

Have a look at this for all your NIC teaming needs

[Pancake]

But from the "ESX/ESXi host requirements for link aggregation (1001938)"

It says:

To accomplish network redundancy, load balancing, and fail-over:

Enable link aggregation (also known as Ether-Channel, Ethernet trunk, port channel, Multi-Link Trunking) on physical switch
Set up the ESX/ESXi Virtual Switch configuration to be compatible with these concepts


I don't see why Windows Server doesn't need it but ESXi does?

[Splash]

Only required if you're routing based on ip hash, if you select to route based on virtual port ID you should be fine.

That said: what are you looking to achieve by teaming?

As an aside: I wasn't aware that Windows could do proper link aggregation without LACP at the switch, must look further into that.

[Pancake]

Only required if you're routing based on ip hash, if you select to route based on virtual port ID you should be fine.

That said: what are you looking to achieve by teaming?

As an aside: I wasn't aware that Windows could do proper link aggregation without LACP at the switch, must look further into that.

Just more bandwidth, with my old setup if I was saturating the Gb LAN I couldn't watch Plex as it couldn't pull the file up quick enough (12GB MKV's)

[watercooled]

Without going too far into details, Windows switch-independent NIC teaming only allows 'aggregation' on the outbound side, and you can get max 1 NIC's worth of bandwidth per connection i.e. it's not end-to-end. I think it essentially spoofs the 'from' MAC of outbound traffic to achieve this.

If you're after end-to-end teaming between a server and your desktop for instance, you're best with a link-aggregation capable switch really.

[Pancake]

Without going too far into details, Windows switch-independent NIC teaming only allows 'aggregation' on the outbound side, and you can get max 1 NIC's worth of bandwidth per connection i.e. it's not end-to-end. I think it essentially spoofs the 'from' MAC of outbound traffic to achieve this.

If you're after end-to-end teaming between a server and your desktop for instance, you're best with a link-aggregation capable switch really.

What I want to be able to do is max out the GbE on my desktop and then also be maxing a GbE on the server, but then still be able to watch movies, copy files etc (Assuming there is still SATA badwidth)

Possible with Windows and a standard switch?

[shaithis]

If you want the bandwidth but don't want to do it via LACP...and you are going the FreeNAS (or similar) route, you could use multipath IO via iSCSI.

You can also use the SSD as a log and/or cache drive in FreeNAS.

[b0redom]

What I want to be able to do is max out the GbE on my desktop and then also be maxing a GbE on the server, but then still be able to watch movies, copy files etc (Assuming there is still SATA badwidth)

Possible with Windows and a standard switch?

Not as far as I'm aware. I thought you could only do Etherchannel link aggregation with a managed switch.

You could do a point to point ink from desktop->server on a different subnet and then a normal link to the switch from each. That would probably be the cheapest, simplest way of what you want to do. You wouldn't even need a crossover cable, as the GigE standard includes autosensing by default.