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Sunday, September 21, 2008

ESXi home setup for Cheap

I was looking to build a cheap home system to run ESXi v3.5.

I was looking to build a system with a dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB drive. I was also wanting to have a very small case and a system with low electrical consumption.

AMD is selling the cheapest processors for dual-core systems and all of their processors in this range are 64bit compatible. They also have lower power draws than the Intels.
Drawback to the AMD system is that you have to add a NIC and SATA card as ESXi does not support the ones on the motherboard - unless you purchase a more expensive board. To save money I chose to purchase the cheaper motherboard and add the components as it was less expensive than the supported board with integrated components.

Here are the specifications I settled on:
ASUS M2N-MX SE PLUS - $46.99 (newegg) AMDA64 X2 5000+ 2.6G - $59.50 (newegg)
2GX2KST KVR800D2K2/4GR RT - $68.49 (newegg)
NIC INTELPWLA8391GTBLK - $24.99 (newegg)
LITE-ONDH-16D3P-08 - $17.99 (newegg)
HD 500GHITC 7K 16M HDP725050GLA360 - $64.99 (newegg)
CASE APEVIA(ASP)X-QPACK-NW-BK/420 - $64.99 (newegg)
Adaptec Serial ATA RAID 1210SA - $19.99 (e-bay)

Total Price with Shipping: $409.39

10 comments:

Anthony Mason said...

Thanks for your post. It inspired me to do the same, after some frustration with other hardware. All worked perfectly now. Slightly different hardware to yours, but the same approach:
-ASUS M3N78 PRO GeForce 8300 AM2+ mobo
-AMD Phenom 9950 Quad CPU
-8GB Kingston DDR2 800MHz RAM
-Intel PRO/1000 GT NICs
-Adaptec 1210SA controller
-Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB HDD

Slighly more expensive at £400, but a fast PC when I'm done playing with ESXi!

It's only a shame that the 1210SA doesn't also work with Vista! Still a very cheap card.

Greetings from Leeds, UK.

Anthony

Unknown said...

How many guest OS:es can that type of hardware run at the same time? I'm looking for something that can run more than 3 windows 2003/2008 servers.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I have a Asus M3N78 motherboard and Phenom processor. I have had some difficulty getting the ESXi installer to recognize the hard drives. I've tried a few steps on vm-help.com with no luck. Can you give me a hint on how you got it working?

Thanks!
Mike from Raleigh, NC

Anthony Mason said...

Hi rfnchili, you need to buy a controller for the disks, because VMware does not recognise the onboard controller on the motherboard. I bought an Adaptec 1210SA controller, only cheap on Ebay. I believe the 2820SA also works and whilst more expensive, is a better card.
Anthony.

Unknown said...

Correct, there are alot of SATA-raid cards that work (some supported and some not)

I bought the Adaptec 2610SA that works but is not offic. supported.

Other cards that I looked at that seem to work are:
Adaptec 2410SA, 3405 and 2405.

Check the official hardware list and theses sites for more info:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_systems_guide.pdf

http://ultimatewhitebox.com

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/Whiteboxes_SATA_Controllers_for_ESX_3.5_3i.htm

Anonymous said...

Anders,
When you said the Adaptec 2610SA works but wasn't supported, did you have to hack the install in any way, or did it just work? Did ESXi pick up a RAID 5 for you or just the separate drives? Thanks for your info as I don't want to spend more (in addition to the box already) than I have to.

Mike

Unknown said...

It "just works", I didn't have to do anything more that install it into a slot on my motherboard and connect the sata drives. No driver needed, it is recognized automaticly by ESXi. I have not tested RAID 5. I have only tested 2 mirrored drives.

Unknown said...

With regard to the adaptec 1210SA controller, are you able to run a RAID for storage with ESXi?

Andrew Bradley II said...

The 1210SA card that I am using does not support RAID-5, only mirrored drives.

Someone running the upgraded card(s) in the 2xxx or 3xxx series to get the RAID-5 support.

Unknown said...

Regarding the Adaptec 2610SA.
I have now tested RAID5 and it works fine as well.