finally, the new server case arrived; had to push back new orders to dec. 7th :(  need time to build, test, and provision it
lol
awesome
up_the_irons: case?   do you order like supermicro machines or something?
jpalmer: yes, supermicro
nice.  been looking at some supermicro options for a small vmware ESXi lab.
cool
supermicro are the legos of servers.  pick & choose your parts, and build!
i love supermicro boxes
nice kit :)
yeah.  the main drawback is,  there are only 2 officially supported supermicros for esxi.  and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of info about the compatibility with specific mobos.
ahh
and frankly, it's a PITA to go through each supermicro MOBO,  and check the HCL against the disk controller, ethernet card, etc etc
yeah, absolutely
i didn't realise that - never used esxi on them :)
it's way easier to just buy HP gear that's on the HCL
if you're going to go anywhere near VMware
+1
Lefty: sure.  if you need the support, I'd definately go with officially supported hardware.
it does save a lot of hassle to order something that's guaranteed to work
we use DL360G5Ps, and have zero trouble with our ESX boxes
I'm talking about a small home lab.   2 machines.  and vmware support would be a non-issue
I have 2 of the older generation DL380's currently.  (G4's)  but they don't do 64bit guests.  hence the desire to updte the home lab.
indeed
I'd still recommend HP gear if you're going to buy new
if the CPU was stronger,  those new HP microservers look like they'd be an awesome home lab machine.
oh yeah, i saw those recently
are they any good?
the cost difference between that and a u-brew Supermicro can't be that much
lefty:  a DL380, similarly configured to supermicro,  is twice the cost.
yeah, hp is expensive.
is that with or without support included?
don't get me wrong,  for production use.. at work,  I'm all over HP.   but for the home lab,  it's REALLY hard to justify paying twice the cost.
i'd homebrew it and hope for the best at home
exactly.
'good enough' :)
can I get a high-end HP box with 8-drive RAID 10, for under $5K?
just need to find a mobo from supermicro that isn't insane expensive,  and support esxi.
jpalmer: the ones I buy are about $500
dell knock out some seriously cheap servers that are supported
(or, last time i looked about two years ago they did anyway)
up_the_irons: not too bad.   when you get your next one,  install esxi and tell me if it detects the NICs and disks :P
lol
up_the_irons: our DL360s are eight drive, I believe, and they don't quite cost 5k
jpalmer: I asked "can I" ;)
bob^^: at work,  we have a solution where the client can pick the servers.   we offer HP dl360's,  dell R410's,  Dell R610's,  Lenovo rd210's,  and an IBM offering.   Dell is cheaper than all of them,  by half or thirds.
though I'm not an SA anymore so I'd have to go check
i love 410 and 610 boxes, great servers
we use those almost exclusively now - but just 'native' freebsd on them, no vmware :)
yeah, ESXi runs perfectly ont he R410's and R610s.
good to know for the future :D
they're really power efficient too
I'm just not much of a Dell fan.  I much prefer the HP hardware
i like the both, one thing i have struggled with in the past is HP support
i've always had good results with dell's premier support
HP, not so much
up_the_irons: you'd be hard pressed to find it for under $5k, I think.   but I would be interested in knowing if your choice of mobo works for esxi :P
jpalmer: i'll get it for ya in a bit; in meeting now
up_the_irons: what kind of disks?  SATA, SAS, or SCSI?
(and 2.5, or 3.5?)
back in a bit.
jpalmer: SATA, 3.5
p
SOrry, wrong console.
jpalmer: Haven't tried the 410/610, but installing PCIe cardsin the R710 can be one mother of a CF.
Yamazaki-kun: 1 addon card in the R410,  and you're out of expansion room.     the 610 isn't quite as tight.