InsaneNutter
Resident Nutter
This post is more of a blog, however any feedback is welcome
I'm thinking of building a Vmware Esxi or Hyper-V 2012 server, basically this would be a computer running dedicated software that can run multiple virtual machines and create virtual networks with these machines.
Having something like that would be ideal as im always messing about with stuff, and its annoying either dual booting or swapping hard drives around just to test something new. With a dedicated device on my network i could just leave multiple virtual machines running, it would be great to learn new features of Windows Server too, which could need more than one machine.
Vmware Esxi looks pretty interesting i must admit:
Hyper-V 2012 server is Microsofts take on virtualization, after reading about both im more drawn to Esxi. Both packages are surprisingly free for the features i would use anyway.
I have put together a spec of a PC im thinking of building to either run Esxi or Hyper V, I wanted something more powerful than an Intel Atom based device, but not thats going to go crazy with power use at the same time.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI
Processor: Intel CPU Core i7 3770T Quad Core IvyBridge Processor
Ram: 2x Corsair Memory Vengeance Blue 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz
Hard drive: Western Digital WD20EARX 2TB Caviar Green Quiet SATA 6Gb/s HDD
Case: Lian Li PC-Q16 Case (comes with PSU)
The only thing im not really decided on is the processor, i have identified three low power processors:
Core i5 3470T Dual Core 2.9ghz (hyperthreading) - 35w - £138
This will only draw 35w under full load, however is only dual core but does have hyper threading.
Core i5 3570T Quad Core 2.3ghz - 45w - £154
Draws 45w under full load, however is quad core and not that much more in price and in energy use.
Core i7 3770T Quad Core 2.5ghz (hyperthreading) - 45w - £222
The best low powered CPU you can get at the moment, quad core with hyper threading, so essentially windows would see it as 8x cores, £68 more than the mid ranged Core i5 3570T.
Im thinking of going for the mid ranged Core i5 3570T, however the Core i7 3770T is tempting as i would like to build something to last. Realistically unless i started to host multiple games servers i would probably never use all the extra power it offers.
At the moment with the Core i5 3570T processor im probably looking at around £480, which is cheaper than any Mini PC by shuttle and the MacMini, plus will be capable of a lot more at the same time. Plus the advantage here is off the shelf parts have been used so would be easy to upgrade in the future.
I'm thinking of building a Vmware Esxi or Hyper-V 2012 server, basically this would be a computer running dedicated software that can run multiple virtual machines and create virtual networks with these machines.
Having something like that would be ideal as im always messing about with stuff, and its annoying either dual booting or swapping hard drives around just to test something new. With a dedicated device on my network i could just leave multiple virtual machines running, it would be great to learn new features of Windows Server too, which could need more than one machine.
Vmware Esxi looks pretty interesting i must admit:
Hyper-V 2012 server is Microsofts take on virtualization, after reading about both im more drawn to Esxi. Both packages are surprisingly free for the features i would use anyway.
I have put together a spec of a PC im thinking of building to either run Esxi or Hyper V, I wanted something more powerful than an Intel Atom based device, but not thats going to go crazy with power use at the same time.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI
Processor: Intel CPU Core i7 3770T Quad Core IvyBridge Processor
Ram: 2x Corsair Memory Vengeance Blue 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz
Hard drive: Western Digital WD20EARX 2TB Caviar Green Quiet SATA 6Gb/s HDD
Case: Lian Li PC-Q16 Case (comes with PSU)
- The motherboard has two network cards built in, this would allow a virtual machine to act as a router / firewall if i ever wished to use something like pfsese or another linux based router / firewall in place of my current router.
- 16gb of ram is the max the motherboard can take
- A low powered 2TB drive will be plenty of room, and is only £10 more than a 1TB drive so appears best value for money. I might even go for a 2.5" hard drive to save a bit more power.
- The case is small and comes with a good energy efficient PSU
The only thing im not really decided on is the processor, i have identified three low power processors:
Core i5 3470T Dual Core 2.9ghz (hyperthreading) - 35w - £138
This will only draw 35w under full load, however is only dual core but does have hyper threading.
Core i5 3570T Quad Core 2.3ghz - 45w - £154
Draws 45w under full load, however is quad core and not that much more in price and in energy use.
Core i7 3770T Quad Core 2.5ghz (hyperthreading) - 45w - £222
The best low powered CPU you can get at the moment, quad core with hyper threading, so essentially windows would see it as 8x cores, £68 more than the mid ranged Core i5 3570T.
Im thinking of going for the mid ranged Core i5 3570T, however the Core i7 3770T is tempting as i would like to build something to last. Realistically unless i started to host multiple games servers i would probably never use all the extra power it offers.
At the moment with the Core i5 3570T processor im probably looking at around £480, which is cheaper than any Mini PC by shuttle and the MacMini, plus will be capable of a lot more at the same time. Plus the advantage here is off the shelf parts have been used so would be easy to upgrade in the future.
Great learning for a future job to! You could easily deploy a linux box when you want to give linux a go, fire up a Windows Machine to be a Remote Desktop Server. Interesting stuff 
