sbb72.github.io

Home Lab

Introduction

This is a quick ramble about my home lab.

I used William Lam web site \ blog virtuallyghetto site a lot to help choose my hardware configuration.I’d recommend his site and following him on Twitter if you’re interested on home labs (and all things to do with virtualisation), lots of good information. After reviewing various different hardware vendors I decided on Supermicro SYS-E300-9D-8CN8TP due to the on board nics and the physical size of the hardware.

Delivery has arrived!

Boxes of new stuff :-)

Hardware list

I previously had 2 Dell Precision T3600 desktops and a HP Micro server with vSAN configured. I wanted to upgrade due to the size of rh hardware and the disk configuration limitations of the Dell machines.
I wanted to install ESXi, vCenter and vSAN with the option of lots of Memory so I opted for 2 x Supermicro Server system SYS-E300-9D-8CN8TP and one Intel NUC Hades Canyon to create a vSAN ROBO configuration. The Supermicro servers are used as the vSAN nodes, the Intel NUC is used for the vSAN Witness etc. Below is a list of the hardware components:

Supermicro Server system SYS-E300-9D-8CN8TP

I’ve got 2 Supermicro servers, link to full description SYS-E300-9D-8CN8TP Specs

Hardware Model Part No Comments
Server SUPERMICRO Server system SYS-E300-9D-8CN8TP vSAN Nodes
Memory Samsung 32GB DDR4 2666MHz LP ECC Registered x2 M393A4K40CB2-CTD 64 GB of memory
Disk Supermicro 64GB SATADOM SSD-DM064-SMCMVN1 Used to install ESXi
Disk Samsung 256GB PM981 M.2 PCIe NVMe MZVLB256HAHQ-00000 Cache disk for vSAN
Disk Intel 660p 1TB M.2 PCIe QLC 3D SSDPEKNW010T8X1 Capacity Disk for vSAN
Disk Intel 660p 1TB M.2 PCIe QLC 3D SSDPEKNW010T8X1 Capacity Disk for vSAN

Intel NUC Hades Canyon

One Intel NUC Hades Canyon node.

Hardware Model Part No Comments
Server Intel NUC Hades Canyon Used host vSAN Witness (and other VMs not in vSAN Cluster)
Memory Crucial 32GB Kit (16GBx2) DDR4-2400 SODIMM   32 GB of Memory
Disk WD Green M.2 SSD 240GB 7mm SATA Gen 3 WDS240G2G0B ESXi installed on this SSD
Disk Crucial P1 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD CT1000P1SSD8 Capacity SSD

What does it look like?

Below is a picture on what the hardware looks like, I still need to buy \ create a shelving unit because the servers get quite hot on top of each other.

Still need to document \ blog about the following:

* Shelving \ cabin for the servers and the switch. #legovsan looks interesting :-)

I’ve created (well mainly my son) a make shift lego rack while I figure out what I the permanent solution will be.