Advice for our next VMware ESXi build server

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sgerstacker

New Member
Apr 9, 2021
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A little background:

I'm a senior dev at a software development shop. We create custom libraries for multiple customers across every platform. As we grew, we realized we needed to get a pile of VMs running, and we also lucked in to a corporate auction and ended up with a beefy server for cheap. That machine has been running 14 different build VMs for all of products / configurations. Unfortunately, it's about at capacity space wise, along with the fact that its a used server that's just getting old as well.

I'm the one in charge of looking for a replacement, because "tag, you're it!". I'm the only one in the shop that's had IT experience, but that experience ended in 2001, so my knowledge is quite stale. What we're looking for is something with similar resources to what we have, but with just a lot more space. Here's our current set up:

* HP ProLiant DL580 G7
* 32 core / 64 thread Xeon X7560 (4 sockets)
* 256 GB RAM
* 2.33 TB RAID 5 / SSD
* ESXi 6.5

From a performance standpoint, the processing and RAM has been fine. Our build VMs are typically a flavor Linux, 2-4 cores, 2 GB RAM. The space is our constraint. As we go forward, we are dealing with more buildroot / yocto / custom build environments which require a large amount of space.

I think the path forward is spec something similar, but running ESXi 7, with a lot more space, and on newer hardware. The problem is, the server world is very different than I remember, and I'm at a loss. We have no brand loyalty, so any vendor is fine, but I just don't know who / what / where to spec.

Any advice would be appreciated. We don't fully have a budge, but we know it's not going to be cheap.
 

Marsh

Moderator
May 12, 2013
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Our build VMs are typically a flavor Linux, 2-4 cores, 2 GB RAM.
Suggest to check out Proxmox instead ESXi 7.
Promxox runs on wide variety of hardware, ESXi 7 is more restricted.

Next is how much is your budget, new hardware or used hardware. Support or self support?

How many currently build? Time duration of each build? How often ?
 

BoredSysadmin

Not affiliated with Maxell
Mar 2, 2019
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Did you consider moving these build VMs to public clouds? You would only need to spin it up for a limited amount of time? So why buy the cow if you just need the milk? Just use Azure DevOps to process and build code, Azure VM to deploy the VMs you require
 

sgerstacker

New Member
Apr 9, 2021
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I'd prefer to stick with ESXi. It's the devil we (or I) know, and it's already pulling teeth to teach other devs new things.

Again, budget is a bit open. We need roughly the same power as the previous system, just with a lot more space.

Builds can all fire all at once, technically. A release build for a product will run across every VM. Nightlies also run across most of them.

It would be all self support, as it is now.

And we can't really use open clouds for this. We have a lot of pieces that work with internal infrastructure, and rewriting just isn't appealing.
 

RTM

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2014
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This is just an example (with a little more space than your current setup ;) )

You could probably talk to the seller and have them spec out something more appropriate for your needs (like the above with more RAM, RAID controllers, beefier CPUs and SSDs). Of course be sure to verify that the hardware will work with ESXi, but I suspect it will.

Of course if this is a platform, that will cost your company a lot of money if it down, you should consider redundancy (like an extra server), spare parts, buying new hardware and support agreements.