Home VMWare Server

[zeyoner]

Hey guys,

So here goes. What I'll be doing and needing/looking for.

• VMWare ESXi 6.5
  • 3 to 4 VMs
    • Debian 9
      • Docker
      • Samba
    • Pfsense or Sophos UTM
    • Windows 10
    • VM for Testing

I will need to be able to pass through a SATA controller (8 drives) and will need to also have up to four NICs (2 for firewall). I'd like a mini-itx board if at all possible however I am open to mATX and ATX. My biggest concern is electricity. With that said I've been looking at the Supermicro Xeon-D selections.


I am looking for motherboard suggestions..

 

[K D]

What I have currently:

Asrock X99e‑itx/ac Lga2011‑v3/ Intel X99
Intel Xeon E3 V3 12 core

12 Core E3?

 

[zeyoner]

Corrected E5-2658 V3 ES

 

[Netwerkz101]

I've been looking at the Supermicro Xeon-D selections.

I am looking for motherboard suggestions

Xeon-D and SoC kind of go together.
Are you trying to match what you have listed already? Exceed it?
Budget?

 

[zeyoner]

I am completely aware of Xeon-D and SoC go together. Thanks.

However I am not sold on only SoC. I am here looking for suggestions it does not have to be Xeon-D. I only stated that I've been looking at the selections because my biggest concern is electricity. I unlike some of the other members here do not live in a house and mind a high electric bill just to have a managed network or lab at home. I only have one connected desktop and the rest is all wireless (phones, streaming box, laptops)

What I've been looking at is Supermicro's X10SDV-TLN4F. But like I said it does not have to be SoC nor mitx. I am looking for suggestions or ideas. I've already owned the X10SDV-TLN4F and X10SDV-7TP4F. I really enjoyed both but felt like I needed higher clock speeds which appears to be only available with higher TDP. I've also considered a Intel Xeon E3-1286L V3 ES but worry that it only has 4 cores.

 

[K D]

Look at your current usage statistics in vcenter to determine your cpu needs.

Personally, my always on home server runs much more and I've never had any CPU starvation - X11SSH-CTF + E3-1275V6.

The 8c xeon D boards are good too. But for my use I didn't see much of a difference in idle power consumption between the E3 and xeon d 1541.

 

[Evan]

The 8c xeon D boards are good too. But for my use I didn't see much of a difference in idle power consumption between the E3 and xeon d 1541.

It seems as you say very similar, just 64gb ram on the new E3’s vs easy 128gb on the Xeon-D’s.
What I wanted to say is E3 has very fast cores and Xeon-D more cores, in the end they probably have a very similar throughput.

If only E3 support rdimm... but sadly not.

 

[Rand__]

What is your current power draw with the E5?
And what besides the board do you want to change? Hard drives maybe? That would help to lower power utilization

Do you expect to recoup buying costs by power savings? They won't.

 

[zeyoner]

Look at your current usage statistics in vcenter to determine your cpu needs.

Personally, my always on home server runs much more and I've never had any CPU starvation - X11SSH-CTF + E3-1275V6.

The 8c xeon D boards are good too. But for my use I didn't see much of a difference in idle power consumption between the E3 and xeon d 1541.

I like the X11SSH-CTF but the E3-1275 V6 is a bit pricey and I don't currently have ESXi installed. Because I have eight drives and the Dell H200 I have does not see all eight drives. I believe it's the firmware flashing. Still seeking a non uefi system so that I can reflash. I used a uefi system to flash with.

 

[zeyoner]

What is your current power draw with the E5?
And what besides the board do you want to change? Hard drives maybe? That would help to lower power utilization

Do you expect to recoup buying costs by power savings? They won't.

It's the board I mainly would like to swap. I love the board but it's just not a server board and I miss having IPMI. As for the CPU I considered swapping as well because of the high TDP 105w. Ultimately I want to get the drives down to four 10tb if not 12tb but that's a big purchase so I'm not there just yet.

The situation with electricity is mainly because the wife pays it. I am attempting to make an effort to get her to shut up

 

[zeyoner]

If I were to hold on to the E5 I considered getting the ASRock EPC612D4U-2T8R I also really like the Gigabyte MB51-PS0 but... it's ATX and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to pass through the SATA controller. Plus I don't believe it's for sell yet and whenever it is. It will be over $1000.

 

[Rand__]

Still cheaper to give the money for the box to your wife

But the problem actually is that you won't save as much as you'd hope. e5+board idle is maybe 60W, xeon d maybe 45/50 and E3 would take you to 35/40.
In addition to that all the other components (hba and drives) which maybe take 30W extra

 

[K D]

It seems as you say very similar, just 64gb ram on the new E3’s vs easy 128gb on the Xeon-D’s.
What I wanted to say is E3 has very fast cores and Xeon-D more cores, in the end they probably have a very similar throughput.

If only E3 support rdimm... but sadly not.

The RAM in this box is the last set of sticks I purchased for a reasonable price last year. Since then