Sufficient build for what I want to virtualize?

[Ch33rios]

First, my current build:

SuperMicro X11SAE-F
Xeon E3-1230v5
32GB DDR4
2 x 480GB SSDs
2 x 3TB HDD (RDM'ed to a NAS VM)
2 x 2TB HDD (RDM'ed to a NAS VM)

Current VMs:

• Windows 10 Ent
  • 4 core
  • 8GB RAM
  • 120GB VMDK on the SSD
  • 500GB VMDK on NFS datastore (see below)
  • GTX 970 passed thru
  • USB Controller passed thru
• RockStor NAS
  • 2 core
  • 8GB RAM
  • the 3TB and 2TB drives are setup in a BTRFS RAID10 pool
  • NFS export created and exposed to ESXi which mounts it as a datastore (vmkernel network)
• Docker Host
  • 1 core
  • 2GB RAM
  • 100GB VMDK on NFS datastore
  • Runs the following containers right now: 3 Usenet related images, Nginx, Portainer, Glances

Here's what I'd like to build out:

• Docker #2 (or just consolidate in the single docker host above but up the core count a bit?)
  • Splunk
  • room for expansion (unsure as to what exact containers but want to have a little room)
• Active Directory Core Server (Win2016)
  • Minimal install to run an AD domain
  • AD-DNS also run from this host
• Win2016 for testing/learning other stuff
  • Play with SCCM or other 'enterprise' tools for learning purposes
  • Wouldn't be running 24/7

Usage would be relatively minimal direct interaction throughout the day but right now with my main desktop being virtualized in this host, there will be times when Im pretty much hitting full utilization of the Win10 Ent server. I have noticed some moments of stutter in games, apps, etc when on the Win10 machine and its ramping up utilization. Not a huge deal and it seems to go away pretty quick (maybe happens a half dozen times or so within a few minutes and then stops happening...maybe an automated process somewhere).

Either way, just looking for a sanity check on my hardware based upon what I'd like to do. In addition to the aforementioned items I will be building/breaking down my other 'research' machines (mix of a few Windows and Linux machines) for malware analysis and other security related activities but since those are pretty ephemeral and minimal I doubt they would cause issues with resource constraint as I would be highly utilizing the Win10 machine.

Perhaps in the long run the best thing to do based upon what I want to do is break out the Win10 desktop to a dedicated min-itx machine...I'd rather not as I really love the whole converged system I got working here but again, maybe I didn't buy enough from the get-go Are there any other sort of 'tweaks' that Vmware allows to make better use of available resources?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Rand__]

What do the utilization graphs in ESX tell you?
I'd think you might a be a little short on memory, and o/c you can profit from a higher clock cpu, but that's about it you could do with your box.
So unless you have a real need and or want to invest in an e5 box...
The only 'tweak' (I know of) you can do without doing a deep dive is to set energy level to performance instead of balanced if you have not done so already.

 

[pricklypunter]

RAM, RAM, RAM....did I mention RAM? Another 32GB wouldn't go amiss here, but you should be able to eek it out of what you have with a few tweaks

 

[Ch33rios]

What do the utilization graphs in ESX tell you?
I'd think you might a be a little short on memory, and o/c you can profit from a higher clock cpu, but that's about it you could do with your box.
So unless you have a real need and or want to invest in an e5 box...
The only 'tweak' (I know of) you can do without doing a deep dive is to set energy level to performance instead of balanced if you have not done so already.

I'll take a close look at the graphs and report back.

 

[capn_pineapple]

Reinforcing the RAM, also Splunk can be quite compute heavy at times. Aside from that, you should be fine.

 

[Silvio]

Did not try passthrough of that card specifically but Nvidia doesn't officially support that in the GeForce line only on Quadro. AMD is supposed to be good as well.


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