Hello! It's been a minute since I last posted here with my own topic. I now have a dedicated ESXi server in the works, and am planning to start using it 24/7 by the end of this year. Here are the specs for the hardware:
CSE :: HPE ProLiant DL580 G7
CPU :: 4x Intel Xeon E7-8870's (10c/20t each; 40c/80t total)
RAM :: 64GB (16x4GB) DDR3-1333 PC3-10600R ECC
STR :: 1x 250GB HITACHI HTS542525K9SA00 HDD (ESXi, VMware Linux Appliance, System ISOs) +
1x Western Digital WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB SATA SSD (vSphereFlash Read Cache) +
4x HGST NetApp X422A-R5 600GB 10K SAS 2.5" HDDs +
1x 500GB Seagate Video ST500VT003 HDD (Remote Development VM)
1x LSI SAS 9201-16e HBA SAS card (4-HDD DAS) +
1x Mini-SAS SFF-8088 to SATA Forward Breakout x4 cable +
4x HITACHI HUA722020ALA330 HDDs +
1x Rosewill RASA-11001 (4x 3.5in HDD cage)
PCIe :: 1x HP 512843-001/591196-001System I/O board +
1x HP 588137-B21; 591205-001/591204-001 PCIe Riser board
GPU :: 1x nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB +
2x nVIDIA Tesla K10's
SFX :: 1x Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Rx
NIC :: 1x SolarFlare SFN5322F 10Gbps +
1x HP 491838-001 (NC375I) 1Gbps
FAN :: 4x Arctic F9PWM 92mm case fans **
PSU :: 4x 1200W Server PSU's (HP 441830-001/438203-001)
PRP :: 1x Dell MS819Wired Mouse *
Parts marked with * have not been purchased/sourced yet. Those marked with ** are already in-house, but require further planning/modification before they can be added to the server.
Here is the current software configuration plan for the server:
VMware Linux Appliance (for managing/monitoring ESXi 6.5)
Temporary/Test VM (for when I want to host a temporary role/application, without impacting mission-critical infrastructure)
Windows Server Datacentre (ActiveDirectory, SoftEther+, Technitium^, Server JRE, YaCy, hMailServer+, AOMEI PXE Boot^, etc.)
MacOS Mojave (Google Drive/MEGA sync*, PleX Server**, Handbrake, SVP4 Pro, iTunes, DaVinci Resolve, etc.)
Artix Linux (NextCloud+, OpenSSH, strongSwan+, Technitium^, VirtualGL^, ejabberd+, FreePBX+SMS+, CUPS^, F@H, sNTP^, etc.)
Windows 10 LTSB (front-end tasks - OBS Studio, Moonlight**, DesignWorks, ConsoleGameEmulators, modpack dev., etc.)
Remote Development (my build environment - Netbeans, MinGW/64, cmake, GNUWin, CUDA SDK, Mosh, nginx+SQLite+Php, etc.) ^
* Temporary task that will be replaced by a permanent, self-hosted solution
** Can benefit from port forwarding, but will be primarily tunnel-bound
^ Tunnel-bound (VPN/SSH) role - not port forwarded/exposed to the Internet
+ Active Directory enabled - Single Sign On (SSO)
Here is the current resource allocation plan for the server:
- VMware nix Appliance :: 24/7 - true, dedicatedHDD - false, dedicatedGPU - false, 2c/4t + 4GB
- Temporary/Testing VM :: 24/7 - false, dedicatedHDD - false, dedicatedGPU - true, 12c/24t + 20-24GB *
- Windows Server 2016 :: 24/7 - true, dedicatedHDD - true, dedicatedGPU - false, 8c/16t + 12-16GB
- macOS Server 10.14.X :: 24/7 - true, dedicatedHDD - true, dedicatedGPU - true, 8c/16t + 12GB
- Artix Linux - Xfce ISO :: 24/7 - true, dedicatedHDD - true, dedicatedGPU - true, 8c/16t + 12GB
- Windows 10 Enterprise :: 24/7 - false, dedicatedHDD - true, dedicatedGPU - true, 12c/24t + 20-24GB *
- Remote Development VM :: 24/7 - false, dedicatedHDD - true, dedicatedGPU - true, 12c/24t + 20-24GB *
VMs marked with an * cannot be run at the same time. Only one of them can ever run at any given moment. MacOS and Linux would have gotten a Radeon/FirePro (ie., Rx Vega 64), for best compatibility and stability, but market forces have prevented this. Windows 10 gets the Creative Audigy Rx. The MacOS and Linux VMs get whatever audio the Tesla K10's provide (either that or a software solution). Windows 10, Remote Development, and the Temp/Testing VM will be put to sleep (or offed) until they are needed (Wake on LAN), since they don't host any essential services.
There are three other mirrors for this project, in case you're interested in following individual conversations from the other sites (in addition to this thread).
P.S. Out of all the sites that I've ever used, this forum has one of the best WYSIWYG editors I've used in a while Kudos to the devs!