Server build in 2019 for virtualization

[Davin Edison]

Should I go with 3700x or threadripper? Or is there any intel chip that can be used for this? And I am thinking about adding ecc ram due to the virtualization is so important for my work. Do you have any advices or opinion about the build? 
 

Should I use gaming card or quadro for this build? 
 

I have never built a server. I’ve done several pc. But this server is another level...

 

thank you for your help!

[Metallus97]

What do you want to do on it, what’s your budget?

at the moment AMD is the way period.

do you need GPU horsepower to?

do you need redundancy in PSU and or storage?

[Davin Edison]

1 minute ago, Metallus97 said:

What do you want to do on it, what’s your budget?

at the moment AMD is the way period.

do you need GPU horsepower to?

do you need redundancy in PSU and or storage?

i will running a windows server 2003 on virtualization due to the software is only available in windows XP. Besides that I am going to run a webhost on the server and also as a storage backup for my work. so i guess i am gonna need a redundancy in storage.. i have read that by using the ssd as the cache it will improve the performance of the machine but i don't get it how that works. For PSU it would be nice to have redundancy, but if I do not get the redundancy i don't think it is a big problem for it.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Davin Edison said:

i will running a windows server 2003 on virtualization due to the software is only available in windows XP. Besides that I am going to run a webhost on the server and also as a storage backup for my work. so i guess i am gonna need a redundancy in storage.. i have read that by using the ssd as the cache it will improve the performance of the machine but i don't get it how that works. For PSU it would be nice to have redundancy, but if I do not get the redundancy i don't think it is a big problem for it.

Id probably go with a premade server, just less hassle, better support, and better hardware. Id get something like a basic epyc server form dell, like a r7520.

 

WHat network speeds, SSD caching doesn't help that much for a lot of network storage tasks, but Id go ssd only for the vm storage.

 

Do you have much experience with servers? Id get someone in that knows what there doing to help you set this up.

[Davin Edison]

Oh yeah for the budget I am thinking around 1500-2000 usd?

6 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

What do you want to do on it, what’s your budget?

at the moment AMD is the way period.

do you need GPU horsepower to?

do you need redundancy in PSU and or storage?

 

[Metallus97]

1 minute ago, Davin Edison said:

i will running a windows server 2003 on virtualization due to the software is only available in windows XP. Besides that I am going to run a webhost on the server and also as a storage backup for my work. so i guess i am gonna need a redundancy in storage.. i have read that by using the ssd as the cache it will improve the performance of the machine but i don't get it how that works. For PSU it would be nice to have redundancy, but if I do not get the redundancy i don't think it is a big problem for it.

uhhhhh windows server 2003? does that even work with modern CPUs? 

that’s a bit out of my knowledge. But cloudnt you emulate XP on a more modern server os also? maybe even docker or unraid 

[Davin Edison]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id probably go with a premade server, just less hassle, better support, and better hardware. Id get something like a basic epyc server form dell, like a r7520.

 

WHat network speeds, SSD caching doesn't help that much for a lot of network storage tasks, but Id go ssd only for the vm storage.

 

Do you have much experience with servers? Id get someone in that knows what there doing to help you set this up.

The problem is I am living in Indonesia and the access for such hardware is quite hard.. so i assume that it will be better to buy a premade server? i have found several pre-build server on xeon e3 1245v6 for a reasonable price. but comparing the processor with something like 3700x or TR2920x I am quite unsure for that processor performance..

[Davin Edison]

2 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

uhhhhh windows server 2003? does that even work with modern CPUs? 

that’s a bit out of my knowledge. But cloudnt you emulate XP on a more modern server os also? maybe even docker or unraid 

So yeah. I am thinking about emulating the windows server on unraid or windows server 2016. something like that. i am thinking of using vmware for this windows server 2003 emulation..

[Davin Edison]

Put my eyes on dual E5 2620V4. but the price is more expensive than threadripper and with less processing power compared to thread ripper.. so i am confused...

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Davin Edison said:

The problem is I am living in Indonesia and the access for such hardware is quite hard.. so i assume that it will be better to buy a premade server? i have found several pre-build server on xeon e3 1245v6 for a reasonable price. but comparing the processor with something like 3700x or TR2920x I am quite unsure for that processor performance..

What model of server?

 

From what you listed you probably don't need much cpu power.

 

How many vms do you plan to run?

 

How many tb of storage?

 

WHat network speed?

[Davin Edison]

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What model of server?

 

From what you listed you probably don't need much cpu power.

 

How many vms do you plan to run?

 

How many tb of storage?

 

WHat network speed?

I am planning on intel 4108 silver with gigabyte dual socket for future expansion. 
 

probably around 3 VM (Win server 2003, Win XP, and Ubuntu)

 

for the storage I chose 2 480gig of m.2 with mirror backup and 4 tb hdd with mirror backup also

 

so in total 2x480 + 2x 4TB for now. 
 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

9 minutes ago, Davin Edison said:

I am planning on intel 4108 silver with gigabyte dual socket for future expansion. 
 

probably around 3 VM (Win server 2003, Win XP, and Ubuntu)

 

for the storage I chose 2 480gig of m.2 with mirror backup and 4 tb hdd with mirror backup also

 

so in total 2x480 + 2x 4TB for now. 
 

 

WHy use hyper-v? Id personally go proxmox.

 

That hardware seems overkill, id go single 1151 here if you don't need more speed later.

[Davin Edison]

I have never tried proxmox.

I’ll try to search about proxmox tonight. 
Does 1151 (1245v6 xeon) enough for this build? Coupled with 16gb of 2400 ecc ram. 

[Kalm_Traveler]

I just skimmed the thread but I don't see you explaining what exact tasks you'll be using this for.

 

For example, what does that Windows XP software do?

Why would you need GPU horsepower at all? on that note - Geforce and Titan cards don't allow you to pass them through to a VM the way a Quadro will (driver-wise, Nvidia artifical lockout)

 

For my home server last year I was running a Windows 2016 Server datacenter VM for WSUS (internally hosted Windows Updates), DHCP, DNS, and redundant network file share, a Ubuntu desktop VM for some network monitoring tools, and pfsense (didn't get it set up) intending to do router/firewall/ids/ips. 
This was on a Ryzen 7 2700x with 32gb non-ECC DDR4, a 1tb nvme SSD for vmware + vms, and 4 seagate ironwolf HDDs in RAID 10. Because nothing I was doing needed graphics power I just used a cheap EVGA Geforce GT 710 2gb card to get the system set up. 

With my use case, even that hardware was massively overkill.