Best completely free type 1 hypervisor and manager?

[Laggger164]

So I want to make a NAS server as well as some additional things on a refurbished Dell Poweredge 2900 (haven't bought it yet, but I am thinking 12 or 16 GB of RAM and 2x Xeon L5420 processors for 250$ without harddrives, but with a 1 year warranty)

 

I was looking around trying to find the best free type 1 hypervisor software and most people prefer Proxmox and the free manager or they buy the subscription, but I don't want a subscription, I want to know if there are hypervisors and managers with more (useful) features than Proxmox at the price of free.

 

What do you guys think? What do you use? 

[jj9987]

VMware ESXi. I use the free license and as far as I know, it is limited to 100 physical servers.

Another option I can suggest is KVM. Slap a Linux distro on the server and install KVM.

[Laggger164]

20 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

VMware ESXi. I use the free license and as far as I know, it is limited to 100 physical servers.

Another option I can suggest is KVM. Slap a Linux distro on the server and install KVM.

OK, I am not really talking about how many physical servers it can be on. I am gonna have 1 at home. Not a thousand

KVM looks like a nice option, does it matter what distro I get? I am thinking Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

[Ralms]

31 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

So I want to make a NAS server as well as some additional things on a refurbished Dell Poweredge 2900 (haven't bought it yet, but I am thinking 12 or 16 GB of RAM and 2x Xeon L5420 processors for 250$ without harddrives, but with a 1 year warranty)

 

I was looking around trying to find the best free type 1 hypervisor software and most people prefer Proxmox and the free manager or they buy the subscription, but I don't want a subscription, I want to know if there are hypervisors and managers with more (useful) features than Proxmox at the price of free.

 

What do you guys think? What do you use? 

I would recomend against that server. 
Dell PowerEdge 2900 Consume A LOT of power and are noisy. 

 

Check the newer stuff running DDR3. 

I bought a Poweredge 2950 III with 32GB of ECC Ram, 2 CPUs (dont remember which, they run at 2.4Ghz) and the server is pulling around 250w to 300w from the wall at Iddle. 

The ram alone is 10W per stick. I basically removed everything to see how low I could bring the power consumption down and never mananged to get it lower than 200w.

 

As for Hypervisor, Ive used VmWare ESXi and I love it. Its free, its managed by a web portal and can be installed on a USB stick. 

 

Edit: 

 

Another thing, the Dell Perc 6 doesnt support HDDs bigger than 2TB. 

[Laggger164]

1 minute ago, Ralms said:

I would recomend against that sever. 
Dell PowerEdge 2900 Consume A LOT of power and are noisy. 

 

Check the newer stuff running DDR3. 

I bought a Poweredge 2950 III with 32GB of ECC Ram, 2 CPUs (dont remember which, they run at 2.4Ghz) and the server is pulling around 250w to 300w from the wall at Iddle. 

The ram alone is 10W per stick. I basically removed everything to see how low I could bring the power consumption down and never mananged to get it lower than 200w.

 

As for Hypervisor, Ive used VmWare ESXi and I love it. Its free, its managed by a web portal and can be installed on a USB stick. 

The noise can be reduced by replacing the fans as I have read.

So... I should get the slimmer version? Like, I have that option in that refurbisher, but I am not sure. They don't specify which generation it is, I am gonna ask them tho.

Also, I don't have a rack. Should I get a rack?

[Ralms]

Just now, Laggger164 said:

The noise can be reduced by replacing the fans as I have read.

So... I should get the slimmer version? Like, I have that option in that refurbisher, but I am not sure. They don't specify which generation it is, I am gonna ask them tho.

Also, I don't have a rack. Should I get a rack?

Dell does stuff proprietary, everywhere I read, at least in my 2950 you cant replace them for a quieter version, what you can do is mod them adding a resistor to not let them reach their max RPM (which is fine). 

 

Depends on where you live, if you are in the US you are basically in server heaven, you can get something like a R710, prices vary a lot depending on specs. It will be a more expensive machine but its more modern. 

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/Dell PowerEdge_R710_570W_Energy_Star_Data_Sheet_new.pdf

 

If you want something great for power consumption and size, I wish I had these in europe at a good price, you could get a R210, they are Single CPU, 1U with compact size. They are silent and consume low power.They can hold I think 2 HDDs + SSD ( not sure). 

 

But look in Ebay for stuff in your price range and than search for power comsumption and noise. Videos and stuff so you have an ideia. 

 

 

[Laggger164]

Just now, Ralms said:

Dell does stuff proprietary, everywhere I read, at least in my 2950 you cant replace them for a quieter version, what you can do is mod them adding a resistor to not let them reach their max RPM (which is fine). 

 

Depends on where you live, if you are in the US you are basically in server heaven, you can get something like a R710, prices vary a lot depending on specs. It will be a more expensive machine but its more modern. 

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/Dell PowerEdge_R710_570W_Energy_Star_Data_Sheet_new.pdf

 

If you want something great for power consumption and size, I wish I had these in europe at a good price, you could get a R210, they are Single CPU, 1U with compact size. They are silent and consume low power.They can hold I think 2 HDDs + SSD ( not sure). 

 

But look in Ebay for stuff in your price range and than search for power comsumption and noise. Videos and stuff so you have an ideia. 

 

 

I live in Slovakia, not many servers here, but here is the link to the site I was referring to: http://servershop.sk/servery/c998

 

It's only in Slovakian, no english language here unfortunately.

Both, the PowerEdge 2900 and 2950 have DDR2 RAM and the same processor choice. I don't know what the difference is between the generations, when I was looking at their PDFs I couldn't see a thing different...

[Ralms]

2 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

I live in Slovakia, not many servers here, but here is the link to the site I was referring to: http://servershop.sk/servery/c998

 

It's only in Slovakian, no english language here unfortunately.

Both, the PowerEdge 2900 and 2950 have DDR2 RAM and the same processor choice. I don't know what the difference is between the generations, when I was looking at their PDFs I couldn't see a thing different...

Is there a reason you want to order from that website?

I dont know much from this model, R510, but look at the diference:
Its 450€ on Ebay vs 819€ on your website
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Server-Dell-PowerEdge-R510-2x-Six-Core-Intel-Xeon-X5660-2-8GHz-32GB-RAM-ohne-HDD-/322446052815?hash=item4b13484dcf:g:73oAAOSw2gxYwDqh

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

I live in Slovakia, not many servers here, but here is the link to the site I was referring to: http://servershop.sk/servery/c998

 

It's only in Slovakian, no english language here unfortunately.

Both, the PowerEdge 2900 and 2950 have DDR2 RAM and the same processor choice. I don't know what the difference is between the generations, when I was looking at their PDFs I couldn't see a thing different...

Problem is with the power your paying it will be cheaper to buy a newer server after a year

 

What are you doing with it?

 

Why not use a low power tower, not a full rack server.

 

On that site id get a r510 or a hp dl 380 g6

[Laggger164]

5 minutes ago, Ralms said:

Is there a reason you want to order from that website?

I dont know much from this model, R510, but look at the diference:
Its 450€ on Ebay vs 819€ on your website
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Server-Dell-PowerEdge-R510-2x-Six-Core-Intel-Xeon-X5660-2-8GHz-32GB-RAM-ohne-HDD-/322446052815?hash=item4b13484dcf:g:73oAAOSw2gxYwDqh

Well, it's the website that sells the most servers in Slovakia it seems...

 

So is e-bay better then you think? I would have preffered to buy from a normal store in here, but I dunno. I don't have much experience with used hardware.

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Problem is with the power your paying it will be cheaper to buy a newer server after a year

 

What are you doing with it?

 

Why not use a low power tower, not a full rack server.

 

On that site id get a r510 or a hp dl 380 g6

OK then, if I would have bought it, I would pick the Xeon L5420. A 50W TDP processor, the other ones are 80W. Is that not significant enough?

 

Primarily a NAS server and a gaming server for a few friends.

 

Also, I want to learn how to work with these servers myself, since I might want to work with them at a proper job. Right now I am a 17 y/o student and yes, I do care for my dad's power bill, this is why we have a discussion here. 

 

These servers already have RAID cards, Gigabit ethernet and hot-swap HDD cages.

 

The R510 and DL 380 G6 are kind of expensive to me. Those prices are for the lowest possible configurations. Are you sure those would be worth it in the long run?

  

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Laggger164 said:

OK then, if I would have bought it, I would pick the Xeon L5420. A 50W TDP processor, the other ones are 80W. Is that not significant enough?

There is much more to power comsumption than cpu tdp. Those old servers will use much more power. THe ram alone can use over 80w in those old servers, compared to about 20w in the r510's(and simmilar)

 

Id probably just get a small tower server, like a dell t310 or t320 on ebay. Same server goodies, and much lower power.

[Laggger164]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

There is much more to power comsumption than cpu tdp. Those old servers will use much more power. THe ram alone can use over 80w in those old servers, compared to about 20w in the r510's(and simmilar)

 

Id probably just get a small tower server, like a dell t310 or t320 on ebay. Same server goodies, and much lower power.

So I found the T310 on e-bay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-T310-Quad-Core-Tower-Server-Xeon-X3450-Customisable-RAM-HDD-/122261667822?var=&hash=item1c775cffee:m:mJsNXD3zyyQZSZzjJZRxmgg

With 16 GB of RAM it would cost around 250$, maybe it would cost 250€ shipped but I am not sure about that.

The thing is, when I looked at the PDF of Dell, I saw this: Maximum Internal Storage  -  4TB

Also, only 4 HDD bays.

 

The T320 looks just plain too expensive. What are the other options?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Laggger164 said:

So I found the T310 on e-bay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-T310-Quad-Core-Tower-Server-Xeon-X3450-Customisable-RAM-HDD-/122261667822?var=&hash=item1c775cffee:m:mJsNXD3zyyQZSZzjJZRxmgg

With 16 GB of RAM it would cost around 250$, maybe it would cost 250€ shipped but I am not sure about that.

The thing is, when I looked at the PDF of Dell, I saw this: Maximum Internal Storage  -  4TB

Also, only 4 HDD bays.

 

The T320 looks just plain too expensive. What are the other options?

you could build your own server from desktop parts.

 

ALso if you just want more drives, you can get something like a sa120 or a md3000

 

The max drive size was useing the biggest drives that you could buy at the time, newer bigger drives will work fine.

[Laggger164]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you could build your own server from desktop parts.

 

ALso if you just want more drives, you can get something like a sa120 or a md3000

 

The max drive size was useing the biggest drives that you could buy at the time, newer bigger drives will work fine.

OK, let's clarify. I don't need 15 drives in a server, I want 6 or 8. Just to have the headroom for later.

 

Yes, I could build a server from desktop parts, but how much is a good RAID card going to cost? No I am not using the motherboard for this. Gigabit LAN cards are pretty cheap tho, I won't need anything really fancy anyways. Any other things I should consider IF I want to build a server myself? I really don't feel like that's a good idea...

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Laggger164 said:

OK, let's clarify. I don't need 15 drives in a server, I want 6 or 8. Just to have the headroom for later.

 

Yes, I could build a server from desktop parts, but how much is a good RAID card going to cost? No I am not using the motherboard for this. Gigabit LAN cards are pretty cheap tho, I won't need anything really fancy anyways. Any other things I should consider IF I want to build a server myself? I really don't feel like that's a good idea...

you don't need a raid card, just use the software raid in linux. Its normally better than a hardware raid card(supports things like checksumming and snapshots to keep your data happy, and there normally more flexable)

 

All modern motherboards have gigabit nics built in, no need for a third party one.

 

WHy not build one? Lower power, cost is  about the same, you don't need crazy uptime, this is just for fun.

 

If probably get a i3, 16gb, use a usb drive for boot, and then what ever hdds you want.

 

The motherboard

[Laggger164]

9 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you don't need a raid card, just use the software raid in linux. Its normally better than a hardware raid card(supports things like checksumming and snapshots to keep your data happy, and there normally more flexable)

 

All modern motherboards have gigabit nics built in, no need for a third party one.

 

WHy not build one? Lower power, cost is  about the same, you don't need crazy uptime, this is just for fun.

 

If probably get a i3, 16gb, use a usb drive for boot, and then what ever hdds you want.

 

The motherboard

OK then, I could as well make a new gaming PC and use the old one as a server right? I will just buy a hot-swap bay (cuz it's cool, admit it) and take the GPU out.

My current gaming rig has an AMD FX-6300 on a M5A97 R2.0 motherboard with an aftermarket cooler and 16GB of DDR3 memory (I am doing testing in VMs sometimes, so I gotta have dem memory)

 

However I still think we will need that PC for the next few years and I don't want to build a new one. That is why I am asking here.

If I bought a newer server, be it refurbished or used with DDR3 memory, would you think it would be worth it? I really don't feel like getting a cheap PC to do what I want to do.

[Electronics Wizardy]

20 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

OK then, I could as well make a new gaming PC and use the old one as a server right? I will just buy a hot-swap bay (cuz it's cool, admit it) and take the GPU out.

My current gaming rig has an AMD FX-6300 on a M5A97 R2.0 motherboard with an aftermarket cooler and 16GB of DDR3 memory (I am doing testing in VMs sometimes, so I gotta have dem memory)

 

However I still think we will need that PC for the next few years and I don't want to build a new one. That is why I am asking here.

If I bought a newer server, be it refurbished or used with DDR3 memory, would you think it would be worth it? I really don't feel like getting a cheap PC to do what I want to do.

that amd desktop will work fine. A used server won't really be much better. You can put faster cpu's and more ram, but you don't seem to need it.

[Laggger164]

8 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

that amd desktop will work fine. A used server won't really be much better. You can put faster cpu's and more ram, but you don't seem to need it.

Alright, I was searching a Slovakian bazaar website, basically e-bay, but mostly just in Slovakia.

I found a used HP Proliant DL380 G7 with 2 Xeon E5620 processors and 24GB of DDR3 RAM for 260€. The seller says it is in a TOP shape! (yeah, I dunno if I take that) and that it was used in a climatized room.

 

What do you think? Would I beat that price with a new dedicated PC? I won't make a new gaming rig for at least 2 more years and I want to set up the NAS as soon as I can.

The seller has a wide range of other computer stuff too, including replacement harddrive caddies, power supplies, RAM, HDD, a rail kit for that server. All of these are available from him/them.  

[Electronics Wizardy]

47 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

Would I beat that price with a new dedicated PC?

Probably not, esp for that ram.

 

Looks like a good deal.

 

those chips are pretty low power,

 

Does it have 2.5 or 3.5 drives?

[Laggger164]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Probably not, esp for that ram.

 

Looks like a good deal.

 

those chips are pretty low power,

 

Does it have 2.5 or 3.5 drives?

Yeah, I just saw that it has 2.5 inch drives...

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Laggger164 said:

Yeah, I just saw that it has 2.5 inch drives...

well if you want a nas, you will have to get a exernal box like a sa120 or a md3000 to store drives.

[Laggger164]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

well if you want a nas, you will have to get a exernal box like a sa120 or a md3000 to store drives.

Alright, so maybe not that one... Maybe a used Dell PowerEdge R710 ?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Laggger164 said:

Alright, so maybe not that one... Maybe a used Dell PowerEdge R710 ?

also look for a c2100, they only come with 12x 3.5 hdds and are normally cheaper than r710's and use the same cpu's + ram

[Laggger164]

28 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

also look for a c2100, they only come with 12x 3.5 hdds and are normally cheaper than r710's and use the same cpu's + ram

I will keep that in mind, but I cannot find it on that site.

So if I got the Proliant DL 380 G7, the one with 2.5 inch drives. What would I have to do to get 3.5 inch drives working with it?

 

EDIT: I found a deal for two Dell PE R710 with 32GB or 48GB of RAM and 2 Xeon CPUs either 1.86 or 2.27 GHz for 330 or 390€.

There are many CPUs that would fit in those clock speeds, so I don't know which ones they actually are, but if they are the 6 core ones and with the 3,5 inch HDD caddies, I will seriously consider one of them.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Laggger164

[Mikensan]

The Dell R610 and Dell R710 both come in variants that support 3.5" Also the Dell C1100 or C2100 are good options

To be honest, at most jobs you will very rarely (once every 5 years or longer) have to actually setup a server. So by getting an actual server doesn't help your learning too much, but they are certainly cool. An old desktop produced after 2010 or 2011 will work great with ESXi as a lab. Definitely more flexible in terms of parts and expanding.

In terms of RAM, get a smuch as you can afford - buying it later is going to be expensive and you'll want more later. I promise you'll want more. Things like Exchange sit pretty at 10gb for a basic install (no need to keep it on for learning, but hard to run it + other severs when it wants 10gb).

 

If you're trying to train yourself for a job, focus on ESXi - I would easily say it's the leading hypervisor. Right beside is Hyper-V, I believe their licensing is slightly cheaper in enterprise environments, and significantly cheaper (free) in small offices. Some might user Xenserver, even fewer use KVM. A business can't afford a unique/odd configuration since if that person leaves, finding another person to support them may be rare.