Will this work? Server/Virtualization Setup

[spiked777]

Let me preface that I am very green when it comes to virtualization. I have played around with VMware for ARM on a raspberry pi to get a better feel of virtualization and SSH commands. I have been nomadic in my work/training and finally settling down in a house we bought that I want to deck out in Tech. I got a budget and blessing from the wife. I already bought all the tech, now I'm just figuring out the best way to use it. Essentially Im building a traditional server cabinet with patch panel, switch, modem, firewall, ups, etc, in addition to a server. I decided to go with refurbished server hardware in the form of a Dell R720. I've decked it out with some drives, but I'm going back and forth with how best to set it up. Rather than multiple machines, I want one that can run as a NAS (to start backing up all the pictures, project, Ive accumulated but carelessly not backedup in the past) as well as a home automation server (basically every app to run our lights, robot vacuum, security, etc). Additionally, itd be nice to have one additional VM to play around with for hosting media or games on our connected network. Presently, I was thinking a type 1 hypervisor such as ESXi and then partition out the hardware with unraid running as a VM. That being said, I'm sure there are alternatives that may be more robust. Let me know if you A) think that this setup can work (and if not, any suggestions?) or B) alternative server setup. Thanks!

Specs:

Server - Dell R720 with 2 x E5-2697v2 (total of 24 cores), 96 RAM, 4 x 8TB ironwolf NAS hard drives, 2 x 3TB generic enterprise HD,  2 x 120gb kingston SSD, 1TB samsung QVO SSD, H710 raid controller 
Install OS on thumbdrive and use internal thumbdrive - ESXi on thumbdrive - allocate 4 cores and 8gb of ram
Three virtual machines. 
1st machine is NAS running UNRAID and using the 4 x 8TB hard drive in Raid 5 array with 2 x 120gb SSD for cache - dedicate 8 cores and 48gb ram
2nd machine is Home automation server/security - Windows home 10 - dedicate 4 cores, 16gb of ram and 2 x 3TB in Raid 1 array
Install: IFTT, Amaxon Alexa, Yeelight, Samsung smarthings, google home, myq, roborock, reolink
IFTT as overarching system for running applet ( Plan to have yeelight, roborock, Reolink security system, and 
3rd virtual machine is gaming/media server - Windows 10 home - dedicate 8 cores, 24GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD - Will use to run certain party games to the big screen TV connected through Cat5/6, etc. 

[Pixel5]

i would just use unraid directly and run the other VM´s under unraid instead of adding one extra layer of complexity.

 

Also which GPU are you planning to run for the gaming VM?

Keep in mind these old server CPU´s are extremely power hungry and very bad for anything that needs single threaded performance like many games do.

Just to put things into perspective, the CPU´s you got there are 35% slower in single core performance then even an i3 10100 is.

 

overall the server seems a little overkill for your use case and the power consumption must be insane.

[Electronics Wizardy]

On 4/29/2021 at 7:29 AM, spiked777 said:

3rd virtual machine is gaming/media server - Windows 10 home - dedicate 8 cores, 24GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD - Will use to run certain party games to the big screen TV connected through Cat5/6, etc. 

HOw re you gonn run tht disply? The r720 doesn't really support desktop gpus well. Are you gonn do passthrough

On 4/29/2021 at 7:29 AM, spiked777 said:

Presently, I was thinking a type 1 hypervisor such as ESXi and then partition out the hardware with unraid running as a VM.

Unraid is also a type 1 hypervisor as it uses linux kvm to vms. I don't see. reson to use vmwre here.

 

 

This system seems pretty overkill, id get. lower end system to saave on power, some thing likee a i5 10400. Then run the gmes on the bare metal, and use hyper-v as the hypervisor on windows.