Project Blackbox - ESXi Server Update

[Jonathan Yonke]

I have grown tired or the fan noise my Dell C1100 generates under heavy loads, and since my server rack is in the same room as the office that me and my wife share. I have a few other core components I will be working on quieting down, but this 1U server I can hear from upstairs when its working on generating tornados in my basement. My main goal in this build is to noise reduction, more CPU performance, and better Disk I/O performance. I am entertaining the possibility of adding a quad Intel NIC card, but at this point I am only using local storage, the only application I use that is heavy on the network is Plex, and 2 onboard NIC's bonded should suffice for the time being. I will post pictures as this progresses, and as parts arrive later this week.

 

C1100 Specs

Case - Dell Custom 1U

RAM - 72GB DDR3 RDIMM

CPU - 2 x L5520 Intel Xeon 

Motherboard - Dell Custom

PSU - Dell 650W

HD1 - WD RE3 250GB

HD2 - WD RE3 250GB

HD3 - WD RE3 250GB

HD4 - WD RE3 250GB

RAID - Dell PERC 6/i

 

Whitebox Specs

Case - Norco RPC-470 4U

RAM - 72GB DDR3 RDIMM

CPU - 2 x X5650 Intel Xeon

Motherboard - Supermicro X8DTi-F

HSF - Supermicro SNK-P0040AP4

PSU - SeaSonic S12II 620 Bronze 620W

HD1 - WD RE3 250GB

HD2 - WD RE3 250GB

HD3 - WD RE3 250GB

HD4 - WD RE3 250GB

RAID - Dell PERC 6/i

SSD - Crucial MX100 512GB

SATA3 Card - IO Crest Sata3 PCIE Card

Fans - 2 x 120MM Cooler Master

 

 

 

[clarkmcc]

Dang what are you using the server for right now? 72GB geez....

[Jonathan Yonke]

Dang what are you using the server for right now? 72GB geez....

Mostly home production VM's for now. I got the C1100 with 72GB for ~$425 last year, and RAM was cheap then. I plan on doing quite a bit of testing/studying with MS products, and possible putting some services into production for fun. 

1. Plex Media Server - Win 7 x64

2. Sabnzb, CouchPotato, NZBDrone - Ubuntu 14.04 Server

3. Unifi AP Management Server - Ubuntu 14.04 Server

4. Tiny Tiny RSS Server/ Crashplan Management for Unraid off site - Ubuntu 13.10 x64

5. Test/Dev Box - Win 7 x64

[Anthony_95]

Followed

[Jonathan Yonke]

My last package (PSU) was just delivered to my front door. I should hopefully have some time Saturday evening to start assembly. 

[Jonathan Yonke]

Everything is here.

 

[Jambls]

So what exactly are you doing?

[pjm0925]

Damn, that's a lot of VMs you can run on there.

[Jonathan Yonke]

So what exactly are you doing?

Building a new ESXi host that is quieter than my current 1U Dell, and add some more CPU power (mainly for Plex transcoding).

[Jambls]

Building a new ESXi host that is quieter than my current 1U Dell, and add some more CPU power (mainly for Plex transcoding).

Ah ok Cool