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Should I use virtualization?

HighRez
By HighRez
in Servers, NAS, and Home Lab
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Hello!

I'm going to be building a server soon. I plan on running a minecraft, ts3, possibly other game servers, and a web server or 2. 

 

I'm wondering if there's anything I know, beond how to set up each individual server.

 

If not, can some one explain to me what virtualization is in the case of servers, and how it is useful? 

 

Thanks a ton!

 

 

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You probably should virtualize this server so your games can be isolated from each other and one crashing game server don't affect another. You will need a beefier than usual rig as the system have to contain the sum of all required servers - memory, storage and CPU cores. (although the recent price drop of dual-socket Xeon E5-2670 and E5-2680 make this relatively easy)

The Fruit Pie: Core i7-9700K ~ 2x Team Force Vulkan 16GB DDR4-3200 ~ Gigabyte Z390 UD ~ XFX RX 480 Reference 8GB ~ WD Black NVMe 1TB ~ WD Black 2TB ~ macOS Monterey amd64

The Warship: Core i7-10700K ~ 2x G.Skill 16GB DDR4-3200 ~ Asus ROG Strix Z490-G Gaming Wi-Fi ~ PNY RTX 3060 12GB LHR ~ Samsung PM981 1.92TB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
The ThreadStripper: 2x Xeon E5-2696v2 ~ 8x Kingston KVR 16GB DDR3-1600 Registered ECC ~ Asus Z9PE-D16 ~ Sapphire RX 480 Reference 8GB ~ WD Black NVMe 1TB ~ Ubuntu Linux 20.04 amd64

The Question Mark? Core i9-11900K ~ 2x Corsair Vengence 16GB DDR4-3000 @ DDR4-2933 ~ MSI Z590-A Pro ~ Sapphire Nitro RX 580 8GB ~ Samsung PM981A 960GB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
Home server: Xeon E3-1231v3 ~ 2x Samsung 8GB DDR3-1600 Unbuffered ECC ~ Asus P9D-M ~ nVidia Tesla K20X 6GB ~ Broadcom MegaRAID 9271-8iCC ~ Gigabyte 480GB SATA SSD ~ 8x Mixed HDD 2TB ~ 16x Mixed HDD 3TB ~ Proxmox VE amd64

Laptop 1: Dell Latitude 3500 ~ Core i7-8565U ~ NVS 130 ~ 2x Samsung 16GB DDR4-2400 SO-DIMM ~ Samsung 960 Pro 512GB ~ Samsung 850 Evo 1TB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
Laptop 2: Apple MacBookPro9.2 ~ Core i5-3210M ~ 2x Samsung 8GB DDR3L-1600 SO-DIMM ~ Intel SSD 520 Series 480GB ~ macOS Catalina amd64

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55 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You probably should virtulize it so that if you need to reboot the server, its only rebooting for that specific service and not the whole system. Id personally look into proxmox for your use.

 

What hardware are you useing.

 

10 minutes ago, maxtch said:

You probably should virtualize this server so your games can be isolated from each other and one crashing game server don't affect another. You will need a beefier than usual rig as the system have to contain the sum of all required servers - memory, storage and CPU cores. (although the recent price drop of dual-socket Xeon E5-2670 and E5-2680 make this relatively easy)

Going to be using a build similar to this one: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/PXcfHN I was planning on using UnRAID to duel boot with a bad. Would that work?

Also, virtualization just means running a server on a VM so you can boot independently, correct?

Thanks.

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13 minutes ago, HighRez said:

 

Going to be using a build similar to this one: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/PXcfHN I was planning on using UnRAID to duel boot with a bad. Would that work?

Also, virtualization just means running a server on a VM so you can boot independently, correct?

Thanks.

You are burning money.

For your purposes you really should take advantage of the second-hand Xeon E5-2670 and E5-2680 deals.

The Fruit Pie: Core i7-9700K ~ 2x Team Force Vulkan 16GB DDR4-3200 ~ Gigabyte Z390 UD ~ XFX RX 480 Reference 8GB ~ WD Black NVMe 1TB ~ WD Black 2TB ~ macOS Monterey amd64

The Warship: Core i7-10700K ~ 2x G.Skill 16GB DDR4-3200 ~ Asus ROG Strix Z490-G Gaming Wi-Fi ~ PNY RTX 3060 12GB LHR ~ Samsung PM981 1.92TB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
The ThreadStripper: 2x Xeon E5-2696v2 ~ 8x Kingston KVR 16GB DDR3-1600 Registered ECC ~ Asus Z9PE-D16 ~ Sapphire RX 480 Reference 8GB ~ WD Black NVMe 1TB ~ Ubuntu Linux 20.04 amd64

The Question Mark? Core i9-11900K ~ 2x Corsair Vengence 16GB DDR4-3000 @ DDR4-2933 ~ MSI Z590-A Pro ~ Sapphire Nitro RX 580 8GB ~ Samsung PM981A 960GB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
Home server: Xeon E3-1231v3 ~ 2x Samsung 8GB DDR3-1600 Unbuffered ECC ~ Asus P9D-M ~ nVidia Tesla K20X 6GB ~ Broadcom MegaRAID 9271-8iCC ~ Gigabyte 480GB SATA SSD ~ 8x Mixed HDD 2TB ~ 16x Mixed HDD 3TB ~ Proxmox VE amd64

Laptop 1: Dell Latitude 3500 ~ Core i7-8565U ~ NVS 130 ~ 2x Samsung 16GB DDR4-2400 SO-DIMM ~ Samsung 960 Pro 512GB ~ Samsung 850 Evo 1TB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
Laptop 2: Apple MacBookPro9.2 ~ Core i5-3210M ~ 2x Samsung 8GB DDR3L-1600 SO-DIMM ~ Intel SSD 520 Series 480GB ~ macOS Catalina amd64

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15 minutes ago, maxtch said:

You are burning money.

For your purposes you really should take advantage of the second-hand Xeon E5-2670 and E5-2680 deals.

Holy...

You're right. Thank you so much for letting me know. 2x E5 2680s for under $250 vs 2x e5 2630s for $1300... thank you so much. You just saved me at least 1k.

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5 minutes ago, HighRez said:

Holy...

You're right. Thank you so much for letting me know. 2x E5 2680s for under $250 vs 2x e5 2630s for $1300... thank you so much. You just saved me at least 1k.

Hmmmm. I could try to find a mobo with 4 cpu slots...

 

7 minutes ago, HighRez said:

Holy...

You're right. Thank you so much for letting me know. 2x E5 2680s for under $250 vs 2x e5 2630s for $1300... thank you so much. You just saved me at least 1k.

Any idea where I could find a mobo for this? Thanks :)

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2 hours ago, HighRez said:

 

Going to be using a build similar to this one: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/PXcfHN I was planning on using UnRAID to duel boot with a bad. Would that work?

Also, virtualization just means running a server on a VM so you can boot independently, correct?

Thanks.

Id probably suggest you get a used dell t410, cheap and fast. Don't dual boot a server os, run vm's. Id suggest proxmox over unraid, supports clustering, and is free.

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5 hours ago, HighRez said:

Hmmmm. I could try to find a mobo with 4 cpu slots...

 

Any idea where I could find a mobo for this? Thanks :)

Don't go with 4 sockets. The Xeon E5-2600 series won't support it, and those are crazily expensive.

 

CPU: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2680

RAM: 16x 8GB DDR3-1600 ECC

MoBo: Asus Z9PE-D16C/2L

SSD: 2x 60GB Kingston SSDNow V300

HDD: 6x 3TB WD Red

 

Throw the 6 3TB HDD in RAID-6 or RAID-50, and the pair of SSD in RAID-1 as the cache for the HDD array.

The Fruit Pie: Core i7-9700K ~ 2x Team Force Vulkan 16GB DDR4-3200 ~ Gigabyte Z390 UD ~ XFX RX 480 Reference 8GB ~ WD Black NVMe 1TB ~ WD Black 2TB ~ macOS Monterey amd64

The Warship: Core i7-10700K ~ 2x G.Skill 16GB DDR4-3200 ~ Asus ROG Strix Z490-G Gaming Wi-Fi ~ PNY RTX 3060 12GB LHR ~ Samsung PM981 1.92TB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
The ThreadStripper: 2x Xeon E5-2696v2 ~ 8x Kingston KVR 16GB DDR3-1600 Registered ECC ~ Asus Z9PE-D16 ~ Sapphire RX 480 Reference 8GB ~ WD Black NVMe 1TB ~ Ubuntu Linux 20.04 amd64

The Question Mark? Core i9-11900K ~ 2x Corsair Vengence 16GB DDR4-3000 @ DDR4-2933 ~ MSI Z590-A Pro ~ Sapphire Nitro RX 580 8GB ~ Samsung PM981A 960GB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
Home server: Xeon E3-1231v3 ~ 2x Samsung 8GB DDR3-1600 Unbuffered ECC ~ Asus P9D-M ~ nVidia Tesla K20X 6GB ~ Broadcom MegaRAID 9271-8iCC ~ Gigabyte 480GB SATA SSD ~ 8x Mixed HDD 2TB ~ 16x Mixed HDD 3TB ~ Proxmox VE amd64

Laptop 1: Dell Latitude 3500 ~ Core i7-8565U ~ NVS 130 ~ 2x Samsung 16GB DDR4-2400 SO-DIMM ~ Samsung 960 Pro 512GB ~ Samsung 850 Evo 1TB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
Laptop 2: Apple MacBookPro9.2 ~ Core i5-3210M ~ 2x Samsung 8GB DDR3L-1600 SO-DIMM ~ Intel SSD 520 Series 480GB ~ macOS Catalina amd64

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6 hours ago, maxtch said:

Don't go with 4 sockets. The Xeon E5-2600 series won't support it, and those are crazily expensive.

 

CPU: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2680

RAM: 16x 8GB DDR3-1600 ECC

MoBo: Asus Z9PE-D16C/2L

SSD: 2x 60GB Kingston SSDNow V300

HDD: 6x 3TB WD Red

 

Throw the 6 3TB HDD in RAID-6 or RAID-50, and the pair of SSD in RAID-1 as the cache for the HDD array.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/CgZw6X

 

That's what I was thinking.

Let me explain the hard drives. The 10 TB is my nas, and the 250th ssd is also for the NAS for things that might be accessed more often. The 2 TB ssd is storage for the server. Lastly the 120 gb ssd was going to be the cache for unraid, but sounds like I don't want to use unraid. Lastly, the reason for the ssd storage is because minecraft really appreciated fast storage. Slower storage will bottle neck it for minecraft.

 

But do you think I should switch to raid for the nas? Maybe raid 10?

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15 hours ago, HighRez said:

Holy...

You're right. Thank you so much for letting me know. 2x E5 2680s for under $250 vs 2x e5 2630s for $1300... thank you so much. You just saved me at least 1k.

Look on ebay for 2670's... 

If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough it will be believed.

-Adolf Hitler 

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10 hours ago, maxtch said:

Don't go with 4 sockets. The Xeon E5-2600 series won't support it, and those are crazily expensive.

 

CPU: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2680

RAM: 16x 8GB DDR3-1600 ECC

MoBo: Asus Z9PE-D16C/2L

SSD: 2x 60GB Kingston SSDNow V300

HDD: 6x 3TB WD Red

 

Throw the 6 3TB HDD in RAID-6 or RAID-50, and the pair of SSD in RAID-1 as the cache for the HDD array.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/CgZw6X

 

That's what I was thinking.

Let me explain the hard drives. The 10 TB is my nas, and the 250th ssd is also for the NAS for things that might be accessed more often. The 2 TB ssd is storage for the server. Lastly the 120 gb ssd was going to be the cache for unraid, but sounds like I don't want to use unraid. Lastly, the reason for the ssd storage is because minecraft really appreciated fast storage. Slower storage will bottle neck it for minecraft.

 

But do you think I should switch to raid for the nas? Maybe raid 10?

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23 hours ago, HighRez said:

Yes, but they're easier to find for 125. Hence 250

I got a pair of 2680 for less then $160 total.

The Fruit Pie: Core i7-9700K ~ 2x Team Force Vulkan 16GB DDR4-3200 ~ Gigabyte Z390 UD ~ XFX RX 480 Reference 8GB ~ WD Black NVMe 1TB ~ WD Black 2TB ~ macOS Monterey amd64

The Warship: Core i7-10700K ~ 2x G.Skill 16GB DDR4-3200 ~ Asus ROG Strix Z490-G Gaming Wi-Fi ~ PNY RTX 3060 12GB LHR ~ Samsung PM981 1.92TB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
The ThreadStripper: 2x Xeon E5-2696v2 ~ 8x Kingston KVR 16GB DDR3-1600 Registered ECC ~ Asus Z9PE-D16 ~ Sapphire RX 480 Reference 8GB ~ WD Black NVMe 1TB ~ Ubuntu Linux 20.04 amd64

The Question Mark? Core i9-11900K ~ 2x Corsair Vengence 16GB DDR4-3000 @ DDR4-2933 ~ MSI Z590-A Pro ~ Sapphire Nitro RX 580 8GB ~ Samsung PM981A 960GB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
Home server: Xeon E3-1231v3 ~ 2x Samsung 8GB DDR3-1600 Unbuffered ECC ~ Asus P9D-M ~ nVidia Tesla K20X 6GB ~ Broadcom MegaRAID 9271-8iCC ~ Gigabyte 480GB SATA SSD ~ 8x Mixed HDD 2TB ~ 16x Mixed HDD 3TB ~ Proxmox VE amd64

Laptop 1: Dell Latitude 3500 ~ Core i7-8565U ~ NVS 130 ~ 2x Samsung 16GB DDR4-2400 SO-DIMM ~ Samsung 960 Pro 512GB ~ Samsung 850 Evo 1TB ~ Windows 11 Education amd64
Laptop 2: Apple MacBookPro9.2 ~ Core i5-3210M ~ 2x Samsung 8GB DDR3L-1600 SO-DIMM ~ Intel SSD 520 Series 480GB ~ macOS Catalina amd64

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